Date: Mon Oct 21, 2002 12:38 pm
Subject: Diver Report: 3rd Anniversary Dive on the Capt. Dan and 40 foot Reef
Hey Gang,
Seas 2-4 ft
Vis 75 ft
Depth 99 ft
Avg 90
Bt 30
Ascent 12 min plus 8 min additional at 20 feet waiting for the boat
Team: Wendy, Andrea, and Matt
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1019edive/
What a day for diving. There are only about 3 days a year and I get out and
dive with excellent vis and no current on the wrecks. The whole way out there I
was starring at the blue water. The boat was full again. Jerry dropped in 6
students on the reef and then headed out to tie off on the Dan. Everyone jumped
off like lemming and headed straight down.
We started at the bow and swam off to the right or starboard side. Andrea and I
did a fish count and Wendy tagged along. I had fun swimming around the back of
the boat in the slightly enclosed area. On the way back around to the bow, we
had seen all the fish and started to look for Bristle worms. Andrea and I are
helping a student at Nova collect Bristle worms (fireworms) for her research.
We found on at the base of the boat. After collecting him time was up. We
started up the line stopped for minute at 60 feet and every ten feet after.
Fishfood was picking up the students so we were not in a hurry. At 30 feet we
could see everyone packed together fighting for space at 15ft. As we caught up
to Eric we hung at 20 for a little longer. Fishfood stopped by and tossed out
the tag line to collect divers at the surface hanging on a line off the ball.
The system was much easier than getting on the boat if it were tied off. As
everyone moved up to the surface we headed to ten feed and then waited for the
boat to swing by as we surfaced. Perfect ascent!
Dive 2
55 foot max
40 ft average
1:05 dive time
10 minute ascent
Team Andrea, Jeff, Ben, and Matt
Jerry dropped us on a nice spot. Ben was extra on the boat and he got the whole
edivers pitch. Jeff didn't take his camera so we turned him into a Bristle worm
spotting machine. He found 4 worms and Andrea and I found 2. I also completed a
fish count. Everytime I check Ben out he was in the lotus position hanging out
as we crept along the reef. Andrea took over the camera and started taking as
many pictures as possible of butter hamlets. I edited most of them out to only
include a few good ones.
She also found a stoplight parrot fish going vertical to get cleaned. Fish
doing that are very easy to approach and photograph.
After another wonderful dive it was time to head in and get ready for the party!
What a day for diving.
Friday, August 15, 2003
Date: Mon Oct 21, 2002 12:39 pm
Subject: Diver Report: 3rd Anniversary Night Dive
Hey Gang,
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1018edivers/
The fun has already started. It was great to meet new faces and see old ones.
We covered the spots for the divers that didn't show and Jerry picked up a
couple people from a dive store so the boat was full with 14 people.
Another great reason to love Edivers is the gear. Sherry Lynn from Kansas
called me at 5 PM to go on the night dive, but didn't have tanks or lights. I
told her to come anyway as I was sure that we could get her a light or two and
I had two extra air tanks in the trunk for Sunday's shore dive.
Once we got to the boat the gear exchange began! Eric showed up with about 5
HID lights that he had been collecting. I upgraded Andrea to a 10watt HID and
gave Sherry Andreas old primary light.
We got underway with a lot of excitement. It was almost a full moon and
everyone was so happy to be diving together!
As we got out the inlet it was a little bumpy. The seas were 3-4 foot. We got
all geared up and Divemaster Brian throw us off the boat, one handed in fact!
Dive1
69ft Max
50 ft Ave
48 mins bottom
10 min ascent
Water temp 81 degrees
Team: Charlie, Nancy, Jeff, Andrea, and Matt
Remember in AOW when the instructor mentioned not trying out new techniques on
a night dive? Opps, I forgot that one. I was soo excited to bust out my new
Cressi Big-eye mask that I couldn't wait. I also was diving my pro14 which is
negative 6 lbs one side. As soon as I descended I new my mask was too loose for
my face. I had the Velcro mask strap which does not lend itself to underwater
adjustments. I found a work around of just pushing it against my face every
minute.
I was feeling stressed from being off balance with the light and the mask so I
decided to skip the fish count. This was a hard call b/c there were cardinal
fish all over the place. You can check out the photos as I need to look them up
in the book. We also saw a Trunkfish and several brownspotted eels. Neither of
them would stick around for a photo. Eric should have came with us as well b/c
there were several bugs up and walking around the reef. Nancy tried the old
"one hander" but the bug gave her the slip.
