By Gregg Stanton and contributors

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January 3, 2019

A Race to the Bottom.

Ever since I arrived on the Big Island of Hawaii, I have been asked to teach scuba at many levels. I have declined the offers with the excuse that I am not ready’, what with all my diving technology still on its way from Los Angeles. We have been “on Island” not quite a week, and busy racing to Kona or Hilo every day. Thank goodness my brother was willing to ship his Ranger pickup truck from Oahu, which gave us wheels until my wife’s Prius arrived today.
In every case, the requests were predicated on my teaching a class immediately, with no time for the student to finish on-line course work, and to be finished in three days. Normally it takes 2 days to complete the checkout dives! These classes were to be conducted in a three foot deep plastic pool. Imagine, all the skill training in one day in 3 feet of water before diving in the ocean the next day. And for this the shop charges $800!
Ever wonder why the diving community is suffering a decline? Travis, at my Wakulla Diving, reports fewer and fewer people are coming to our shop, a decline that is also reflected in a decline in revenue. He is convinced the end of diving is near. I do not share his pessimism, but appreciate his concern. Every year we have faced retention issues. As a community, over 80% of the people trained in scuba diving, never dive beyond their checkout dives. No wonder with the scarce experience they get from their instructors.
Training agencies are beginning to get the idea. SSI recently told participants at their Scuba University, that courses need to be longer, to provide proficiency, not just training. Training is defined as a check box having been shown and performed a skill once. Proficiency is the ability to perform the skill often and with comfort. Once in the ocean, mercy is seldom shown by the raw elements. And surprise, proficient divers continue to dive, and purchase more equipment. So the extra time in the pool and lecture room results in more revenue for the shop!
I hope we have reached the bottom of this story, as I will continue to decline teaching to this foolish schedule, even in paradise. I will be mentoring an instructor candidate, which I have warned will take the better part of a year. We will offer classes that will be a minimum of a week full time or longer when split in smaller steps. On-line is no substitute for lectures and learning theory and good practice. I hope that by setting an example, we may turn the race to the. Bottom, to a race to proficiency and fun!

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January 10, 2019

A Different Climate.

In residence here in Hawaii for only three weeks and I’m back in the saddle teaching rebreathers, only now in a warm place year round that appreciates the technology and the value of returning visitors.
Stefan, from Germany, changed the location of his course from North Florida when he heard I would be out here creating this new field station for the Wakulla Diving Center.
I am starting from scratch, again, but in familiar grounds from my youth some 50-plus years ago.
The Big Island is much like Oahu was 50 years ago. Where we are located along the Hamakua Coastline, the phone and internet are spotty, radio comes in from the Island of Maui, the rain is almost daily (but almost a mist), and the daily sun shines brightly, when it can peek around drifting clouds.
Not three miles from our place, Malasadas are made daily, and discussed around the Island.
We made great progress today, securing our first flask of oxygen, so in the morning I began pumping our rebreathers for tomorrow’s dives. While I have a compressor, I have not had the time to plug it in and set it up. So we get drive-gas for our booster pumps from Hilo.
Today, we dove off a beach within walking distance of Hilo, the main town of the Big Island, about 40 miles away. The sea was glass smooth, warm and the water clear. As a confined water dive, we stayed in the basin near shore (like the Panama City Kiddie Pool) to do what I normally have the student do in a swimming pool. There are pools locally, but it takes months to get approval, for which we have not secured as of yet.
We watched the sun set from underwater, doing skills and admiring the colorful tropical fish watching us. Each of the many public beaches has free parking, lifeguards, restrooms and showers to rinse off the sand and salt.
Tomorrow we return to dive the coral slope to 50 feet and continue training skills for a 2 hour dive. I’m comfortably wearing a 1 mil wetsuit that I used at the heated FAMU pool in Florida.
I get phone calls often to offer assistance in setting up the facility and to go diving (show me around). Local dive shops have asked me to teach for them, but I am busy at the moment just trying to move in.
Stefan has been helping with internet connectivity and computer resources just to get much needed paperwork flowing. But we are on track both with his class and progress in general. There is much still to do to reach the predicted potential as a rebreather training facility here on the Big Island.
And I must get settled before mid-March when I begin the trek back to Wakulla to run the Dive Center for the next summer.
Meanwhile, the same challenges are discussed with each new rebreather candidate: how do I become a safe diver, afford the sport and not get divorced. Stefan concluded this evening that he will bring his wife over and get her trained on a rebreather of her choice and they will both enjoy the Hawaiian reefs together in the very near future.
Oh, and we ate our first avocado from our own orchard this morning. Ann discovered a second tree full of them! The property has 20-plus very large avocado trees that produce at various times during the year. Stefan approves!

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January 17, 2019

Kohala diving.

Kohala is one of four major volcanoes on the big Island of Hawaii. It is the oldest, most calm (dormant) volcano of the bunch, the most eroded, and has the most protected dive sites around the island because only 70 miles to the west looms the mighty Haleakala on the island of Maui. Whales routinely pass between the islands here, calling to each other during our dives. My wife and I were married in this area 50 years ago, at the small fishing village she was excavating now called Lapakahe.
I began my rebreather class in Hilo because that was supposed to be the better diving area, but was soon driven from these reefs by frightening 12 foot waves breaking over the rocky shoreline. I went west to the port of Kawaihae, and found a small but well stocked and busy store called Kohala Divers. They have been here for decades, so I asked where to go for shore based training. Without hesitation Rebekah Kaufmann, the owner, said to go to Mahukona, where I was married! This, I thought, would be interesting. But why not? The Hawaiians chose this spot to build their village because it had a calm, access to the sea. In the 1800s the sugar plantations built a small port and ran a train here to export produce to Oahu. An eroded concrete pier with and vertical ladder made entry and exits possible, although challenging. But it worked!
The water was calm for the entire week we were diving Mahukona, while Hilo, 60 miles away, had high surf warnings posted and closed beaches to the public. Our dives were in crystal clear water once we cleared the harbor. I dragged a float with a flag, and headed out first over much old ship litter: huge anchor chain, capstans, rail wheels, a boiler with a huge prop, piping, the clear evidence of a ship wrecks in 25 feet of water. But as we arrived at 50 feet the reef went natural, abundant colorful fish, eels, invertebrates, coral but no turtles or sharks. We were disappointed about the sharks. As we went deeper in our offshore dives over the next three days, we heard a lot of whale sounds. And they were loud! Because we were on rebreathers, we stayed for hours, ascending to the surface to get bearings and conduct training skills.
At 100 feet I decided we were far enough offshore to warrant a return to shore as the sun was going down. Compass skills were required to navigate back to the harbor, but each day we made it back to watch the sun set and the whales breaching right where we were diving! I thought it could get no better. Shore diving in Hawaii is free. You need to know good surf entry and exit skills and use sturdy equipment. But I had also seen Rebekah’s new boat at Kohala Divers, so I booked our last day of diving on it.
Panama City has a new Newton 45-foot dive boat that we have taken students on for Advanced classes. Rebekah had purchased the same boat! We met at 7:30 a.m. and departed for my requested 100+ foot dive sites. The boat had 15 people diving that day. The staff was rebreather-friendly, something I was not used to. They took us to two sites that could accommodate snorkels, shallow divers and my 100 foot depth requirements. The water was calm, a warm 78 degrees and clear top to bottom. The fish were even more abundant that at Mahukona! We took my past rebreather student, now a graduate student at the Hilo branch of the University of Hawaii, who is studying fish behavior. He went crazy with his camera! We were given 90 minutes dive time, then moved to a second site where we found caves, sharks, eels, coral of every type (black included), and schools of fish! After spending another 90 minutes at 100 feet, we surfaced thrilled with our discoveries. I had found a large dead helmet shell, which I was told I could keep.
Diving out here at our new field station is awesome! I will be hard pressed to return in March to run Wakulla Diving (East).

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January 24, 2019

A change of pace.

Last week I taught a rebreather class, totally consumed with finding oxygen, diluent gases and Nitrox, dive sites and adventure for my student. We loved the adventure and hope to repeat it. This week I am a farmer, tackling an abandoned orchard in desperate need of attention. Tomorrow I secure a chicken coop. Perhaps in a month I will become a carpenter to fix up the grad mansion that came with the property. And in March I return to Florida to become a merchant again.
An enormous moon lights up the night, now that the full eclipse has come and gone. They sky is big here on the Big Island of Hawaii. I noticed a very bright twinkling star off in the eastern sky at 4:30 in our moonlit morning. And I am left to ponder our latest adventure. What have we here?
Every day Ann and I rescue a dream that began 25 years ago. It is somewhat of a mystery why after spending a small fortune building a five acre avocado orchard with an absolutely stunning all-wood (Koa, cypress and mahogany) two-story chalet, was this dream lost to the architect and ultimately abandoned to be taken over by the local Polynesian pigs. But when Ann and I found it, after deciding that we wanted to come home to the islands, the place beckoned us to purchase against all odds.
When inspecting the building I noticed the name on the plans corresponded to the same name of my son-in-law, the Tuthill House. Through social media, I tracked Jon down on Oahu, to find he dated my brother’s wife’s sister, all attending Punahou school at the time. Small world! I now had the history of the place and part of the tragic story. It seems the property was lost in a divorce, where the wife sold out cheap to a family that did not share in the vision. Jon offered to purchase it back!
The avocado was introduced to Hawaii in the 1700s. There are now over 100 varieties on the Big Island alone, mostly imported from South America. The fruit can be as small as an orange but also as big as a small melon. Of the 67 trees the architect planted and grafted in his grand plan, most appear to bear fruit during the summer, but not all. He informed me he planned on producing fruit year around. Indeed, two trees currently have fruit in January. He called them his Green Goldens. But of the 67 trees, at first we could find only 15. Many are large, but most are stressed, and several are dead. Littered around the yard are hundreds of “stones,” the seeds of the avocado, the remnants of pig consumption of abandoned fruit.
We were denied an agricultural designation because the orchard was clearly abandoned with perhaps a half an acre of the whole orchard marginally functional.
First order of business was to get a weed whacker with blades. I had to tame the Razor Grass that has consumed most of the property. We selected a tree and determined what parasitic plants needed to be removed. The first was the Banana Poka, a vine that strangles the tree and robs it of sunlight. The weed whacker had no effect of this vine, so a hedge cutter was purchased to cut the vines away. Then we discovered an unidentified tree growing under nearly all the avocado trees that takes a chain saw to remove. The avocado trees then began looking more like they should, but the job is slow when done manually. This week we invaded the Razor Grass line that has encroached the orchard to find several rows of buried, strangled, but alive avocado trees, nine so far, that take the two of us a day each to clear. I now count a dozen more waiting for us as we climb the hill.
I know we are making progress as the pigs are furious with our invading their territory. Even during the day they scream at us from under the 10 foot grass. But my freezer arrives on Wednesday, along with my gun permit. I intend on stocking my freezer. And I’m dreaming of a Kubota tractor with a Hedge Hog adapter! We’re not getting any younger, you know.

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January 31, 2019

The Rock Mover Wrasse, and other Hawaiian reef fish.

The abundance of local reef fish here in Hawaii makes every dive an adventure in observing animal behavior. Take a camera, and you are never bored. Bobbie Suarez, a graduate student at the Hilo Campus of the University of Hawaii, recently sent me a picture of a stunningly beautiful fish that has a curious behavior, at least as an adult. They rearrange the sea floor by moving rocks. This behavior is well documented on the internet (YouTube), but a surprise to me.
We observed the fish picking up small pieces of coral and moving them off to the side by mouth, creating a “puka” or hole in the reef, in which to hide for the night.
The juvenile of the species looks nothing like the adult, often more cryptic, with which to blend into the reef, to avoid detection by predators. With juveniles looking different from adults, the reef is crowded with a rainbow of moving colors. Bobbie also sent me a short video of a small red and white banded fish that dove into the sand as he approached. The Nabeta Wrasse (razor wrasse) looks like a clown fish but without the protective anemone, it simply vanishes into the sand and hides there until the danger passes.
The reason Bobbie is taking so many pictures is that he is studying reef fish behavior, specifically the Achilles Tang, a surgeon fish that local divers like to eat. When he first asked me how he could tag these fish I suggested an ethology (non evasive) approach to the problem. The hypothesis I presented him was that no two Achilles Fish look alike (everyone knows they all look alike, right?). His advisor said “Prove It!”. So he took pictures of 10 fish and later up to 50 fish and measured the red spot on each of their sides. No two fish had the same lateral pattern. He took this discovery to the UH Hilo Computer Department on campus and they created a facial recognition program for this species. His advisor has suggested this project is bigger than a masters degree. Imagine the potential!
On a recent deep (100 ft) dive off Kohala, Bobbie and I approached a rather large rock that was covered with 20-30 black and white Domino Damsel Fish. As we came closer on our rebreathers, the fish rose up off the rock and became noisy and agitated. We were not what was expected as local scuba divers produce loud bubbles, which frighten the fish into hiding. They did not attack (Damsels are known to be defensive of their territory at times) as we maintained a respectful distance, but we took an abundance of pictures. I wish we had sound recordings. One day we will be able to better describe audio fish communications (and you thought porpoises were hard to understand).
Local resident white tip reef sharks were equally interested in these silent divers as we poked around on another dive off Kohala. They did not fear us or behave agitated in any way, so we photographed them as they scoped us out. Bobbie has asked me to help him define the territory of selected reef fish, much the same way we can define the territory of birds, by observing how and who they interact with during the day. Tomorrow, Bobbie and I will inspect an underwater video camera system offered locally on Craigslist, in the hope that we can afford capturing the behavior and associated sounds of these Hawaiian reef fish. It’s fun working with bright young minds in a big warm and clear ocean.

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February 7, 2019

The genesis of my cave diving.

I have never called myself a cave diver, even though I teach the subject often. The world offers many underwater opportunities to explore and study, a cave being just one.
It began early in my diving experience. After my first few diving years post basic training, I discovered a ledge off Pokai Bay, on the island of Oahu.
As an undergraduate at the University of Hawaii, I was thrilled to report unusual corals found within this tube. Later they were found to be new species of dendritic corals, described by graduate students in my department. I did a study of fish that flip upside down when they enter these ledges (called the dorsal light reaction) for my animal behavior class.
I visited the site often taking my father, my girlfriend and other students to see the unusual formations. It was here that my father rescued my future wife when she ran out of breathing gas, and here where my boat’s anchor slipped and drifted off. Both incidents ended well, the latter when I swam after my boat and caught up to it hours later.
This was my first cave.
A decade later, I was collecting data on bacteria communities under 10 feet of ice in the Antartica. The water was colder than Hawaii, but the overhead restriction was no different. Deceptively clear water under the ice distorted the distance back to the exit hole, creating a problem when my regulator began to freeze up. I made it back by myself by slowing down and mentally pacing myself along the slope to return safely. I was pushing a large underwater camera at the time. I was to document a starfish kill site, but I never tried that again. That was my second cave.
Shortly after my return, friends from work asked if I might like to make a real cave dive in Florida. I was amused but agreed, and was taken to Sally Ward, in what is now the Wakulla Springs State Park, to dive with the late Wally Jenkins. After the dive, they were disappointed that I was not awestruck by the experience and dropped any further encouragement to dive local caves. I found my third cave impressive, different but not cranked up to the hype I had been led caves to be.
Another decade passed before Parker Turner invited me to a conference in Cozumel to discuss research in caves, then I began to see a compelling reason to continue cave diving. Parker trained Dr. Larry Able and me in a cave certification course, which lead to several research projects in Florida and Mexican caves. I introduced cavern training into every Science Diving course I offered for the next two decades, and ultimately became a cave instructor. I hired Parker at the university as our cave coordinator, only to see that effort collapse when he died in a tragic cave collapse at Indian Springs. During this more than two decade period, I made thousands of cave dives, around the Bahamas, Mexico and Florida areas.
But clarity has only recently been achieved when I returned to Hawaii and began diving the rich caves (caverns by Florida standards), that I first encountered in my youth.
Kona, Kohala and Southpoint have numerous overhead sites with fascinating creatures somewhat adapted to this darkened world.
A recent dive off Kawaihai recently described in an earlier column, found fish swimming upside down, white tipped sharks, and crustaceans seldom seen out in the open. Animals that are adapted to these overhead environments are call trogolophites.
Perhaps, I aspire to be one.

