Category Archives: Scuba Fun

DEMA Trip, Day 4……

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We made the decision to not stay for one of the sessions and came on back Thursday instead of Friday as originally intended. Hubby did have to run over before we left to get some shots of a particular rebreather they either carry at the dive shop or plan to – I wasn’t clear on that. We were on the road at the best time to be able to avoid peak traffic in Orlando and Miami. No weather issues either and made it back as smoothly as possible.

Our last night tradition is to dine at the Everglades, the fine dining restaurant at the Rosen. They have a beautiful large mural, another smaller one, sculptures of manatees and an alligator and a nice aquarium. The menu did not include venison this time and we both opted for seafood.They do make a delicious alligator chowder. Hubby had that as well as Chilean sea bass with tomato and artichoke infused risotto. I had the lobster bisque garnished with truffle and the swordfish with sauteed chard (gave that and the truffle to Hubby). It is the kind of place where they bring a dessert cart around and the coffee is served at the table in a French press. It is the one night we do share a dessert. There were fewer choices than in the past, however, the apple cheese cake was excellent. I’m still not quite sure how they did it because there were thinly sliced apples on bottom (similar to a tarte tartin). The topping was a lovely cinnamon apple sauce with walnuts.

It was a good trip as far as seeing several folks and meeting a few new ones. Hubby had a chance to talk to those about Horizon Divers and I gave out maybe a dozen bookmarks. The sessions we attended were good, too, and the only thing I didn’t accomplish was finding a t-shirt for granddaughter. There weren’t many booths with apparel this year. Finding an ocean-theme t-shirt around here for her isn’t difficult though.

DEMA Trip, Day 3……..

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Our intention to attend a couple of different 10:00 a.m. sessions went by the wayside although we did make our 11:00 sessions. The one I attended was entirely different from what I thought it was going to be and turned out to be of even greater interest. In fact, so much so that I have asked permission to do an article for the paper. I’ve posted here before about the wonderful work of the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF) in Key Largo. For those who may not have read that blog – it was a long time ago – they are a now world-known organization that began as a small 4-H project with daughter and father to see if she could fragment a coral and use that to grow another, then replant it on a reef successfully. There are multiple organizations now around the globe using that or similar techniques to try and restore reefs. Some are non-profit, others university efforts or government entities. Anyway, the session this morning is about our National Marine Sanctuary taking in the lead in getting CRF and quite a few others together in a partnering effort to focus on seven specific reefs that range from Key Largo down to Key West. By focusing on these specific reefs, they can have solid base-line data and track progress in a meaningful way. It is a three-phase program to run for 20 years with the goal of increasing coral growth to 25% of each reef. That’s about 10% less than what is considered optimal for a reef to sustain. Going under the percentage is because there may also be some “natural” growth that occurs in what is basically like cross-pollination once the planted corals start to flourish. Lots more to come on that.

On another note, we hadn’t realized a friend (and sister author) was involved with one of the newest scuba technologies. And yes, she is based out of Maui. Hugh and I had split up while I went to get a quote for an article. He got in on the explanation of what the new rig does and I’m still trying to get a full understanding. It was nice to see Jennifer again and we’re thrilled she’s doing well.

DEMA Trip, Day 2…….

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Actually, today there was sort of diving as we attended a session with a VR set with short dive clips from Palau. The tech aspect was impressive, especially since it provided for sound as well as visual. I did find the headsets to be rather heavy and I had to support it with one hand in order to balance that. It was fine for no longer than I had it on. I don’t know enough about the various headset options, but I imagine there are some less bulky/lighterweight ones available or soon will be. The reefs of Palau (we’ve never been) looked a great deal like the beautiful reefs in Fiji and it was nice to see Moorish idols again. They are a Pacific fish and we did see them all the time in Hawaii.