There were butterfly fish all over the place as well. It so cool how the fish
change color at night. The butterflies produce a dark shade, redband parrots
sleep on the bottom and blend in perfectly. Even the blue tang develop white
bars.
I was also very happy to find to long spine sea urchins on the first dive. They
all died out 5-8 years ago and they have taken a long time to come back. These
guys are little vacuumed cleaners that eat algae off the reef so better stuff
can grow there.
Dive 2
10:18 PM
59ft Max
50 ft Ave
45 mins bottom
12 min ascent
Water temp 81 degrees
Team: Charlie, Nancy, Jeff, and Matt (Andrea was too cold)
The other thing I love about night dives is getting right up next to the fish.
You can reach out and touch them, until they wake up and swim off. I swam right
up to a Porcupine Puffer and took several photos at point blank range. I also
saw several kinds of trunkfish. This dive wasn't planned as well b/c everyone
else in the group was on air and I was diving 32%. They stayed above me for the
whole dive and I glanced up at them every couple of minutes. By the time they
were heading up I saw a bright light in the distance. I stopped and waited for
Eric and Brian Patrick to catch up to me. Since I still had bottom time to
spare and jumped flags to join them. As we were getting ready to go up, I
noticed Eric's 18watt hid was off and he was winding up the flag. I gave him a
little light and we started our ascent. At about 20 ft I glanced over at him
and noticed something puffing out of the Pro14 canister. I swam over and saw
one of the latched popped up and it was flooded. I was trying to tell this to
Eric and as was flipping the switch on and off on the canister. I flipped the
clamp back down and heard and
"F***&)&*%&$*&^%&()*&_*_)(*^(^*&$^%#*&^^(_*(*^&^$#&^&)&) in the water.
Saltwater will not allow profanity so it translated to "Oh darn, I think my
canister is flooded. That makes for an unpleasant experience." We got back on
the boat and headed in from another very pleasant dive.
Subject: Diver Report: 3rd Anniversary Night Dive
Hey Gang,
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1018edivers/
The fun has already started. It was great to meet new faces and see old ones.
We covered the spots for the divers that didn't show and Jerry picked up a
couple people from a dive store so the boat was full with 14 people.
Another great reason to love Edivers is the gear. Sherry Lynn from Kansas
called me at 5 PM to go on the night dive, but didn't have tanks or lights. I
told her to come anyway as I was sure that we could get her a light or two and
I had two extra air tanks in the trunk for Sunday's shore dive.
Once we got to the boat the gear exchange began! Eric showed up with about 5
HID lights that he had been collecting. I upgraded Andrea to a 10watt HID and
gave Sherry Andreas old primary light.
We got underway with a lot of excitement. It was almost a full moon and
everyone was so happy to be diving together!
As we got out the inlet it was a little bumpy. The seas were 3-4 foot. We got
all geared up and Divemaster Brian throw us off the boat, one handed in fact!
Dive1
69ft Max
50 ft Ave
48 mins bottom
10 min ascent
Water temp 81 degrees
Team: Charlie, Nancy, Jeff, Andrea, and Matt
Remember in AOW when the instructor mentioned not trying out new techniques on
a night dive? Opps, I forgot that one. I was soo excited to bust out my new
Cressi Big-eye mask that I couldn't wait. I also was diving my pro14 which is
negative 6 lbs one side. As soon as I descended I new my mask was too loose for
my face. I had the Velcro mask strap which does not lend itself to underwater
adjustments. I found a work around of just pushing it against my face every
minute.
I was feeling stressed from being off balance with the light and the mask so I
decided to skip the fish count. This was a hard call b/c there were cardinal
fish all over the place. You can check out the photos as I need to look them up
in the book. We also saw a Trunkfish and several brownspotted eels. Neither of
them would stick around for a photo. Eric should have came with us as well b/c
there were several bugs up and walking around the reef. Nancy tried the old
"one hander" but the bug gave her the slip.
There were butterfly fish all over the place as well. It so cool how the fish
change color at night. The butterflies produce a dark shade, redband parrots
sleep on the bottom and blend in perfectly. Even the blue tang develop white
bars.
I was also very happy to find to long spine sea urchins on the first dive. They
all died out 5-8 years ago and they have taken a long time to come back. These
guys are little vacuumed cleaners that eat algae off the reef so better stuff
can grow there.