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February 14, 2019

Change of the Guard.

Ever wonder why some facilities are a great as they are? They are often the result of dedicated folks that plant seeds and mentor them through to maturity. Our Hydro-testing facility began decades ago, when I hired Michael Dunning, a technologist diver originating from The Isle of Mann, part of the UK. He was referred to me from Walter Jaap of the FDEP. After sorting out several challenges at the University, he suggested we do our own (in house) Hydro-testing. One of those challenges was getting reliable testing of our scuba cylinder, required by the DOT to be done every 5 years. We offered a dive shop going out of business very little for an antiquated test unit, which Michael then rebuilt to new condition. With an application to the DOT, we soon were doing hydro-testing for the University. Based upon that success, we found upgrade funds to purchase a Galiso state of the art unit that was then servicing not just the University, but the fire department, until I retired decades later.
Michael Dunning did more for Florida State University’s capability to transform into Nitrox, and support Science Diving than any other technologist we ever had before or since. He was the origin of the dive locker technologist certification we offered to hundreds of students wanting to know more about diving. I can still hear his first lecture each semester:”don’t touch anything! until you know what you are doing. And go wash your hands before coming in my shop!” We all came to love this small statured, big hearted man. When Parker Turner, our cave diving mentor, died during a freak cave collapse, I met a dazed Michael walking around with Parker’s diving helmet as a basket, asking for donations for Parker’s widow, with tears in his eyes.
By then Michael had returned to the Isle of Mann and opened his own dive support facility. When he heard I had come out of retirement to own and operate the Wakulla Diving Center, he offered to come back on a visit to install another hydro-testing unit. My son, Eric, informed me of this one in Dan Shephard’s (Down Under Dive Center in Crawfordville) bone yard and bought it. Again Michael did his magic and created a fine machine. But who will run it? After Michael went home I was approached by a young diving technologist from Minnesota looking for work and adventure. He, Travis Kersting, took to hydro-testing like fish to water. I soon brought Michael back for many visits to mentor Travis, investing a dollar for every hydro-test to a fund to bring Michael back annually. Travis, not to let enough alone proposed an expansion of the facility to include cylinder inspections, gas blending and a tall jacket for the large “K” and “T” cylinders. The facility even has a sky crane in a room designed and constructed by Travis (with help from Eric, Ann and I).
Last year we did not hear from Michael. We knew he was loosing his sight from a previous visits, making his last cave dive, accompanied by other staff. He was robbed on the previous flight home, loosing the money we had accumulated to pay for his flight. Clearly things were becoming difficult for him. Travis just told me last week, that Michael Dunning passed away in November of 2017. It saddens me greatly as I had told him I would come visit him…. and never found the time.
And now Travis Kersting is leaving us as well. Time marches on, now nearly a decade after he joined us. He will hike the Appalachian Trail beginning in April. I return from my Hawaiian adventure to run the shop and search for replacements yet again. A facility is only as good as the people running it.
We will miss you both as the dynasty continues.

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February 21, 2019

Diving into Ambition. By Bobbie Suarez

Every candidate for diving instructor is asked to write an essay explaining why they want to become one. Bobbie Suarez is a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, studying fish population ecology at the same Cooperative Fisheries that I attended 50 years ago. Here is his paper:
I would like to say ambition has led me to where I am today, but truth be told chance had a lot to do with it as well. When I was young, I remember seeing scuba divers surface as my parents toiled along a lake in far eastern Oklahoma. That chance to see those divers in the water, even for a second, would change my life forever.
I guess one could say I had ambition and drive from a young age. As I attempted to recreate the divers in preschool with a 2-liter coke bottle and some aquarium tubing, my willingness to head to the inflatable pool to dive was met with opposition from my teachers.
Many years later at Texas A&M University during a course I enrolled in that took place in Akumal, Mexico, I met Dr. Dávid Brankovits, at the time a Ph.D. student finishing up his field work.
Over a beer and discussing rebreathers, devices that allow underwater biologists to stay longer and be closer to their subjects, he asked me why I wasn’t helping the course as a dive master. I simply said, “if you love your passion, you don’t do it as a job”. He laughed and said I needed to share my passion and love for diving. I just laughed it off and went about my life, but couldn’t shake that idea he had put into my head.
As a life-long learner, I have this weird fascination with meeting the trailblazers in diving and learning everything I can from them, an aging group of individuals that still have so much to teach. A year after my time in Mexico I enrolled in a dive master course with the university and I traveled to Wakulla County in the middle of the semester.
The ten days I spent in northern Florida had a profound effect on my life, not only was I heading home with a rebreather that cost more than the car I was driving but also wondering, “where was I heading?”.
Now, I am at a point in my life that I look at all the explorers I have met that have forged the path I so closely follow. Maybe I was born too late for the trailblazing days of diving, but that doesn’t mean I cannot continue to share knowledge and passion for diving.
I want to be a steward for the next generation of divers like myself, I want to foster the curiosity my mentors have sparked within me. My ambition to be that meeting of chance in someone else’s life that sparks a life-long love for the water like so many have done for me.
This is why I want to be a dive instructor, not to garnish another card at the local dive shop, but to be that influence in a young person’s life that needs that mentor to show them how to blaze the next trail safely.

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February 28, 2019

Sunscreen Underwater.

How often have you been in a swimming pool or on a popular beach and smelled the lotions of other people in the water? We know this is a challenge because our masks will prematurely fog up and require repeated clearing. A sheen observed by a person in Palau following a group of divers, resulted in an investigation and ultimately an alternative product to sun protection. We are increasingly becoming aware that these ingredients that caused the sheen on the water are harming the corals in our precious sea. Chemicals common to sun screens are oxybenzone and octinoxate. They have been banned in the state of Hawaii in an effort to protect the corals from this human chemical assault. Palau took an even stricter stance by further banning ten common ingredients companies are using to substitute for sunscreen, promoting the use of non-nano mineral-based sunscreens.
OK, I agree, the corals are under a lot of other assaults, such as increased temperature (climate change), ocean acidification from too much CO2 in the atmosphere, pollution from increased populations dumping sewage or other chemicals into the water, and mechanical damage from fins or anchors dragging on the reef. Surely these are far more dangerous to corals that some sunscreen washed off humans in the water. How can sunscreen be so important in the bigger picture? It’s all cumulative. Some things we can do something about now, while some will take a lot longer to bring under control. Using a coral safe sunscreen is an easy step that everyone can take now to lessen the assault on corals.
And skin cancer is on the rise, as people at the beach are using higher and higher SPF rated sunscreens. Most dermatologists now recognize that an SPF 30, when properly applied, is an effective sun protection. Unfortunately, exposing your body to these harmful chemicals however carries its own risks to you and the environment. The same ingredients in many sun screens have been shown to affect our (human) endocrine systems, leading the Journal Lancet to advise dermatologists to stop recommending common sunscreens without considering human health and planetary impacts.
Because reef-safe standards have not yet been recognized nationally, people are being encouraged to read the labels of their sunscreen. Avoid using anything with ozybenzone, octinoxate, octocrylene, nanoparticles and parabens. Mineral-based sunscreens are thicker than most traditional sunscreens and need to be applied in smaller sections on your body. Reapply often as needed. Diver training agencies are now partnering with new companies to develop new sunscreen products that are coral safe. Expect to hear more about this developing technology. This summer season, absolutely be careful about your exposure to the sun. Do your part to help our struggling corals and shop for coral safe sunscreens.

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March 7, 2019

A change of the guard.

I return to Wakulla County at the end of this month to take the helm over for the summer. According to the Cline’s Diving Industry Survey, diving as an industry is holding steady, if not improving slowly over last year by around 4 percent. Travel of course has improved much more, which is why I have been pursuing an option for our customers on the Big Island. But with change comes gains and losses.
My store manager for the last year is leaving to hike the Appalachian Trail. Travis Kersting joined our facility while we were in our infancy, and has grown with us over many years. He first came to us from Minnesota as an intern to see if he liked it. We had an old hyrostatic test jacket that the late Michael Dunning had rebuilt from a junkyard system that Eric Stanton had found. Travis was also a cave diver, so a job in cave country was very attractive. He was very enthusiastic and everyone liked him, so he returned to Minnesota to wrap up college (a degree in CAD design and fabrication) and move south.
Upon his return, he took over what was rapidly becoming known as the technology section: everything cylinder and repair; the back of the shop. That included the repair bench up front at the time. Over the years Michael returned to observe Travis was outpacing him in knowledge and skill about diving. But try as we may, he would not become a diving instructor! At one point I invested in his training as a PSI instructor (the inspection of cylinder) in which he vastly exceeded expectations. He now teaches the best PSI class I have ever witnessed. But when I gave him his own office, he made it into his personal dive locker!
Travis agreed to put time into infrastructure growth when the quiet winters brought sales to a minimum. We built training kiosks in the large space out back, then a blending area and finally a serious hydro testing upgrade to a tall stack (to test large cylinders) with all things cylinder maintenance and repair inside. That move meant more room for the store up front. Travis took ideas we developed and added an oxygen blending facility into the back wall of the hydro facility, thus upgrading the blending facility. It wasn’t long before they got me to move my classroom to the back as well. In its place Travis and Eric built a class act regulator repair facility. Of course this took time, over many winters and with the whole staff participating, including my wife!
Around two years ago, he began taking a serious interest in merchandising. Now there is a people skill he had said he did not have, that kept him from becoming an instructor. But he was taught by the best, his customers, and the manufacture reps that came by periodically to outfit the store’s inventory. This skill alone will be the hardest to replace once he leaves. He single handedly captured the elusive ScubaPro account and held it for the past two years. He secured the Shearwater account when I lost it! For the past 2 years he has been the store manager, overseeing employees and nearly all aspects of the facility.
I was called away several times during last summer to teach classes in Hawaii, so he became more efficient being on his own. We developed ways to function effectively by using the phone, internet and good, trusting communications. Not to slow down any, he tells me he has completed more upgrades to the blending facility I have yet to see!
I don’t want him to leave, but understand a young man’s need to seek adventure. I will miss him. I have left his return completely open should he change his mind.
In the meantime, I have the summer to find another Travis in-the-raw to polish before I depart back to Hawaii in September.
Anyone interested?

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March 14, 2019

Fires in Diving.

Kona Divers on the Big Island of Hawaii, just down the street by an hour, had a very serious fire on Friday. Fortunately, the fire was contained to the upstairs of the store, as they had just installed an Oxygen blending facility down stairs. The oxygen cylinders would have been of great concern had the fire reached the fill station. Fire in diving is always a big concern. We know about the challenge with a house fire melting aluminum cylinder not fully filled. They explode before the burst disk pressure is reached, sending shrapnel throughout the building. Kona Divers had plenty of them down stairs too.
For starters, oxygen used to make Nitrox, or while filling oxygen cylinders, creates an elevated risk of fire in a number of ways. If the cylinder contains hydrocarbons left over from a compressor using non oxygen comparable lubricants, a fire can combust with the heat of compression and a spark. Partial pressure filling tanks to make Nitrox, results from first pumping 100% oxygen into the cylinder before topping it off with air. Worst would be when 100% oxygen is pumped directly into a cylinder, not rendered oxygen clean with a non toxic, degreasing agent. A Nitrox facility in the Florida Keys exploded when one of their flasks, being pumped with oxygen, sent the entire stack flying everywhere. Including across the canal and into yachts parked across the canal.
When hoses or fill valves are not made oxygen clean, they too can burn under the right conditions. When the fire happens in the hose, we call it flashing. Take a que-tip and push it into the hose and see if you can pull out a black residue. All fill whips should be flushed with a degreaser like Crystal Green every few years just to be sure.
Many years ago, an oxygen cylinder was dropped while being filled, resulting in a curse, a clank noise, a whoosh noise and a bang explosion, killing the fill station operator and setting the store on fire. Customers were also injured. The company never fully recovered. Handling pure oxygen is risky. Cylinder pressures above 500 psi elevate the risk of a fire with higher pressure. The industry recommends not filling cylinders over 3000 psi, very slowly (not faster that 100 psi per minute) and cautiously. Containment is highly recommended.
Rebreathers are subject to the risk of fires. One of the cylinders on a rebreather is full of pure oxygen. That gas must flow through a regulator before being fed into the breathing loop. Fires have occurred when a simple interlocking o-ring was replaced, accidentally lubricated with silicone (very fire-prone in the presence of pure oxygen). The damage included melting the regulator, the tank valve and burns to the owner. A similar fire occurred when the tank valve was serviced by a technician unfamiliar with oxygen safety who lubricated it with silicone grease. The fill station operator had a similar explosive fire experience. On a boat in the Red Sea, a group of rebreather divers were assembling their rigs when a diver forgot to open his oxygen cylinder before putting the rig on his back. When he remembered, he reached back and flipped it on quickly. The regulator burst into flames, prompting the diver to swing the rig off his back and on to the deck of this wooded boat. Everyone then jumped overboard, all but one person leaving their rigs on the boat. The sea was flat calm, so everyone watched their expensive rebreathers burn up as rescue boats converged. Someone got a great picture.
Every year someone burns a compressor up explosively while blending Nitrox. We did once, when the monitoring oxygen sensor failed and resulted in too high an oxygen content for the design of the compressor. The resulting bang exploded the safety pressure relief devices, turned the oxygen compatible oil in the crank case black, and sacred all of us! Fortunately no further injury or damage happened, but we never used that compressor again. Fires in diving are ever present!

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March 21, 2019

Mimicry Underwater.

To mimic is to copy, to represent yourself as someone or something else. People steal the identity of another person often on our internet, gaining access to resources of another through mimicry.
A few years ago an unidentified person convinced a bank teller through an email, that he or she was me and made off with $21,000.
Earlier this year, and again now, someone duplicated my Facebook page and began soliciting donations on my behalf. Mimicry works – just look around.
Lizards and octopus change their skin pigmentation to mimic their surroundings and visually disappear.
Unsuspecting prey walk or swim right up to them and are easily captured. Predators walk right past them and often miss a meal. Insects are masters at mimicry.
How often do we encounter a walking stick that looks just like the twig to which it is hanging? The coronet fish swims on a reef mimicking soft corals swaying in the current by hanging head down. As it drifts over the reef, this fish picks off unsuspecting small fish.
Stone fish look just like a rock resting on the reef. Others rock back and forth pretending they are a leaf of algae.
Another group of fish has a worm-looking structure they dangle up over their head. It really looks good to eat. Unsuspecting fish dart down to consume what they think is an easy meal, only to become one by this cleaver mimic, also called an angler fish.
Many reef fish rely on small shrimp and fish called cleaners. The cleaners set up a station over a coral head or sea anemone and solicit. The cleaners advertise themselves by whipping their antennae or dart around to attract attention. Passing fish approach and carefully open their mouth to display an interest to be cleaned. As soon as a level of trust is established, the cleaner swims to the fish and begins to remove parasites and loose flesh.
One fish, called Neon gobie, is quite distinctive with its blue, white and yellow striped body color and pattern. Once cleaning is underway, the host exposes areas needing to be cleaned, permitting the shrimp or gobies free access in the gills, mouth, eyes, just about everywhere!
I have spent hours at a cleaning station, waiting for my turn in a queue of other fish. Due to my size, developing a trust is problematic, but possible.
Cleaners eventually climb on me and start tugging at whatever they can find. A shudder usually ends the cleaning activity at which point the cleaner moves back to the protective shelter of the reef structure, and I move away to let the next fish in line to repeat this process.
The Blue-streaked wrasse mimics the other fish cleaners both physically and behaviorally. Once the trust is established however, she turns and feeds on the mucous and other tissues of her host, becoming less of a cleaner and more of a predator.
Males are less likely to participate. Some of these hosts can be very large (like a grouper) and are known to take after the mimic when detected.

This column originally appeared in 2017.

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March 28, 2019

I can’t get bent!