I attended a morning session and Hubby went to two. He walked all through the exhibits this afternoon when I came back to do a little work before we joined up again for the VR session. I only made it through a little of the exhibit hall this morning and will spend my time there tomorrow afternoon. We had lunch in the food court area with Hubby have a gyros and I did a pulled chicken bowl. Both were pretty good at the usual kind of prices you pay at event venues.

As we suspected, a place called Hampton Social was a new addition to Orlando Pointe. It had a seafaring theme and a limited menu. The Ceasar salad we shared was quite good and Hubby’s short rib and sweet corn polenta were excellent. I went for the crab cake and you would think I would learn by now. Crab cakes outside Maryland and certain parts of Virginia tend to be only okay and this one was no exception. I think we’re going to the British Pub up there tonight. It is a pleasant walk.

DEMA Trip, Day 1……

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Okay, not scuba fun as in diving; rather as in being part of the community. The Diving Equipment and Manufacturing Association trade show is not open to the public; only businesses and individuals in the dive industry. Interestingly, even though there is a category for writers as a member, this year’s registration was more restricted than in the past. Since Best Publishing (publishers of Mystery of the Last Olympian: Britannic, Titanic’s Tragic Sister) is not attending this year, I couldn’t tuck up under them. As a freelancer, I’m not on assignment with any publication, so I had to go in to get special clearance. The stipulation with me as Media is I write an article within 90 days and send them the link to publication. I periodically cover dive things for the South Dade News Leader and even though I didn’t clear it with them first, I’ll be doing an article about the Women’s Diving Hall of Fame. One of the members is Dr. Sally Bauer, the co-founder of the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada. More importantly than the “local” angle is part of their mission is to encourage women into the many aspects of a career in marine sciences, etc., as well as diving. There are some amazing women who have done incredible explorations, too. Anyway, more about that later.

Orlando Pointe, a shopping/entertainment/dining complex is about a 20-minute walk and we usually go there all but our last night when we dine at the fancy restaurant at the hotel. Unfortunately, it looks as if one of our favorites, The Funky Monkey Wine Bistro, didn’t make it through the closures. Ah well, there are other places and two new ones are listed. It was a very nice layout and perhaps one of the new places went into the “Monkey’s” spot.

We completed registration this afternoon for the show and now I have to look through the schedule to see what I want to attend tomorrow.

Love Those Puffers……

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As I’ve previously mentioned, I try to go diving once a month and it is a special tradition for us to dive together on our birthdays when possible. I did miss going out in August and Hubby was scheduled to work yesterday on his birthday which is commonplace. I was committed to covering a community event for the day, but was able to switch some stuff and go on Thursday with him. Since it was only morning boat and he didn’t have to do paperwork after, that allowed us our favorite combination which was dive and lunch after. (We did have an evening double commitment so it wasn’t quite as leisurely a lunch as at times).

Conditions were a bit bouncy on the trip out and visibility is recovering to about 45-50 feet; not to out “preferred standard”, but good. This is another case where that kind of visibility is excellent for people who are accustomed to diving in other parts of the country where 20 feet is about the best they ever get. Anyway, we went to two sites with natural wrecks – as in real shipwrecks rather than deliberately deployed to create an artificial reef. As an aside, one of the criteria for deploying a vessel (or whatever structure/items) is the location must be in a wide, sandy area specifically to not impact any existing natural reef. In the case of where we were diving and similar sites, each ship involved went down in the early 1900s and have been subject to storms and more than a century in warm salt water. That means the wreckage is quite scattered and little is recognizable as a vessel, plus some of it is close to nearby natural reefs. Marine creatures don’t care, as a large section of twisted metal/timbers is much like a rock outcropping for their purposes. Early on the first dive I found a large puffer and I hadn’t seen one for quite a while. While there was nothing else “big”, there were plenty of fish of bright blue chromis, three different kinds of butterfly fish, my angels, and several lobsters. I came back to the boat apparently about two minutes before the others saw a turtle. The one woman did get a photo of it and Hubby got footage on his GoPro.

