By Gregg Stanton and contributors

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January 2, 2020

How to maintenance and store your scuba gear. By Rust Miller

By the time you read this article we will be in a new year 2020. I hope all of you had a great holiday.
Now that the spear fishing/scuba diving season is at an end, we need to properly maintenance and store our diving equipment. If your gear is not properly maintained and stored it will fail you when you get to your dive site and then it’s too late and costly.
The following is my recommendation to make sure your gear stays in perfect working order:

  1. Have your regulators serviced at a reputable dive shop. This takes time to service but you will be ready for that first big trip. The service tech will completely take the first stage apart, clean and replace all the “O-rings and seats. Then reassemble and test it to make sure it functions at the factory specifications.
  2. Both second stages and or inflator second stage will also be disassembled cleaned and replace all O-rings and seats then assemble and adjust them to factory specifications.
  3. The BCD will have a thorough visual inspection as well as the inflator valve will be checked for any degradation and leaks.
    To store your gear properly you need to do the following:
  4. DO NOT under any circumstance roll your regulators up and place them in a regulator bag, these are strictly for temporary use when traveling to your dive site. The result of long term storage like this can result in a permanent bend in the hoses and can cause mild to severe leaking just when you don’t expect it. (The high-pressure hose is the most vulnerable to leaking)
  5. Store your regulators (in a dry area) by using regulator hangers or you can bend the metal cloths hanger in a hook configuration to hang the first stage on the hook and let the rest hang vertical. This will keep the hoses straight and working properly for years.
  6. The BCD should be placed in the same dry area and with a little bit of air in the bladder. You can use BCD/regulator hangers that are specifically design for storage and are relatively inexpensive at most dive shops or online. By keeping a little air in the BCD you will help eliminate any type of mold from forming. As a side note I personally put a small amount of mouthwash in it when I inflate it the drain it out. I then inflate it a little for storage. The mouthwash kills all types of germs and keeps it minty fresh for the next use.

I hope this helps you to keep your gear in top shape for your next diving trip!!!!!

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January 9, 2020

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!

Gregg Stanton is away. This is a repeat of a column that appeared in January 2019.

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January 16, 2020

Wet suit choices for the year. By Katie Adams

I’ve had many people come into the shop for the last three months asking about what thickness of wetsuit they should purchase.
Tricky question.
To help, I first ask three questions: What time of year will you be diving, what type of diving will you be doing, and where will you be diving.
For summer diving in the ocean, I recommend anything from “skin diving” – also known as diving in your bathing suit – to wearing what’s called a skin (a full body lycra material cover), to wearing a three-millimeter, depending on how deep you’re diving.
I fully recommend at least wearing a skin cover for many reasons. Mainly, to protect you from jellyfish, rocks, coral, and anything else you may accidentally bump into, and to shield your body from the sun at the surface, as most skin suits have SPF protection in the lycra fabric.
For winter ocean diving, I recommend a five-millimeter suit, or semi-dry suit. The average ocean temperature in the winter time in this area is around 60-68 degrees, which doesn’t seem that cold, but once you’re in the water for a few minutes completely submerged, it becomes cold quickly.
If you wish to still use your three-millimeter wetsuit, I would recommend you at least invest in gloves and a hood for more thermal protection and insulation.
You lose body heat through your head, hands, and feet, so keeping those parts of your body covered with as much material as possible can help more than you may think!
For year-round spring and sinkhole diving, I recommend the same as winter ocean diving. Springs and sinkholes can range from 65-72 degrees in northern Florida, but again, once you’re submerged for a few minutes it feels a lot colder.
For trained individuals, I recommend overall, a dry suit for winter ocean diving and spring/sinkhole diving.
It is the ultimate piece of equipment to keep warm and dry for the entirety of the dive. However, you must have training before acquiring a dry suit.
Many people have drowned or nearly drowned in dry suits because the inflated air that goes into the suit gets trapped at their feet and they become stuck upside down, not knowing how to roll the air up and out of the suit.
Overall, each individual’s situation is different.
Some people are extremely efficient at thermo-regulating and only need a three millimeter for any type of diving, while others may prefer five-millimeter suits for summer ocean diving.
These recommendations work for, or are recommended by, the majority of divers I have met.
Just note, it’s hard to get away with owning just one suit with no accessories, like gloves and hoods, or thicker suits.
Unfortunately, the waters around here vary in temperature so much that more than one suit is needed for year-round diving.
Wherever you’re diving this year, I hope you’re always having fun!
Happy diving!

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January 23, 2020

Advanced Diving.

When we opened Wakulla Diving Center in 2010, most customers asked for AIR for a breathing mixture. Anything different was considered as advanced diving. Adding oxygen or helium was considered voodoo gas with added benefits but added risks. Most recreational divers were told in their basic classes to stay with AIR as a breathing gas. But decades earlier we had conducted research into alternate breathing gasses (to just AIR), and found great benefits, with minimal risks. So we introduced an inexpensive Enriched AIR blend call Nitrox and settled on a 32% blend that could be cascaded from preblended flasks, thus delivered as fast as AIR.
Now, a decade later, most customers request Nitrox 32, and benefit from it’s reduced Nitrogen (reduced decompression stress, and/or additional no-stop bottom time). To get Nitrox, we ask that you take a short class to better understand the risks of using this blended gas. As part of that class we reference that AIR is one of the many Nitrox blends (Nitrox 21%), and that all diving breathing gasses change their effects on our body as we increase pressure (go down in the water column). Gas density increases altering the lung’s ability to exchange the breathing mixture. We now teach every basic class with a Nitrox class imbedded (you get 2 certification cards). The safer depth of AIR (Nitrox 21) is 218 FSW, Nitrox 32 is 130 FSW and Nitrox 40 is 99 FSW. Below that depth on that blend, the breathing mixture is considered toxic. The use of dive computers has greatly reduced the risk of breathing Nitrox.
But is breathing Nitrox considered advanced diving? We do not think so, but Nitrox is used on deep diving (below 130 FSW) as a decompression gas returning from a Trimix dive. Trimix is a helium/nitrogen/oxygen blend that reduces the density and narcotic nature of the breathing mixture at depths below 130 FSW. Any dives below 130 FSW would be considered advanced, indeed “Technical” in nature. Some argue that dives below 100 FSW should be considered advanced. Certainly, the use of nitrox dedicated dive tables, or computers is a prerequisite. But basic diving has included the use of dive computers, which track on air and nitrox dives equally well. The average Nitrox dive nearly doubles the available bottom time at 60 FSW over that of AIR (Nitrox 21). Because the respiratory minute volume does not change based upon the blend you breath, standard 80 cf cylinder last just as long while breathing AIR or other blends of Nitrox.
To gain significant increased bottom time, the person must train using larger cylinder, more cylinders or switch to rebreathers. With all of these options, the term advanced diving does apply. The vast number of recreational divers stay with their 80 or 100 cf cylinders and benefit from less post-dive fatigue, shorter surface intervals and less decompression stress.
But there will always be those that seek to push limits for maximal benefits. Not everyone is built the same, which is why we advise a conservative dive profile. Over the years we have seen an increased number of folks riding chambers due to their bold diving practices. Once into the “Technical” range of diving, there are many more experimental procedures that are applied to minimize injury. The use of oxygen either in the water or at the surface, the use of helium in the breathing mixture, or relying upon a rebreather for maximal decompression efficiency. Until you are willing to invest in these options and become qualified on this technology, don’t venture beyond 130 FSW.
“There are bold divers and there are old divers, but there are no old, bold divers” is a quote taught to me by my father, a WWII pilot who swapped “pilot” for “diver” in the phrase.

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January 30, 2020

A technical diving student’s perspective. By Stefan Mardak

Gregg Stanton is celebrating one year of formal scuba training in Hawaii on rebreathers with a full class of students. What began as an invitation to teach two rebreather classes on Oahu has grown into an extension of his Florida-based Wakulla Diving Center, now with an additional location on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Gregg’s Wakulla Diving Center in Florida has been in business since 2010, providing training at the recreational and technical levels, in cave diving, trimix, rebreathers and other modern hi-tech diving techniques.
Gregg grew up in Hawaii, so a return to the islands was only a matter of time.
His local expansion started in January 2019 with two participants and minimal equipment but has now grown to a fully equipped diving school. His plan is to keep the retail portion of Wakulla Diving Center in Florida.
The expansion involves an advanced fill station, specializing in nitrox and trimix blends. These gases will eventually be available on-tap for immediate cascading.
Wakulla Diving Center-Hawaii also rents cylinders for rebreathers as well as open circuit scuba.
With an emphasis on training, Gregg’s plan is to attract a cadre of like-minded instructors to offer a wide range of scuba training from the basics up through deep (trimix) diving and rebreathers with NAUI leadership options.
With beautiful Hawaiian reefs abundantly available from shore-based dive sites and awesome boat diving options, the training opportunities are exciting. Already folks are traveling from Florida to use this field facility for their training & vacation interests.
When not blending gasses or training, Gregg also operates a small Avocado Orchard (Kalopa Orchards), supplying Foodland with 1.5-2 pound fruits when in season.
If that was not enough, Gregg returns to Florida in the summer to help with the Wakulla Diving Center-Florida renowned Summer Internship Program. This program offers divers and non-divers the opportunity to further their dive training, learn the behind-the-scenes of how a dive shop operates, as well as train to be a certified cylinder maintenance professional, continuous gas blender, and regulator technician.
This is an awesome opportunity for anyone who would like to dip their toes in the hobby of diving, or who want to further their marine science or diving careers and make connections. For more information on the internship contact the dive center and Katie will be glad to help you!
This week Gregg starts a full rebreather class, training students from Florida, Germany as well as locally from Hawaii.
The platforms include Liberty and Liberty Lite, ISC Pathfinder, and JJ (lecture audit). New support facilities and staff will make this class better than last year. Bobbie Suarez (Liberty Science Diver) will serve as the Dive Master for the class.

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February 6, 2020

Training as a divemaster. By Katie Adams

As of Dec. 1, I have slowly but surely been completing training to become a divemaster (woohoo, finally!).
The ultimate goal for myself is to become an instructor and travel to exotic areas of the world to teach and spread my love and passion for scuba diving.
However, with each end goal, there are barriers to surpass and lessons to learn so that once you reach the end goal, you are as prepared and determined as you can possibly be. The barriers for me at the moment are passing the divemaster and assistant instructor course.
But what do these courses entail, and why do I need these courses to become an instructor?
The roles of a divemaster are important and help build your experience under the water’s surface as well as build your communication experience, networking abilities, and gear familiarity.
A divemaster is qualified to organize and conduct dives as the lead guide in areas in which the dive master is familiar in. In doing so, the divemaster must first research and actively dive areas to gain a dive profile reference.
Then, in planning the dive, they must organize cost, transportation, gear rental, and other necessities needed.
Once divers have signed up for the dive, the divemaster must conduct the dive briefing and debriefing, understand the skill level needed for the dive as well as the skill level for the diver they are guiding, proficiently communicate to divers underwater, and safely keep divers within their limits.
The role of an assistant instructor, which is the next step in my diving career, lies more parallel with the teaching side of diving, and less of the guidance that a divemaster adheres with.
The assistant instructor aides in teaching lectures for all styles of diving, not just open water courses, and demonstrates specific skills in the water.
The training for this certification lies in improving your ability to communicate through teaching diving, as well as improve the quality of your skill demonstration. It is important to teach subjects and demonstrate skills right the first time, as the first-time students learn a topic or skill will imprint on their mind the most.
This certification may seem redundant in some factors, however, the more practice opportunities you receive the more successful you will ultimately become as a full instructor!
After completing these final two certifications, comes the full instructor certification. This is my ultimate goal that I hope to complete by the end of this year. Although I am excited and want to get the full instructor, I am taking full opportunity of these two certifications, divemaster and assistant instructor, and learning as much as I can about teaching, demonstrating, and the safety of diving so that I can be a successful instructor.
Here’s to successful next steps in my diving career!

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February 13, 2020

Diving Field Station in Hawaii.

OK, I get it: I’m the old goat! At 72, I’m hardly slowing down (much). This evolution to Hawaii is fun!
Wakulla Diving Center now has a field station in Hawaii! Running a field station is very different from running a retail store as you might expect. Fortunately, I have a good staff developing in both locations, each supporting the other as we sort out what is best done at each location. What is best done in Hawaii is tropical reef diving. Even in the winter, when the water is cooler (only by a few degrees), and rougher, (waves are often higher), making shore diving more of a challenge, less visibility (by a few feet), but everything is better than north Florida, (except in caves). In Florida, I dive a dry suit in the constant 70-degree temperature freshwater caves. In Hawaii I wear a 2-3 mil wet suit and may get cold after an exposure of 2 hrs. During the summer Florida water gets up into the upper 80s while Hawaii is only slightly cooler, into the lower 80s. While growing up in Hawaii I did not know what a wet suit was and later missed all leadership exam questions regarding them. Florida is great for Cave Diving, spear fishing, and dive retail.
A field station must provide breathing gas. To start with, we have brought liquid oxygen to the diving world here in Hawaii. Oxygen is frightfully expensive here at $200 per 200 cubic ft cylinder wholesale! Liquid brings that figure down 75%. I am slowly bringing over storage flasks, a Dewar system, booster pumps, and compressors to provide Nitrox, 100% oxygen, and air to our station. When visitors come to dive, we provide gasses, cylinders, weights, rebreather consumables, etc. otherwise difficult to find on the big island. Most retail stuff I don’t provide here. There are several excellent retail dive shops that sell masks, fins, wet suits, and colorful T shirts! They also offer dive boats and specialized access to Manta Rays, Whales, and Sharks. We specialize in shore diving. To that end I am setting up a 4-wheel drive vehicle to better access our island shoreline.
We provide instruction here on the big island. I am starting up an internship program here in Hawaii, much like the one we provide in Florida during the summer. Interested local folks can take training on dive technology topics in exchange for proficiency time dedicated to running the station. It will become known as the summer internship-Florida and winter internship-Hawaii. I also teach rebreather diving topics and as soon as I get a NAUI instructor trained up, all the rest of the basic scuba topics from SCUBA Diver through Dive Master conducted by a staff.
I just completed a rebreather class with two students. The field station support was awesome. But one student arrived sick, not unusual to a field designation. The class ran like two classes back to back. An early return to Germany for one student was unrealistic, so they extended their stay and she recovered before starting her class. I got to dive twice as much as expected and was pretty much exhausted after 9 days of 120 min underwater every day plus the hour plus getting to and from dive sites. It made for long days, but the weather cooperated (mostly). Snow was seen on the top of Mauna Kea, upslope from our place. We often returned after sundown to a full moon over the house that was gorgeous.
Remember, life is a journey, so enjoy it as we all know it’s destination!