Dive 2
10:18 PM
59ft Max
50 ft Ave
45 mins bottom
12 min ascent
Water temp 81 degrees
Team: Charlie, Nancy, Jeff, and Matt (Andrea was too cold)
The other thing I love about night dives is getting right up next to the fish.
You can reach out and touch them, until they wake up and swim off. I swam right
up to a Porcupine Puffer and took several photos at point blank range. I also
saw several kinds of trunkfish. This dive wasn't planned as well b/c everyone
else in the group was on air and I was diving 32%. They stayed above me for the
whole dive and I glanced up at them every couple of minutes. By the time they
were heading up I saw a bright light in the distance. I stopped and waited for
Eric and Brian Patrick to catch up to me. Since I still had bottom time to
spare and jumped flags to join them. As we were getting ready to go up, I
noticed Eric's 18watt hid was off and he was winding up the flag. I gave him a
little light and we started our ascent. At about 20 ft I glanced over at him
and noticed something puffing out of the Pro14 canister. I swam over and saw
one of the latched popped up and it was flooded. I was trying to tell this to
Eric and as was flipping the switch on and off on the canister. I flipped the
clamp back down and heard and
"F***&)&*%&$*&^%&()*&_*_)(*^(^*&$^%#*&^^(_*(*^&^$#&^&)&) in the water.
Saltwater will not allow profanity so it translated to "Oh darn, I think my
canister is flooded. That makes for an unpleasant experience." We got back on
the boat and headed in from another very pleasant dive.
Date: Mon Oct 28, 2002 8:38 am
Subject: Dive Report: 10/25 Datura Street Night Dive
Hey Gang,
7:30 PM
Seas 1 ft
Low Tide
Temp: 82 degrees
Max Depth 14 ft
Team: Matt Hoelscher, Ralf Figuroa, and Charlie Gamba
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1025datura/
Datura street was empty when I got there at 6 PM after work. The sea was
beautiful. Charlie and Ralf showed up a little later and we got geared up. Ralf
borrowed my Pro14 50 watt and I busted out my 10 watt Dive rite Wreck 1.
We planned to swim out to the snorkel trail. Then head out to the 2nd reef.
Turn the dive at 1500 psi and then head back to the first reef line at 1200 PSI.
We hit the trail and it looked really cool at night.On the West side of the
rock pile there was a peacock flounder chilling out in the sand. Its so cool to
watch his eyes tracking our every movement. There was also a small juvenile
spotted scorpionfish hanging out in the rocks. There were some dusky
cardinalfish and "Manny" the Manytooth Conger eel was there.
The surge was intense. The rock pile was getting buried by sand while the round
cannons were getting cleared out. There was a least a foot of sand missing from
the bottom of the cannons and the hard bottom was exposed.
On the North side of 2 cannons I found a pile of shells outside of a whole.
This rock next two it turned from brown to glowing aqua color and I say a big
eye looking back of me. Octopus! I love these guys! There were several sand
divers hanging out in the sand with just their heads sticking out. I saw
something in the sand with a square month. We also saw a Leopard Searobin,
which is quite rare for South Florida.
All of the above was seen on the 3 times we came back to the trail. After we
got there the first time we headed out East. I ran through the basic light
signals. I gave Ralf my copy of the cave 1 manual and assumed he read it. Ops.
I kept swimming out east, Ralf was in the middle and Charlie was behind. I
would stop and wait for the other two to catch up. Then Charlie flashed me to
come and look at a scrawled Cowfish. Then later to look at a Ballonfish that
would swim directly into his light, hit it, and turn to swim away. I didn't
check my compass and kept going. I thought we had hit the sand on the way to
the second reef and all the sudden I see the Anchor from the Snorkel Trail.
"How did it get all the way out here?" I break my focus and look around, there
are the cannons and the rock pile. It didn't move, I just failed AOW navigation
skills by not checking my compass!