The second dive brought a pair of file fish nibbling a big jelly, an eel tucked way under a rock, and a reef shark moving pretty quickly. We did lunch after at Buzzards Roost, one of two restaurants close to the docks. In consideration of having seen lots of them on the dives, we had hogfish.

Two puffers from previous dives; don;t remember when.

 

Two Nice Dives……

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Okay, I didn’t manage my birthday dive and I don’t usually go out on the weekend because of crowded boats. Saturday, however, the morning boat was within the number I’m happy with, although the afternoon was predictably booked solid. Hubby was teaching a family of three, plus a friend of the daughter. Visibility was still limited for us due to recent algae blooms, but had gotten to 45-50 feet. That’s one of those relative factors as individuals who dive in other parts of the country are lucky when they have 20 feet of vis.

We did two of the “real wrecks” as in neither was deliberately deployed. They are near each other and both went down in the early 1900s, They weren’t very big and with a century and more of storms and being in warm water, there isn’t much that looks like a vessel. Scattered pieces provide shelter for marine creatures though so you always look underneath to maybe find an eel or lobster. There are also reefs (cause of the original wrecks) for more marine life and nice coral. We did get a couple of small Caribbean reef sharks on the first dive and I saw my lovely rock beauties as well as plenty of the regular inhabitants. Others saw an eagle ray, eel, and turtle. There were quite a few jellyfish. Those are at or near the surface and while they do sting, if you push them away with the back of your hand, that generally moves them and you don’t really feel the sting. They keep a vinegar-based spray and a gel on board. The husband of the family Hubby was teaching wasn’t wearing a full wetsuit and his wife was worried about the jellies. He put himself between her and them and did need his legs sprayed when they got back on board.

A very special treat on the second dive was Hubby spotted a Queen Triggerfish. They are common in the islands, but we rarely see one here. The photo below is not from here, but it’s the only one I have of the kind of jellies I am talking about.

A modular design for an artificial reef created and provided by Walter Marine of AL

Days Slipped By Again…..

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I would ask how almost a week passed since my last post, but barring computer or internet issues, it’s the usual answer of extra tasks thrown in to get me off-schedule. Nothing bad although a couple of genuinely annoying things to deal with. They aren’t worth getting into. I had vague hopes of being able to dive this week and that isn’t happening.

Speaking of diving, a friend who has found and/or identified numerous shipwrecks has done it again. Michael Barnette (met him while working on Mystery of the Last Olympian) has done exploration in many places and apparently, a famous yacht sunk in 1931 is his most recent success. Here’s part of a Facebook post from earlier today. “The wreck of INGOMAR has eluded divers until just recently. A survey conducted by William Hoffman, Joseph Hoyt, and William Sassorossi documented the unidentified yacht in 2017. Imagery collected by John McCord revealed the graceful lines of an elegant yacht. Using their baseline data and looking through archival information, I suspected the wreck was INGOMAR. The dimensions, machinery, and position largely match the attributes of INGOMAR. The wreck rests on her starboard side in deep sand. While not a conclusive identification, the available evidence coupled with the lack of other suspect sites strongly suggest this shipwreck site is indeed the historic yacht INGOMAR.”

The process for officially identifying a wreck after it’s located can easily take years and when I wrote Idyllic Islands, I did a few chapters about how it works. (https://charliehudson.net/books/idyllic-islands.html) That part of the book served two purposes. I needed to introduce a character who would become important much later and the reason I chose that way to do so is because it is such an intricate process. In this case, I made it fairly easy to better match the rhythm of the story.

Nice Conditions, Nothing Big….