Whenever we expose ourselves to a greater pressure than one-atmosphere, or within 1000 feet of the ocean (elevation) we are subject to a remote chance of Decompression Sickness.
When we dive underwater, that pressure differential increases considerably, in fact, doubling in 33 feet of depth. The deeper you go the greater the chance of suffering from the challenges of off-gassing the accumulated inert gases that are part of what we breathe.
We do follow decompression tables to calculate the safe off-gassing of these gases, but since we are all built differently, there are no guarantees. We often refer to good judgement when planning a dive, not unlike planning for anything in life.
I got a picture of a rash on the back of a friend who said I can’t get bent, so why do I hurt? Everyone agreed he had a skin bends, indicative of a high decompression stress that could (and later did) result in worse symptoms. All his profiles and steps he took during the dive were within the expected terms of good risk management – meaning he did “nothing wrong.” Decompression Stress (sickness) is not a crime! Anyone can get it and for no particular reason.
So, what can we gleam from his case. One obvious feature that jumps out is that, while he is in excellent cardiovascular shape, he weighs in excess of 300 pounds.
Usually, a person that large is in poor cardiovascular shape, thus reducing his body’s ability to off-gas.
His sheer size may be a factor. He is diving a rebreather, which normally improves decompression stress because he can breathe much higher concentrations of oxygen, which reduces the inert gas in the body faster.
But he might be asking the rebreather to run a lower concentration of oxygen causing the problem. Rebreathers are awesome mix-masters that let the user dial in their optimal blend, when treated correctly.
Or it may be how he is diving that has created his challenge. He loves to take people out on open circuit diving in Hawaii. They go off the beach and have a great time. The water is always warm, and usually clear. But there is nearly always surf that the diver must penetrate to get out to and from the dive sites.
He often gets tumbled in the surf zone, which at the beginning of the dive is no problem physiologically speaking. Throughout the dive his body is concentrating nitrogen, a gas it does not use, and must off-gas at the end when he returns to the surface. In this case, as he is crossing the reef and tumbling through the surf, again!
The now supersaturated gas in his blood system gets agitated, and can come out of solution forming bubbles that cause the skin rash that he experienced, even though he followed the dive tables to the letter.
He is frustrated because when he guides people, he must keep up with them to help them out of the water to minimize their injury from the surf. In doing that, he stresses himself beyond what he might otherwise do at the end of a long day. We rebreather divers are a lazy crowd that appreciates a slow exit from the water. And surf never is so accommodating. My advice has been to either dive with open circuit limiting his capabilities, or dive his rebreather much more conservatively.
You can get Bent for no apparent reason, so dive conservatively and don’t get caught out. There are Bold divers and there are Old divers, but there are no OLD BOLD divers.

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April 4, 2019

April 1 again.

Gag Grouper season began today with a whimper as the weather did not cooperate at all.
The water was cold, the wind high, the waves at 5 feet in most places and it rained all day.
At least I’m told the visibility is around 30 feet at many of the favorite dive sites.
I just returned from Hawaii to help run the store for the summer. It took nine days to drive across the northern part of the country, through Washington, D.C. to get back.
Travis was packing out for his planned six month hike of the entire Appalachian Trail. I admire a person with a plan. But, as everyone knows, there is no one to fill in his shoes as he leaves. So he and I were at the store all day and saw no one stop by. So much for staying open during the opening day of the season! We have always been at the mercy of the weather.
Just as well, since the last place divers should be at the start of the season is in rough, cold, and rainy sea conditions. Their equipment has just been pulled from the closet, where it sat corroding away over the winter.
When we are put under the stress of these conditions, equipment will fail with challenging consequences. If divers have new toys to try out, be sure the equipment is tested under gentle conditions as your coordination needs new muscle memory to perform well. For example, I have been diving in warm (wet suit), clear Hawaiian waters for the past three months. But now I must transition into cooler caves and ocean conditions, and wearing a dry suit.
I must start out on a simple dive to get my balance back. And I do look forward to the experience.
Until I can find new staff, me, myself and I will be at the helm at the shop. Thank goodness my son Eric has been a willing assistant, when he can.
The usual challenges have appeared, and in each time, he surfaced with a solution.
It will probably take a month to sort out our options and get the summer staff on board, trained and to fully bring us back on line. Ours is not a small strip mall dive shop.
Granted that during the winter, traffic drops precipitously as cold poor weather dominates. Only the hardy divers dive during the winter around here.
Many dive shops would close down during this time. I chose not to because I needed to build a qualified staff, only possible by building them through continuous employment.
During the summer, our facility will provide an enormous amount of breathing gas, equipment repair and training, requiring more people than a winter maintenance crew.
And we will be shy several key people. My older brother Larry is battling pancreatic cancer in Washington, D.C. and cannot help as planned.
My wife remained in Hawaii (she’s no fool) telling me someone must keep paradise intact for my return in the fall.
She tends to the avocado orchard (57 trees strong), the chickens, the Kikuyu grass and feral Polynesian pigs.
My student (attending the University of Hawaii in Hilo) continues to build our blending and training facility in a 1,000 square foot building next to my house there.
So we currently have our work cut out for us.
Perhaps you may come and visit us in Paradise. Life is good!

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April 11, 2019

Shells.

When I was very young, I was an avid shell collector.
The art of studying shells, called malacology, and the collection of shells called conchology, dates back to the beginnings of human culture. The patterns found on mollusk shells is seen on tapa cloth of many Polynesian garments. Shells have been found in grave sites that date back many thousands of years. So it is of no surprise that people today are fascinated with these calcareous exoskeletons.
I began collecting from the beach, especially after a storm. Some beaches are better than others, such as Sanibel Island Beach. People routinely walk that beach finding all manner of beautiful shells.
Once I found a few shells, I would look up their identity using a taxonomic key. The first mollusk key was published by George Rumpt (1627-1702) , who contributed many terms we use today, even after he went blind, such as bivalve, gastropod and abalone.
Today’s keys are much more detailed, placing the shell into family groupings called orders. So the shell found on the beach will fall into either the gastropod (snails), the bivalve (clams), Polyplacophora (chitons), or the Scaphropoda (tusk shells). Cephalopods (octopus and squids) have an internal shell with the exception of the Nautilus, and the Nudibranchs (slugs), that have lost their shell completely.
Most of my shells at first were gastropods and bivalves. But a good key will break down the identity further based upon shapes and sizes. Cone shells look like a cone, tops look like a toy we call a spining top.
A popular shell here in Florida is the beautiful Queen Conch shell, which as a living, animal is protected by law. But there are many other conch that are not so protected.
As I matured into skin diving, then scuba diving, my collecting capacity improved, and so did my shell collection. The largest shell collection is housed in the Smithsonian Institution, where the public can view, study and compare specimens. There are displays in the Museum of Natural History, that are quite beautiful.
Do not forget that these shells are the exoskeleton of a living creature. The shell represents a form of protection, the color and patterns a form of camouflage.
Some of these shells can be venomous when alive and must be treated with great respect, while others are wonderful aquarium pets. All are fascinating to watch underwater in their natural habitat.
My favorite has always been the cowry, a shiny thin shell that is hidden not by its shell pattern, but by a tissue mantle that it pulls up and over the shell. I have seen these shells on the St. Andrews State Park Jetties during check out dives.
Unfortunately, over time, collectors have decimated the living shells of our oceans. Today’s conservation ethic is to leave alone those shells that have a live occupant (other than a hermit crab perhaps), to permit propagation of the species. While diving off Kohala (in Hawaii) in January, I found a Helmet Shell, the size of a Spanish conquistador helmet. The thrill of the discovery was not lost when I found it was empty, missing its owner, which, ethically allowed me to take it home. Such shells will soon dissolve as sea creatures grate on the structure. Recall I found a live one here off Wakulla, and left it be.
And I found that I still have that thrill of discovery that I had as a child!
Take your children and walk the beach for hidden treasures in sea shells.

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April 18, 2019

Red Tide.

A discoloration of seawater caused by a bloom of toxic plankton (a red dinoflagelates usually called Karenia brevis). But why we have this problem is much more complicated. Red Tide records from the Gulf of Mexico date back to the 1700s, so this is not a new phenomenon. The Spanish explorers mention this condition in the 1500s! While Red Tide is exclusively grown in the Gulf of Mexico similar species populate other oceans
The biology behind these blooms is complex. Blooms are most often reported 10 to 40 miles off shore, suggesting coastal organics may play a lesser role in their initial propagation. Once pushed onshore, coastal organics (human contributed) will enhance the bloom. The chemistry must be right for the bloom: temperature, salinity, and nutrients are critical. Karenia brevis must out-compete or coexist productively with other plankton to effectively bloom.
Red Tides can last up to year or as little as a week. Winds and currents distribute the bloom to other locations such as out of the Gulf of Mexico and up the eastern seaboard to as far north as Delaware. These blooms can be found in estuarine waters but never in fresh water. However, other harmful algae, including blue-green algae, typically bloom in freshwater lakes and rivers.
Red tides produce toxic chemicals that affect humans and marine organisms. The poison produced by Karenia brevis is a neurotoxin, causing marine organisms to die. Waves can break the dinoflagelates open and release the toxin into the air, leading to reparatory irritation, especially people with asthma or emphysema. The toxins can accumulate in filter feeders such as clams and oysters. Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning in people can happen when consuming these organisms. Cooking does not destroy the tasteless toxin.
Swimming in the Red Tide bloom can cause a skin irritant and if breathing the air above the bloom, a lung irritant. SCUBA diving seldom has a problem as they breath a self contained filtered gas and wear wet suits that cover the skin. Most of the bloom is found at the surface where the greatest sunlight is found.
On April 4, 2019, Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to kick off a partnership that addresses impacts of harmful algal blooms (HABs) to Florida’s environment, economy and quality of life. Mote and FGCU will pursue productive scientific research, innovative technology development, and undergraduate and graduate education with a focus on harmful algal blooms that plague the Gulf of Mexico. The Water School at FGCU was created in March of 2019 as part of this new University’s focus on the aquatic environment. You can be sure they have a blossoming dive program!

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April 25, 2019

Jack Rosenau 1919-2019.

Jack Rosenau passed away several days ago, just shy of his 100th birthday by 6 months. As the Rosenau clan converges on Tallahassee one last time, I am driven to reflect what this man has meant to me, and to our community, including our underwater world. I first met him as a timid teenager asking to date his daughter Ann, when they lived in Manoa Valley in Hawaii. I had met Ann in Sunday School and Jack was the fearless protective Marine father figure of seven children. Back then parents had to confer before children could date. It was agreed that driving my Honda scooter on the date was out of the question and curfews were mandated. My parents did not take it seriously. Determined I was, so alternate vehicles were arranged until I could buy a bucket of bolts that would suffice. Four years later Jack brought his conflicted wife to the Big Island along with the gaggle of kids to attend our wedding at an archaeological dig Ann was attending. My parents refused to attend. After all, we were only 20!
Jack uprooted his family and relocated to Tallahassee in 1970, moving as a hydrologist initially from New Jersey, then Hawaii and finally to Florida all within the U.S. Geological Survey’s Ground Water Branch. In Florida, he co-authored “The Springs of Florida.” And about this time Ann and I were relocating in search of jobs that were not available in Hawaii. No small wonder we drifted back under his wing eventually as I attended FSU is search of my graduate degree. We often debated his theories of ground water transport: his assertion of several inches a year to my argument that the sinkholes were connected, thus miles per day. He eventually came around and incorporated the knowledge that came from cave divers (long before I became one). He retired when computers arrived and they took his secretary away. He never truly mastered computers.
As an avid pilot, Jack loved to fly. In 1939 he graduated from an aeronautical high school and soon thereafter joined the Marines. He was deployed in the first Marine Air Wing during World War II and served in the Pacific supporting the push to Guadalcanal. Later I was to find he served as one of the weathermen that supported my father’s Army Air Corps Thirsty 13 squadron doing the same thing. Jack may well have saved my father’s life, thus making it possible for me to be here! He continued his service in the Air Force in 1950, retiring from service in 1979 as a Lt. Colonel, the same branch and rank as my father.
Jack got his Piper Cherokee plane in Hawaii and soon was inter-island flying. When he relocated to Florida, he became active with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, which brought me into the same unit, Flotilla 13 out of Shell Point, years later. He flew the evening coastal patrol, in search of lost boaters off our coast. Over a span of 21 years he flew 550 patrols, resulting in his induction into the Tallahassee Aviation Wall of Fame in 2006. Jack was also a member of the Tallahassee Saint Andrew Society since 1979.
When I returned to Florida, I heard he was in trouble and went to visit him a few days ago. His daughter Ann was firmly settled into Hawaii and was not returning, so I connected them via Facetime, something he absolutely loved.
I have never seen him smile so broadly.

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May 2, 2019

One More Time.

OAR sunk a shrimpboat called the One More Time off St. George Island in 35 feet of water, standing up to 10 feet off the bottom.
Davis Morgan and I needed a shallow water dive site close to shore where we could conduct a dive to identify fish as part of his Advanced Certification. Davis is a fine diver, skilled well beyond the certification, but wanted the cards to continue advancement. Diving from his 34 foot boat was a joy!
The ocean was near flat Monday morning, in advance of a southerly wind building in the afternoon, so we made it out and back in the morning. The water temperature was a crisp 70 degrees on the surface and a few degrees cooler on the bottom. Visibility was perhaps 25 feet and green. The water was rich in organics and the floor sediment was easily kicked up.
We dragged a line on a large weighted reel attached to his anchor, set off the wreck, to the hull of the boat, should the anchor drag. Our surface watch could not make it at the last minute.
Both of us were diving our Spearfishing Specialty (Rhino) spearguns, complete with bow lights to look into the wreck. All but one Gag Grouper were undersized and hanging off the stern of the wreck. The one that might have been legal was gun-shy and kept its distance until we shot something else (Sheephead) and then would dash up close taunting us!
A baby Goliath Grouper (250 pounds) dominated the dug-out area under the stern of the boat and grunted its discontent when approached.
Small Red Snapper dominated the site, but we were there to primarily identify fish, not spear fish.
So we put the guns down and looked closely at the assemblage of smaller fish and invertebrates.
The wreck is covered with Arrow Crabs, Sponges of many colors, and Gorgonians (soft corals) attached to the deck. The brightly colored Cocoa Damsels jumped out first.
Then a Belted Sandfish perched on a projection, which was studying us as intently as us them. The ventral white patch and dorsal black spot being the diagnostic features.
Angelfish (Townsend?) darted in and out of the scabbards of the boat. Several Sand Perches and wrasses followed us around on the sand floor.
Several Saucereye Porgies came up to investigate us.
The Sheepheads were small but abundant. The Gray Snapper were small and in a panic every time we saw one.
Schools of Atlantic Spadefish passed overhead throughout the hour-long dive.
What we did not see were Barracuda, sharks, Amberjack, Spanish or King Mackerel, moray eels, or any of the larger predators.
The bait ball was large and very active above the wreck.
I also saw no Chaetodons (Butterflyfish), Cardinal fish, porcupinefish, burrfish, pufferfish, soapfish, goatfish, triggerfish or top hats. Perhaps they will show up later in the summer.
Amidships, we discovered a lost anchor and rope. PLEASE paint or scratch your phone number on your anchor as we divers find these all the time. We will happily return them if they have your identification attached.
Diver lead costs $5 per pound now! So when I find sinkers, I can’t help myself but to pick them up. I recovered just shy of 10 pounds.
I found one side of a beautiful tiger Paw by-valve. I sent that shell home with Davis for his wife.
All in all, a beautiful morning dive.

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May 9, 2019

Where have the lionfish gone?