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February 20, 2020

First Time at Ginnie Springs. By Katie Adams

This past weekend I finally had the opportunity to dive at Ginnie Springs not once, but twice. I was thrilled because the last nine months that I’ve lived here, all I’ve heard are nothing but good things about the diving conditions at the Ginnie Ballroom and its neighboring dive at the Devil System.
As I’m gearing up to become a divemaster, one of my qualifying skills to pass is guiding open water divers on a dive. My instructor, Rusty Miller, asked me to plan a dive for Ginnie Springs to complete this skill. As instructed, I gathered divers, pricing, and planned my own personal trip to the springs to check the place out myself. This place is gorgeous, with lots of amenities. It is a welcoming, family friendly place where you can not only dive, but float in tubes, free dive, paddleboard, kayak, and definitely relax.
For diving the Ballroom, which is a large, open cavern available even to open water divers (meaning you don’t have to be cavern certified to go in the Ballroom), there are plenty of picnic benches for you to set up your gear and a couple of large pavilions so you don’t overheat in the Florida summer sun. Once ready, there is a concrete walkway over to the stairs which overlooks the entire Ginnie Spring. The water is crystal clear, and a crisp 72 degrees year-round. It truly is a beautiful natural sight to embrace!
Once you enter the water, put on your mask and fins and give the final OK, you slowly submerge into about ten-feet of water, and make your way to the cavern entrance. Don’t let the entrance itself fool you. The entrance is only about three-feet tall by 5-feet wide. But once you swim just a few feet in, the cavern opens up into a massive “ballroom” sized environment, hence the name. There are massive boulders and crevices to shine your light at and lots of little cracks and rooms to peek into and possibly find a little fish relaxing as well. At the bottom, around 50 feet, there is a black barred gate, blocking anyone from entering the cave. Once you get close to the gate, you begin to feel the heavy flow from the spring pushing you away. It can get quite intense, so make sure no one is behind you in case you literally get blown away by the flow!
The dive can be short and relatively shallow, however it is an awesome experience for anyone who is curious what it is like to dive in a cavern or who are curious about becoming cavern certified but are not sure if they will like it. I would recommend this dive site to everyone. Not only is it a cool place to explore, but it also is a camp ground where the whole family can have a fun weekend or holiday get away.

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February 27, 2020

Cave or cavern diving, what gives?

There’s a big difference between cavern diving and cave diving. Years ago, cave diving was conducted by a secretive group of high-risk people in a day of unreliable life support technology. They were not regarded very highly as fatalities were associated with their chosen sport. They prided themselves as explorers, not unlike those that climb Mt. Everest. And everyone knows there are bodies lining the trail to that summit! But their employers felt differently, causing loss of promotions and consternation. Caves can be very enticing, and they are abundantly available in the North Florida area. After all, we are a curious species, so it is only natural that divers looking for a dive site will go further than is prudent. Conditions in most Florida caves have soft flocculent sediments on the floor that are easily kicked up. Otherwise the water can be very clear, and the sculpture of the water worn limestone is quite exquisite.
The National Association for Cave Diving (NACD) began teaching cave diving as an 8-day intense class to better prepare for the challenges. Most of their equipment came from the recreational diving community but was modified dramatically. Cylinders valves were modified with braised fittings to have dual openings yet still be connected. Redundancy was a common objective. Dual regulators, double cylinders, two buoyancy compensators, three lights minimum, many reels, and so on. Cave rules were promulgated. Always have a continuous line to the surface, carry at least three lights, use one third of your breathing gas in, turn around and use one third out. That leaves one third for emergencies. Training for this type of diving became a requirement and limit your dives to a tolerable narcosis. These rules were proposed by Sheck Exley. The National Speleological Society, Cave Diving Section (NSSCDS) was also established by Mr. Exley before his death in 1994.
As rage over senseless drownings continued, the community of cave divers sensed they would lose access to underwater caves. An alternative was proposed. Educate the recreational diver to the risks of cave diving by inviting them into the daylit entrance. Label the point where the trained recreational diver may not go. Training agencies got on board with the idea. I was one of the earlier cavern instructors (Instructor #61). A cavern was defined as that area of a cave where daylight can be seen, with better than 40-foot visibility. Agencies could not agree as to how far in or how deep a cavern diver may go, but they were all limited. And all agreed to teach the 5 Cave Rules, including the use of a cave reel, specialized fin kicks, and improved buoyancy control. How many lights does a cavern diver carry? Three, of course, but one is the sun, thus, no night cavern diving.
Today, recreational divers flock to cavern training as a next step in their underwater development. Caverns are an alternative freshwater dive site available when weather knocks out ocean options. There are very large caverns available in North Florida, what with Jackson Blue, near Marianna, Ginnie, near High Springs and Blue Grotto near Wiliston Florida. The training is done using Nitrox in a long weekend making 6 dives at two sites. A favorite first dive site is in Orange Grove in the Peacock State Park near Lauraville, Florida. It has the prerequisite open water first dive, followed by a deep dive to 100 feet in the deep cavern, then the entrance to the caves at 65 FSW.
Many go on to become full cave divers if they find the passion. Our life support technology has improved enormously, making this environment safer that when it began. However, we emphasize there is no substitute for full cave diving training. The Cavern training is an introduction, yes, and a warning to go no further until trained appropriately!

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March 5, 2020

My experience sinkhole diving. By Katie Adams

This winter “off-season” time has given me the opportunity to explore not only Florida springs, such as Ginnie Springs that I spoke of a few weeks ago, but also local sinkholes in Wakulla County.
Did you know that there’s over 300 sinkholes in this county alone? That’s crazy!
Diving them has proven to be an act of craziness as well. The majority of the sinkholes in the area have zero visibility, or are too unstable to dive.
Unfortunately, of those that are stable to dive, the visibility is zero in most situations.
Very rarely does a sinkhole in this area clear up enough to safely dive it, but when it does, technical and cave divers from all around come to see the natural beauty for themselves.
Diving these sinkholes requires a lot of formal training as well as proper gear. I would not attempt to dive these sinkholes if you are not at least cavern trained, like myself, as there are lines running in most of these holes that lead into the abyss of a cave system, and you need to understand when to stop and turn around.
A lot of these sinkholes turn into caves quite quickly. The usual anatomy of a sinkhole is the opening that sinks straight down, anywhere from 50 to 100 feet (from what I’ve experienced so far), then immediately a cavern of varying size begins, followed by a cave.
Important tools needed for up to cavern diving in these holes are a minimum of two strong underwater lights.
I have two lights of my own, but I found out quickly on my first dive that they were lacking the “strong” aspect.
So stronger dive lights are currently on my dive gear wish list.
Also, a reel is needed, as any certified cavern diver will tell you, as well as a current understanding on how to properly use the reel. This will help you return to the ascent line even if the bottom is all kicked up.
Final tool needed is a control on your buoyancy. This is key to not making the visibility any worse than it already may be.
This is also key to controlling yourself in an overhead environment and an area that has a guideline placed, so that you do not find yourself tangled, or breaking important guide lines.
Overall, sinkhole diving is a fun way to get your feet wet in the winter time, and a different style of diving that I am used to.
It requires lots more training than just what I have mentioned here, but it’s worth it in my opinion.
When a sinkhole is clear, and you look up from 50 feet below and see the forest trees blowing in the wind and birds flying over, you get a sweet sense of serenity, and you just can’t help but smile, because this world we live in is awesome.

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March 12, 2020

Honey in Hawaii.

One of the many topics on our Hawaii plan to expand into a stable island environment is to improve upon existing activity already started here at Wakulla Diving Hawaii, makai (down slope) of Kalopa Park. Kalopa Park is on the northern slope of Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawaii. We have expanded the carriage house of the property we purchased last year into a small dive center with gas-blending capability. To date we have 10 Taylor Warton 4500 PSI cylinders currently pumped to 3000 psi from an old Bauer K14 compressor (that’s doing very well). We have an additional 5 – 3500 psi cylinders set to be plumbed in for a Nitrox ability. The Dewar flask we brought over in October has not been filled with 100% oxygen. It will be completed as soon as I finish with the attachment hoses. At $800/ Dewar fill ($100 in Wakulla), we must still negotiate better terms!
Just outside the shop rests a beehive, long ago abandoned but still active. People visiting the shop had to negotiate with the hive when approaching the fill station. I invited Alex Bean from THE BEE GUYS, a group of locals nearby, to help relocate the bees further inside our avocado orchard. These bees normally don’t like to service avocado, but when forced to, they will. For a year we have been way too preoccupied, but the day arrived to do something about it. After dark several days ago, we opened the hive to discover the boxes holding the hive together were rotten, but the bees had glued them together very well. So, we moved them, all the boxes together, down to the middle of the grove, and left them for a day. Yesterday, we pulled them completely apart and discovered most combs were full of honey, and some that had been invaded by various parasites. We removed the parasites, pulled the combs plates from the rotten core box and replaced them in a new core box, on a new base, with new combs and lids. We must now treat (fumigate) the hive for parasites.
I then sat down and harvested the three cases of combs of honey by manually cutting out the combs, crushing them and straining them through a fine screen filter. I also have a centrifugal spinner that holds three combs at a time that enable spinning the honey out of the intact combs (and permitting the emptied cells to be refilled later). The honey is sweet and has a strong scent of Macadamia nuts, a common orchard in the area. I eventually got some 3 gallons of honey! That represents half of the hive’s capacity as we did not touch the core supply. We never found the queen, but the bees lined up to enter the new hive once we set it back up, so everyone suspected she was still in there. Oddly enough, the bees were surprisingly calm considering what we did to their colony. I got most of my stings on my hands during my crushing of the combs later in the day, not while redistributing the hive in their new location and box. We now let the nest rest and reorganize, with their new small boxes and original core combs.
We are scheduled to travel back to Florida in early April, by way of Seattle, picking up the truck in Oregon and a load of Sorb from Memphis on our way back to the shop in Wakulla. As we all know, Seattle is mostly closed due to the virus infection, still too early to call, so we may not make it until later in the summer. Hawaii has a few cases, but so far, very controlled. A Princess cruise liner passed through the Islands, dropped off visitors on most of the islands and was later isolated off California with many cases of the Coronavirus 19 on board. We are awaiting the effect of this event here. I’ll let you know how it works out as it unfolds.

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March 19, 2020

Corona-19 Virus.

Everyone out here in Hawaii is tuned into the progress of the coronavirus. We hear about it daily, cases and consequences islands-wide. So far, The Big Island of Hawaii has no confirmed cases registered with the government. That’s not to say we don’t have entire families that have been laid out sick in Hilo. My graduate student at UH and his family is out sick, something he got from the local dive center in Hilo. They are also reported to be out sick. We are cautioned that the local flu season is underway as well. We are vaccinated for the flu, but not the COVID-19. We are lying low to be on the safe side. We still walk every morning at 2,000 feet on the side of Mauna Kea with our small group, but one member has dropped out into complete isolation as her husband is permanently in bed.
I’m set up with a flight to Seattle on April 6, but with Seattle shutting down, I’m trying to postpone the flight. I had planned to take a train to Oregon, to pick up my truck and drive to Florida, but Oregon is also shutting down. So perhaps a better idea is to postpone a month and see if I can head on back in a month. My wife and I are 72, after all! My contacts in Florida are saying Tallahassee is still clear of COVID-19. But that is not what has happened further south. We are told the virus is making its way north. It is only a matter of time before it will hit!
Normally, I share this column with Katie, but she just reported to me that she is feeling miserable and will likely close the store Wednesday until she recovers. I suggested she check in with her doctor to be sure it is not COVID-19. I’m checking with Rusty to see if he can cover for the shop weekend duties. Otherwise I will take over, at least on the column, from Hawaii. Rusty will be at the shop on Saturday, to keep it open. Please contact him if you need anything before then.
The basic SCUBA class in Florida, currently scheduled for next month, will start Saturday, April 4, and run for four weekends (pretty much all of April). Hopefully, Katie will return next week, fit as a fiddle! Please be sure to call in and get registered for the class if you are interested.
Out here in Hawaii, we have a Normoxic Trimix class coming together, but the cost of helium has become frighteningly high. I am told I must pay $1,045 for 300 cubic feet of the gas (one T cylinder)! The advanced Trimix class (open circuit), is also scheduled before I head back. We are making slow progress installing the Dewar flask here on the Big Island, but it is coming! To fill it will cost $600 (Florida is $129), so yeah, gas is expensive out here.

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March 26, 2020

No column was run.

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April 2, 2020

Coronavirus. Reprint of column run March 19, 2020

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April 9, 2020

Holed up in paradise.

Our flight tickets were cancelled when Hawaii locked down a few days ago. Our plans to return with the truck in early April have been put on hold until we figure out how this virus will play out.
I am in daily contact with Katie and weekly with Rusty, planning out the summer courses and options. Here’s what we have in mind:

  1. The internship program will begin in early May and it will be as much fun as it was last year. Fortunately, Travis is still an instructor in the PSI program, with which we start the Internship Program.
  2. The Mako vessel is in the plans to be extended 2 feet for better stability and as soon as I can get back will be set to service every weekend.
  3. Katie continues in her capacity as our superior store manager, bringing in her flavor of diving technology to our shop this year. Rusty will continue fixing things and offering his basic and advanced NAUI scuba classes, including specialty classes this year. Added to that will be Mehdi, an advanced IANTD instructor from the UK, offering an intermediate level of training to balance out our efforts.
    When I can get there, I will continue to offer the Rebreather classes on 12 different platforms, and Normoxic and Hypoxic Trimix. Mehdi will now offer Cavern while I will continue to offer Full Cave training.
    Over here in Hawaii, Wakulla Diving Center-Hawaii is expanding our field station. I am working on rebuilding a second Mariner compressor to get the pressures of our gases up to 4500 psi. We are soon to connect the Dewar liquid oxygen supply to our nitrox system and expand the banks from 10 to 15.
    Diving rebreathers continue to be a wonderful activity here in Hawaii. Our oxygen banks are now at seven (four at 300 cubic feet and three at 200 cubic feet), with three left to top it off. We continue to train divers down to 200 feet for now, as Trimix is very limited and frightfully expensive here in Hawaii.
    Virtually all the beaches are closed, but surfing is still open (go figure)! We make progress toward a photovoltaic grid at our facility, but the process is slow. Some time between now and September, they tell us, it will happen.
    Here in Hawaii, we are locked down, but not out.
    I got our 4-wheel Xterra aligned in Waimea today with no difficulty. I even stopped by my favorite market and purchased papaya, eggplant and banana bread! But I don’t travel to Hilo where the bulk of the few cases of the coronavirus exist. I think we are up to 12 now, but very controlled. I picked up our greenhouse in Kona on Saturday, along with medications and food/fuel at Costco.
    There are very few people out and about, with social distancing seen everywhere. Still, it is beautiful to get on the road and see the volcanoes of the Big Island surrounding us as we travel. Mauna Kea to our left as we drive up through the Waimea pass, with Kohala to our right. Mauna Loa seen off in the distant left as we drive down the shoreline to Kona.
    Along the way we can see Haleakala on Maui over the ocean off in the distance to our right and Hualalai above Kona ahead. The Kona International Airport is built on top of the Hualalai volcano flow of the 1700s. It takes me an hour and a half to make it to Kona from our place mauka (upslope) of Honoka’a by car, but I love the scenery along the way!
    Oh! They shut down interisland travel today!
    Aloha.

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April 16, 2020

Open in the Covid-19 Era.