We head out again. This time I'm still swimming ahead and everyone else is
behind me. And I was not power swimming, just trying to get somewhere. We hit
the sand between the reefs again and I check my gas. I had 2K left and Ralf has
1800 psi. I took us so long to get there I thought I better check our plan. I
whipped out the wetnotes and asked, "Are we going to the 2nd Reef?" Charlie
said "yes" and Ralf said "no". I shared the "no" and wrote that we would stay
on the first reef line. Giving up on the original dive plan I signal to Ralf
that he lead and we will follow. 3 minutes later Ralf whips out his slate and
writes, "Second Reef, location or destination?" I underlined destination, he
thought I was asking our location in my last note. We wearer low enough on gas
I didn't want to spend 15 minutes swim to and from the next reef line to spend
5 minutes out there. Because it was a night dive I was trying to keep things
conservative.
We had a good dive and I learned a lot about communication and the need to
clarify further details in the dive plan as there was still some confusion. We
got back to the beach at 9:20 PM and started breaking down and rinsing our
gear. At 9:30 the parking patrol came by and chewed us out for being parked
there after 9 PM. She was nice and let us slide. Then we moved our cars to the
street and went to Mulligans for dinner.
What a wonderful evening!
--Matt
Subject: Dive Report: 10/25 Datura Street Night Dive
Hey Gang,
7:30 PM
Seas 1 ft
Low Tide
Temp: 82 degrees
Max Depth 14 ft
Team: Matt Hoelscher, Ralf Figuroa, and Charlie Gamba
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1025datura/
Datura street was empty when I got there at 6 PM after work. The sea was
beautiful. Charlie and Ralf showed up a little later and we got geared up. Ralf
borrowed my Pro14 50 watt and I busted out my 10 watt Dive rite Wreck 1.
We planned to swim out to the snorkel trail. Then head out to the 2nd reef.
Turn the dive at 1500 psi and then head back to the first reef line at 1200 PSI.
We hit the trail and it looked really cool at night.On the West side of the
rock pile there was a peacock flounder chilling out in the sand. Its so cool to
watch his eyes tracking our every movement. There was also a small juvenile
spotted scorpionfish hanging out in the rocks. There were some dusky
cardinalfish and "Manny" the Manytooth Conger eel was there.
The surge was intense. The rock pile was getting buried by sand while the round
cannons were getting cleared out. There was a least a foot of sand missing from
the bottom of the cannons and the hard bottom was exposed.
On the North side of 2 cannons I found a pile of shells outside of a whole.
This rock next two it turned from brown to glowing aqua color and I say a big
eye looking back of me. Octopus! I love these guys! There were several sand
divers hanging out in the sand with just their heads sticking out. I saw
something in the sand with a square month. We also saw a Leopard Searobin,
which is quite rare for South Florida.
All of the above was seen on the 3 times we came back to the trail. After we
got there the first time we headed out East. I ran through the basic light
signals. I gave Ralf my copy of the cave 1 manual and assumed he read it. Ops.
I kept swimming out east, Ralf was in the middle and Charlie was behind. I
would stop and wait for the other two to catch up. Then Charlie flashed me to
come and look at a scrawled Cowfish. Then later to look at a Ballonfish that
would swim directly into his light, hit it, and turn to swim away. I didn't
check my compass and kept going. I thought we had hit the sand on the way to
the second reef and all the sudden I see the Anchor from the Snorkel Trail.
"How did it get all the way out here?" I break my focus and look around, there
are the cannons and the rock pile. It didn't move, I just failed AOW navigation
skills by not checking my compass!
We head out again. This time I'm still swimming ahead and everyone else is
behind me. And I was not power swimming, just trying to get somewhere. We hit
the sand between the reefs again and I check my gas. I had 2K left and Ralf has
1800 psi. I took us so long to get there I thought I better check our plan. I
whipped out the wetnotes and asked, "Are we going to the 2nd Reef?" Charlie
said "yes" and Ralf said "no". I shared the "no" and wrote that we would stay
on the first reef line. Giving up on the original dive plan I signal to Ralf
that he lead and we will follow. 3 minutes later Ralf whips out his slate and
writes, "Second Reef, location or destination?" I underlined destination, he
thought I was asking our location in my last note. We wearer low enough on gas
I didn't want to spend 15 minutes swim to and from the next reef line to spend
5 minutes out there. Because it was a night dive I was trying to keep things
conservative.
We had a good dive and I learned a lot about communication and the need to
clarify further details in the dive plan as there was still some confusion. We
got back to the beach at 9:20 PM and started breaking down and rinsing our
gear. At 9:30 the parking patrol came by and chewed us out for being parked
there after 9 PM. She was nice and let us slide. Then we moved our cars to the
street and went to Mulligans for dinner.