Either our eradication efforts have been incredibly successful, something has shifted the local fish populations, or some other force has reduced or eliminated the Lionfish invasion.
Early reports coming into my shop regarding the Lionfish populations have been strange for this spring. I dove the One More Time, a frequent Lionfish haven in 35 FSW, to find no Lionfish present.
OK, the fish were skittish, suggesting recent heavy fishing pressure. But others, reporting from further offshore, have reported similar observations.
“Come to think of it, we did not see a single Lionfish!”
A recent diver visiting the “K” Tower found one very large Lionfish at 15-plus inches, which was shot and left for dead.
This is a very preliminary observation. Permit me to speculate. To dismiss the observation as the results of the state’s efforts to eradicate the Lionfish is wishful thinking. But they have had an impact of Lionfish populations.
There are posters in Hawaii begging people to NOT spear the endemic Hawaiian Lionfish! Kudos to that PR campaign.
Hurricane Michael delivered a devastating impact on our coastline. Lionfish, as hearty a fish as they are, may not have survived the ferocity that storm brought to their habitat.
The storm hit in October, at the end of the spearfishing season, so the population damage may not have been noticed. Water quality has been predictably poor post storm.
I would ask if Lionfish populations have been affected further south that were outside the impact of the Hurricane?
Any farmer can tell you that plants or animals kept in close proximity can become more easily diseased, wiping out the crop or herd.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and others are investigation an Emerging Ulcerative Skin Disease in Invasive Lionfish (Pterois volitans).
This “disease” was first reported in the summer 2017 from our North Gulf of Mexico. This “disease/syndrome” was later reported around the Caribbean Sea, and Bahamas.
Lionfish with healed scars have also been observed, suggesting the condition is survivable. It may even be the result of failed harvest attempts leaving the fish injured but alive on the reef. The nature of the injury site is that of an infection. Molecular studies have begun by FWC and the University of Florida.
Other possibilities include a change in the water quality of our area.
Panama City is well known for a dense, dark water mass that comes ashore, much like an upwelling, invading their coastal area. People diving during these events report zero visibility and cold water resulting in challenges during the dives.
In one case the diver panicked, hit the steel pipes on Stage II and rocketed to the surface, earning him a trip to the hyperbaric chamber. I would think this condition is not good for the local fish population either. No loss of other fisheries has been reported locally.
As with so many mysteries, a sum of all the above may contribute to what is currently observed, or not at all.
These observations could just be an anomaly that will self-correct to normal Lionfish populations as deep-water populations move shoreward with warming water temperatures.
In any case, I’d love to hear your Lionfish observations as the season progresses to greggstanton@wakulladiving.com.
Mahalo.

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May 16, 2019

Dive disaster narrowly averted. By Ajay Powell

The thrill of a dive was overshadowed by a pending storm that clouded judgments recently.
The leader of the group said it was like any other boat dive as they left the boat dock in Lanark with the exception of a storm that was scheduled to hit a hour after their dive was to have ended.
They dropped the anchor at a spot between the barrier island and the mainland and got ready for their dive.
They went over their dive plan assigning dive buddies and objectives. All four divers descended down the anchor line and soon realized they only had four feet of visibility at a depth of 25 feet. The four divers began their dive, but after 10 minutes noticed a diver was missing.
Upon surfacing, they spotted the missing diver 80 yards away. They began to swim towards the boat only to realize they were swimming against the current, while the wind blew the boat away from them. The anchor was adrift!
After about 15 minutes of unproductive swimming, the strongest swimmer of the team of four attempted to sprint for the boat. Shortly after he left the group to get the boat a massive storm raged over them, turning the calm sea into five or six foot sea swells forcing the group to break up.
The other three divers knew they couldn’t reach the boat, so they began to swim to the nearby shore. The four swimmers soon found they swam alone not knowing where the others were located.
After an hour and a half in the water, the sprinter knew he wouldn’t reach the boat in his dive gear. He then chose to inflate his BCD and abandon his breathing rig. With less bulky equipment he made a final break for the boat to save his dive buddies.
After another 45 minutes, he finally caught up to and made it aboard the boat. The sprinter quickly got the boat started and began to look for his fellow divers.
He soon spotted an orange buoy (SMB) of one of the divers and picked him out of the sea.
He then spotted another fellow diver nearby.
They were still missing one diver so they continued the search as the storm raged.
They heard the last person doing the emergency diver call and yelling “over here” and got him aboard the boat as fast as they could.
They then recovered what equipment was left behind.
When they all got back to shore that night they agreed that it was a mistake to go out knowing the storm was about to hit the area, a decision that almost cost them their lives.
This could have been easily avoided had they listened to advice offered them by a buddy who decided not to go in the first place.
They realized that the next time they plan a dive, two people should stay on the boat while two make the dive.
Low visibility and high current should have cut the dive short. They will also tie a rope or a reel to the anchor to monitor the anchor should the boat get dragged off station and feel for a change in weather.
They all came up with great ideas to have a surface buoy with each of them should another separation emergency occur.
It was also decided to make contact with their dive buddy every other fin kick or attach a rope to each other to make sure everyone stays in a group. Finally they agreed that while no one panicked, they learned a lot and will now be more aware of necessary dive preparations tailored to expected diving conditions and emergency protocols.

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May 23, 2019

Florida origins.

Once upon a time long ago, when continents were adrift in a very large ocean, what we call Florida today was part of Western Africa. The Florida Platform, as geologists refer to this plate, migrated westward millions of years ago, riding on the Gondwana Supercontinent (which included Antarctica, South America, Africa, Australia, India, Arabia and Madagascar) tectonic plate.
Approximately 300 million years ago, Gondwana collided with the Lauasia Supercontinent (which included North America, Europe and Asia) along the current eastern seaboard of the USA, and formed Pangea, a Megacontinent. Florida became tightly sandwiched between Africa and North America. At that time the climate was very warm, the sea level very high and the Florida Platform fused to what we call Georgia today.
Pangea began to split apart 160 to 230 million years ago, moving Africa westward, North America northward, and shearing apart along our current Atlantic seaboard. The Florida Platform remained attached to North America as a low lying much submerged land, soon to be covered with calcareous (coral) building systems. Mid to North Florida bedrock have similar strata to West African rock along the fracture line. The age of Carbonate Production now laid down abundant coral reefs during the middle to late Mesozoic periods.
When I dug out the foundations for my underground home, I found a lot of large limestone rocks floating in beds of sand, of several different qualities. I found out why, by looking at the geologic history of Florida.
During this late Mesozoic period, Florida was an isolated island, with a seaway called the Suwannee Channel cutting across Georgia, the Carolinas and down as far as Wakulla County. This channel provided beaches that created sand deposits of varying qualities over time. Florida sands are carbonate based, while north of the Suwannee Chanel the sands are siliciclastic. During this time, as North America was migrating northward, Florida resembled what we see in the Bahamas, a mostly submerged platform growing reefs.
Over a period of 130 million years Florida acquired a limestone cap over the platform bedrock which with an acid rain, etched drainage caves throughout the area that filled with fresh water. This porous rock held the abundant water now known as the Floridan Aquifer which extends north into Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas, west into the Gulf of Mexico and south to the boundary of the Florida Platform.
Twenty-three million years ago, when the North American continent had moved northwest approaching its curent location, a cooling period began to hit the planet. Water was freezing at the poles, sending sea levels slowly down 300 feet. Then the Florida Platform became exposed, tripling the dry land area of today, extending its boundaries out 100 miles west into the Gulf of Mexico. As late as 14,000 years ago, the first age of human occupation in Florida, sea levels south of Wakulla have been measured at 300 feet, opening up a reality that early man sites may be found associated with inundated spring and rivers 50 miles out to sea.
As you drive north to Tallahassee, you can still see several ancient shore lines, in the form of elevated sand dunes. The road will run at a slight incline, followed by a pronounced elevated bump. These features continue out in the ocean. With dropping sea levels, the Suwannee Channel could no longer keep the eroding Appalachian mountain siliciclastic sands from invading Florida along coastal sand transport mechanisms. Sixteen million years ago, marine systems began to deposit phosphates in Florida. In 1881, the Army Corps of Engineers discovered vast deposits of phosphates in Florida, which today provide 80 percent of the nation’s (and 24 percent of the world’s) phosphates. Phosphates are used to make gunpowder, detergents, and has many other applications.
I encourage you to read Kyle Bostick, Shelly Johnson and Martin Mains excellent article on Floridas Geological History available at UF-IFAS at dis.ifas.ufl.edu.

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May 30, 2019

Not AGAIN!

News flash folks: The Hyperbaric Chamber that for decades was available for diver treatment in Tallahassee at Capital Regional Hospital on Capital Circle is no longer available for treatment of DIVERS. The Divers Alert Network is reported to continue to send divers there to no avail. When DAN sends you there please tell them divers are rejected for hyperbaric treatment when they step in. A case was presented on this Memorial Day and rejected, as the hospital had no available staff to operate the chamber. This is not the first time this rejection has happened here.
Valuable treatment time is lost when patients must be relocated through their referral process to another treatment facility. When a diver collapses right after a dive, you can be assured the situation is dire! Either, they held their breath on the way up to the surface and overinflated their lungs (unlikely if experienced), they have a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), a hole in the heart with non-symptomatic bubbles passing over to the atrial system and carried to the brain, or they have severe decompression sickness. All are very severe requiring immediate care!
If your dive buddy exits the water and soon passes out, keep them lying down, administer CPR if needed, administer 100% oxygen immediately and contact DAN. The USCG would also like to hear from you, but they usually cannot render timely assistance these days. Get DAN (service) to meet you at the shore with a Life Flight helicopter to evacuate your diver to the nearest functioning hyperbaric chamber. Time is of the essence! Send the diver’s dive computer with him/her, as it has their profile, useful to the attending physician.

What should you have on board when this happens next? (a pound of prevention-)

  1. a 100% oxygen delivery kit (DAN sells these as well) with plenty onboard
  2. a First Aid kit with appropriate supplies (extra oxygen)
  3. a list of every onboard diver’s personal information and DAN number
    4 a local evacuation protocol with numbers for:
    a. nearest hospital based hyperbaric chamber
    b. medical evacuation helicopter (Life Flight?)
    c. DAN Emergency numbers
    d. USCG Emergency numbers
    And last, but not least: Training! You should be trained divers (certifications to match the level of diving you are doing). Stay current. How many divers today have any idea what a PFO is or how to avoid the consequences of having one? At least two people need to be trained to provide the 100% oxygen (since one of them could be the victim). The same applies to First Aid. Everyone onboard needs to have DAN insurance. Treatments will cost in excess of $5,000, often in the tens of thousands. DAN insurance is comparatively cheap! And not lastly, be proactive in the planning of every dive with emergency protocols checked before making the dives.
    The life you save by following these recommendations may be your own!

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June 6, 2019

Sharks. By Katie Adams

Katie Adams

Lightning strikes kill more people per year than sharks, yet most people don’t think twice before going out in a storm. Shark education is important for the general beach-going, diving and spearfishing community, so that the overall fear that the popular movie Jaws instilled on the 1975+ generation can be remediated into factual, research-based information. Take my trip this past weekend as an example:
After four hours spearing various fish on my first spearfishing trip, we finally rolled upon a rocky patch that lit up the fish finder like a disco ball. Adrenaline was pumping as we geared up, inhaled, and rolled off the boat and into the abyss. Adjusting, we turned, looking for the prize fish below. Instead, saw a large shadow circling in front of us.
As our vision focused, we realized who we were sharing the reef with… a 12-foot Tiger Shark. I was in absolute awe. Seeing this regal ridgeback shark that I’ve only seen deceased or on TV in front of me, alive and in his natural setting, was one of the most magical moments I’ve ever experienced.
The world slowed down, my heartbeat sped up and my vision tunneled. He swam gracefully, with non-threatening behavior, only to check us out, and see what business we were bringing upon his area.
As he was swimming out of sight, and I was coming out of my daze, I hear my name being screamed underwater. It seems I was the only one who wanted to stick around to see what other natural behaviors this shark would show for us. As we ascended, with empty stringers, the shark circled back once more. Only to check us out again, then swam off, never to be seen again.
Just like a kid discovering nature, sharks are very curious creatures. They swim by divers, snorkelers or spearfishermen (who haven’t speared fish yet) only to see who we are and what we are doing. Remember, once we enter the ocean, we are in their environment – their territory. We are only visitors, and must not only respect, but understand their way of life.
This concept applies to all sea creatures.
Remember to do the stingray shuffle on a beach, dive five feet above the reef to respect the reef inhabitants, and keep any vessel at least 100 yards from a marine mammal.
Understand, every marine organism is just living its life and trying to survive, as are we. It’s the circle of life, remember?
How can you learn more about sharks? First, be proactive. Using a Shark Shield (repels sharks without injury) is a great first step. They work effortlessly and efficiently. Second, take the time to learn about our local marine fauna. You’re welcome to stop by the shop and ask questions.
I have many references, books, and three years of studying sharks that I can hopefully help expand your understanding of sharks and calm your soul. You are welcome to email me with questions as well at katieadams@wakulladiving.com.
Sharks are magnificent creatures. My life goal is to assist in increasing shark education throughout our ocean-loving community and beyond.

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June 13, 2019

The Rescue.

Every diver should know that each will save their partner’s life and be saved by their partner while pursuing this adventurous sport. If it has not happened yet, it will, soon enough. Parents understand this concept as they almost routinely perform rescues of their young children. Every NAUI course has a rescue component built into the schedule for just this reason.Recall the class training module called buddy breathing and later gas sharing where you simulate being out of gas underwater and your partner gives you his? Back in the day, buddy breathing was done by sharing a single second stage. One person takes two breaths, then while blowing a fine line of bubbles, hands the second stage to their partner so that he or she could take two breaths. This procedure is repeated until the pair reach the surface. Someone just saved someone’s life! Today we have two second stages to make a rescue easier.I was 16 when I found myself and a young buddy in 50 feet of water in Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. He ran out of air! He calmly asked for my regulator but I could not take it off my neck. Back then we tied the mouthpiece to the neck for fear of loosing it. He calmly put his hand on my chest and with the other hand yanked the regulator from my body, took two breaths and calmly handed it back. We then started up and reached the surface safely, for the swim back to shore. After that, we cut the straps from our regulators, and dubbed them widow makers.Over the years we became very proficient at sharing gas, making this very serious skill a game when training. I had an advanced class diving a 60 foot deep tower once when I realized I was unexpectedly out of gas. “Teaching opportunity” I thought as I went to each of my six students in succession and buddy breathed a short distance up until we all reached the surface. They thought the drill was awesome, never realizing they had just saved my life.Pick your buddy as though he is going to save your life, because he will. If he tells you they are unwilling (as some agencies recommend) don’t dive with them. My father and I diver-trained together in 1964 and on a dive several years later, he rescued my girlfriend when she ran out of air at 70 feet off Pokai Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. His excellent rescue meant 52 years later that I could take that same girl back to Hawaii for our 50th anniversary. Take rescue training seriously, especially in diving.Take responsibility to always be ready to rescue your buddy. That begins before the dive ever starts, with training, carrying the proper rescue technology, proper equipment maintenance, dive planning, and personal physical fitness. You know what they say, the best rescue is the one you don’t need to perform! But when the occasion becomes necessary, step up to the task and save a life because you can do it, you are ready.

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June 20, 2019

The Blacktip vs. Spinner Shark. By Katie Adams

Before my move to the Sunshine State from Texas, I spent a few years doing research on the Blacktip shark (different from the common Blacktip Reef shark).
As I focused on their reproductive cycles, my friends and fellow undergraduates looked at their age and growth. During our studies, we found that captains of charters and local fishermen were misidentifying the Spinner shark they commonly caught with the Blacktip shark, which had the same if not a higher catch rate in the Texas Gulf coast area.
Here are two key markers for identifying a Blacktip shark from a Spinner shark and brief background on their life history and tips on how to cook them.
The number one cause for misidentification of the Spinner shark is due to the fact that the Spinner sharks, as adults, actually have black tips on every fin!
When it comes to identifying them when they are under 3 feet, that one is a bit more challenging, and I recommend referring to the easier distinguishing reference below to help you clearly identify them. This is due to the morphological color change both the Blacktip and Spinner go through as they grow into adults.
While Blacktip pups (the term for a baby shark) are born with black tips on every fin, as they grow, the spots fade (most prominently on their anal fin).
Whereas Spinner pups are born with little to no black tips on their fins, and as they grow, the spots appear.
Wild!
Thankfully, this second, more measurable, difference explained below help make it a little easier to identify them at all lengths.
This easier way of identifying between the two sharks is looking at the distance between their dorsal fin and the tip of their nose. Spinner sharks have a longer distance between the two points along with a generally smaller dorsal fin.
The Blacktip, on the other hand, has a shorter distance between their dorsal and nose with a much larger dorsal fin.
These differences are so prominent that you can even tell what the shark is before you bring it into your boat!
Both species are commonly found in the North Florida region, with the highest volumes in the summer.
This is because they, like most other marine species, migrate.
Where there is the sun, there is warm water, and where there is warm water, there is food.
Sharks tend to follow the food, leading them south during our winter around Brazil and southern Caribbean, and north for the summer along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast and the Eastern Atlantic.
Their diets consist of smaller fish, and very rarely crustaceans. So, your average Shad or Bonito should do the trick if you’re looking to catch one for the ‘steak of the sea’ dinner.
On that note, when preparing a shark, make sure you soak it in buttermilk for a few hours to soak out all of the extra ammonia that’s naturally in shark meat. Don’t want to poison your liver with extra toxins while trying to enjoy a delicacy of the sea!