Yes, we are open here in Florida, despite predictions that we would/must close the Wakulla Diving Center.
We are very concerned for the health of our customers, so steps are being implemented, such as a limited number of people in the store, social distancing requirements, and other measures as required.
Why are we doing this? We are essential as we support the commercial diving community that collects the fish that you must have to eat!
Diving is also seen as an acceptable form of healthy exercise. There are several boats that stop off at the shop to load up cylinders to support fishing, which we have been supplying for a decade now.
We are also cranking up the servicing of CO2, firefighting cylinders, something we can now do under a relationship with another company.
The April classes in Florida have been cancelled, but we are actively planning for a May class!
Out here in Hawaii, the State Beach Parks are all closed, but surfing is permitted, as long as you spend little time passing over the beach to enter/exit the surf.
Diving has a similar arrangement. The challenge we are still trying to resolve is where/how to park the transport vehicle, which is not allowed in the park. Social distancing is also required.
I continue to train diving during these restrictive times, but only through non-public beaches. All beaches are public, but not all are Public Beach Parks.
I continue to be “locked down” as we continue to build up the Wakulla Diving – Hawaii blending facility and Training Center mauka (up-slope) from Honoka’a on the Hamakua (North) coastline of the Big Island. As soon as I can get out of here (sometime in May, perhaps), I will fly back to Oregon and drive across the USA in our truck.
I need to pick up more Dragger Sorb in Memphis on the way back. This will enable me to move more infrastructure back out to Hawaii in the fall. Deep diving is opening slowly out here, and we are setting up to take advantage of this interest. But the supply of Helium is frightfully expensive at a wholesale price of $1,035 per 300 cubic foot cylinder (plus rental fees). That’s $3.45/ cubic foot, and you know you lose a lot when blending. So folks are purchasing the gas at $5-7 per cubic foot.
Stay out of crowded activities, wear a mask and keep a social distance when you must be out in public! But look beyond the current crisis to a time when we can return to the beauty of the underwater world.
We will be there when that time comes, and I will get back to help Katie service the needs of Wakulla Diving Center in Florida.
We continue to grow, mature and meet our customer needs as an essential heath need of our community.

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April 23, 2020

Coming Home to Florida.

I was out on my morning walk at 2000 feet overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the slopes of Mauna Kea Volcano (dormant now). I got a call from Eric, my son at the Wakulla News, saying no column yet and it was late! So much has happened that I was lost to the outside reality of this pandemic. So, I’m on a flight headed out to LA, then Seattle, the Eugene to get my truck to drive across the US to Washington DC because my brother is again in the ER with Pancreatic Cancer (not COVID-19!). The end is nearer, so I must make my way across to him. This means sleeping and eating in the truck, as I find states that will let me travel eastward, into the pandemic! He is why we have Wakulla Diving Center, and now have a beautiful place on the Northern coast of the Big Island.
I am his executor and responsible for his health. We have no COVID-19 in our area, only 50 highly active, exceptionally large, butter avocado trees, complete with bees, slopes, rain, sunshine, and all! I was in Kona picking up the next fertilizer load yesterday, loading down Ann’s Prius with 2000 pounds of wonderful tree food. Yes, I am a recognized farmer here in Hawaii. We feed the Foodland markets of the Island for 3 months from October to December. So, I must be back!
I have also worked hard to develop a Nitrox fill station and training facility like the one we have back in Wakulla, complete with an oxygen Dewar, 10 oxygen banks, and 20 hp breathing gas banks. I plan on hosting helium as well, but with the next shipment in the fall. I have rebuilt a Mariner compressor to get the pressures back up to 4500 (currently we are a 3000), but it must be attached to the base plate. I am not quite there yet, but now it must wait until I get back in the fall. I went for a dive on Saturday morning, using my new Liberty side mount rebreather and spent a 2-hour quality time on almost virgin reefs west of Kawaihae. It took a 4-wheel drive truck to get down from the main road, but it was worth it! My 4-wheel drive Xterra, decided to not start and I cannot find out why! So, it is now up on blocks and off the insurance plan until I get back.
I have high plans for Wakulla Diving – Florida this summer! I have the 25-foot Mako over at Mikes Marine (St Marks) being retrofitted with a 2-foot Armour extension and closing in the stern to make it more seaworthy and stable offshore. I intend on running it every weekend throughout the summer to give folks an opportunity to get offshore and go diving! I will also offer more deep diving classes since we have the capacity and the interest is offshore, less so in caves right now. I will offer more rebreather classes, and cave classes as the demand dictates. With any kind of luck, I will be back in the store by early May to help safely open the summer back up. After all, I have until September to make it so before I must return to be a farmer in Paradise! Of course, you can always join me.

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April 30, 2020

Diving should be FUN!

While there are many forms of compressed gas diving that are clearly work (making a living wage) that may not be much fun, the vast majority of diving is designed to be for pleasure (FUN).
That means people do it because they can enjoy it.
The term we are given is Recreational Diving. It comes with it’s own set of standards. The act of recreational diving is not regulated by federal or state agency.
Yes, FWC has fishing regulations, and the U.S. Coast Guard has boating regulations that recreational diver must follow, but no one will tell you how you must dive.
A recreational diver is on his or her own when diving for FUN.
Professional Divers, such as those who operate dive shops, training agencies and instructors, boat captains and cylinder inspectors are earning a living wage.
(Well, OK, so the common joke in professional diving is the way to make a million dollars is to start with 2 million. Witness that I am a volunteer at my own store: Wakulla Diving Center!)
Professional Divers adhere to professional standards that are designed to foster safety for our customers (that’s the recreational divers) and the industry. Thousands of dollars are invested in the maintenance of these standards, (often called industry standards) to promote the recreational diver to have FUN.
Cylinder maintenance costs up to $5,000 a year in training, equipment maintenance and testing, record keeping and inspections to meet DOT standards.
We need to inspect a lot of cylinders to make that pay off. Just ask Travis if he thinks working in the cylinder maintenance facility is FUN and get an ear full!
But he is proud of the quality he brings to that table.
New divers need training to dive safely, and that costs a lot! Instructional support exceeds $5000 a year for our shop. We must teach a lot of students to make that commitment work. This year more courses than ever before are being organized by more instructors than before and all that takes time and perseverance.
This month’s checkout dives will be completed with 11 students! Ask our instructors and they will tell you they do it for the love of teaching, seldom for the non-existence of profit. All done in an effort to help make diving FUN.
Readily available, pure breathing gases, such as air and Nitrox, make diving safer, which encourage more diving, which thus provide greater proficiency. The hazards of blending are challenging, well cared for by a dedicated and hard working staff that operate the drive-thru fill station. To build a blending station capable of supporting this demand has cost way over $5,000, but with sales policy (price per cubic foot) changes, has brought the cost down considerably, thus making diving more FUN.
A facility boat has been planned for a year, to provide more opportunity for the recreational diver to get out on the water. As weather and warmer water become available, divers will have more opportunity to practice their passion. Please sign up if interested, as space, on an available basis only, will be made available.
We intend on promoting adventure and have more FUN this summer!

Gregg Stanton is traveling. This is a repeat of a column that appeared in May 2018.

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May 7, 2020

Consequence of carbon dioxide in diving.

We don’t think about carbon dioxide (CO2) much as terrestrial types because nature has taken care of it.
The Industrial Revolution has been dumping tons of this gas into the atmosphere, such that a recent measurement of 410 ppm (up from 300 ppm in 1958) has been recorded at key locations. While the consequences of atmospheric carbon dioxide are debated, underwater in our diving physiology, there is no debate.
We metabolize (burn) oxygen with carbon (food) to generate energy and a waste product called carbon dioxide in the cells of our body.
The harder we work, the more of it we generate. It must be removed from the cells through the blood plasma and vented out of the body through the lungs. For every 1000 ml. of oxygen that we consume, we give off 800 ml. of carbon dioxide. On land, if we breathe in and out of a bag, the CO2 builds up in the bag and as the flushing gradient is reduced, this gas builds up in the body’s tissues.
We use the CO2 to tell the brain to increase lung ventilation, the higher the CO2, the faster we breathe. And here you thought the brain monitored the oxygen demand! Perhaps in more subtle ways, it does. The brain will shut down if the gas we breathe has less that 10 percent Oxygen on the surface. Surface swimmers hyperventilate to help them hold their breath longer, thinking they have added oxygen to their body. They have not, but they have vented CO2 from their blood, reducing the sensation to need to breathe.
Kids do this to get attention, passing out and spontaneously breathing once unconscious. An underwater breath-hold swim may result in drowning if not revived by a buddy. Water ingested in the lungs (called near-drowning) is briefly tolerable, but will result in a later drowning if not corrected at a hospital.
Divers play in hyperbaric environments where ambient pressure is elevated above that of the surface. As long as the diver breathes deeper and slower than at the surface, off gassing CO2 works well enough.
Water is 800 times as dense as the air at the surface condition. At 33 feet of sea water the pressure doubles! The lungs have evolved to exchange gasses at 14.7 psi (surface conditions). At twice that pressure, not so easily. So we slow it down and breathe more deeply to accommodate the density.
The gases we breathe are compressed and highly filtered to remove water and many pollutants. The exhaust from an engine that gets into the intake of our compressor will poison a diver the same way the bag-breathing person is poisoned. Only the deeper you dive, the more concentrated this poison gets. That is why the State of Florida requires diver fill stations be tested every three months. Our intake pipe towers above our roof.
So why worry? Many divers have tried to save on the consumption of their breathing gas to keep up with others on a dive, by skip breathing. For each two breaths this buddy takes (s)he takes one breath. Clever, no?
No, as the consequence of inadequate breathing is the acidification of your blood, backing up CO2 in the body’s tissues and a splitting headache during and after the dive. This condition gets worse the deeper you dive. CO2 is also narcotic as it builds up in your tissues. So if you find you exit a dive with a headache, ask a dive instructor about your breathing habits and save yourself a lot of trouble.

Gregg Stanton is traveling. This is a repeat of a column that appeared in May 2018.

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May 14, 2020

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Laird Stanton.

Yesterday: I began my annual trek back to Florida last week. Released under the urgent need to remove my older infirm brother with pancreatic cancer from the hospital in these restrictive times.
Hawaii has few flights to the mainland. Having dropped from 30,000 visitors a day to around 100. My first flight went to Los Angeles, my second to Seattle and finally to Eugene, Ore. over a long day. I grabbed my truck, kept in storage with my brother in Oregon, and set out for Washington, D.C. the next morning.
I took the most direct route possible, through eastern Oregon where there is little Covid-19 and across Interstate 80 to Demoines, Iowa, then down I-74 to I-70 and into Washington D.C. Just as I turned south on Saturday night I was informed that he had passed away.
I decided to get a room and grieved our family’s loss before continuing along and arrived at his house after midnight Tuesday morning. The roads were empty except for trucks, my speed was 80 – 85 mph until I slowed down on Sunday and Monday and the fuel was just above $1 a gallon. Now begins the rebuilding process, as I am his executor and he was the most profitable of the four brothers.
Today: I console friends and neighbors, transfer the body to a local funeral home (get a death certificate), get keys to his property and contact the medical support groups to alert everyone where we are at. I must then let the military and Social Security know of his passing and his many friends, many of whom I have closely worked with recently.
My brothers have expressed a willingness to come help sell and consolidate his property, but now is not a good time, with the Covid-19 pandemic in full force on the East coast. So my plan is to lock it up and head for Florida until a better time this summer.
Tomorrow: Here I have less confidence, now as the elder in this family. As a family, we are all fiercely independent, seldom getting along, but always supportive. I took care of my dad when caring for my mother until she died in my arms.
I took care of my father’s second wife until she passed 16 years later and then my father, in his late 90s, until he passed. I am not surprised to be here again, but this time I will share this responsibility with my remaining brothers and his girlfriend as they now have equal shares in his will. I will take his body south and bury him with his parents at the Tallahassee National Cemetery.

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May 21, 2020

Back in the Saddle with the Double Shot.

I’m back in Wakulla County! Much has happened to us all, over the past two months. My intentions are to get our diving going again this summer. I will draw upon what I saw in Hawaii around Kohala Divers. They are located in the small port town of Kawaihae. Until recently, the port had most of their efforts dedicated to interisland shipping and small boat operations. But a storm recently knocked down some breakwaters and then came the Corona virus. I realized their store was in support of their Neuton 45 dive boat, that ran every day before the storm and pandemic. I dove with them and was impressed. Well, we have a boat, and it is almost ready for this occasion.
The Double Shot is a 26 foot Mako that was donated to me by my good friend Terry McClane. It required replacing most everything, so I did, and with his help we rebuilt the boat from the keel up. I added a large superstructure as a last step. But in sea trials, it was discovered that the stern was to low and open due to the 250 hp Yamaha that I added on. Eric had to bail out the bilge on our way back in last trip when the pumps failed! So this year I’m working with Mike over on St Mark’s Rd to extend the stern and close it in. Once ready, the boat will be even more seaworthy and ready for further improvements as we work the platform. With my Masters USCG rating, I intend on running this boat every weekend, weather permitting, to find diving adventures off our coast. Joe Storey has offered to co-Captain the boat this summer to keep us afloat, now that he has secured his USCG Captain’s papers.
Our favorite dive site over the past many decades has been K tower. It is located 17 miles off shore in 60 feet of fairly clear water. Over the years I have found an abundance of Goliath Grouper, Amber Jack, and now Lion Fish. The structure is attached to a 40 ft. by 40 ft barge, riding up 20 feet off the bottom, and full of rock that stabilizes the 100 ft above water tower. Entangled in the wire mesh holding the rock in place, are many lead weights, making this a treasure trove for divers. I have seen sharks, turtles and porpoise here from time to time. I enjoy just swimming the wreck/tower as it is loaded with all manner of reef fish and invertebrates. It’s fun to observe the giant Goliath Grouper and occasional shark from the top of the barge at 40 fsw!
And just to the east of the tower is a ledge that has abundant grouper, snapper and hog fish. It is here that I hope to expand our search for the ideal diving/fishing grounds. The charts show this area to be large and long. With a to/return trip of approximately an hour, this area is ideal for exploring. Now we just need to find the folks that would like to join me. I will be at the Wakulla Diving Center every afternoon Tuesday through Friday to talk about the plan. The boat should be ready by the end of the month or early next month. Stop over and let’s see if we can kick some life back into this activity!
Remember, underwater, the Corona virus can not transmit between people. So we remain careful in our planning and executions to minimize the threat of infestation. I will wash the boat down with the same sanitizing agents we use for rebreathers, and encourage social distancing while on the surface.

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May 28, 2020

Cylinders.

Yes, We know when the season has started when folks deliver scuba cylinders for annual service. And that began in earnest 2 weeks ago to explode last week! We now have 35 cylinders waiting for hydro testing, even after doing a run last Saturday. I’m in the back helping Katie perform cylinder visuals to help keep up. Hydro testing is next, big time!
The bulk of the cylinders I inspect continue to be aluminum 80, a mix of Catalina and Luxfer cylinders. Most of the other brands have been waylaid either by their neck cracking, loss of their DOT coverage, or just no longer used due to an earlier alloy (6351). The earlier alloy is still used, but more prone to neck cracking. Most of the cylinders I inspect are in great shape, because folks bring them in for annual routine inspection and careful use during the diving season. I have found a few corrosion holes on the outside walls, usually a ding from when the cylinder slid across the deck of a boat and slammed into something sharp. Remember, aluminum is a soft alloy that is easily damaged upon impact.
I understand that as long as we maintain our fill station, our customer’s cylinders will look great inside, and they do! It is only when I run across cylinders brought into our working sphere that we encounter cylinders full of corrosion and internal pits. When we get a compromised cylinder, we tumble it on a cylinder roller, filled with medium and water to help clean up the mess and expose any damage. This we do for aluminum or steel tanks, but seldom SCBA cylinders. The fire fighting cylinders have a very thin liner that does not tumble easily.
An increasingly numerous cylinder at Wakulla Diving Center is the steel variety, usually of the new thinner, high-density steel, also high-pressure types. Fabers are seldom coated with hot dipped zinc, but there is a new version that is out and it is wonderful! Faber cylinders are very well coated with protective layers of paint and cold sprayed zinc, so we seldom se problems outside. But inside, the metal is often raw so be sure to get your breathing gas from reputable suppliers. Basically, keep the gas dry as possible and no harm will come to your cylinder.
I open cylinder, inspect the outside and inside for damage caused by impact or corrosion or rust. Once documented, I try to remove the damage to keep it from continuing to bore into the metal and cause more damage. Corrosion in Aluminum will self correct in the absence of water but rust in Steel will just keep digging. I have national standards (PSI) that we abide with. I then check and count the threads of both the cylinder and valve.
If everything meets these standards, I lubricate the new O-ring and threads, close up the cylinder and torque the valve to 50 psi before placing a new sticker on the sidewall of the cylinder. While such a sticker is only good for the day I complete the exam, it is renewed every year or when damage is inflicted at any time. I am impressed with how well you are taking care of your cylinders! So if we provide your inspection sticker and you have subsequent unexpected damage, send them to us for re-inspection at no charge. Mahalo

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June 4, 2020

The Hydro Testing Facility.