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I didn’t have the kind of time I usually like for diving yesterday, but I missed both May and June for different reasons. I know if I didn’t make it out, there might not be a chance as the rest of the month is hectic. We had pretty flat seas, which is good. We were on the “fast boat” that does get to the reefs quicker although it pounds more against the water. The extra saved time was important because a couple of errands/task I had  for Tuesday were slipped to yesterday due to having to be at home Tuesday for the AC repairmen. Anyway, the class Hubby was finishing up was with two sons of a guy who was here for several years and now lives in Minnesota. He’s well known at the dive shop and the sons seemed to be enjoying it.

We went to one of the shallow real wrecks which means very little is recognizable as a vessel with lots of sections scattered about. However, it’s been down a long time so there’s plenty of growth and always good marine life. I saw all three types of angelfish and rock beauties which are in the same family. I love the bright blue chromis and there were plenty of those as well as pairs of butterfly fish. Visibility was good, too, and water temperature was at 86 so I was diving in what is called a “skin”, a very thin suit. The second dive site was close by and I did wind up snorkeling on that one because I was feeling some pressure in my left ear on the first dive. I was puzzled about that, but it happens at times and you don’t want to take a chance. It was a good snorkeling spot and I did see a medium size Southern stingray and quite a few little jellyfish.

Rock Beauties are the smallest of the angel fish we have on our reefs.

Chromis are seen on most of the local reefs.

Went Diving Finally……

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I’m a day later than planned posting because things finally came together for me to do an afternoon dive yesterday. That makes three months in a row I missed and almost four. As I have explained, I often miss out Jan and Feb. March was difficult this year for several reasons; however, conditions were the best they have been in days with basically flat seas and no surge. Hubby was teaching four students who he will finish up today. I don’t recall where they were from, but they were all pleasant and seemed to be having a good time. Conditions underwater were nice even though visibility was a bit better on the first dive. Although there was nothing really special on the first dive, there were enough of “the usual suspects” to enjoy and I did find them a large trunk fish like the one in the photo.

On the second dive I found an arrow crab which I haven’t seen in ages. I wasn’t close enough to the students to get them back to see it and Hubby had them at a coral cluster where there were two anemones almost touching. That is unusual to have two so close together. Not long after, I spotted a medium size Southern stingray nestled into the sand. We were careful enough not to disturb it into swimming away and everyone got a good look. I did see all three types of angel fish on that dive, too with a queen angel making an appearance as I was finishing up my dive. The water temperature is headed in the right direction at 77 degrees. I was a little ambitious in wearing my 1 mil suit instead of the 3 mil though. I did have to do few loops swimming faster to take the chill off.

Squeezed A Dive In…….

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Taking Monday to dive meant scrambling to get the usual “Monday tasks” done when I returned. On the other hand, since I didn’t manage to get out in November and there are all sorts of extra events in December, I didn’t want to pass up the chance.

Hubby was in the first day of boat dives with the couple he was teaching; he a pilot and she a nurse and they finished yesterday. Conditions for Monday were supposed to be better than they turned out to be because one of those “scattered showers” was more like a squall and came up as we were part way through our second dive. That meant thunder and lightening, wind to make the waves higher and rain plus a bit of a drop in temperature. It had apparently also rained around the dock although it had all stopped by the time we tied up. That made it nice for being able to get off the boat and clean the gear.

Back to the diving part. There was some surge on the first dive which was a little uncomfortable, and nothing really special in the way of creatures. Visibility was pretty good though and enough “regular” fish were swimming about to make it a fun dive. We were also at an area where the Coral Restoration Foundation does planting and it’s always nice to see those sections. The surge was almost non-existent on the second dive and again, nothing “big”. There were lots of angel fish though which are some of my favorites and more of the regulars to see.

Hubby and I were able to have lunch after at Buzzard’s Roost and considering the previous rain, we both had a cup of conch chowder for an appetizer and noticed lots of cups/bowls being served to others. Both the indoor room and the screened in dining where the bar is were

extra crowded since the canal-side outdoor diners had been chased in by the rain. Even though it was over, the staff hadn’t had a chance to get things dried off and re-set.

Chromis are seen on most of the local reefs.