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June 27, 2019

Test your breathing gas! By Katie Adams

As part of a dive instructor and his dive master’s preparations for a checkout dive the following day, rental gear for the students was checked and loaded into the van. Upon arriving at Morrison Springs, a popular training dive site, the van was unloaded and the group assembled their gear. The students completed their buddy checks, and the class entered the water. The students were led to the underwater platform at 15 feet and went through the skills needed for open-water certification.
On the surface, it appeared as if everything was going fine.The only clue that something was amiss was the instructor’s muffled coughing through his regulator. His coughing started early into the dive as the three students were finishing up their skills, at which point he realized there was a serious problem. The instructor switched to his pony bottle, carried as a bailout, signaled to his dive master that there was a problem and ascended with the students.
The instructor broke into a coughing fit upon breaking the surface. The instructor guided the students out of the water, comparing the gas in his primary tank to that in his bailout during the swim to the shore. In his debriefing he disclosed to the students that he thought he had been breathing contaminated gas, using the event as a teaching moment as to why it is important to check your gas, even if it comes from a reliable source. He described the effects of the carbon dioxide that he noticed — lightheadedness and respiratory agitation — and then explained that asphyxia is the largest concern with carbon dioxide poisoning. The students were invited to smell test the gas from the contaminated cylinder and even with their minimal experience could identify the sharp, acidic presence of the carbon dioxide.
The dives continued after an extended surface interval to allow for the carbon dioxide to flush out of the instructor’s respiratory system. Emergency oxygen was present but, according to the Divers Alert Network, “breathing air may be just as effective in washing out the CO2” and was therefore not administered.
Upon returning to the dive facility, the tank was emptied and examined. The interior of the tank was clean with no sign of corrosion, and its last visual inspection two weeks earlier. Focus then shifted to testing the gas storage banks; all banks were disconnected and checked for contaminated gas with none having any trace of contamination. The gas coming directly from the compressor was then tested, showing no signs of contamination. This was expected as legally mandated quarterly gas inspection was done earlier that month, and the facility’s compressor exceeded standards.
The only logical explanation was that the contamination in the rental tank came from when it might have been re-filled by another facility while in possession of a customer. A gas-drive compressor can collect exhaust fumes into its intake and pump contaminants into the scuba cylinder.
The takeaway message from this event is that the individual diver is responsible for checking his breathing gas. This begins at the fill station with a check of pressure and contents. Part of this check should include smelling the gas to identify any strong or suspicious odors. This check should be done regardless of the reputation of the facility and any peculiar findings should be reported to the facility ASAP!
You just might save someone’s life or at least their dive. If you have any concerns about the air quality at your local dive facility, ask to see their air quality test results.

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July 4, 2019

Be ready. By Ajay Powell

This past weekend was an eye opener for me. I saved my buddy’s life, and I’m a new scuba diver!
I relied upon the training that I just completed to get my buddy safely to the surface. It was no drill!
Here are my lessons learned:

  • The most important thing for diving scuba is to get good training and certifications by a diving instructor.
    There are multiple opportunities beyond the basic class available, like advanced, wreck diving, cavern diving, cave diving, rescue diving, and navigation diving, to name just a few.
    Also another thing is to take a refresher course if you have been out of the sport for a while.
  • Equipment is next in line in order of importance. Before you go out on a dive (freshwater or salt) always look over all your life-support gear such as your BCD, regulator, fins, mask, wetsuit, and booties.
    You want to be sure that your equipment will function as designed, giving you a safe dive.
    Fix broken equipment and/or get replacement parts installed before you set out to your dive location.
    New equipment is always tested in a pool or confined water before taking it into challenging conditions.
    In my case, my buddy had just replaced her second stage regulator with an integrated BC inflator/second stage. Her training was with the second stage around her neck on a necklace. When she needed it, she could not find it because she had replaced it with an Air II.
    Be sure before diving that you get your gear looked over by professionals and before you take it out, test it out!
  • The final lesson I would like to share is dive buddies. The reason we have a dive buddy is to provide another brain on your team.
    Choose your buddy as though your life depended on it, because it will! The result is surviving an accident because a fully redundant system backs up your life support system swimming right next to you.
    Diving alone lacks redundancy. Know each other’s gear configuration to better assist them when they are near panic.
    The buddy system starts well before the dive. Communicate plans, skills, objectives, and emergency protocols before getting into the water. Go over signals and how you will communicate while on your dive either by hand signals or on your slate. Make sure friends knows where you’re going and let them know when you return. After all, we do this activity as a recreation, so it should be fun!
    I have become more mindful of the NAUI motto, “Safety through education,” now that I have lived through and survived the consequence of a diving incident.
    My buddy came over after we surfaced and gave me a big hug! Her husband shook my hand and thanked me for returning her to him safely.
    My instructor is now encouraging me to become his assistant instructor.
    Those were wonderful rewards.

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July 11, 2019

All those gases.

I am often asked about all those breathing gases that divers must manage during their frequent exposure to depth underwater. It seems like a challenging question lacking a simple answer. Physics provides us with the framework of this discussion because the nature of what we breathe underwater is in constant change.
First of all, the density of water, 800 times that of the air above it, results in a rapid increase in pressure as we descend in the water. The pressure of the gas we breathe at 33 feet in sea water, for example, is twice that of the surface gas, regardless of its contents! That means there are twice as many molecules in the same volume as there are at the surface. Breathing gases become more dense the deeper we go. Regulators help us breath at depth by sensing the change in pressure down there and adjusting the much higher pressure supply (carried on the back of the diver) to the ambient (surrounding) pressure. Regulators, simply put, help us overcome the density challenge to breathe underwater.
Our body feels the pressure of each gas that we breathe. Our breathing gas is made up of oxygen, nitrogen and trace elements (mostly argon). When we change pressure, we change the gas we consume while breathing it. When increasing the pressure, we increase the number of molecules of each of the gases within the mix. A popular mix called air, has roughly 21 percent oxygen and 78 percent nitrogen (and 0.9 percent argon). Argon is an inert gas, like nitrogen, so let’s add it to the nitrogen. While the percent of the mix remains constant in open circuit diving, the concentration of the molecules does not. The partial pressure of this blend called air at the surface pressure of one atmosphere is .21, .79 respectively. But at 33 feet in salt water, it becomes twice that of the surface, or .42, and 1.6. If we carry this concept down to the maximal recreational depth of 132 feet we find we are at 5 times the surface pressure, and breathing this blend we call air, means we are consuming the equivalent of 100% oxygen on the surface. The nitrogen is at a whopping partial pressure of 3.95!
Back in the early 1970s, we struggled with the enormous nitrogen load we consumed during a dive. This nitrogen load limited us to short dive times and/or long decompression obligations, the deeper we dove. Somehow, we needed to reduce the amount of nitrogen we were breathing. At that time a commercial diving company was diving a proprietary blend that did just that. It later became known as Nitrox. It took the NOAA Dining Office to unravel the opportunity and create a structure that made it available to us all. Simply put, we just added oxygen to the mixture, thus we reduced the nitrogen in the breathing medium and thus the decompression stress.
With less nitrogen available in a breathing mix, we have less decompression required, and we can stay down longer. A 32 percent Nitrox blend at 33 feet sea water, has a partial pressure of oxygen of .64 and of nitrogen load of 1.36. With a blend of 38 percent, a diver can stay at 60 feet sea water, not the 60 minutes (air limits), but 200 minutes, without required decompression stops to return safely to the surface.
The concern is watching the limits of the elevated oxygen at depth. We can not exceed a partial pressure of oxygen of 1.6 and for more than 45 minutes. But the partial pressure of oxygen for a 38 percent blend at 60 feet sea water is only 1.1, just over what you would face on that air dive to 132 feet sea water. The oxygen clock limit for that partial pressure is 240 minutes in a given day. And who would want to spend 3 1/2 hours underwater at a time?
Well, actually, now that we can, more and more people are doing just that. They learn how to manage all those gases to their better health and happiness.

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July 18, 2019

Valves are being neglected, and no one realizes it.

Diving is an equipment intensive sport, as such the maintenance of this equipment is essential. Annually, this includes bringing your regulators in to be serviced and your tanks to be visually inspected. Other dive equipment is often neglected which could lead to premature cancellation of a dive or, in the worst case, a problematic scenario underwater. An often overlooked piece of diving equipment is the tank valve which is often viewed as part of the cylinder and not an independent component.
At this point, you might be wondering why you should care about valve service or replacement. It is possible to avoid several issues through proper maintenance. Have you ever paid for a breathing gas fill only to find that your cylinder is nearly empty when you are ready to dive? This infuriating problem could be the result of a small leak caused by either a worn o-ring or high pressure seat, both of which are replaced during a valve service. You may have noticed that there are dive tanks with hand wheels which are difficult to turn. This is often a product of corrosion. As valves are made of coated brass, this corrosion often appears as a light green due to the copper present in the alloy or as pinkish due to the zinc present in the alloy. This corrosion weakens the parts in the valve and its build-up can physically prevent it from opening and closing as designed. This can create problems with valves sticking either opened or closed which can be hazardous to the operator as they do not have full control over the 3000 psi of gas present in the standard Aluminum 80ft³ cylinder. A common solution to this problem is ultrasonic cleaning in which an acidic solution is used in conjunction with high frequency vibrations to remove corrosion. Your local dive service center should be able to provide this service but depending on the level of corrosion it might be more cost effective to replace the valve. This especially holds true for older valves with replacement parts no longer in production.
Of course, the best course of action is to prevent corrosion from happening in the first place through the concept of preventative maintenance. As with your other dive equipment, it is necessary to wash you tank valve with clean fresh-water after every dive, especially when diving primarily in salt-water which expedites corrosion due its high levels of dissociated ions. It is also important to note that the brass used to produce valves is a relatively soft metal, as such it is easily susceptible to damage. Damage to the valve often occurs when cylinders are loaded into truck beds and not secured. For the sake of protecting your valves and your personal safety, it is important to secure your cylinders when transported. By maintaining and caring for your valves now, they will serve their purpose for years to come.

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July 25, 2019

Scuba gear: renting vs. buying. By Katie Adams

Are you a new diver and wondering if you should rent your scuba gear or buckle up and buy your own?
Have you been renting for a while and think you’re ready to take the next step?
Or do you own your own equipment but don’t want to haul it to your next diving destination?
Here’s a break-down of the pros and cons of rental versus buying gear and what you should always keep in mind for each route.
I have been a renter, or “half-renter” (where I only rent certain items, not a full set of gear) since I was first certified eight years ago.
Let’s be honest, renting is convenient and accounts for less luggage weight on flights. Lots of dive shops in Florida and the Caribbean try to help you out and have discounts if renting for multiple days or for whole families.
Renting also gives you a good idea of what you do and don’t like when it comes to important life support equipment like your regulator, that allows you to breathe, and your buoyancy control device.
Also, renting is a great short-term option if your finances need to be spent else-where for the time being; however, if you’re renting for long periods of time, like eight years, you will end up losing money in the long run, as regulators and buoyancy control devices pay for themselves in a few years’ time.
Finally, always check your rental gear before getting onto the boat. Although dive shops are good at keeping gear in adequate shape, failures can always occur due to previous renters being hard on the gear.
Buying gear is a financial commitment, and there are lots of choices on the market these days; however, researching yourself, talking with local dive shops, and asking fellow divers what their recommendations and previous experiences are will certainly assist in narrowing the buying field down for you.
Having your own gear can also give you the opportunity to customize it to your own liking. From custom fitting mouth pieces, to colored regulators and buoyancy compensators, to prescription lenses in your mask and fins that match the amount of work you want to put out underwater, the scuba gear market has just about anything you can think of to allow others to recognize your gear on a boat, and allows for you to have the most relaxing time as possible while spearfishing or exploring coral reefs.
Once you have your own gear, and travel with it, you know who has used the gear and how they have treated it.
I still insist that you check your gear before getting on the dive boat! Failures can happen at any time, and you want to be sure before leaving shore that you’re good to go for a successful dive.
All in all, there is no wrong answer. Numerous factors, including financial, travel, and custom needs are in play.
Again, if you’re looking to buy, I recommend asking dive shops, divers, and researching online to see how different regulators function, how fin flexibility assists in different types of diving conditions, and what styles of buoyancy compensators work with your diving level.
If you’re wanting to hold off and rent for a while, pay attention to the different types of gear you encounter and make note of what you do and do not like when you look to buy in the future.
For either route, always double check to make sure everything works properly..

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August 1, 2019

Scientific diving reciprocity. By Matt Dingess

at S.Marco square

The scientific diving community, unified though the American Academy of Underwater Sciences, has the goal of using diving as a tool to conduct research underwater. This agency was born in a struggle to separate the scientific diving from the stringent OSHA requirements that apply to commercial diving, which often would make most underwater research projects extremely difficult if not impossible to conduct. As such, the organization worked with OSHA to attain an scientific exemption to these standards based on a platform of self-regulation based on consensual standards.
This standardization allows for individuals maintaining an active AAUS scientific diving certification to participate in research with other divers belonging to different organizations which are members of AAUS. The process is done in two ways, one is a Letter of Reciprocity. This method is intended for researchers conducting research in a partnership between their home organization and an organization that is hosting them during their project. This allows for the researcher to fully function as a scientific diver under the authority of the host organization with the host organization taking on the responsibility for the diver during the project.
Divers with an AAUS certification who need to transfer to a new institution must request a Verification of Training letter. This document is written by the diver’s original organization with intent to inform the organization receiving regarding the divers experience and certifications. This form is sent to the diving safety officer to the transfer organization who has the authority to accept the diver or require that the diver takes additional steps to meet the standards of the receiving organization’s diving safety manual.
The concept is not restricted to scientific diving. In the recreational community reciprocity is seen in most diving certification agencies. This is seen when you start your training with one agency and then transfer to another agency to take the next class. The prerequisites for these classes specify that the previous class or equivalent from another training agency is required. This co-operation allows for streamlining diver training and ultimately a better experience for divers worldwide.

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August 8, 2019

Recreational scuba diving with Type I and Type II Diabetes. By Rusty Miller

In the past most if not all recreational scuba diving certifying agencies would not allow persons with type I or type II diabetes get their open water scuba certification.
It was called a contraindicator on all medical forms that if you checked yes in the diabetes box then most if not all instructors would say scuba is not for you. Fast forward to 2019 and most agencies still will not approve you for recreational scuba diving certification until NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors) teamed up with DAN (Divers Alert Network) and their findings from 2005 about diving with diabetes.
DAN found that in all the participants of the study had no issues other than several had sea sickness and could not finish the study. Dan did however set up several guidelines that you as a diabetic should follow.
I am a Type II diabetic and I have been a scuba instructor for about 30 years. I have been teaching scuba diving at Wakulla Dive Center for the last few years and with NAUI the same time.
I have been a diagnosed diabetic for 22 of those 30 years as an instructor. I too was one of those instructors who would not accept the responsibility of teaching someone with diabetes. It is unknown to me or any other instructor how many people didn’t say yes to the question of diabetes on the medical form, but I am confident that there where quite a few over my career as an instructor.
If I had known about the DAN study back in 2005, I would have followed their guidelines and been a better-informed instructor.
The NAUI / DAN guidelines cover both Type I and Type II (insulin and non-insulin dependent) persons who want to discover the fantastic world of the ocean around us.
With any contraindicators you need to have your physician give you the go ahead and your physician needs to be well informed of the potential stress that you go through when you scuba dive. That is why you should receive a physical demand of diving with your medical sign-off sheet to let your physician know and understand the rigors of diving.
For the diabetics who are insulin dependent using an insulin pump, it may not restrict you from diving. If you do your research, you should be able to find an insulin pump that will be able to let you go to the basic open water certification depth of 60 feet.
If you have any questions about Type I and or Type II diabetic diving, please call Rusty Miller, NAUI instructor at Wakulla Dive Center, (850) 745-8208.