The test provided to your high-pressure cylinder, now monitored by the Department of Transportation (DOT), has been around for a very long time. When visiting a very old testing facility in Oklahoma, I watched them hydro-test a “K” cylinder with an original test date of 1859. It passed! Wakulla Diving has only been actively testing cylinders for a decade, with experience dating back through a similar facility at FSU to the 1980s. Travis Kersting is still conducting most of our hydro-testing at the Wakulla Diving Center.
As you may know, we test cylinders for their ability to safely hold their rated pressure by filling them with water and running them up to 5/3 of that rated pressure to test for the elasticity of the cylinder wall. After a reduction of the test pressure, the cylinder volume must return to no greater than 10% of its original volume. The concept of water–testing pressure vessels is applied to pipelines and other pressure-vessels such as cylinders that hold products liquid or gaseous in nature. Previously, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was responsible (since 1909) for monitoring pressure vessel testing. Beginning in 1930, the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) began working with the ICC to develop water jacket testing of cylinders. In 1967, the DOT took over the task of cylinder monitoring and replaced the label, but little else.
A visual inspection is then conducted to evaluate the corrosion present on the in & out side of the cylinder and the threads of the cylinder. Most cylinders fail the annual visual exam before they fail the five-year hydrostatic test. As we adopt UN ISO standards for cylinder performance, this hydro-test will be changed, so look for new standards in the near future. I am told a new performance test will include test pressures of 3/2 the working pressure or the REE pressure, whichever is mandated. Cylinders today are often stamped with an REE number on the neck. ISO standards are now taught through PSI/PCI training for our cylinder inspectors.
Hopefully, this globalization effort will permit cylinders used in Europe to be available for use in the USA. You currently know that a cylinder designed for Europe is not allowed to be used in the USA (with very few exceptions). I actually have a test cylinder with the data stamped on the neck that permits its use anywhere in the world. Only 200 were made by an English company (Open Safety), but were ultimately rejected by the UK. Perhaps, by adopting ISO regulations, the world will get behind more global safety concepts that permit wide use of technology.
While the aluminum alloy known as 6351 is still in service, (with no cracks in the threads), threats to discontinue permitting its use altogether have vacillated. Last heard, our harsh denial of any cracked threads may change to a permissible 2 cracks in the lower threads of these cylinders. We knew the cracks migrate slowly from the crown up the threads, but stand by for further proposals. You know, the 6351 alloy is banned from use in the Florida Keys at this time.

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June 11, 2020

Back diving in Wakulla.

During the past week I’ve made dives in Emerald cave system and off the coast east of the “K” Tower. Both dives were made to shallow depths of less than 50 feet and on a rebreather.
At one point I ran out of Sorb, the “kitty litter” that takes the CO2 out of the breathing gasses. Joerg had loaned me a pack (his last), which let me dive for five hours. So late last week I drove down to St. Petersburg to pick up the last of four tubs of Softnolime from DiveSoft, pick up supplies and get my gun fixed. They were also out of sensors with no replenishment in the near or distant future, but I brought all of my used sensors from Hawaii, so I was still good. I’m also tracking on more DragerSorb, but it is currently available in California with frightful shipping costs to Florida. I’ve got a rebreather class starting this coming Saturday, so I needed to secure supplies. Katie found me the last of the sensors at Diver’s Gear Supply, so I bought most of them and they arrived Saturday. Yes, it turns out that our options out of Europe are limited. Many items are no longer available as the U.S. is being slowly isolated. POLITICS! I hope we can get back on track soon. The Covid-19 is not a problem underwater. We must, however, be careful getting there.
Rusty begins his basic scuba class (full) this Saturday so we will be a bit tight in our facility this weekend. I have two students, but most of the first weekend is dedicated to lectures and lab setup of the rigs that they propose to use. I am also visited by Waren, a veteran diver I trained in Hawaii last year. He brings his Dive Rite Optima Rig to our facility. After the weekend class we will go diving. He lives in California for the moment. It would be great to get him as an employee one day.
The ocean dives were typical spear fishing with Williams awesome boat. We spent the day east of “K” Tower 20 miles out, in 40-50 feet making many less than 30 minute dives. We have developed very different styles of fishing which worked very well for them. Most on board swam over small patch reefs at 5-8 feet above the bottom. With four people on board, we split into two teams alternating between sites. Once in the water, it was same ocean buddy system, so I stayed close to the anchor or knew where it was. Every dive was better than the one before as I was exposed to high oxygen concentrations.
I am a stealthy bottom grubber, so with no bubbles, I moved very little and took my time to identify prey. The first dive, I shot at very little, practicing my target practice skills (which was poor as I don’t spear in Hawaii).
On my next opportunity, I began picking out options soon to realize my gun was not working very well. It had been loaned out while I was away and not washed very well. My third dive I took a number of great shots only to harmlessly bounce off the target or misfire the gun completely. I did find half a dozen anchors. On my last dive, I borrowed a gun and could not cock it. My buddy did so and then took off, so I had one shot. I nailed a nice-sized gag grouper, but it got off, so no good. To add insult to injury, right at the anchor, a large red grouper lounged around and easily moved into a hole when I tried to shove the shaft at him.
I took my gun down to Spear Fishing Specialties and was told the trigger mechanism was shot. They convinced me to start a gun rental option to encourage better spearfishing. So here we are, cranking up the summer. Come on in and talk turkey with us. We love to dive!

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June 18, 2020

Warren Wilson.

Two summers ago, I was called out of sleepy Wakulla County to train divers on a rebreather on Oahu, Hawaii. A student had died in a class, and the training agency that supervised the instructor wanted a new set of eyes at the store.
I arrived in June 2018 and was met by military veterans from various branches of the military. Warren was U.S. Army Airborne Ranger and U.S. Navy Rebreather diver with EODMU-7. They wanted training on the Dive Rite Optima, built in Lake City, Florida. So I brought my Optimal over and began a Closed Circuit Rebreather class using the shop’s resources.
The class was intense, but the students ate it up! They were used to the intensity of military training, which was my pathway over 50 years of training. I could not give them enough, that they did not keep coming back for more.
I was brought back for another class in July, where Warren assisted me and we developed a close friendship.
By the time I returned for the third trip in August, my 50th anniversary with my wife, Warren was there to help get the last of the challenging students passed off on their skills.
The world turns on its own schedule. My brother Larry came down with pancreatic cancer, something that jolted Ann, my wife, into a “let’s move home” tack, so we went looking for a home in Hawaii.
She and I returned to the Big Island where she now resides helping run an avocado orchard. My brother passed away in April, so here I am in Wakulla and who shows up but Warren, looking to move to Wakulla and work for me at Wakulla Diving Center!
Warren is a native Californian from the city of Santa Monica in Los Angeles County. After serving 24 years in the military, he retired to the beach in Tijuana, Mexico. After 16 years in Mexico, he is ready to relocate and join the team at Wakulla Diving Center.
He will be moving over the summer and working with Katie to take over the back shop of our facility as he trains up as a dive instructor. He is single and very active, loving hunting, diving and whatever challenges life brings.
Ultimately, he will develop the Veteran Diving Training Center at Wakulla Diving, the same program that was once in Hawaii, relocated here in Florida. The Veterans Program has a number of options, including Disabled Veterans, and those seeking employment training in a diving career. Collaboration with other schools may be required as will setup issues with the Veterans Administration in Florida. Now, it will take a year to get the program details ironed out, but that’s his plan. Otherwise, he is an avid diver, open and closed circuit. He’s been diving since 1988. He’s an old-school diver.
Warren will be in residence in a month, and he’s excited to open discussions with candidates as he sets up resources to bring this coveted program to North Florida!

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June 25, 2020

Diving remains one of the few good options.

When the Covid-19 crisis hit our Wakulla Community, I was still in Hawaii. Our diving community seldom engages in much diving activities until April, and then due to weather, only getting equipment serviced for the summer activities. We decided that Wakulla Diving Center, under Katie’s management, would remain open and see where it went.
In our decade residence at this location, we have only had one year when diving became active in March. So this year began similar to most years, slow in April and $500 over last year in May. I returned in late May, without my wife, to help with the shop.
We are currently at full swing with many spearfishing groups going out, a basic scuba class under Rusty Miller’s leadership, a rebreather class that quit mid class (not unusual), and a full July class schedule posted. I had hoped to run my 26-foot boat every weekend, but have not been able to get the hull rigged with an improved Armstrong bracket extended and closed-in stern.
Most of the divers are spearfishing! And the harvest is good.
I went out a few weeks ago and saw legal sized grouper and snapper on every dive. That my gun failed to work properly is another matter since rectified at Spear Fishing Specialties. While on board, we distanced ourselves and made a total of eight dives (four each in two pairs). Fortunately, Wakulla has not suffered a great Covid-19 pandemic effect, encouraging folks to get out and harvest those fish!
In the meantime, I am working to bring new programs to our shores.
Warren Wilson is working with the VA Program to help bring vocational training to Wakulla Diving. He is making the contacts and laying out my curriculum set up a year ago, to make diving, as a job, available to folks seeking employment after a career in the military.
As you may recall, I went to Hawaii originally to train veterans in a similar program that no longer exists. I trained two classes, Warren being one of those students.
Warren returns to us in a few weeks to move in and begin building the program that when finished will span Wakulla and the Big Island of Hawaii, with careen development courses.
We currently have our Internship class underway at the Wakulla Diving Center. It will become the first of the VA Program classes.
Leadership classes in Diving will become the second class.
The third class will be UW Crime Scene Investigations, and the fourth will be The Agency Dive Officer.
All four classes have been offered at university before, so setting them up to function through the national VA Programs will make a comfortable match.
Warren is also pursuing the Wounded Warrior Program, something I am not very familiar with but will support!
We continue to pursue the hydrostatic testing of fire fighting cylinders, with the assistance of other companies in the state. We began years ago by purchasing a liquid CO2 pump and Dewar system, only to be stopped by local concerns that we did not meet class A and B requirements before doing class C testing (which we can do under DOT mandates).
Hopefully, we will overcome these challenges and forge ahead, keeping our shop active over the months when diving is not so prevalent. After all, We have a great Hydro test facility!
Aloha.

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July 2, 2020

Sharks Locally.

We are getting a number of people telling us about the local Shark population and their bold interest in divers. Of course there is no telling how one group out spearing fish on a reef incites a feeding response that carries over to another group’s visit to the same reef at a later time. Some folks are upset at the uncomfortably close inspection these sharks perform on divers, many who are not spearing fish. Remember, bubbles generated by divers create a common stimulus for the sharks to respond to.
Unfortunately, the easy solution to this problem, the Shark Shield, is not readily available as they are made in China. China is currently not shipping replacement units, causing a lag time in replacing damaged units or providing new inventory. If you have a Shark Shield that is currently useable, take good care of it and be sure to turn it on for the duration of the dive. I have no idea when replacement units will become available.
I hear from divers that spears are not engaging deep enough in fish resulting in a lot of blood in the water with loose injured fish swimming around. My trip out a few weeks ago resulted in many such challenges. I finally gave up and returned my gun for a rebuild at Spearfishing Specialties. They found the guts of my gun rusted out! When sharks sense blood in the water, they will respond and you don’t want to be around when they do, unless you have a functional Shark Shield on your leg.
The greater shark challenges are in deeper water and further to the West of K Tower. But as the water turns warmer, we expect to see more aggressive sharks, so be careful out there.
Bull Sharks are the common challenge, often in a school and very demanding. K Tower also has Goliath Grouper in substantial numbers, along with sharks. They can be as aggressive as the sharks, taking speared fish right off the spear before the diver can recover his prey. I still love the dives at K Tower, but I stay up on the barge at 40 feet with the baby 4 foot Goliaths. This way I can peacefully look over the side and watch the big boys cruising the 60 ft. depths below.
I asked Katie, who is a specialist on sharks, where they seem to be located these days. She reported back that Artificial Reefs are a favorite hangout for sharks right now, and that the Bulls are by far the biggest problem. Procedurally, when encountering a shark at a dive site, don’t go in! If you are already in the dive, you should join up with your buddy, and set yourself up side to side while moving to the anchor. Keep your eyes on the circling shark! Carefully move up the anchor line back to back and get out of the water. Any attempt the shark makes to investigate you closely should be rewarded by a jab with your spear or knife. Get out while covering each other at the ladder.
Sharks are the buzzards of the sea, their purpose to maintain a healthy fish population. Injured fish become their primary interest for which they are ideally designed. Try to work with them as they are working in our best interest.

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July 9, 2020

Rebreather Design Changes

In 1954, the Hurst Cell enabled us to track the amount of oxygen a diver consumes as he or she spends time underwater. Today, this cell has changed very little, but the rebreathers that use them have. What became a life saver with limited single application has grown exponentially when used in tandem, as three, and now 4, cells averaged to provide more predictable performance. Voting cells have become the normal application for the oxygen content of the loop, sometimes involving several gauges providing alternating data streams during the dive.

Dragger began providing rebreather technology over 100 years ago, long before oxygen sensors were available. It is said that when Jacques Cousteau began his quest for a recreational diving rig, he tried a rebreather but found them too unreliable. He shifted to an automotive regulator. The system, called open circuit, controlled a supply of gas to flow into the lungs on demand that exhaled into the surrounding hydrosphere. In this way, the PO2 could be calculated based upon the depth (pressure), and as long as the gas was air, everything worked easily.But in the 1950s Andre Guilarn added oxygen to air and found he could spend a lot more time underwater without injury and applied it to his commercial diving. In 1979, Morgan Wells learned about the idea and published the Nitrox Tables in the NOAA Dive Manual. Open circuit mixed gas diving took off such that by the mid 1980s, folks were brewing their own gasses at home and burning them down with regularity. In the 1990s, folks were playing with rebreathers, including Dragger, AP Diving, The Meg folks, the Liberty and by 2000, one DEMA floor had 50 different models to choose from.

Rebreathers, outdating open circuit, don’t bubble much, recirculating the gas through a carbon dioxide capturing bed and adding oxygen based on monitoring sensors and displays or computers that maintain a desired PO2. These rigs could go deeper and longer, not just doubling the bottom time, but running up to10 times and more the same dive on an open circuit. Add helium and the depth of the dive became routine at 300 feet. These machines began large and bulky, but soon became smaller, with more redundancy and with longer exposure capability.