What a wonderful evening!
--Matt
Date: Mon Oct 28, 2002 8:41 am
Subject: Dive Report: Blue Heron Bridge Dive Saturday 10/25
Hey Gang,
Wade must have known that we were going to Blue Heron Bridge because it was a
perfect day and all of his friends were out there for us to play with.
High Tide 12:10 PM
Started the dive at 11:30 AM
Dive time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Max Depth 16 ft
Visibility 25 feet
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1026heron/
We showed up and the parking lot was full. There was a woman's divers group
having an underwater pumpkin carving contest and there were students all over
the place. We took off from the sailboat launch and started off following the
wall in 4 ft of water. My computer didn't kick in for the first 10 minutes of
the dive. After swimming to the fishing bridge we started swimming up and down
the pilings. There were baby fish all over the shallow area. As the water got
deeper the bigger guys started to show up. I love the full size 10 inch Hairy
Blennies all over the place. At about the third line of bridge supports the
concrete gets wider at about 5 ft deep. Just point your light and stop and
wait, all these big heads start popping out. Seaweeds and Hairy Blennies all
over.
William and Joan swam over and pointed out a head in the sand. I believe it was
a Northern Stargazer. After staring at him for a while we moved on. There are
dusky jawfish in holes all over. We stared and watched one move shells out of
his hole and place them around the entrance. A school of about 100 Atlantic
Spadefish cruised on by. Ralf flashed me and pointed out a Flying Gunard. I
have only see this fish one time before. I did laps around this fish trying to
get a head shot. I only got one and I'm very happy with it. I love all the
biolumence his has on the wings.
After logging most of the fish on our fish count Andrea found a cluster of
Bristle Worms on a rock feasting. I took the photo and then we started plucking
them off. I moved over to a log pole and started finding fireworms every couple
of feet. We started plucking them up and in 15 minutes we had about 17 worms
collected.
Andrea's HP 80s were underfilled so she was excited about the worms and
finished her air first. We took a couple of minutes and swam past the new
bridge pilings on the way back to the landing.
We cleaned up the gear and headed up to William's house for hotdogs and
burgers. After stuffing our face we talked about diving for 4 hours. You have
to be hard core to hang with William.
Subject: Dive Report: Blue Heron Bridge Dive Saturday 10/25
Hey Gang,
Wade must have known that we were going to Blue Heron Bridge because it was a
perfect day and all of his friends were out there for us to play with.
High Tide 12:10 PM
Started the dive at 11:30 AM
Dive time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Max Depth 16 ft
Visibility 25 feet
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1026heron/
We showed up and the parking lot was full. There was a woman's divers group
having an underwater pumpkin carving contest and there were students all over
the place. We took off from the sailboat launch and started off following the
wall in 4 ft of water. My computer didn't kick in for the first 10 minutes of
the dive. After swimming to the fishing bridge we started swimming up and down
the pilings. There were baby fish all over the shallow area. As the water got
deeper the bigger guys started to show up. I love the full size 10 inch Hairy
Blennies all over the place. At about the third line of bridge supports the
concrete gets wider at about 5 ft deep. Just point your light and stop and
wait, all these big heads start popping out. Seaweeds and Hairy Blennies all
over.
William and Joan swam over and pointed out a head in the sand. I believe it was
a Northern Stargazer. After staring at him for a while we moved on. There are
dusky jawfish in holes all over. We stared and watched one move shells out of
his hole and place them around the entrance. A school of about 100 Atlantic
Spadefish cruised on by. Ralf flashed me and pointed out a Flying Gunard. I
have only see this fish one time before. I did laps around this fish trying to
get a head shot. I only got one and I'm very happy with it. I love all the
biolumence his has on the wings.
After logging most of the fish on our fish count Andrea found a cluster of
Bristle Worms on a rock feasting. I took the photo and then we started plucking
them off. I moved over to a log pole and started finding fireworms every couple
of feet. We started plucking them up and in 15 minutes we had about 17 worms
collected.
Andrea's HP 80s were underfilled so she was excited about the worms and
finished her air first. We took a couple of minutes and swam past the new
bridge pilings on the way back to the landing.
We cleaned up the gear and headed up to William's house for hotdogs and
burgers. After stuffing our face we talked about diving for 4 hours. You have
to be hard core to hang with William.