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August 15, 2019

Prelude to panic.

Adventure underwater is an awesome attraction to young and old alike.
Breathing underwater differs from the terrestrial experience, a condition that few others can compare. Where else can you fly without wings, visit new and strange life forms and take home supper all at the same time? Granted, it took a few weeks of training, and the purchase or rental of life support equipment to enable you to visit this new realm, but what could possibly go wrong?
I have often wondered why people panic underwater. The more I see this illogical response to stress, the more I think there must be a prelude, something that leads a perfectly stable person to give up logic and claw their way to the surface. I do know we are programed with a fight or flight response when faced with an unexpected threat that works well on land.
First you take a deep breath, then hold it and with adrenaline pumping, decide to fight the danger or run from it. But that is not panic. As divers we must reprogram that instinct because we know we will over expand our lungs and pop them when rapidly running to the surface while holding our breath.
I believe conditions for panic begins long before the dive begins. Preparations for a dive can be very stressful, especially for the inexperienced. Folks may not sleep well the night before, eat poorly or loose their breakfast on the way out to the dive. Dehydration makes you feel strange. Performance expectations and or new experiences in this new and unfamiliar medium may set the stage for trouble when the simplest challenge gets in the way. And we carry so much mental baggage when we dive, that I wonder how we ever get in the water in the first place.
After all, this is supposed to be recreational!
The comment I get from those who have survived panic underwater is that they lost their way. There was no rational thought left in their options.
I watched one person beat his head on the wall of a cave when he thought he was going to die. Another had to just get out when their regulator snagged on a line. They gave up in their own way. (In both cases, I gave them an alternative breathing gas, and they were fine). As with any challenging endeavor, an attitude of survival is required long before engaging in the activity.
Underwater, the addition of maintaining your breathing gas supply adds complication, but does not lessen the survival instinct. Think you can, or think you can’t, either way you are right.
So how can we prevent panic? Be prepared and rested before the dive. Believe in yourself and secure in your abilities, and don’t go beyond those limitations until you are ready to do so. If you feel pressured, then stop and don’t go there. There will always be a better dive available tomorrow. And resolve your phobias before you make the dive.
My wife kidded me about our fear of sharks, until we dove with sharks at Stewart’s Cove in the Bahamas. There, they feed sharks while divers circle the trough. Sharks as big as divers cruise in right over the divers to grab fish heads offered on spikes. A photographer takes pictures to be sure everyone will appreciate the experience while bellied up to the bar.
Truly, it really happened, see me with a shark inches from my head! And I did not panic. It took courage to prepare for that experience, and wisdom to learn from it. Focus on the prelude to prevent the panic.

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August 22, 2019

Building for a Future.

I have built dive programs since the mid 1960s when I was a freshman at a community college in Hawaii. I think I’m at number 8 right now, fifty years later. I should finish writing the book. In a single word, it’s all about people.
I began by pulling in like minded people who had similar goals but often very different backgrounds. Programs began well enough with the right amount of enthusiasm, but fell apart over detail that were based upon backgrounds. “You can’t do that because my agency won’t let you do it”, but “my agency will”! Or “My legal opinion says this and your legal opinion says the opposite “. In the end good people quickly moved on. Rapid turnover is not a good thing.
About program number 3-4, I faced a rebellion that left me with no staff. I hired an old goat of a dive engineer out of the Isles of Mann (the late Michael Dunning), who suggested we build our staff from the bottom up and create similar backgrounds. We introduced the semester long Dive Internship, through which future hires would be taken. They were all trained through the NAUI philosophy of Safety through Education.
It was a struggle to get started that year, what with a review of DOT, OSHA, PSI, University and training agency requirements, but in the end we began producing staff that we were happy to hire. And yes, many never made it through the process, which saved everyone the time and expense of a pro-visionary trial period. When I retired from FSU, we had up to 12 participants every semester.
The Diver Internship has become a formal mentoring and training regiment including required certifications in OSHA mandated topics. Interns become qualified fill station operators, visual inspectors, gas blenders, Hydrotest operators, regulator maintenance and repair technicians, and all manner of other related topics. Some go on to become NAUI instructors!
This year represented another shift. I came to accept the notion of “staff generations” as members moved on once college obligations ended. Travis, a previous intern of sorts, out lived my previous staff by 5 years and as all must, moved on this year. Our summer internship had 4 participants that all completed training and we hired two to keep the facility open into the new year.
Their efforts will be evident as they work on new ideas for next summer’s Dive season. Under discussion are a pool and swimming lessons, travel, expanded training, expanding the fill station, and finally opening the much anticipated Dive Club.
I should mention a second element to program and staff development: enthusiasm, which is epidemic, and a powerful binder to any endeavor. I am thrilled with my new staff, home built and focused on supporting local diving.

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August 29, 2019

Gag Grouper. By Katie Adams

How can you ensure a successful fishing trip almost every time you go offshore? Understanding the life history of your target species is a great start. Knowing how they look, where they go to breed, where the nurseries are, and where they live throughout their mature lives are key elements along with figuring out what they love to eat, of course.
Let’s focus on the Gag Grouper, since their state season is re-opening September 1st for Wakulla County. For those who aren’t as familiar with this species, they are brownish-taupe color with large cheetah-like rings and worm-like lines along both sides of their body. Their fins are darker than their body, with spines coming from the first half of their dorsal fin.
Nurseries for this species are usually found in seagrass bed areas where they can find smaller prey and protection from predators, larger grouper. These seagrass beds are key areas that are nurseries for dozens of other species, therefore I always promote keeping those areas protected and undisturbed so that we can keep the populations stable.
After a few months, as they are slow growers compared to other reef fish species, the juveniles head offshore to rocky bottoms or reefs to completely mature, and potentially change sexes, as all Gag Grouper are born female. They then participate in spawning aggregation, where hundreds of Gag come together to spawn at the same time, usually along a continental shelf. These spawning events happen from January to April in our local area, hence why they are off limits during that time of the year. After spawning, the mature fish will continue to stay offshore on rocky or reef bottoms, where they will continue to participate in spawning aggregations each year until they ultimately die.
When it comes to their diet, they aren’t picky eaters, which is great news for fishermen who are wanting a nice grouper dinner this Labor Day weekend. They have been known to eat juvenile Gag Grouper and other smaller fish like shad and croakers, as well as crabs, shrimp and squid. Whether the bait is alive or frozen on a hook, they will go after it if they’re hungry! To get their full attention, make sure your bait is near the bottom. This species rarely swims around in the middle of the water column like Amber Jacks or Red Snappers.
The current limit is two fish per fisherman, with a minimum keep length of 24-inches. These numbers vary each year depending on the current stock assessment, any new research that was published about their life history (especially their reproductive biology), or a number of other factors. Scientists want to be sure that there will be enough juveniles that will make it to maturity, and reproduce at least once before dying. Every fish’s contribution to the next generation matters. Even though Gag Grouper females can release over a million eggs at a time, most of those eggs are eaten by other fish before they’re even fertilized… Grouper caviar, anyone?

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September 5, 2019

Megalodon teeth.

Back a few million years ago, 23 to 3.6, from the Pleistocene to the Miocene, to be more precise, lived a giant, up to 60 feet long, shark with giant teeth that, as with all sharks, lost them when attacking whales.
These big teeth or Megalodon teeth, fell to the sediment and were fossilized over time. Such a shark, related to the Great White Shark of today, was found in all oceans. Its teeth are found in most Miocene deposits, including fresh and saltwater sites.
Yes, I have one, a giant of a tooth the size of my hand, that was found in a spring many years ago. It can be seen at my shop. Just holding the tooth and imagining the size of the shark’s mouth is both impressive and humbling.
Any advanced diver can get one these days. The 2019 Summer edition of Dan’s Alert Diver magazine has a feature article describing the Megalodon Ledge Site located off North Carolina.
I discovered this area when visiting Surf City, where dive operations will take folks out to recover Megalodon teeth for a fee. I have seen a bedroom ringed with beautiful Megalodon teeth the size of your hand.
The ledge is found at depths around 100 feet, miles offshore. Because of the deeper depth, poor visibility and weather challenges, diving injuries have alerted the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate the activity and make sensible recommendations in this article.
The author acknowledges the thrill of the hunting expedition, and the risks diver take to gather as many as they can. Gold fever comes to mind.
Solo diving for Megalodon teeth is not uncommon, which when done with proper training and technology can be safer (carry a separate buddy cylinder, redundant regulators and flotation).
In the heat of the chase however, failing to monitor gas supplies, getting lost from their anchor and extending bottom times can become a challenge.
These divers prefer to be heavy on the bottom, which adds to the ease of a return to the surface. But the thrill of the treasure outshines the risk of the dive.
If you want to collect one of these teeth, a trip to North Carolina may just pique your interest.
But be sensible. Dive with a buddy, take plenty of the right breathing gas and use reliable dive technology, including a dive computer. Also, if you have not made these dives before, get a guide. The USCG has investigated 73 recreational diving injuries around the country since 2017! Let’s do this dive right and not feed their database.
I have never visited Megalodon Ledge. The weather was bad when we had the opportunity, so we did not take the risk. Let’s be clear: I bought my Megalodon tooth many decades ago! A bunch of kids where digging in the spring’s outflow sandbed, and had recovered one which at the time was resting in a 5 gallon bucket at the surface. I asked what it was and was told they found these all the time. I paid the kids $20 for it, as I had no idea what they were worth. Neither did they.
In Surf City, a comparable tooth was $200 a few years ago.
Hurricane Dorian, currently headed to this area, will uncover many more Megalodon teeth, so consider the trip if you want one of these teeth on your mantle.
But be sensible, please…

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September 12, 2019

Why Hawaii?

Every dive shop needs a travel plan. Most of the continental USA has seasonal diving opportunities, a summer activity that includes spear fishing, scalloping, Lion fish harvesting, cavern diving and just for the fun of it: 3 D exploration. Once you have done all of that, most want to just get away to an exotic place with clear water and beautiful reefs/fish. So most dive shops offer “Travel” to adventure. These packages are seldom profitable by themselves, but when bundled up with training and equipment sales, keep the business revenue flowing during the off season. Predictably, that off season has started for our diving community. Mind you our fall water is warm, the seas are calm, but the interest is gone, except for the few hard core divers. It seems to correspond with a return of the pressures of school, refocused business, and football.
My wife and I had a business plan that was to follow the crowd into the Caribbean, perhaps on a boat, where travel opportunities could be offered at selected ports of call, and packaged with rebreather or cave training. One problem with that idea is the Fall Hurricanes that this year would have caught us in Puerto Rico or the Bahamas and probably put us out of business by now. Many of our winter revenue has come from folks around the world, in the form of technical training. I have specialized in rebreather training in our many caverns as a way to cost effectively maximize the in-water time, and safety. Weather is much less a concern when you can drive to the dive site. And the local springs are the same warm temperature year around.
But then last year we returned to our origins (Hawaii) and rediscovered what drove us into the sea in the first place. We purchased a large home on the slopes of Mauna Kea, that at 1,600 feet, is comfortably mild year around. We are only a few miles from beautiful beaches, where shore diving is easy and fun. The reefs of the Big Island of Hawaii have not been as badly impacted by climate change, resulting in an abundance of colorful sea creatures to discover. A 1,000-square-foot building has been converted into a dive locker, complete with large volume Nitrox generating technology and rebreather gas support. When customers ask for training and are offered the option to complete it in Hawaii, few can turn it down. Our boat model has been relocated to an island out in the middle of the Pacific!
We meet you either at Kona or Hilo Airport and drive you to Honoka’a, located on the Hamakua Coastline (go ahead and look it up). The Koa wood house is huge, with three guest bedrooms upstairs, overlooking an avocado orchard, and the ocean 2 miles away. Yes, we have also become farmers in this process, but who does not like fresh avocados, papayas and citrus? Look up Kolopa Park, just mauka (up slope) of us to find a wonderful hiking park. We dive train in Hilo Bay (lots of turtles), Kawaihae, and the many beaches of Kohala, such as Mahukona. There are many caverns (lava tube) off shore of Kohala, accessible from a Neuton 45 tech-friendly dive boat out of Kawaihae Harbor.
I depart for Hawaii soon, driving another load of fill station technology across to LA and on a boat to Hilo. I then drive up to Oregon to leave my truck with a brother and catch an inexpensive flight to Kona. When you look ahead a few months, the cost of flights is cut in half, when chosen wisely. I leave behind a new staff of qualified technologists to hold the fort down for the winter. I return in the Spring to continue training a new batch of diving interns. Ironically the company is the same, just available now at two ends of the USA. Come join us for a week or two and enjoy tropical Pacific diving in the USA.

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September 19, 2019

Training.

As I look back over this summer, I think of the students I have had the privilege to train in open water scuba classes.
At every class session I am reminded of how important training is in the scuba industry. It’s not about the financial aspect of the diving industry to me as it is the safety of my students.
As an instructor, I have a responsibility to every individual to make sure I don’t cut corners when it comes to training them for the underwater world that is about to open to them.
In my 30 years as an instructor I can’t count how many folks I’ve taken through the open water course that have not gone any frther with their training. I try to explain in my classes that open water certification is a great beginning, but for them to be safe divers, they need to at least get the advanced training that is offered.
The advanced certification will give you more tools to take your diving to a higher level and maintain safety for yourself and your dive buddy.
For example, you will learn about diving deeper than 60 feet, the issues that can happen beyond that depth, and how to deal with them.
You will be introduced to skills like underwater navigation using a submersible compass as well as the hidden beauty of diving at night. The advanced course opens a whole new aspect of your diving experience that otherwise you are missing out on.
If you opt to go further with your training, the diving industry has a plethora of different levels that can turn into a career if you choose.
The last thing about training I would like to bring to your attention is don’t dive beyond what you have trained to dive! That is the most important message I can give you.
The main reason I bring this up is here in North Florida we have some of the best spring diving in the world. In those springs, there are caverns and caves that go miles underground. I take all my students to springs for the first part of their checkout dives, and take them to the entrance of the cave but never beyond.
There is a mystique about a cave that tries to draw you inside beyond what you are trained to do. I call it the demon of the dark.
Unfortunately, to some divers, its very powerful and it can kill you if you give it the chance. If you want to beat that demon you will need to get very special training to penetrate the caves in North Florida or anywhere, for that matter.
The bottom-line is that diving is a dangerous thing to do; it can be less of a danger and more of an adventure with the proper training.

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September 26, 2019

Importance of maintenance. By Ajay Powell

There is a lot you can do to maintain your dive gear. Of course, we can always encourage starting off with good quality scuba diving gear.
The mask is one of the most useful technologies required for a dive. The scuba mask offers a good view underwater and helps keep water out of the eyes while diving.
After every dive in saltwater it is a good habbit to wash your soft goods: the BCD, mask, fins, wetsuit, dive computer, etc.
We often see cylinders that have bad valves, the result of a lot of corrosion due to a failure to rinse off the saltwater.
If you see any corrosion around the valve or the handle, it’s a smart plan to come in and get service performed.
At the dive shop we take your valve apart and put it in some cleaner that will dissolve all the corrosion. Then, we replace damaged parts to ensure your valve is in the best condition.
Corrosion can condemn a cylinder. It is our job to look closely at the walls of your cylinder and compare it to national standards.
Most of the cylinders we inspect are aluminum. We often see corrosion under the paint. To ensure your painted cylinder stays in great shape, rinse often and fully remove the salts!
Never leave your valves open after a dive. An open valve breathes as it heats up and cools off. Moist air will get in and will cause internal corrosion.
After use, thoroughly wash the outside and boot assembly with clean fresh water and wipe dry with a towel.
Your regulator is an important part of your life-support technology. Simple maintenance includes soaking your regulator in a fresh water basin. Be sure you replace the cap sealing the first stage from water intrusion. Give it a
10-minute soak. Some might add a Virkon disinfectant to kill any unwanted bugs.
Once soaked, hang the regulator up to dry on a rack that does not stretch the hoses. Once dried, store the regulator in a regulator bag. This will keep roaches and other undesirable bugs out of your regulator.
Annually, have your regulator checked by an expert to avoid expensive repairs.
Why the topic of dive equipment maintenance now? Because now is the time to review the condition of your dive equipment before you store it for the winter.
Removing corrosion now reduces the damage you may find as you ramp up in the spring! Get your dive gear serviced early. An ounce of prevention worth a pound of repair.