Now, with over a decade of rebreather development, we have come full circle. Dragger supplied the US Navy with a small, chest mounted 100% rebreather that, because of the nature of the gas, is restrictive (recreationally) to less than 20 FSW called the LAR 5. It is currently restricted to military use, but has been in service for a long time. Warren Wilson went with me to visit Dive Rite’s factory in Lake City a few weeks ago to look at a new rebreather they are selling right now. Warren is a Special Forces military retired diver. When he saw the unit, he said, “I know that rig! It is a modified LAR 5,” and bought it immediately. The price was surprisingly inexpensive!

I ordered one as well. The CHOPTIMA is modified to run mixed gas using similar features of the popular back mounted OPTIMA, but compartmentalized to fit on the chest and will deploy for many hours to any depth underwater. We can’t get our rigs for another few weeks as it is very popular! Already, I am pressed by my students in Hawaii to bring it out there for trials. Can you see a time in the very near future when quiet, dual rebreathers will be a natural fit for a well equipped aquanaught? I can!!

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July 16, 2020

The Spear Gun

I began shooting fish with a pole spear sling. It was a primitive tool I once made using an abandoned fishing pole, with mask straps for the sling and a small knife for the tip. It worked when we were stuck on “K” Tower while we waited for a rescue boat. We ate very well. Today you can purchase a pole sling that has ether a tri point or single spear tip. The pole is pulled back on the rubber sling and gripped in the hand until released in the direction of the fish. Hawaiian slings use a door hinge as a cocking device that grips a more slender rod that is released when depressed. We mostly start our spear fishing with Pole Spears. Be sure to have a fishing license!
When we grow into a spear gun, it gets more expensive. The gun has a fixed base that has a handle at the back end and a shaft and band holder in the front. The shaft of the gun can be made of metal or wood. The shaft is strung down the front often along a groove in the shaft back to the handle where the shaft is anchored in the cocking mechanism. Additional features in the handle include the kill spike, a bolt snap, and safety switch. The head of the gun my have a kill spike, light, and band holding device.
Guns are usually described in terms of the shaft length from very small to 36 inch, 42, inch, 48 inch, 52 inch and larger. Reef guns are in the lower range (36-48) and pelagic guns are over that. The front piece hold 1 to 4 units of various sized rubber bands using metal, cable or line anchors holding them together. Over time, the rubber rots, the anchoring material binds up and they all may break. Careful fresh water rinsing reduces this loss.
A spear gun is only loaded underwater for safety concerns. Disengage a spear gun before exiting the water. Never point a spear gun at a person, just as with any gun in or out of the water. Most folks will load the gun on the way down the anchor line or at the bottom. First; engage the safety toggle on the handle and be sure the shaft is locked in place with the line firmly strung in the line holding system. The handle is then set in the groin with the leg lifted to capture it, while pulling the two sides of the rubber band down the shaft to lock into the groove in the spear. This can be a daunting task, so take some time to get good at it. You may need to reposition the gun handle on your chest to pull the band further back on the shaft. Then, put the handle back on the groin and pull the next band back into place. Once “loaded”, be sure the tip lobes are captured in the collar ring.
Much practice is required before taking the line shaft off the shaft; an 80% kill rate is advised. Become familiar with the game fish that are in season, and those out of season to avoid! When you find a fish of the legal size, aim just behind the eye of the fish and gently squeeze the trigger. The gun mechanism will release the shaft line, and releasing the shaft, thus permitting the rubber bands to thrust the shaft in the direction of your shot. Be aware of the area behind your shot as the spear may penetrate the reef. You must be close enough for your shaft to penetrate the fish, or the shaft will simply bounce off and chase the prey away. Practice makes perfect!


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July 23, 2020

Scalloping.

Some of my best memories of harvesting seafood came when I went scalloping off Wakulla County. And the scallop season is upon us again in this frustrating pandemic year. My love affair began in 1976, after spending the summer at the FSU Marine Lab (we literally took it over) teaching the Scientist-In-The-Sea Program. The month before fall classes began on campus was spent at the lab cleaning up everything and the transfer of the lab back to their staff. And we went scalloping right off the main building! The harvest was incredible!
Scallops migrate into coastal waters during the summer to feed on the abundance of algae in the warmer waters of the local grass beds. We found them then and now in shallow grass beds of 2-4 feet of water. At this depth we snorkel carrying a mesh bag, looking for the outline of the shell and often seeing the many eyes that outline its shell. I always leave the smaller shells to grow more as the summer progresses. If you can move off shore a bit more, to 8-10 feet, the larger scallops reside.
These days we enjoy heading out off the St. Marks Wildlife Management area east of the Lighthouse. The bird rack is now gone, but the area is marked by a line of poles at 10 feet eastward from that depth contour off the channel. My son went out two Saturdays ago and was very successful nearly collecting a full harvest. He cleaned the shells while out there to be sure to return the remnants back into the sea to encourage further scallop growth. Don’t forget to carry a dive flag & fishing license.
Scallops are sweet when eaten raw. Of course, you must first clean them. After I get back to the boat, I’ll open a shell using a knife to pry the bivalve open. I slice the blade up against the inside of the shell to scrape the mussel off the shell. I then take my thumbnail and scrape around the mussel to pull the guts off the shell. What is left is the muscle attached to the shell. I then scrape the muscle off the shell using my thumbnail and pop it into my mouth. The taste is wonderful! Yes, I keep most of them to cook up later in the day using butter and a light flower dusting so that the entire family can enjoy them.
I have scalloped as far west as behind the Island on the other side of the inlet at St Andrews Bay State Park in Panama City to the grass beds at the eastern most end of the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge. That includes the St. Joe State Park, the Lanark grass beds, the FSU Marine Lab, off Shell Point and the entire huge St. Marks grassbeds. Midway east along the 10 foot bathymetry, you can see a few islands in shallower waters. I would anchor my sailboat at about 8-foot depth and swim shoreward until I’d find what I was looking for. I preferred the larger scallops, as they are larger the further out you go. But I have found myself right up against the islands on a few occasions.
Yes, there have been a few seasons when the scallops were not as plentiful as hoped for. We know that they are mobile, swimming in from deeper areas. Some say the rainfall plays a major effect on their numbers. If we have too much rain, they don’t come inshore as much. If you have not seen them swim, find one and pull it up and release it and watch how it jets water out the back to move forward.
They are truly wonderful creatures that taste even better!

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July 30, 2020

As we evolve in these trying times.

I’ll bet you noticed nothing is static right now! This Covid-19 pandemic has brought many changes to our world, and to the things we want to do.
My return to Florida was filled with plans to put our 25-foot Mako vessel into commercial service to run dive charters off our coast. But first we needed to enclose the transom and extend the engine mount out to add more flotation due to larger engine weights!
I’m at the end of my summer and the boat remains disassembled in the back, still waiting upon the manufacturer to respond to our order. They are in Stuart and likely shut down due to the pandemic.
We stayed open throughout the crisis, erecting clear barriers at the register and regulator repair facility in our shop and providing the support our customers’ wanted/needed to keep diving this summer. Revenue this summer remained the same as last year, so we successfully offered the summer internship training, hydrostatically tested as many cylinders as last year and prepared more technology to be shipped to Hawaii, as we did last year.
Mid-August I will pack up the truck and run another shipping crate to LA to be shipped to Hilo for a continued expansion of Wakulla in Hawaii, on the Big Island.
But we are growing here. We have excellent staff that will be expanding over the next year to include a regulator repair specialist, and a cylinder specialist. Both will start out part time and grow as the mission grows. All will be cross-trained.
We will be integrating with a company in mid Florida to again get into the hydrostatic testing and filling of CO2 cylinder. Once in place, that will increase the cylinder specialist’s time to full time.
And Warren Wilson will join our staff in late August to begin the Veterans Vocational Training Program, which will take the better part of a year to organize.
Once in place, Veterans can take one of four proposed classes: Dive Locker Management, Professional Diving (to Instructor), Underwater Crime Scene Investigations, and Agency Dive Officer. Each will be a scheduled to encourage employment opportunities.
I return to Hawaii, where I’m from, to become a farmer to my 2-pound avocados. We have successfully doubled the harvest by careful tending the orchard over the year. I have a contract with Foodland to supply them avocados from October to the end of December.
Folks have stopped by the dive shop to talk about their avocados here in Florida! I am pleased to offer discussion regarding how we have succeeded at our orchard.
Now we will see how we fare with the approaching hurricane!
I return to Florida in January, and May, for monthlong visits as I resolve my brother’s estate, help with the shop, the expanded cylinder program and establish the Veterans Programs.
In fact, Warren just told me he is investigating the Wounded Veterans Program offerings as well. There is a similar program in Georgia I’m told.
Our notion for Wakulla Diving was to provide what the community asked for.
That’s why customers marvel at what we have available for them, since it was purchased based upon what they asked for.
I expect the same approach will work in Hawaii!

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August 6, 2020

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.

This is a repeat of a column that appeared last year.

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August 13, 2020

Trip to Washington During The Pandemic

I was visiting the Washington DC area last week and faced a hurricane first hand. It came up the East Coast and right over Maryland where my parents have a home, now unoccupied. My brother passed away back in April, leaving me as his executor, and all of his properties that are in lock down now. I visited Maryland to secure the old place and was denied entrance to their bank because of the required 14 day quarantine rule there. When back in Virginia, another bank had no such requirement! So these rules are applied differently across state lines. Similar trials and tribulations almost rendered my trip to the area worthless. I fled Maryland as the hurricane moved into the area, and then slept through the storm in Virginia.
But the day of the hurricane’s passing, all was clear that afternoon, and I persevered and closed on several accounts. I then returned to my brother’s place and dug into stuffed file cabinets until I found missing files and other stuff such that I could then depart for Florida the next morning. I carried boxes of old files, new bills and memorabilia. Now I must lock down more than before since folks like to dig in my can these days!
I don’t know if you are familiar, but travel from Florida to the northeast has many limitations. The fuel is less expensive (I paid less than $2.00 a gallon traveling both ways). I drove my old VW Jetta that is fast and inexpensive! But face mask, social distancing and hand sanitation is required almost everywhere. And now a 14 day isolation policy is slowly expanding. That can really shut you down! To lessen the delays of mail forwarding, I set up formal mail forwarding at the local post office. I hope it will work! A neighbor was kind enough to gather the mail weekly, but we lost one shipment that just came in after going to Gainesville instead of Crawfordville.
And then along comes a hurricane in the middle of my week. The excuses I get at the banks get even more absurd. One bank put me off for a day, knowing a hurricane was due the next day, and when I showed up in spite of the storm the next day and they said they could not see me because they could not figure out how to work their electronics! I abandoned them and found another branch further away to get service. The storm did no damage to my brothers place. So I spent a total of one week in this area, happy to depart south and get back home. I really must change my travel schedule to be in the DC area more often but for less time every few months.
I am packing out this/next week! Travis will build me a crate that I will again drive to LA and ship to Hilo Hawaii. I will then drive to Eugene Oregon, drop my truck off to be kept there in storage and catch a ride up to Seattle for a flight home before the end of the month. I have done this trek often in the last few years, so no great challenge there. I leave behind a new set of staff members, the result of the Internship Program with Katie at the helm. I become a farmer and harvest my Avocados across the next 4 months. During this time the seeds of a new Veterans Program should germinate and hatch the CO2 Program expanding previous investments already in place.
I will return to Washington DC in January to continue the challenge of managing the family estate. I then drive down here and continue to encourage the Wakulla Diving Program as it evolves into a multidisciplinary operation. No chance of a vacation here!!!

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August 20, 2020

Wakulla Diving has expanded.

Over the past two years, my wife and I have expanded the Dive Center to include a facility on the Big Island of Hawaii. We are from Hawaii, growing up as kids living on various islands depending upon opportunity but departing when we graduated from college and had to compete with folks returning from the Vietnam War. I learned how to dive from a dive club at Pearl Harbor, attended college on Maui, graduated from the University of Hawaii on Oahu with a 5-year Zoology Degree, and got married on the Big Island at the Lapakahe Archaeological Site.
We left to find opportunity and ultimately settled in Tallahassee to complete a graduate degree at FSU. I was later offered a faculty position at FSU and developed the largest of dive programs in the country. My wife, Ann, was an Energy Analyst for a very long career. We raised two children, one of whom is the graphic artist at The Wakulla News. We both retired at some point and at the encouragement of past FSU students, started Wakulla Diving Center in Wakulla County in 2010. Then, in 2018 I was called back to Hawaii to help train two rebreather classes that were stymied when a student died in a class. That program is now gone, but students from those classes have returned to help set up a Veterans Program here in Wakulla County, based upon what was proposed in Hawaii.
And after the training, I took Ann back for our 50th Anniversary. She announced that she wanted to go home! So we purchased a 5-acre plantation 1,600 feet upslope of Honoka’a on the north shore of the Big Island of Hawaii and cleared up an abandoned avocado farm. I must return now to harvest a new crop, numbering in the thousands of fruit! But I also moved resources from Wakulla to start training and fill station on this same property: Wakulla Diving West (or Hawaii). We support the growing diving community that dives from the shore into beautiful tropical reefs! We now offer Nitrox blended from the same Dewar technology that we use here in Wakulla County. We have successfully taught several rebreather classes and supported weekly dives in the island. We are capable of teach all the same classes taught here in Wakulla.
Folks can visit us and stay in our huge home at no charge since we do not want to get into that business. We will pick you up at the airport and put you up at no charge as long as your plans are to go diving. We have cylinders with gases with other support equipment as needed. We take trips to local shore-based dives weekly, as weather permits. And there is a lot to see on the island. Of course, everything is in lockdown right now, no great surprise considering the Covid-19 threat, but all that will pass soon enough.
I begin my return to Hawaii next week. For the next week I’ll be completing minor details and meetings to expand the proposed Veterans Programs for next year. Please don’t hesitate to contact Katie, Rusty or me regarding your interest in visiting us in Hawaii. Others have come over and had a great time.
Aloha!

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August 27, 2020

A different September.

Welcome to our new reality. More folks wear masks and social distance at the store than ever before. Many are anxiously watching the return to school, so common in our three-state impact area. But revenue at Wakulla Diving has exceeded figures from last year, that for the first time, we are stable entering into the Fall doldrums.
In many ways, what we do now is consistent with what we did for fun last year. That is people go diving and spear fish, take pictures and collect scallops.
OK, scalloping is much better this year with record numbers harvested at favorite sites off the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge and elsewhere. From what we gather from the boats that fish offshore, Gag, Snapper and Hog Fish harvests have been very good this year as well.
As you know, typically, September is the worst month at the facility, reflecting diminished diving activity during a return to the fall schedules of work and school. This year will have more hurricane challenges that will murk up our waters as storms pass through our area in September and October. This past weekend is a good example of weather depressed days, which is reflected at the register as well.
The Covid-19 challenge has stymied our efforts to get our 25-foot boat retrofitted with an extension, to better serve our community. But Terry and Joe are pursuing solutions into the fall to correct this and perhaps by the spring, we will be back in service.
Our expansion efforts are also making progress for a Veterans Program, Wounded Warier Program, Underwater Crime Scene Program, and Aquatics Program, albeit slowly doing basic meetings and staff allocations.
We continue to work with Kirk Campana, currently locked down in Hawaii, to expand the hydro testing and CO2 filling of fire fighting technology.
At some point, we will return to legally providing that service that we so eloquently performed 2 years ago with the 12 different dry chemical companies in Tallahassee.
My older brother passed away in April, the result of complications to Pancreatic Cancer, and Covid-19 distractions. But, with his estate, bills are being paid off and stability at the shop better assured.
He was our facility manager, which is sorely missed. Dr. Joerg Hess will take over his old post as IT specialist as we recover from the transition from Katie Adams to Courtland Richards becoming our Store Manager.
So what is so different with this September? For one thing, many are keeping their children home for now, in an abundance of safety, and taking them out on diving trips.
Rusty Miller will offer a Scuba Dive class in September that is very popular. We have access to the FAMU pool again! I was told by several dive teams that they will continue to go out diving until the water turns cold, which could be as late as October or November. So we are taking steps to keep the blending station flowing at full capacity. Our hours will change back to being closed Sundays and Mondays, but otherwise our 9-6 regular hours will prevail. And I return this week to Hawaii, to become a farmer! Aloha until January.