Date: Mon Oct 28, 2002 9:04 am
Subject: Dive Report: Datura 10/27 Beach Dive
The dive is so easy in the day, I can't believe we had such problems Friday
night. This time though we went through the dive briefing over breakfast and
talked about the things I didn't feel went right on the night dive.
Time: 9:30 AM
Depth 15 ft
Seas: Calm
Vis 25-40 ft
Temp: 82
Team: Matt Hoelscher, Andrea Valerioti, Ralf Figuroa, Charlie Gamba, Nancy
(can't spell last name) Remember the awesome party hostess, it was that Nancy.
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1017datura/
Following the same plan for the night dive we swam out to the snorkel trail and
descended. Once everyone was squared away we headed out over the first reef
line. Charlie stopped to shoot a couple of photos, but we made good time. Once
everyone was back together we headed out over the sane to the 2nd reef line and
headed south. We made it out there in 15 minutes and I only used 200 psi.
Andrea was carrying along a reel and some extra gear to practice with the end
of the dive. After about 30 minutes the reel created its favorite problem, the
lock loosened and Andrea was trailing a 8 foot loop of cave line behind her.
Ralf and I saw it at the same time, but he was closer and went to take the reel
off her butt D-ring and help her. I was going to follow her and tie it off to a
rock when she stopped to look at something. Ralf was carrying the flag and
unhooked the spool and started to pull the line in towards him. I wanted Andrea
to solve the problem and he was starting to take care of it for her. Hum, What
would William do in this situation? I dropped my reg out of my mouth and
started grabbing Andrea's leg.
This time she was great. I wanted to see if I could break her attention and she
passed the reg without thinking or worrying about her back up. Once the reg was
in my mouth she went back to solving the line problem. Ralf was all tangled up
and Andrea has to unwrap him. She was going to wrap the line up on her arm and
I signaled to her and swam the line out straight so she could wind it up. It
took about 5 minutes to work through this problem. We started swimming again
and notice, where was Nancy and Charlie? Oh well, they had a flag.
At 1500 psi we turned and headed back to the first reef line. We worked are way
across diagonally so that we could hit the snorkel trail again and run some
drills. Over the first reef we found the resident 3-4 ft Nurse shark taking a
nap near a school of grunts. I snapped a couple of photos.
When we hit the sand edge of the first reef line we headed North. I usually pop
up and check our location to gauge how far the swim will be. Usually I'm about
10 feet away when I do this. Heck on the night dive we hit it 3 times without
trying. I decided to stick to my navigation and swim. We started seeing some
fishing line and hooks. Ralf gathered up 3 fishing fillet knives. We I saw the
skeleton a large fish I thought, hum, maybe we went to far. I popped up and
waved at the fisherman since we were 20 feet from the pier. I had the team pull
a 180 and we swam back. Since our gas was done to 500 psi we surfaced the
lazily kicked back to Datura Street.
Another wonderful dive!
--Matt
PS: I picked up the Shore Diving locations book at Force E. I would like to
explore some more locations. If anyone has dove Vista Park, Dania Aerojacks,
please drop me a line. I prefer and found I have a much better success rate
with a guide to a new location. Otherwise I'm always up for risking a sand
dive. Its not a new wreck or cave system, but going someplace you've never been
before still has some excitement!
Subject: Dive Report: Datura 10/27 Beach Dive
The dive is so easy in the day, I can't believe we had such problems Friday
night. This time though we went through the dive briefing over breakfast and
talked about the things I didn't feel went right on the night dive.
Time: 9:30 AM
Depth 15 ft
Seas: Calm
Vis 25-40 ft
Temp: 82
Team: Matt Hoelscher, Andrea Valerioti, Ralf Figuroa, Charlie Gamba, Nancy
(can't spell last name) Remember the awesome party hostess, it was that Nancy.
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1017datura/
Following the same plan for the night dive we swam out to the snorkel trail and
descended. Once everyone was squared away we headed out over the first reef
line. Charlie stopped to shoot a couple of photos, but we made good time. Once
everyone was back together we headed out over the sane to the 2nd reef line and
headed south. We made it out there in 15 minutes and I only used 200 psi.
Andrea was carrying along a reel and some extra gear to practice with the end
of the dive. After about 30 minutes the reel created its favorite problem, the
lock loosened and Andrea was trailing a 8 foot loop of cave line behind her.