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October 3, 2019

Underwater Rugby. By MICHAEL “MISCHA” STEURER

I am delighted to tell you about a sport that has captivated me for half of my life: Underwater Rugby (UWR). It’s an underwater team sport which is suitable for folks of almost any age, as long as they love the water. As a truly three-dimensional game, two teams of six, and up to six relieve players per team on the exchange bank, don masks, fins, and snorkel, along with a protective ear cap (just like the water polo players use), and fight their way using breath-holds to reach the goal of putting a saltwater-filled ball into the basket of the opposing team. The baskets sit in the deep end of a regular sized swimming pool, between 12 and 15 ft deep. How does that sound for a game plan? With the saltwater makes the ball sink down in the fresh water of the pool, and the ability to use full sized fins, allow for a quiet, fast-paced game under the water’s surface, away from the cheering crowd up above.
This sport originated as a fitness training exercise in a diving club in Germany in 1961. The first UWR world championship was played in 1980. Therefore, this is a fairly young sport, and not many folks really know about it, although some clubs do exist in the northeast US. This game has little in common with real rugby, but is more similar to handball. The trickiest part for all team members is holding your breath underwater while keeping your eyes on the ball and on your opponents. Once you possess the ball you are fair game to be attacked from all sides, and they try really hard to get that ball away from you. Only when you let go of the ball are your opponents forced to let go of you. Sounds rougher than it really is; all movements under water are slower and less forceful than on land. Nevertheless, you will sleep very well after a match, due to the amount of exercise you put out, and you will definitely lose all your fears of being exposed to unusual situations when scuba diving or just snorkeling for fun.
So why am I telling you all this? Because I played this sport for 15 years before coming to the US in 2001. After coming to the US and realizing there was no active clubs in the southeast, I tried for years to find a way to put a team together to share the love and passion for the sport across the Atlantic and into more American soil. Finally, this spring, myself, my wife and a colleague started an Underwater Rugby Club right here in the greater Tallahassee area! Currently, we hold a training/play session once a week on Mondays between 5:30pm and 7pm at the FAMU pool on Wahnish Way. We are still looking for players to build up two complete teams. If you are interested, or want to know more, you can contact me by email at MischaSteurer@gmx.com, find the Tallahassee Underwater Rugby Club on Face Book, or just stop by the Wakulla Dive Center, where Katie Adams will be happy to tell you her own experience with this new adventure.

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October 10, 2019

Back in the islands.

The transition from Wakulla to The Big Island of Hawaii takes me two weeks by the time I drag a crate of support technology for the new Hawaii facility across the country on I-10, drop it off in Los Angeles, then drive up to Oregon where I park the truck at my brother’s farm, then catch a train to Seattle for a flight to Kona, Hawaii.
This year, I was diverted by the closure of I-10 at Beaumont, Texas up to I-20 and danced with the remnants of the same storm headed inland. It took an extra day and tank full of fuel, but I planned the extra. Tomorrow I pick up that crate in Hilo!
I’m building a blending station for Nitrox/Oxygen gasses, the likes Hawaii has never seen. I shipped a Liquid Oxygen Dewar flask over this time. It should be fun!
The diving is always great as the water is warm year around, and coral reefs abound. What was lacking was the support for technical diving. I’m already attracting rebreather students again for training in Paradise this year, as expected.
Avocados date back several million years to Godwanaland. Back in 8,000 BC they were found in caves with early man and in 1833 were introduced to Hawaii (and Florida). Last year I inherited (when we purchased a home on the Big Island) an abandoned orchard of cultivar trees, which I rescued earlier this year. We have been caring for them ever since.
Over the past few days I’ve been running my Kubota Tractor, taking out 10-foot high Ginnie Grass that has filled in between my 57 Avocado Trees. Ann has kept the trees in the open, a challenging task using only a weed whacker! But my Bush Hog is death on giant grass. The Avocados are prolific this year. The G4 tree has over 120 fruits the size of small melons (1-2 pounds)! I took a dozen down to the Farmer’s Market at Honoka’a on Sunday. They sold out quickly. I then went to a local food market in Waimea and started discussions on supplying them for the season. At $2 a pound, that’s a lot of cash. Figure 100 fruit per tree times 25 trees (half of my orchard). Yes, I have become a farmer in Paradise!
But it is still a small world. While in Hilo picking up a new water regulator (I butchered mine with the Bush Hog), I picked up a hitch hiker. Got to talking and found he is from Wakulla County, his kids attend Wakulla High School. He’s house sitting in Hilo for a bit for someone currently living in Wakulla. It seems we have a Hawaiian community in Wakulla County. I suspected that when a customer came in this summer and began talking pure Hawaiian when he heard I was from Hawaii. I wish I was that literate in the Hawaiian language. One more thing for my bucket list! ALOHA.

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October 17, 2019

The Stone Crab. By Katie Adams

With this being my first year living in Florida, comes my first encounter with the stone crab and all the hype that goes along with it. I thought I would educate myself and share with you all the life history and interesting facts about this famous invertebrate that we celebrate! This year, the stone crab opens on October 15th and lasts until mid-May. This is to allow the stone crab to mate and reproduce, as spring through fall times of the year are their mating season.
Stone crabs are mostly found just below the low tide mark burrowed inside rocks and ledges, sandy areas and seagrass beds, though this can vary due to their food abundance and distribution. They can be found on both the Atlantic and Gulf side of Florida, and have been seen up to North Carolina. The Florida stone crab inhabits the southern and eastern side of Florida, while the Gulf stone crab lives in the northern panhandle region; however, lots of cross-mating occurs within the Gulf, so cross-breeds do exist. The main diet for both Florida and Gulf stone crab consists of smaller crustaceans, oysters, worm, as well as larger fish that they scavenge off of. Predation of the stone crab is primarily done by the horse conch.
The size limit for the stone crab is based on the size of their claws. This year, the minimum size limit is two and three-quarter inches (as long as it is not a female bearing eggs- those are off limits). To properly measure, a ruler is used from the elbow of the claw, to the tip of the lower, immobile claw. Usually, stone crabs are known as “right-handed” due to their right claw being larger than the left. If the crab fits these criteria, the claw is carefully broken off, and the crab is released back into the water. The best part about stone crab, is their ability to regenerate their claws! Making the stone crab an actual renewable source of food for years to come.
The only legal way to catch these rejuvenating crustaceans is via a wood, plastic, or wire trap. Specifications for legal traps can be found on the FWC website. The crab body may not be harmed in the general harvesting of the claws, and as long as they are out of the water, they must at least be kept wet and out of the sun so they don’t suffocate and parish.
Overall, the stone crab has a lot to offer as both a meal and for the environment. They assist in keeping the invertebrate populations under control, and the preparation of the claw meat is so diverse that there are whole festivals for them! I’m excited to try my first stone crab next weekend in St. Marks. I hope to see you there!

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October 24, 2019

Complacency.

Last week I was again told of a death of a diver who was experienced but made a mistake. It’s common enough in regular terrestrial living to forget something and suffer the consequence. Perhaps we forgot to pay a bill, or stayed too long in a metered parking spot. The painful surcharge hurts us in the pocket book, and we write it off as part of the cost of living. But we survive to event. Make a mistake while driving may have more serious consequences.
When venturing underwater, there are no police enforcing rules or best practices, so we are on our own. Furthermore, the consequences are often more complicated, resulting in injury or death. Risks are more emphatic such as spear fishing and attracting sharks. I spear a fish and it bleeds into the water. Sharks, programmed to sense the blood from some distance away, hone into the sent and show up soon after for their share of the bounty. We just happen to be in between their share and them. If they are bigger or more aggressive than us, they win, we loose, and are fortunate to get away without injury. To avoid this encounter, we now use an electronic repellent called Shark Shield and never see the sharks. They get a shock when they approach, and we keep our fish.
But forget to bring it, or forget to turn it on when in the water adds to the risk of spear fishing. This complacency contributes to the level of our risk. To overcome complacency, alert divers use check lists. I start with a “Load Out List” posted on the door of my class room. It includes the 100% oxygen and first aid kits, my save a dive kit, thermal exposure suit, mask, fins, beverage, lunch, sun exposure options, a test of the breathing gas, and its delivery technology (does the regulator work? Does the BC hold air?). I can’t tell you the number of times I have caught mistakes I’ve neglected on my dash out the door! Make up such a list and post it somewhere convenient to see on your way out for a dive.
We even have a turn-around spot (the Hamanocker parking lot) where we turn around for students not paying attention to our load out list! So what do we catch and turn around for? Forgot my fins or wet suit are the two most common. No fins no dive, no wet suit a cold dive and added unnecessary risk. But the more consequential mistakes are not testing the breathing gas either for content or volume. A low tank results in a premature out of air emergency. The wrong contents can kill a diver because it will change your decompression profile and elevate your risk of narcosis.
Complacency is considered the number one risk of diving. We get very familiar with our diving to the point that we stop checking for the details that keep us safer. We use a fatality case in training new divers that presented more than 6 mistakes that if caught by the diver would have prevented a death. The first was sleep deprivation (drove all night from Texas). The second was not following the dive plan. The third was diving with known defective life support technology. The forth was not testing his breathing gasses. The fifth was not maintaining his rig (no maintenance) and the sixth was not reviewing emergency protocols so that if a problem came up, his buddy could rescue him. We teach the 3 “Oh S___T” Rule, that after three mistakes, we abort the dive, a nod to our propensity to complacency. We are obviously not ready for the dive!
In the most recent case I hear the person made a deep dive to near 100 meters (300 feet) using no helium in their breathing system. At best this would render them incapable of rational thought. No one would intentionally make such a blunder, thus another senseless death due to Complacency. Had they tested their breathing gas, they would still be here today.

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October 31, 2019

Cavern Diving. By Katie Adams

Scuba diving is nothing short of a magical experience. As soon as your eyes submerge under the waterline, you enter a whole other world completely
foreign to the one we know and live on today. From creepy coral that look like brains to fish with teeth that can take a chunk, and everything in-between,
life under water is fascinating, yet still a giant mystery.
For divers who want to explore beyond coral reefs or freshwater rivers, and take the first step into technical diving, there are caverns. Cavern diving is something you should not try until you are properly trained by a certified cavern instructor,
as cavern diving can turn dangerous very quickly.
So, what’s the difference between a cavern and a cave? Caverns are the entrances to caves in which you are in an overhead environment, however you still have natural daylight coming from the surface.
The latter factor is always important to remember!
In contrast, a cave is the area in which you no longer have direct access to the surface. This requires more training and lots of practice with a certified cave instructor due to the ease of kicking up bottom material, and getting lost.
The world inside of caverns can be quite interesting.
Thick limestone carves the roof and walls in various patterns where slow-moving catfish or perch make their home. Some small patches of grass or algae grow in just the right spots where that natural sunlight hits the inside of the cavern each day. Sometimes, you can find cave-dwelling critters that are naturally blind, due to the lack of light, in the cavern as they have got lost or followed food into the more open environment. They are quite interesting looking critters, too! Anyone who
has an interest in geology, biology, or archeology would thoroughly enjoy this new specialty of diving, but as I mentioned before, it comes with lots of training!
What is so important about having all of this training just because there’s limestone over my head now instead of the direct surface, you ask?
First, it’s important to know your limits, and remember where a cavern ends and a cave begins. Divers can easily be called into the depths of caves, lose the natural daylight, and get lost due to panicking, not having a reel tied to the entrance
of the cavern, or by running out of breathing gas before finding their way out. Second, it is important to practice handling and tying down a reel before entering the overhead environment. Reels are essentially your primary lifeline back out of a
cavern, especially if divers have kicked up the bottom, making visibility poor. Understanding how to properly tie them down so they don’t come loose off
of a rock, and how to guide yourself to and from the starting point, especially in low visibility, is easier said than done.
Overall, there are many different platforms of diving, and always new areas to explore underwater. Cavern diving is very different from your open coral reef, with a different biological niche of plants and animals that inhabit the limestone hole. I recommend giving it a try if you’re wanting to further your diving platforms! Always, with proper training, of course. Happy diving!

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November 7, 2019

Our Water Table

There is a body of water under your feet, soaking the spaces between particles of sand. It can fill this space up to the ground level and occasionally, beyond the ground level. Where the water stops and the air between the sand begins, we call the water table. It rises up and down depending upon several factors: rain fall, tides, storm surge, drought, and the nature of its drainage. Collectively we call this body of water the Floridan Aquifer. This fresh water aquifer is found all the way up into Georgia and Alabama, and far out under the Gulf of Mexico. As a body of water, it goes down some 600 feet underground.
Drainage occurs by dissolved limestone creating underground passage-ways that, over time, are enlarged by acid rains from the surface. Cave passages move enormous amounts of water collected from the surrounding sand trapping water, and shunts it to the ocean by way of rivers (above and below the ground). The higher the level of the ground water, the more water is shunted to the ocean. When storms flood swamps, they drain into sinkholes that then flush swamp water to the coast.
A storm up-hill say north of Tallahassee, can drop enough rain to cause an underground wave of ground water that days later will elevate the ground water level locally down here. Low lying property can seemingly flood and drain in blue sky weather. When my pumps failed at my underground home days after a large storm years ago, I had a clean, clear fountain in the middle of my house! Days after a hurricane my pumps run continuously, until the wave passes down-hill. We see this effect in local sink holes. the water level in the sinkhole is the groundwater level.
I was diving at Blue Grotto near Williston mid Florida on Saturday. To my surprise, the spring was flooded up over their boardwalk floating their dock high in the air. Visibility was down perhaps 20-30 feet from where it is normally at 100 feet. It too will return down 9 -10 feet and clear up in the weeks to come.
When a hurricane comes ashore, it drives water ahead of the storm that we call the surge. We have a routine version of this in the tides, which can be measured deep in Wakulla Springs. The ground water is pushed back with the surge causing rivers (above and below the ground) to reverse their flow. Coastal springs will reverse their flow and pump sediment back up into the rivers and caves. These deposits will take time to redistribute when the flow is returned to its normal flushing drainage. In the mean time several of our rivers will seem a bit shallower than normal.
You may have noticed our wells are shallow. My Father in Law, hydrologist Jack Rosenau, directed me to sink my well to at least 80 feet for good water back in the early 1970s. I gave up after breaking the casing and hired a local well digger. In a day he dug the well to 50 feet and set the jacket. I was upset that it was too shallow. But he understood our groundwater. He gave me a letter that guaranteed that my well would work for as long as he lived! He was killed in an argument with a neighbor weeks later, but true to his word, my well has never failed to deliver sweet, pure, and abundant water.

Gregg Stanton is away. This column originally ran in November 2018.

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November 14, 2019

Life in the Islands.

I have family visiting for two weeks. Surfing and diving was part of the plan, but we have an avocado orchard to run. The harvest is upon us! Twenty five fruit drop every day. Guacamole dips and avocado smoothies are a daily delight. But so are other farm chores, such as chickens, working cats and servicing trees. We did go touring and diving between chores. Ann and I were hosting a table at the local Farmer’s Market, when I was distracted by a fellow avocado farmer who began recanting his challenges. Rats, pigs, and limited markets.
I asked how he solved his Pig problem, and he said, “Eat them.” He reported he caught 10 last week!
That same day, my family was packing out for a volcano visit when Zack, my daughter’s husband, came in shouting PIG! Several days before Ned, Zack’s Alaskan bush pilot father had set snares in the back to see what was eating our avocados. They caught a boar and all plans changed (again). I left the market and fellow farmers to return home and help in the next adventure. Nicole took my place at the Market and outsold me dramatically.
Now the way we are supposed to dispatch a Polynesian pig is by a knife cut to the throat. Try facing an angry trapped boar and such a fancy as hand combat looks better on an iPad game screen.
Ned ended up getting bit in the process! I interceded and shot the pig. No sooner than that was done, another pig started squealing up-slope (mauka). This time it was a much larger sow. Having learned our lesson, we shot the next pig before we got too close.
Getting them out of the orchard was fun!
There are no local butchers, so the tractor was set up to hoist the carcasses. Ned was an experienced carver and soon had the carcasses reduced to quarters. Then packing the 250 pounds of meat for the freezer took the rest of the day. Fortunately, I recovered the remains in the tractor bucket to bury mauka (up-slope) of an avocado tree, a traditional fertilizing technique here in the islands. But I ran out of daylight so left the remains up in the air.
Later that night we were visited by angry pigs screaming their displeasure at what we did! Ned commented that we only scratched the tip of the problem.
Being the designated turkey day, we got a wild turkey soaking in brine from the day before and fired off the Big Easy, a propane cooker. We have four wild turkeys that walk through our yard every morning, but the turkey we roasted came from a distant neighbor who shot the flock that resided in her yard.
Realizing we were going to have an abundance, we invited friends to share in the feast. Pig and turkey became our Thanksgiving meal by sundown.
Eric was invited and left to go diving in Hilo today. Ned, Zack and Nicole prepared to go to Volcano NPS. Ann and I made our morning walk on the slopes of Mauna Kea.
And while there, a loud freight train noise filled the air. Dogs howled, and the ground shook. Back at the house, people fled outside as the structure swayed. Later we were told it was a 4.9 earthquake.
Hawaii has hundreds of earthquakes, but all over the island. This one was in our back yard.
Maybe the Pig God was telling us something!