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September 3, 2020

Megalodon teeth.

Back a few million years ago, 2.3 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…

Gregg Stanton is traveling. This is a repeat of a column from September 2019.

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September 10, 2020

Interns.

Every summer we offer an unpaid internship for folks looking to get into the field of retail scuba diving. We have done this for over 30 years, first started at FSU under the late Michael Dunning (Isle of Mann). While on the Tallahassee campus, we had up to 20 candidates every semester. I took the program to Panama City where students started there and graduated in further instructor programs to graduate teaching the scuba diving training. When I retired and opened Wakulla Diving Center, the internship program followed at the request of folks looking for practical dive technology training. This summer we had three participants: Cortland Richards, Micayla Acree, and Mehdi Zinetti.
Candidates spend 10 hours a week during a semester doing formal classes in cylinder filling, inspections, valve repair, special alloy, and oxygen maintenance, gas blending (Nitrox and Trimix), DOT hydro-testing cylinders, regulator repair, and maintenance, scuba retail, and shop management. Usually, they spend an average of 2 hrs. a week in class and 8+ hours a week in proficiency work. We always take successful candidates into Leadership training, Assistant Instructor, Dive Master, and Dive Instructor. This popular program will be expanded into an intense Veteran’s Program of 4 hrs/day semester-long course that will be called SCUBA Technology. Graduates will then apply for the second 4 hr/day semester or two VA Program course called Professional Dive Instructor (from a non-diver to dive instructor) currently developing the curriculum by Dylan Skagmore. Dr. Joerg Hess is currently setting up the third VA Program called Under Water Crime Scene Specialist. Discussions with The TCC Law Enforcement Academy has begun with a target date of next year. The final Proposed course is the most challenging: Agency Dive Officer. To get there I have asked Mr. Trey Hutt of Hutt Insurance to consider designing a curriculum with me to serve as a terminal course, available in a year or two from now. Every Program course will result in job opportunities once completed.
Dr. Joerge Olaves, from FAMU, has been in discussions with us to support the proposed Aquatics Program at Wakulla Diving Center.
Yes, we continue to look at building a community pool and begin a training program in Pool Facility Management. To that end, Warren Wilson (retired Special Forces) has stepped up to bring in the Wounded Warrior Program to Wakulla Diving Center. A special pool will be required! This program will begin soon and require two years to develop.
And in the middle of this, Courtland Richards has replaced Katie Adams, as our new store manager. She accepted a job in Miami and departed in August after I departed for Hawaii.
Courtland has a lifetime of experience in scuba diving, as an underwater videographer. Courtland received a B.A. in Visual Arts from Florida State University (1977) and has had a successful 40-year career in the world of commercial photography and video. He was a staff and contract photographer for Southern Living Magazine and has produced commercial images and videos for major corporations, manufacturers, magazine publishers, advertising agencies, hotels, and restaurants in the U.S.
He has worked on two commercial films in the last two years as the Underwater Camera Operator for “Voices” and as the Second Assistant Camera Operator for “The Immortal Jellyfish.”
Courtland has been scuba diving since 1965 and continues to gain knowledge through advanced certifications, dive technology, and retail scuba store management

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September 17, 2020

What do hurricanes bring us underwater?

We are at the peak of our hurricane season, mid-September, and storms are certainly in abundance, what with 5 named hurricanes and two yet to be named in the Atlantic and Gulf. Our selected names are at “R” with half the season yet to come.
Our active summer diving activity can be curtailed when high winds cause high seas and limited visibility. Besides, as land creatures, we must secure our land features and resources from damaging winds and waters!
So how does the ocean community survive the hurricane? Much the same as our land based resources: with difficulty. Hurricanes generate high waves, rough undercurrents, and shifting sands, all of which may harm or hinder sea life. As the hurricane moves toward shore, the underwater tumultuous conditions can cause shifting sands and muddy shallow waters, blocking the essential sunlight on which corals and other sea creatures rely upon. These conditions can last for weeks after the storm passes. As the hurricane grows larger and more potent, it can generate waves as high as 18.3 meters, tossing and mixing warmer surface waters with the colder, saltier water below. The resulting currents can extend as far as 91.5 meters below the surface, wreaking deadly havoc on the marine life below.
The chaos starts at the ocean’s surface. The hurricane’s winds blow against the water, creating waves. As the waves grow taller, they develop more area for the wind to press against, which in turn makes the waves even larger, and their reach deeper into the water column. Surge at depth first moves sediments, such as sand, then boulders, and ultimately, reefs can get ripped apart as winds drive even greater wave heights. Those fish that have sought refuge on the reef ultimately are cast off to perish in the chaos, or flee to safer grounds.
I have visited such reefs after such a storm and witnessed injured fish that have survived. They were torn up badly. I have seen many a patch reef either buried under new found sand or exposed with the removal of said sand. Animals that could not flee to deeper water are killed or hide in small caves under patch reefs. Slow-moving fish and turtles and shellfish beds are often decimated by the rough undercurrents and rapid changes in water temperature and salinity wrought by a hurricane. Sharks, whales, and other large animals swiftly move to calmer, deeper waters, and generally speaking, are not overly affected by hurricanes.
We once built a series of patch reefs off Cedar Key, where a pile of cinder block scrap was located around a single rebar. After a hurricane, I returned to study the damage: There was no reef, but rather huge sand dunes that buried all the patches. I ran a magnetometer (used in UW Archaeology to locate shipwrecks) over the area and found rebar signatures. I dug down, in places 6 feet, to find the remnants of our patch reefs, buried by a sand blasting event that rendered the rebar shiney on one side, the side of the prevailing current, now packed with sand. The remains of the reef materials were scattered up to 6 feet away (down current) from the rebar unit. And no life forms were found.
We learned that to survive a hurricane, our reef modules needed to float! We were refunded by Sea Grant to replace the reef patches with a reef module that could float on sand. My father, a civil engineer, helped me design a floating concrete module made out of similar concrete block and rubble, cemented together, that would float in sand. After the next hurricane, we found all our modules were in place and floating over the prevailing (passing) sand dunes. And they were loaded with creatures hiding from the storm!

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September 24, 2020

Another cross country trek.

I’m at the gate in Seattle, ready to board a flight to Hawaii, my new home for half the year. I just completed a mega marathon that carried me and a pallet loaded into my pickup truck that began in Wakulla a week ago!
First, I needed to avoid two hurricanes, one a dead Marco and the other a growing Laura. I sought the window between, expecting a Cat 1 storm at worst. I crossed over a Cat 4 storm driving late into the night until I could reach west of Houston.
There I rested at a rest stop that was packed with anxious residents looking to go home soon.
The next morning sunrise saw dark clouds as the storm came ashore. I got showered by a heavy squeal, but that was nothing new. I had gone through one from the previous hurricane. By noon I was headed west into blue skies and calm winds. I arrived in LA and the Hawaiian Freight shipping Terminal on Friday AM sleeping against it in the truck as they close early!
I got them to unload the pallet, and let me repack it as the trip had beaten the pallet up. So an hour later, I had it repacked sealed and delivered. My next stop was Sacramento and my brother in law’s place.
There I slept for 12 hours. The next stop was Florence Oregon where I left my truck at my brothers place. The next morning my daughter drove down from Seattle to pick me up and drive me back to the airport in Seattle for the flight Home to the Big Island!
And all throughout this trip I had to stay clear of everyone, wearing personal protection and distancing. I leave Wakulla Diving Center in the hands of Courtland Richards, my new manager. He returns from his vacation next week and should be there to support your Fall Quarter Diving needs. Mahalo and Aloha as I transition into my farmer phase!

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October 1, 2020

End of the quiet month.

September is supposed to be the quiet month (usually), what with the start of Wakulla schools, and the return to winter work schedules.
In past years folks begin to hang up the fins and spear guns and begin to pick up the bow and arrows, dust off the tree stand, and make sure the gun is ready for the deer hunt that begins in October/November.
In Hawaii, September is when the avocado orchard begins dropping smaller one-pound fruit in anticipation of the October to December harvest! This brings all the feral pigs up from the deep ravine behind my property as they LOVE avocado! I must get the gun out and prepare for dropping them as they get more aggressive in the orchard.
We eat pig often but I have four already waiting for cooking in our freezer. And on top of everything, my venture into rebreather training has resulted in a class currently underway, halfway through now, and waiting for the beaches to open up to complete the required dives. I have much to do bringing the Dewar flask and second compressor online here in Hawaii!
But with the Pandemic, I expected more diving during September. Yes, bad weather can be challenging during the peak of the hurricane season, and it was. Well, we had almost twice as many customers as last year, but almost exactly as much revenue. I suppose that is a good thing considering the Pandemic!
September was the month SunRun was to install a Solar array at our place in Honoka’a, but the Pandemic resulted in a large cut back to their staff and the “loss” of my contract. So I am to meet with a new agent today to get things back on track! I’m out of quarentine two weeks ago, but I’m still adjusting to 6 a.m. hikes before breakfast and morning sessions with Wakulla Diving – East (in Florida), and my brother’s estate that dominates half my day.
I spend the afternoons out in the orchard, trimming the Ginny Grass (always a challenge), and fertilizing the trees, or when it rains (often) I’m in the dive shop fixing equipment or filling tanks.
So we sneaked out on a shallow beach dive yesterday (Sunday) and discovered a small leaf fish in 6 feet of water. It was all black and easily picked up. It would have made a great aquarium fish, but I have no such options right now. And the aquarium trade in Hawaii is under much closer monitoring, so better to leave them alone. They look like a peice of leaf litter, swaying in the water, easily overlooked, but clearly a fish when you get a closer look.
They are an ambush predator, swaying in the surge until a smaller fish swims close by, and they pounce. They have a large mouth making an easy capture of unsuspecting smaller prey. The water in the bay we were at was warm, and calm.
I found a surf board skeg that was not damaged, so I did collect that, as part of my humble effort to keep the reefs clean. We saw lots of other fish, like box fish, lizard fish and a small foot long, very colorful eel that was as interested in us as we were in it. It followed us around the bay.
Since all my rebreathers were either in use by the students, broken or missing parts, I was on open circuit, and air at that, so after an hour I was out of the dive!
Still, a great way to get back into the Hawaiian life style!!
Aloha.

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October 8, 2020

Rebreathers in the Age of COVID-19

Rebreathers are redily available on the used market. And they are often now a fraction of their new prices. Proper training is still highly recommended as these rigs are often in need of retrofitting. And in the COVID-19 world, challenges abound. Still, folks are landing awsome deals and wonderful opportunity when pursued carefully. I’m currently training folks in Hawaii under these very opportunities and challenges!
Training folks during this pandemic has been challenging, considering the safety requirements of Mask wearing and Social Distancing. Scuba Diving on the other hand has a relatively low transmission rate while underwater. The challenge is access to training sites that may be closed during these trying times. Lecture halls can have social distancing set up as long as few students are involved. Pools are often closed during the pandemic, although private pools may be an option, as long as social distancing can be kept. Once underwater, there appears little concern. Pool Chlorine kills most viruses. Careful use of dive gear (no sharing) is a bit more stressful but doable. No more buddy breathing, or swapping masks. Once students get to the ocean, challenges are reduced once underwater.
The difference between open circuit and closed circuit diving is significant! Every breath that you take on open-circuit scuba comes from a cylinder that was blended and carefully filtered before storage under high pressure. Your inhalation of clean breathing gas is followed by an exhalation (less the 4-5% oxygen you use for metabolism and added CO2) of that gas that is released into the hydrosphere that bubbles to the surface, to the atmosphere. Gasses are stored in similar but smaller cylinders for use by a rebreather diver but carefully added to a breathing loop upon demand for that gas. You have 100% oxygen available, that is hygienically sealed in the cylinder at the dive center, and added during the dive to an ambient pressured bag, hoses, and other devices (sensors, batteries, mushroom valves, and CO2 sorb, just to name a few) all found in the breathing loop. You re-breath this gas throughout the dive while the O2 is consumed by the tissues, the nitrogen absorbed by the same tissues, and the CO2 given off by the same tissues that is absorbed by the Canister. So any bugs that you add to the loop stay there for you to consume throughout the dive. Well, the bugs are yours already. We like to say your rebreather and you are now one! You also add air or even helium depending upon the depth of the dive, to maintain a viable oxygen level necessary for a comfortable existence while underwater. Remember Nitrogen creates problems during almost any dive that must be dealt with carefully or decompression sickness becomes another challenge.
Rebreather technology requires sanitation of the breathing loop often. We routinely soak the loop for 30 minutes in a strong solution used to kill bacteria and viruses, between dives. We also do not recommend swapping the rig between divers without a thorough sanitation effort. Virkon is a common lemon-scented agent used to sanitize the utters of cows before milking procedures. It is also used to sanitize rebreathers between dives. But there are other options out there such as Iodine, Steramine, or Relyon. When properly handled, rebreather training and diving is still a safe but challenging activity.

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October 15, 2020

Our Rebreather today
I spent another Sunday & Monday of this week teaching rebreathers out here in Hawaii. The water is clear from a depth of 70 feet where you can see the surface of the ocean. The temperature was a balmy 80 degrees top to bottom and no waves or currents. We dove Mahukona, an abandoned port on the south side of the Big Island. The dock has a ladder making exits easy and a concrete dock with 8 feet of water, a natural entry for the dive. It was popular this weekend, now that the beaches are open to the public again. People were parked all over the dock, with families spread out everywhere, including in the water. Our dive on Sunday was for 140 minutes, doing skills and just absorbing the sheer joy of the beautiful day and ocean. Of course, our rebreathers were a source of great interest by the
keikis (kids) and adults alike. It’s not every day that you see a space-age technology up close and personal. So we had to talk-story (explain) often.
Today, a rebreather can keep you underwater up to 10 hours at a time, but few spend that kind of time there. And they are no longer limited to back mounted units. I have side mount rebreathers that attach on either side (or both) to my
waist and shoulder straps. While I have a 4 hour capacity on mine, they each can be configured to last 10 hours, each! Yes, that means I could stay down for 20 hrs, almost long enough to saturate at any depth. But my return to the surface safely
would be problematic at that point. Saturation is when our body can no longer absorb inert gas for a particular depth. We achieve this condition after 24 hours at a particular depth. At just 50 feet seawater, it takes 15 hours to return to the
surface pressure safely, and that is using a lot of oxygen. People saturate in habitats, where we study the ocean for weeks at a time, paying the decompression debt only once at the end. 30 years ago I told an NOAA officer that rebreathers
could replace habitats in our lifetime if the cost of the technology became a limiting issue. And I feel we are close to that point now.
But here in Hawaii, we have elevation after a day of diving, which complicates the day. We got out around 1 PM and had a late leisurely lunch.
The challenge was to get home, we would need to go up over a 2500 foot pass to get home and then I live at 1600 feet! This requires several hours at sea level before we can leave the dock, but who’s worried? Paradise could not be nicer!
We rehydrated, washed with fresh water, and talked about past experience and future plans.
Monday needed to be an exam day for the class, so everyone was to show up at my place to do wrap up lectures and exams.
I also now have a “Choptima”, a LAR (Dragger) like rebreather that goes the other direction. LAR technology is over 100 years old, still used by the military to sneak around underwater. It is a 100% oxygen rebreather, that is limited to 20 feet
or less in-depth. It is usually mounted on your chest and is very small. Dive Rite has added a few things to the LAR design and made a multigas rig capable of 4 hours at any depth, now attached to your chest. It is tiny by comparison, and much less expensive than the usual rebreathers, so small that it may replace the open-circuit bailout technology currently used to return to the surface if your primary rebreather fails to work properly. And when combined with 2 side mount rigs, you now have the 24-hour capacity to reach saturation and nothing on your back!
Anyway, we spent Sunday also diving a wreck off Mahukona, finding pottery and ship fittings on an otherwise sand and coral strewn bottom at 50 feet. And this is scuba training at it’s best!
Aloha

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October 22, 2020

Back to The Basics

While completing a basic rebreather class this past weekend, I had to put things into perspective. Fundamentally, we love to spend time underwater, in a three-dimensional world with a denser hydrosphere than we are used to on land, witnessing creatures quite different from our terrestrial existence. Many of us love to hunt creatures that taste good. And like on land, we deploy a variety of hunting strategies that have varying degrees of success, depending upon our technology. The tree hunter on land will deploy to a reef and “hide” in silent ambush. The hike-hunter in the ocean will drop on many sites and raid from the ceiling. They all work in their own way.
Many of us love to witness the underwater world. These folks carry cameras, that today are inexpensive and small, with still and video capability. And the opportunities to encounter are equally rewarding as hunting food. This weekend, besides training skills, we found a huge anchor, big enough to stand under at 75 feet depth. Further towards shore at 55 feet we found the evidence of sunken ships, with hull rigging and galley pottery strewn about a sandy bottom. And while my students dug in search of treasure, I enjoyed the wide range of colorful reef fish that occupy the patchy coral reefs and sand that abound off this Hawaiian coast.
Off this coast in Hawaii, I dive in 80-degree water, wearing a 2-mil wet suit, spending 180 minutes to stroll in 100-foot visibility. At this temperature, my rebreather has a capacity of more than five hours, but I break it up between two days. Off Wakulla, the ocean is beginning to cool down below 70 degrees, requiring a heavier wet suit, with visibility in the 30-40-foot range. Because of the cooler temperatures, I have less scrubber time available so I might get four hours on the same rig (still a considerable time over an open circuit rig of 30-60 minutes). And the sea is rougher for that required boat trip out to the dive site.
At this time, I would be transitioning to a cave dive as the temperature there remains a constant 67-70 degrees (within 100 miles of home) year around. Clear cave diving (a preference to Geology types), is so much easier to accommodate than running a boat offshore but lacks the abundant reef life that offshore provides. Weather encourages cave diving in the winter as rough seas and cooler waters offshore discourage boating in the winter. Because of longer exposures in cave diving, we use dry suits with thermal protection underneath. And in north Florida we have abundant beautiful underwater caves!
But out here in Hawaii, there are few caves (lava tubes), no spear fishing while on SCUBA, and little need for boats to dive from. Deep sea fishing is a different thing of course. My weeks are tied up as an avocado farmer, supplying seven stores with 30 pounds of large “Butter Avocados” a week from October through December. The weekends are for diving! Yes, I have Wakulla Diving – West, but not a retail store. I blend Nitrox and pump oxygen using a Dewar flask just like at Wakulla, but mostly provide training. To fill my Wakulla Dewar costs $150 (a month), to fill my Hawaii Dewar (identical size) is $730! So yes, diving is more expensive out here. And Ann had to pick and deliver 70 pounds today while I trained in the ocean, something I must give up to stay focused on the farm.
I spend every morning maintaining the books and talking to Courtney at Wakulla Diving to help manage the Florida facility. So far, the COVID-19 has not slowed us down much. Keeping things at the basic level has kept us in business, as we carefully thread our way through this pandemic. And it is very much thanks to our many customers who share our passion for diving during these challenging times.
MAHALO (Thank you) and ALOHA!

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October 29, 2020

Innovation under water

On the rare occasion that I write an article here, you may have noticed that it is usually about technology. I find that, in terms of engineering, the field of gadgets for use under water is still wide open. The basics, like regulators and tanks, are well covered; but beyond that, we are always pleasantly surprised by new, clever inventions that people come up with to make the underwater adventure easier, or more enjoyable. Case in point: the ZooKeeper, to safely spear lionfish.
Previously I had written about underwater lighting, and how LEDs have made lights smaller, brighter, and longer lasting. While I continue to develop yet better and smaller lights for my own use, I recently shifted my focus onto innovations made in completely unrelated fields. Not least due to electric cars, battery technology was greatly reduced in price, while simultaneously increasing power density. At the same time, remote controlled “toys,” such as cars, drones, or electric skateboards, have led to greatly improved electric brushless motors, ready to buy off the shelf. For a project I had in mind, the final missing link came with the publication of motor control electronics that gives the developer full control over how the motor behaves. You may think that such technology has existed for a long time, but the great success of an open-source “electric speed control” (ESC) demonstrated the vacuum that actually existed. Note that I specifically mentioned “open-source,” which I will come back to later. To top it all off, 3-D printing has made the fabrication of brackets and such, simple, and fast, and cheap – again, thanks to an open-source mindset.
Putting it all together, I used an old and obsolete underwater Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV), also referred to as “scooter.” This old DPV has served me well in the caves around here, but with a weight of approaching 100 lb using car batteries and somewhat limited 20 lb of thrust using a half-horse power brushed motor, it can be a chore schlepping it to the water, or handling it while diving. I literally cut the main body of the DPV in half to accommodate the new batteries, which provide twice the power at half the size, and a new brushless motor delivers more than double the thrust, again at less than half the weight, and improved efficiency. It’s a prototype for sure, but it was, and still is, a lot of fun to play with, and develop. Most importantly, I learned a lot. And I think we can make it a lot smaller, and a lot faster too!
And here comes the main point of this article – it is a call to arms, so to speak. It would be a lot of fun to apply this newly found knowledge in a community project. Although my spearfishing experience is limited, I could envision the use and benefit of a very compact, yet very powerful scooter in that area of use. Designed from the ground up, specific to the needs of the spearfishing diver, the proverbial “guy in his garage” could make this tool using the plans and designs that would be open-source, from mechanics, to electronics and software. Did I mention that, with the new ESC, the developer has complete control over how the motor behaves? You, too, could find out how much of a curse that can be!
I could imagine a workshop type format, where enthusiasts built their own scooter using a kit, with lectures on the details of technology and fabrication. Calling on the spear fishing community, or anyone else interested: What do you think? It is an idea; let’s see if we can make it a reality. While I’m not based at the Wakulla Diving Center, I am closely collaborating with its manager, Courtland, who can arrange for a get-together.
Come talk to me!

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November 5, 2020

Politics, Covid-19 and Diving

Today, when I wrote this column, is election day. And today continues the near year long Covid-19 pandemic, with its renewed explosion of cases and death. But at 73, I continue to dive, aggressively here in Hawaii, and have the Wakulla Diving Center in both locations growing with increasing activity. Diving underwater, when done carefully, is a wonderful exception to the current rules of isolation, as neither politics nor the pandemic function underwater.
Masks are required here in Hawaii. I use them extensively in my avocado deliveries around the Big Island, as we now support eight Foodland stores with 230 pounds a week. But every weekend, I am encouraged to dive for two hours a day at a new dive site also around the island, with students and friends from classes I offer over here. Of course, we use a mask underwater, but it is a scuba mask. I recall last May or so, medics in Tallahassee came down to Wakulla Diving Center and bought 10 scuba masks for their hospital!
We are remarkably busy pumping gasified liquid oxygen from our newly installed Dewar flask, which makes rebreather diving much more efficient, and cheaper here in the islands. In Florida, I pay Airgas $140 per Dewar fill, whereas here in Hawaii the price from Airgas is $735 for the same Dewar! Our small field station is kept busy with repair and maintenance of regulators, cylinders and gas blending/delivery. I actually have an intern attending the station now! He is also a rebreather diver. We begin blending Nitrox in bulk this week and have helium that I brought from Florida. So, diving twice a week (on the weekend) is awesome and extremely healthy!
The pandemic is currently expanding here in Hawaii as it is everywhere else. I suspect everyone is getting tired of the demands this pandemic has placed upon us all. Fatalities have mostly taken root at the Veterans Home and other elder care facilities here in Hawaii, causing much consternation. Being old at this point in time for me carries additional challenges. I am continually active, and keep the virus at a safe distance. If I could dive every day, I would, but most here have jobs, so we focus on the weekends.
We mostly dive the shores in Hawaii. In Florida, we mostly dive from boats, unless we can get to the Jetties at Panama City. And here the temperature is still in the upper 70, and lower 80s. Water clarity is almost 100 feet in Hawaii, and 35 degrees in Florida. So, winter in north Florida will slow diving down as the temperature can drop and the waves increase. Here in Hawaii, I just pick a leeward side of the inland to dive in calm, warm waters. There is always a leeward side to an island.
Hawaii is mostly Democratic while Wakulla is mostly Republican. All are welcome as it does not matter underwater. Our policy is not to discuss politics at either facility! There is no reason to. We seldom discuss Covid-19 in the same light. We offer protection using plastic barriers at the register and regulator repair facility, and wear masks when necessary. We all hope for health and prosperity for all our customers at both facilities.
And you are all invited to visit us at either location. Come avoid the pandemic and politics to dive Hawaii!
Mahalo

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November 12, 2020

The Dewar

The Dewar machine is an awesome machine designed to take a liquified super chilled gas and slowly over time deliver it at ambient temperature and low pressure as a pure gas. I first found this machine in use at Bill Reneker’s Cave Excursions place in Louraville , Florida, just north of Mayo. Bill was making Nitrox by blending the gas coming out of this machine with air at the intake of his compressor and filling 4500 psi banks, primarily at 32% oxygen concentrations. Previously, he would take oxygen from 300 cf oxygen cylinders and mix it with air to create various Nitrox blends on demand. But that proved to be labor intensive, thus expensive, and often not as accurate as one might want. So he sought a better way.
First, Bill needed to find a way to blend the oxygen directly in his compressor. At FSU, we had been blending pure oxygen through an oxygen compatible Rix compressor called a “Sweet 6.” It was small and required rebuilding often as it was oil-less by design. But we had Nitrox available to our diving scientists by the late 1980’s. Back then I designed a compressor intake manifold out of PVC fitting that I still use here in Hawaii. Oxygen, at first provided from a 250 cf flask, and later by a Dewar flask, is slowly vented into a specially cleaned and specially lubricated scuba compressor. Oxygen sensors monitor the oxygen content of the gas as it enters the compressor. It must remain under 40% or the compressor will explode! Been there, done that, still have what’s left.
Today, we use Dewar machines that are filled by Airgas with super chilled liquid oxygen and delivered to our blending station ready to work. Over time, the liquid warms up by passing through gasification pipes that wrap around the reservoir located in the middle of the machine. When managed slowly, the gas is not lost. But if ignored, the pressure builds up and at 240 psi is released into the surrounding area suddenly! So I run the Dewar every day to keep the pressure down to between 100 and 200 psi.
I can store the oxygen in oxygen flasks by using dedicated Rix oxygen pumps, or blend it into Nitrox flasks for later delivery into your scuba cylinders. In Florida, we use up a 160 liter Dewar flask every month, but there, we have thousands of cylinders to fill every month. Here in Hawaii, we are the new kid on the block. I got Airgas to fill a Dewar to half-capacity, and have been slowly filling my oxygen banks every day. At some point I need to start blending Nitrox!
We have introduced a new way to make Nitrox out here, that has no Argon in it. Most facilities out here use oxygen concentrators that are used in the healthcare community. They are called Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) that also concentrates the 1% Argon found in air. You can figure out what happens: the filter concentrates the Argon 5 times as it does the oxygen out of air. When blended into Nitrox, the elevated Argon elevated the Narcosis of the gas! Argon is very narcotic!
We learned that mistake while training in San Andres, years ago. We also found similar problems with filtered denitrigenation systems, so like Bill, we went down the liquid oxygen path and the Dewar flask technology.

And now I have brought it here to Hawaii!

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November 19, 2020

Thanksgiving at Wakulla Diving.

As the pandemic gets worse, we are busier than ever. Out here in Hawaii, we are delivering more avocados under Kalopa Orchard management of 57 trees that keep producing huge fruit. We have taken on a few restaurants that have a different demand, but equally insistent call for fruit. So I am busy every day picking and delivering fruit throughout the week. I could not keep up if it were not for Ann’s diligent efforts and the help of our intern, Justin. Even this morning, it is raining, and they are out in it collecting for my 100-pound delivery to Hilo. The orchard has been discovered!
In four days, two of my instructors from Florida arrive with their families, to share Thanksgiving week with us. We will be diving virtually every day, except Turkey Day, when we will enjoy several large turkeys in a meal out in the veranda following Covid-19 protocols.
I was out diving yesterday off Kohala (north dormant volcano) for a two hour dive with other rebreather and open circuit divers. We reached 100 FSW and found numerous live Horned Helmet conch shells. Tracy found a much larger dead one and brought it ashore. I also found many live and healthy Porites coral heads, a wonderful discovery in view of the massive coral die-off happening around the world due to climate change. Yes, we did find a black tip shark in a lava tube, but no lobsters this trip. Kirk tells me when they night-dive this location, they see many eels out interacting with others in a free for all mating splurge!
I am a shell collector, so I am always looking for unoccupied seashells. I found an incredibly old cone empty shell. It has a flat top and is called a Striated Cone. I also found a Textile Cone, with a hermit crab inside. I found a small Phyllidiid Nudibranch (blue flatworm-like), a small Mole Cowrie, and several empty Cat Auger shells (long shells). Anything live I leave in place. Empty shells I take home.
We found several, small Black Coral bushes on this dive! Most Black Coral is harvested for jewelry, but it needs to be bigger that what we found. The reefs here are loaded with many small fish that makes just sitting still and watching a wonderful experience. I am partial to the Chaetodon (Butterfly) fish, especially the long snouted “longerousterous” variety that turn upside down when under overhangs. On the Hilo side of the Island, they come in two morphs, one colorful yellow and black patterned and one all black! They are often paired with one of each pattern together. But I never see the black version on this side of the island.
I also found many colorful cushion starfish (Culcita) of different colors and patterns. The reefs are very dynamic, so finding creatures and later identifying them is fun. Urchins are quite common, including the long spiny urchin found in Florida. But we have many more pencil urchins and smaller rock boring urchins, the Heart Urchin, and the occasional Radiant Star Urchin that I reported on earlier. There are sea urchins everywhere, but rather dull looking.
As you would expect, as I get more accustomed to these reefs, I begin to see beyond the dominant coral patch and into the reef community. With a two hour dive, I get to enjoy the reef for what it has hidden beneath its coral branches. I am thankful for the diving community that has taken me to awesome dive sites, not often visited due to difficult driving terrane. And I return to my roots as a marine biologist.

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November 26, 2020

The ever-evolving nature of dive technology.