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November 21, 2019

My First Dive Experience. By Katie Adams

I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, where the closest beach get-away was almost a 6-hour drive.
Yet for some crazy reason, this Texas girl grew up to become an ocean loving, scuba diving addicted woman. All credit goes towards my grandparents.
As a child, my grandparents would go on many vacations across the world to relax and scuba dive.
Upon their return, they would bring me shells, other souvenirs representing the culture of the areas they went to, and eye-opening stories of life below the surface.
These stories would leave my mind in awe, yet ran my imagination wild.
For my 15th birthday, after years of aspiring to breathe below the surface, my grandparents finally took me to get my basic open water scuba certification.
I was elated!
After hearing about the magical creatures and beautiful corals for years, I am getting one step closer to experiencing it for myself!
Once certified, my grandparents took me to Bonaire for my first dive trip. For those who have never been, Bonaire is not a general tourist island, but an island catered for diving due to the lack of beaches and abundance of coral reefs.
The hotel that we stayed at had a pier that divers jumped off of, and it feels weird to say now, but I was more than ready to jump off of the edge and land into the abyss of the unknown.
After gearing up and completing our buddy checks, my grandparents and I flapped our fins towards the edge of the pier. One by one we jumped in, with me being the final one to enter.
A rage of excitement and nervousness overcame my body at the same time.
With the regulator in my mouth and BC inflated, I paused. Inhale… Exhale… Inhale…
Then, lifting one leg and falling over, I was in the big blue.
Upon our descent, I could look around me quick enough. There was so much to look at! Fish of all shapes, colors, and attitudes. Coral of different shapes and sizes.
Life under the surface was purely magical, with surprises around every corner. It was an astounding feeling being underwater longer than a normal breath hold would allow, and watching how sea life interacts with one another.
Focusing on my breathing and buoyancy, we headed towards the thick of the reef. We passed by parrot fish, trigger fish, file fish, corals and sea fans of vibrant colors, and even a giant moray eel!
I couldn’t believe my 15-year-old eyes!
This was all the things I’ve seen on TV my whole life and now it’s right in front of my face. The air in my scuba cylinder was being consumed fast, to say the least, as my adrenaline was higher than I have ever remembered it being before.
After about 35 minutes, we surfaced. I was a happy camper filled with questions about what we just saw. My grandparents were happy for me, and we delighted to answer all of the weird questions I had as we grabbed a bite to eat and rested before out afternoon dive. Life after experiencing the underwater world has never been the same!

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November 28, 2019

Don’t be tempted by the demon of the darkness! By Rusty Miller

Here in north Florida the ocean diving season is coming to an end for most of the recreational diving community. However, it is by no means the end of recreational diving overall. We are blessed to have some of the worlds best diving in several of our fresh water springs within two hours’ drive from Crawfordville. Most of these springs have carved out magnificent caverns and caves which are a big area of exploration for divers around the world. This brings me to my title for this article “Don’t be tempted by the demon of the darkness”.
As a diver for fifty years and an instructor for over thirty years, I have seen my share of recreational divers die in our north Florida springs because they were taken in by the demon of the darkness without any training other than open water. I have seen the allure and pull of the demon of the darkness on almost every student I’ve taken to the springs. This pull occurs when we go to the entrance of the cave or cavern because it’s usually the deepest part of the springs (so they can get their 50-60-foot experience). I watch in amazement how they are slowly drawn further into the entrance without realizing what is happening. I must draw them back away, and prevent certain panic from occurring due to lack of proper training and equipment.
To help spread awareness and teach my students the dangers of diving in caverns or caves without proper training, I show a video in one of my classroom sessions from the 90’s show “Rescue 911” with William Shatner as the host. It is about four novice divers and one instructor at one of our local springs outside of Gainesville, FL. All five went down to investigate the entrance of the cave, the instructor warned the group not to go in, but that demon of the darkness was too hard to resist. The instructor signaled for them to go up, but no one followed.
Unfortunately, you’ve guessed it. They decided to go into the cave just a little way, but ended up far back into a now silted up cave with no way of knowing which way was out. It was too late, the demon had them in its grip. This story ends as so many of these do … tragically.
The bottom line is to get the specialized training and equipment to go into the caverns and caves in these springs, and do not dive beyond your certification limits. There is a reason for the intense training that is involved for these specialized dives. Protocols are there to keep you safe, and alive.

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December 5, 2019

The Rare White Blue Spot Urchin in Hawaii.

We had to get up very early to beat the rising swell off Kona and catch the Manta Rays that frequent a particular cleaning station off the Sheraton Beach. Kirk Campainha and I entered the harbor by way of a steel ladder attached to a lava ledge. The swell was low and the water a balmy 82 degrees (and I reminded myself this was the end of November). We were both diving rebreathers, so we were in stealth mode with hours of in-water capability. We swam around the left side of the harbor in 20 FSW admiring the swarms of tropical fish that frequented large coralline blocks along the shore. While a bit hazy, the reef had a glittering effect enhancing my expectations. Later Kirt would comment water visibility was terrible, a term I could not apply that day.We swam quietly at the 30-foot contour around the coast for about 30 minutes until we found a concrete piling laying in a sand clearing. He stopped and said to wait. Tropical reef fish were everywhere, so I did not mind. By then I had identified several colorful nudibranchs, damsel fish and wrasses, noting a conspicuous absence of cone shells. Then out of the depth of a slope off to our right came a Manta Ray. Rather than veer off as so many large fish do in Florida, this small adult swam right up to us, turning a tight circle around us and settled on a coral patch reef to our left. Out came a few fish to service the Ray. I was surprised not to recognize any of the players. This reminded me that I have much to learn about cleaning stations and the health of these reefs.Repeatedly, this single Ray lifted off only to circle back and lay on this patch reef to be cleaned. Kirt finally signaled that he had enough pictures and we moved deeper down the hill to a sand patch at 80 FSW. In the distance I could see …. Rocks moving swiftly across the sand …. touching each other! As we approached, I recognized the features of an urchin …. sort of. I had not seen such an urchin before, the spines were clumped and very actively swirling about. The leading and following spines (edges) were touching the urchin in front or back respectively. Yes, there were three urchins in this train, with a fourth separated (searching) several feet behind. They were rapidly moving up-slope (as urchins go) parallel to the reef rubble edge. Kirk brought up his camera and began taking a video (available for viewing on the Wakulla News website). You can see me push some sand in front of the lead urchin and see it divert to the left. Mind you there are thought to be “primitive” creatures.Astropyga radiata is described as a seldom seen deep urchin sometimes observed in shallow reef sand searching for algae or carried on the back of the Acroechinoidea Urchin Crab, Dorippe frascone. Its shorter spines are known to be venomous. The group we encountered were the rare white version previously reported by NOAA in depths down to 250 FSW and presumed here to be recently grazing on shallow algae the previous night being late to return to the safely of depth during the day. Males and females are known to congregate, casting their spawn (gametes) into the plankton. They often host cleaning shrimp including Periclimenes hirsutus and Stegopontonia commensalis and the crab Zebrida adamsii in addition to several juvenile fish. How fascinating can this creature be?You can imagine my reluctance to leave these creatures, but our planned dive time of 70 minutes was fast approaching, so we moved back into the shallows to decompress on our way back to the harbor and up the ladder to dry land. I was thankful to Kirk for bringing his GoPro video camera along and capturing the rare White Blue Spot Urchin of Hawaii for all to share.

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December 12, 2019

Drift diving. By Katie Adams

Drift diving is not for everyone. Some people enjoy just letting loose and allowing the current take them along the wall of a coral formation.
Others enjoy the ability to stop when there’s no current pushing them to get a better look at a cool creature they found. Personally, I’m both.
Although drift diving can be annoying because you only see bigger sea creatures, it can also be a spectacular sight when you turn yourself around from the coral and look out into the abyss.
My first time drift diving was a two-tank dive on a wall in Cozumel, Mexico.
The first dive went by fast, with no time to even see anything. The current was pushing my buoyancy out of control! When I reached the surface, I was frustrated.
I had heard the thrills of drift diving from my grandparents, their friends, my instructors, and more. How could they enjoy something like this? I barely saw anything! I was too focused on straightening out my buoyancy, staying near my dive buddy, and figuring out how to not run into other divers or the reef to even enjoy myself.
It seemed more of a workout than a relaxing drift dive.
I spoke of my frustrations to my grandparents and other divers on our dive interval. They tried to comfort me, explaining that drift diving is not your average dive. It takes practice and a different mindset of observation.
They encouraged me to get my buoyancy set as soon as I get to the bottom of our next dive and just focus on breathing. Then they encouraged me to look over my other shoulder into the abyss every once in a while.
Where there are wide open spaces and currents, there are cool sea creatures to be found.
On the second dive, I tried my hardest to perk up and be excited.
I tried to forget the first dive and called it just a test run.
This was going to be the real thing, and I was going to have an open mind about it.
As I shuffled to the edge of the boat in my gear, I began to focus on my breathing. Inhale… Exhale… Inhale… SPLASH.
Before I knew it, I was at the bottom of our second dive.
I looked around for my buddy (my Grandma, as always), and we proceeded with the current. I kept a focus on my breathing and kicked as minimal as possible.
Before I knew it, I felt in rhythm with the rest of the diving crew.
I was staying in one place, with my dive buddy, and not bumping into anything! This was exciting,
I finally had time to see the sea creatures that were roaming the reef or floating along with us.
Towards the end of our dive, I heard someone bang their tank underwater.
I turned to look up, then over my shoulder, and there she was: a beautiful nine-foot long nurse shark. I was in awe, as I have grown to love sharks since the young age of eight.
I understood why drift diving can be so exciting!
Behind the nurse sharks was a school of barracuda! It was a wonderful sight to see.
As we surfaced, I yelped in excitement.
I finally understood the hype behind drift diving, and I was ready to do it again.

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December 19, 2019

Safety under the sea.

Safety is at the core of everything we do these days, from training to sales to equipment repair in the diving world. Yet the reality is that the safest dive is no dive at all. The term “safe,” according to the dictionary, is an activity devoid of risk. Diving is hardly risk-free! However, I can argue diving is safer than many activities we do with little regard as to risk, such as being outdoors with the risk of a bee sting (more people die of bee stings than from diving), or driving a car (considered much more hazardous than diving!). We can always be safer at what we do.
To be safer at diving, we can get training. Shek Exley wrote a list of steps we can take to be safer in an overhead dive. At the top of his five safe cave diving rules was the requirement for training. Training provides supervised practice under the mentorship of an expert with more experience than you already have. Often a different perspective provides you with the opportunity for improvement. We are never so experienced as to shun more training. I am always in a learning mode and am seldom disappointed.
In this country, experience is acquired through additional training. In other words, stay within the limits of your training. If the depth limit of your basic training is 60 feet, then do not make a dive to 100 feet before you seek further training. It makes sense under our capitalistic model. In Europe, where there is more club based training, once certified at the basic level, you are expected to get experience within the club atmosphere for at least 20 dives before returning for more formal training. The American system expects you to take an Advanced diving class to give you six additional dives after basic. Which is “safer”? Both have merit. Both agree a diver with no experience is a liability to him-/herself and buddies on a dive.
Diving equipment is built robustly, with improvements made every year. Selection is mostly based upon personal preferences and convenience features that make the dive more enjoyable. What reduces safety in diving equipment is a failure to maintain it. That includes washing it after a dive, repair failures before diving it again, and not scheduling routine maintenance according to manufacturer recommendations. Accommodating poor performance of an old regulator, cylinder or BC is exposing yourself to greater and unnecessary risk in diving.
Preventive maintenance makes common sense. Parts of a regulator wear out, depending upon use and age. Like a car, component parts can last a long time, but others parts are designed to be routinely replaced to maximize performance. When a regulator begins to breathe with difficulty, you have exceeded its performance criteria. When a valve handle is hard to turn, it must be serviced. Depending upon the part these days, it may be more cost-effective to replace the entire valve than to fix it. Buoyancy compensators (BC) are made of synthetic cloth and rubber/plastic parts subject to solar and salt damage. BCs suffer the same cost-effective challenge that a cylinder valve does. If the company has closed or been purchased by another, repair parts may not be available (such as Dacor).
Diving companies are buying competitor companies these days, resulting in the loss of warrantees, spare parts and repair/replacement options. Imagine you purchased an expensive rebreather only to find that company was purchased by another, which cancelled the model, including any repair or parts options. Be wise as to what is going on in this turbulent economy. Safety is paramount, and ultimately is the responsibility of the participant.
That is you.

Gregg Stanton is away. This is an archived column from December 2017.

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December 26, 2019

Diving in 2019: A Year in Review. By Katie Adams

2019 has been a crazy year for myself. I spend the first quarter of the year backpacking by myself around Asia.
I spent my time diving, hiking, riding buses for long periods of time, meeting lots of people from different parts of the world, and immersing myself in different countries cultures.
Then an opportunity to work for the dive shop while simultaneously training to become a scuba instructor came about through a mutual friend, and before I knew it, I was back home moving my things from Galveston, Texas to Crawfordville.
Since moving here, I have learned more than I ever thought possible about the diving world. Not only has my knowledge of the physiology behind scuba diving strengthened, but I have acquired tons of knowledge about cylinder and regulator maintenance as well.
I have loved every minute of it, and continue to learn new things every day.
This year, I dove more than ever before in years past. Although I greatly enjoy diving with students and watching their love for the underwater world thrive, I would have to say my favorite dive this year was in Padangbai, Bali, Indonesia.
This is located on the southeastern corner of the beautiful and magical island of Bali. The body of water that we were diving in is called the Lombok Strait, as Lombok is the neighboring island to the east of Bali.
In one day of diving, you can easily see more than 300 different species of sea creatures.
It’s absolutely exquisite!
Around every coral mound your jaw drops at what you see. From neon colored nudibranchs with alien-like projections coming from their body, to different species of sea horses and cuttlefish.
Everything that my grandparents, who have been diving for 50 years, took decades to cross off of their species list, I crossed off in a day, easily.
It was magical.
My final dive in Bali was my absolute favorite. After back rolling off of the small motor boat into the crystal-clear water, the group immediately found a blue-ringed octopus.
The dive master later told us that he has only seen a few of those throughout his time diving because they are so small and blend in so well.
It was an awesome experience to see one in person and watch the blue rings oscillate with the light.
Once we hit the reef, the world in front of our masks came to life. Corals were glowing with all of the colors of the rainbow, cuttlefish were hovering under platforms while a multitude of different species of angel and butterfly fish surrounded us.
Members of the group found a pigmy seahorse, two common seahorses, a few frog fish, and leaf fish, small blacktip sharks, and so much more.
Everyone was finding everything, and you could feel the excitement in the air.
When we surfaced from the dive, we couldn’t begin discussions fast enough!
How awesome was it that everything we saw on one dive are creatures that are a prize to find anywhere else in the world.
We couldn’t stop talking about what all everyone found, the behavior of the fishes, and what shots everyone got on their cameras.
It was a magnificent experience, and one that got me hooked on Bali.
I will return one day, just for the diving, and I recommend anyone and everyone to do the same!