I visited Blue Grotto last week and watched as many people were gaining exposure on new dive equipment that would have been unrecognized a decade ago.
Side mount is now the rage in life support dive technology.
I was told even rebreathers are taught as side mount configurations twice as often as the more traditional back mount that I am used to.
So what is SIDE MOUNT dive configuration and how is it better than Back Mount configuration?
Years ago we encouraged divers to consider carrying a side slung cylinder as an alternate supply of breathing gas.
After all, solo diving was becoming popular where an independent “Buddy Bottle” was important.
Spearfishing enthusiasts seldom stay close to their partners and should they suddenly need gas, it’s right there as a side slung cylinder.
The size was smaller as it was used as a one way trip to the surface. Early attempts at a self contained Buddy Bottle had volume restrictions. Cylinder sizes now range from 30 to 50 cubic feet and are equipped with a traditional regulator.
I like the long 40 cf aluminum cylinder as a “bail out cylinder” with plenty of breathing gas to get me to the surface.
Placement became a heated topic as different ideas from what type of gas to carry to where to attach it exploded on the internet.
Training agencies such as NAUI sought to control who and how to sling this cylinder, adding to the stress and confusion.
You can now take training on Side Mount diving.
The logical next evolution was to remove the heavy cylinder on your back and just side sling two cylinders, one on each side for balance.
No longer did you need to carry these ever-larger cylinders on your back.
The harness is light-weight out of water.
Cylinders are placed independently in the water where the diver then snaps, where more neutral buoyancy prevails.
Cave divers quickly adopted the configuration as it permits them easier (tighter) penetration in their restrictive environment. But soon thereafter the open water community jumped in because this configuration has redundancy and no more sore backs getting into and out of the water.
Each cylinder is outfitted with straps that hold bolt snaps that attach to the harness worn on your back.
Each cylinder has a pressure gauge that you monitor as you alternately breathe off each cylinder, 500 PSI at a time. That way when one system fails, you have the other to safely return to the surface.
When configured correctly, these cylinders are set out of the way, under your arms, with ready access to the regulators, valves and gauges.
We have been side slinging our bailout cylinders in this fashion when rebreather diving for a decade.
And now, we have reliable side mount rebreathers on the market that combine the benefits of open and closed circuit diving into a nice package, and at half the weight!
I am upgrading my rebreather to accommodate side mount rebreather technology and diving it in open water in Hawaii next month!

This column originally appeared in November 2018.

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December 3, 2020

Weekend dives in Hawaii.

Another fantastic weekend of diving off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. This time we were met by a large whale shark right on the shore just off the airport in Kona.
We were diving the OTEC pipes that are no longer in use.
The entry/exit was precarious, prompting two of us not to dive, but the younger divers went for it and were amply rewarded for all the cuts they sustained getting out.
I was pleased to enjoy their photos and descriptions of the fish they encountered.
So I sat this one out. And I was pleasantly rewarded by an interview by the local Conservation Police, who dropped by on their weekend sweep of the Kona dive sites. The young female officer was at first very pressing, until she found we were using a dive flag. The fine here for no dive flag, is more than $200 per person in the water plus a required court appearance. That would have cost the group more than $1,000 in cash fines alone.
I kept her for a while talking about what we were doing with our “HUI” or dive club. I wanted to properly advise members of rules regarding flags, spearfishing and other obligations.
She took my card and said she would research the topic for me and send me the details over the internet.
She turned out to be a diver! But she was obligated to her job on every weekend, so we will need to work out weekday dives some time.
Since I was on the surface with my rebreather, I spent time teaching her about rebreathers, which she had no idea about. I think we left a good impression on this new officer of Hawaiian Law.
After she left, we recovered all the divers, several of them complimenting me on my decision not to get in. We only suffered a few hand injuries, but that is what the first aid kit was for.
Once brought back to the shore parking area, we packed up and headed to the Kona Brewery, a favorite lunch stopover.
Equipment was washed down at Kirk’s office, where he has a nice relationship with a local pressure-swing-absorption (PSA) fill station next door.
I took Chris Conley on my afternoon avocado delivery out on South Point, over an hour’s drive from Kona. Once back, the sun was going under the Pacific Ocean, so I dropped people off, refueled at Costco, and drove home over the Waimea pass by way of Kawaihae (low road).
Justin had left many hours earlier and was stopped on his way home, having taken the high road to Waimea. There, a raging brush fire had blocked the road. He got great pictures but decided to regress to the saddle pass to Hilo to get home. That pass went to 6,000 feet, after a dive to 150 that morning was begging for problems. So he sat at 1,000 feet for hours waiting a surface decompression, before chancing the trip.
I drove to Southpoint and back then home and still beat him back.
He seems fine thing morning, but did take an unnecessary risk, in my opinion.
Here in Hawaii, we have pressure issues to manage, even after the dive! Jeremy and family headed back last night and Chris heads back today.
For those of you considering a trip out to visit us, plan on 10 days to 2 weeks as a better time frame, as Justin will tell you, a week is not enough to do the island justice!
See the day’s pictures on the.thewakullanews.com website.
ALOHA.

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December 10, 2020

Store Manager Courtland Richards.

A store manager is an essential person in the success of any retail operation. Indeed, such a person must be an authority on many levels to succeed at such a job. Not only must this person know the industry, the products of the industry but also know the players in that industry interact to succeed at producing a profit in the end. So, our industry is underwater scuba diving.
There are many aspects of this industry: sales, service, instruction and travel, just to name a few. The store manager usually manages them all but is a master of just one. Our semester long internship is designed to train folks up along these lines. We start out training the service side, what with PSI cylinder inspections and fill station operations, through blending and regulator, BC and exposure suit repair, and with a summer full of those technologies coming in the door, there is plenty of exposure to practice on.
The second part of the Internship is the store inventory, sales, and register performance. Wakulla Diving Center maintains over 50 dealerships that supply the store with the inventory you see on the floor. Really, you the customers, help us create that inventory. When I first set up the store, I began by asking customers what they wanted. You would (and still do) ask for a widget, and we would order three, so that the next customer would already find it here on the floor. Of course, it takes the imagination of the store manager to anticipate what is wanted/needed at any point in time, to have that inventory on the floor when you ask for it. We manage the interests of well over 500 customers, using a database in the register that I can visit even out here in Hawaii. The next big deal is the end of the year inventory accountability. This will take store folks a week to figure out, right at a time when customers are looking for Christmas gifts!
The teaching staff is often separate from the store staff, mostly because they are called away to a pool or classroom to teach topics of interest such as basic and advanced scuba, Master diver, AI, Dive Master and so forth. We have an Instructor who oversees that arena at WDC by the name of Rusty Miller. He also oversees the regulator repair facility. He is currently bound up with his real engineering job under these trying Covid-19 times.
I also teach, but advanced topics such as rebreathers, cave and deep mixed gas diving. We offer these topics at both facilities, but folks out here love the tropical conditions to learn under year around.
Travel is a new topic to us. With my expansion out here in Hawaii, we now have that secured. You have an opportunity to come visit and stay at my house above Honoka’a on the Big Island of Hawaii and go dive your days out along our coastal margin or from commercial boats located 45 minutes away. We just finished showing our instructors what a good time you can have! Talk to them (Chris and Jeremy).
Welcome Courtland Richards, our new store manager, taking over from Katie Adams, who left for further adventure in Miami last August. Courtland is a professional underwater videographer of some reputation, who decided to take the internship last summer and stepped into the manager vacancy in September. He has been wonderful in his steep learning of the store’s challenges. I hope he will hold a series of video presentations in an evening format of the work he has documented in his previous (and still current) career!
Mahalo Courtland!

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December 17, 2020

Pebble Beach.

On the day folks were focused on the delivery of vaccines around the country, on the day we hit 300,000 deaths due to the Pandemic in the U.S., on a day Hawaii was demanding face masks, social distancing and hand washing, I set out on our weekly rebreather trek to a new dive site.
My weekend trek to the Kona side included a delivery to South Point, a resupply of food and gas at Costco and a 2-hour dive somewhere interesting. While I had been to Pebble Beach before, I had not investigated the deep section of the area. I do not spearfish, but rather take pictures, documenting the coastline. On this day, I lost the camera, but found it later in the day. Someone also brought an older scooter for me to play with, which I took to naturally.
Imagine dropping off the round island road at 1,000 feet elevation and down a tight twisting road that felt more like a cliff to reach this small beach made up of small to medium pebbles.
The surf was exceptionally low on Sunday, so we all landed there by 9 a.m. This was an 80-mile drive for me from Honok’a. But the weather was wonderful, warm and bright. While we were not the only divers, most were families just going to the beach for a swim. We were joined by four skin divers looking for fish to spear while breath-hold diving.
I was told to pull myself through the water holding on to this small scooter. I own a scooter back in Florida that I used in cave diving – one I clipped into a harness at the waist and steered it with one hand. No such harness was on this Hawaiian scooter, but the owner did comment that some put the rig between their legs. I had seen this before, so I immediately rode the scooter like a horse, and it worked simply fine.
The only downside was that I got cold, so two-thirds of the way through the dive I just dragged the thing around and swam to stay warm.
You see, I dive to get exercise, not just to play with toys. We did travel much further with these toys, perhaps further than we should have. At one point I noticed we were all at 190 FSW. There we saw and I thought photographed three rare fish. But narcosis is strong when breathing air-diluent at that depth. The photographer later said he did not get the pictures to work during that time. Another camera caught me riding the scooter, but at a lesser depth.
We were down for 120 minutes, our normal dive time using rebreathers here in Hawaii. Halfway through the dive I noticed I had decompression stops listed from 50 feet to the surface. So I moved to the 50-foot depth for much of the last half of my dive. There I discovered arches, ledges and an abundance of coral and associated fish.
Every dive site is different, so I must admit I have seen better coral and fish communities, but the area was beautiful. We did see unusual wrasses, and butterfly fish, that caught everyone’s attention.
Come on out and visit us here in Hawaii. I have been asked to teach a trimix class in the new year!
Aloha.

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December 24, 2020

Merry Christmas Everyone

Yes, that time of the year has arrived. Last year I was back in Washington D.C. taking care of my declining brother, displaced on the mainland, and not a pleasant time. But this year, amongst the pandemic, I am held in Hawaii, diving most weekends and otherwise delivering huge Avocados around the Big Island. Hawaii has less of a pandemic effect than any of the other states, but we are a more “democratic” state.
This week, my installation of a photovoltaic system is almost completed, and a solar hot water system will start before Christmas. Sunday, I took my wife for a shopping trip to Kona and delivered avocados out to the southern tip of the island. Impulsively, I just continued around the island to Hilo. On my way through Volcanoes National Park, I could feel the earth moving, a dusk like feeling, as my wife slept. When we returned home in Honoka’a, reports of the volcano eruption came across the wires. We are finally back to an active eruption, last seen in 2018.
The year (1968) I married Ann on the Big Island, at her UH archaeology dig site in Mahukona, the volcano awoke, chasing us out of our camp site under the Park in Kalapana. The next year, I returned as a park ranger under the volcano, to serve for the summer, taking visitors up to awesome fountains that were beyond imagination. Years later, a lava flow destroyed and buried the Park visitor facility where we lived near the shore. It also filled in a favorite swimming hole called Queen’s Bath.
In search of the elusive poisonous Purpurea plant the following year (1970), I was sent to an abandoned Hawaiian village deeper in the park, only to encounter a lava flow, cascading over the pali (cliff). I reached the village in time to pick as many plants as I could carry, before the lava destroyed the place. I took them to the City of Refuge on the other side of the island and re-planted half of them. I used the rest in a documentary film on Hawaiian vegetative fish poisoning called Hola-Hola. I was 22 years old. That was so long ago! But in our return to Hawaii now, we are welcomed back as returning “kama’aina” in pursuit of delivery of a large successful variant of the 25-year-old Manoa Avocado. Our harvest ends at the end of December, this year with near 4,000 one-to-two-pound fruit picked (who knows how many the pigs got). Five now reside in the freezer! We pick fruit the morning of the delivery, shine them up and affix a sticker on each. One of us then drives a load of between 15 up to 300 pounds of avocados to nine stores around the island every week. We are always greeted with excitement when we arrive, decked out with our mask and a shirt Ann made up. How can we lose as our competitor is the puny Hass avocado imported from Mexico?
I am joyfully settling into the Big Island, with a couple of miles walk every weekday morning with local friends overlooking the grand Pacific from 2000 feet elevation. From here, we watch dancing squalls below us. Returning home, I engage Wakulla Diving Center as they close their day (5-6 hours later than us), helping with what I can from afar. Breakfast follows and collecting avocados for the day’s deliveries follows that. I am off driving the island before 10 a.m., with many other things added such as picking up fertilizer, chicken food or parts for broken equipment. The afternoons are dedicated to working in the dive shop (yes we have interns) or weekly running the tractor over many lawns. Weekends are open for local diving on at least one day!
I do not look forward to a return to Florida, but I know I must. Now, my return in January has been postponed due to the Pandemic. I too must get in line for a vaccine.
Aloha all and Merry Christmas to all!

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December 31, 2020

Spearfishing Between Worlds

OK, out here in Hawaii, I seldom see a large fish, and then it is usually a huge manta ray or a shark, nothing I would be willing to spear. Rules out here limit spearfishing to selected area, small fish and only breath hold diving (no SCUBA). So, all my guns are left back in Florida. I do have a small catamaran boat here with twin 30 hp Johnson motors, but it needs work to launch. I will use it to catch Mahi and Tuna in the open water and with fishing line when I get the boat operational. You do not realize just how much you miss the sport until you see miles of open reef with only small tropical fish on it.
Back off Wakulla County, during the summer, the gag grouper are plentiful, and delicious to grill. The hog fish and red snapper are equally plentiful and wonderful to eat. I enjoy joining in on one of several private boats that run by our shop during the summer. Recently we got an old 25-foot Mako hull all fixed up, but are waiting for an Armstrong engine extension to make it more user friendly. I dream about my return this summer when we can take her out every weekend and spear fish!
Every summer, I post the seasons for all the marine resources, from fish to invertebrates, and then try to take advantage of them. I used to sail to the Florida Keys to survey marine species from Miami to the Dry Tortugas. We ate mostly fish. During Lobster Season, we would enjoy lobster meals often. But so much is now down for repairs, the sailboat engine in pieces in my shop, waiting for my return to rebuild and install it. Living in two worlds means half as much time to enjoy each. But I love it!
Covid-19 has kept me isolated here on the Big Island, diving most weekends, and teaching between delivery of Avocados. We are near the end of our harvest (4,500 lbs so far), so more time to develop the diving support facility with liquid oxygen, pure Nitrox, and rebreather stuff like CO2 sorb and sensors. In time, we will have a group of rebreather divers working out of here, but it will take time. I am already providing pure oxygen to fill stations in Kona. In time we will be island wide. We are the new kid on the block, and everyone is interested in what we bring to the table. Perhaps we will bring hydrotesting at the tall-jacket level, something still missing here, required to test K and T cylinders.
Today’s dive was cancelled when my rebreather failed to adequately wake up this morning. That is why we test them thoroughly before launching into the day of diving. The wires to the new sensors were badly corroded. By the time I figured it out and fixed it, my dive buddy had unpacked and postponed to next weekend. We were going to a deep cave where “large” fish hung out. He was tired of my complaining that we seldom saw any large fish. I figure, I should begin to focus on a return to Florida and the great spearfishing in that world than to change this world here. After all, I get winter warm water with coral and tropical fish everywhere here.
Perhaps I need to take up underwater photography over here in Hawaii, again.