Ralf and I saw it at the same time, but he was closer and went to take the reel
off her butt D-ring and help her. I was going to follow her and tie it off to a
rock when she stopped to look at something. Ralf was carrying the flag and
unhooked the spool and started to pull the line in towards him. I wanted Andrea
to solve the problem and he was starting to take care of it for her. Hum, What
would William do in this situation? I dropped my reg out of my mouth and
started grabbing Andrea's leg.
This time she was great. I wanted to see if I could break her attention and she
passed the reg without thinking or worrying about her back up. Once the reg was
in my mouth she went back to solving the line problem. Ralf was all tangled up
and Andrea has to unwrap him. She was going to wrap the line up on her arm and
I signaled to her and swam the line out straight so she could wind it up. It
took about 5 minutes to work through this problem. We started swimming again
and notice, where was Nancy and Charlie? Oh well, they had a flag.
At 1500 psi we turned and headed back to the first reef line. We worked are way
across diagonally so that we could hit the snorkel trail again and run some
drills. Over the first reef we found the resident 3-4 ft Nurse shark taking a
nap near a school of grunts. I snapped a couple of photos.
When we hit the sand edge of the first reef line we headed North. I usually pop
up and check our location to gauge how far the swim will be. Usually I'm about
10 feet away when I do this. Heck on the night dive we hit it 3 times without
trying. I decided to stick to my navigation and swim. We started seeing some
fishing line and hooks. Ralf gathered up 3 fishing fillet knives. We I saw the
skeleton a large fish I thought, hum, maybe we went to far. I popped up and
waved at the fisherman since we were 20 feet from the pier. I had the team pull
a 180 and we swam back. Since our gas was done to 500 psi we surfaced the
lazily kicked back to Datura Street.
Another wonderful dive!
--Matt
PS: I picked up the Shore Diving locations book at Force E. I would like to
explore some more locations. If anyone has dove Vista Park, Dania Aerojacks,
please drop me a line. I prefer and found I have a much better success rate
with a guide to a new location. Otherwise I'm always up for risking a sand
dive. Its not a new wreck or cave system, but going someplace you've never been
before still has some excitement!
Date: Thu Nov 14, 2002 1:43 pm
Subject: Dive Report and other BIG News
Hey gang,
Last Sunday I proposed to Andrea on Hollywood Beach! Before I popped the
question I told her, "I would have everything if I had her." Her reply, "You
should, you've spent enough of scuba gear recently!" Then I knew for sure she
was the one! Check out the ring below. When I look, all I see are two Gavin
scooters.
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1103ring/
We are off to Argentina for two weeks of no diving. :( But its ok, the water
there is way to cold.
I'm still working on selling Andrea on a E-divers Engagement party. We can
dive, Nancy will be in charge of Decorating, and Eric, JC, Randy, and the
Daytona boys will be in charge of "catering."
Last Saturday I dove Tenneco Towers off a friend's new boat. No current, 112
fsw in the sand a good 70 ft of vis. A perfect dive day. Didn't see any sharks
until the end of the dive when my buddy shot is pneumatic speargun to un load
it. Then two large nurse sharks appeared circling the bottom of the platform.
But by that time I shot and bag and we headed up. He was empty handed.
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1103ring/
The second dive was 30 feet on what we call the Playground" which is a section
of Hammerhead reef just south of Port Everglades. The hunters lost a nice 3 ft
cobia, but came back with several hogfish and a gray snapper. I conducted a
positive fish count. :)
Everyone, please keep the ocean company while we are gone!
--Matt
Subject: Dive Report and other BIG News
Hey gang,
Last Sunday I proposed to Andrea on Hollywood Beach! Before I popped the
question I told her, "I would have everything if I had her." Her reply, "You
should, you've spent enough of scuba gear recently!" Then I knew for sure she
was the one! Check out the ring below. When I look, all I see are two Gavin
scooters.
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1103ring/
We are off to Argentina for two weeks of no diving. :( But its ok, the water
there is way to cold.
I'm still working on selling Andrea on a E-divers Engagement party. We can
dive, Nancy will be in charge of Decorating, and Eric, JC, Randy, and the
Daytona boys will be in charge of "catering."
Last Saturday I dove Tenneco Towers off a friend's new boat. No current, 112
fsw in the sand a good 70 ft of vis. A perfect dive day. Didn't see any sharks
until the end of the dive when my buddy shot is pneumatic speargun to un load
it. Then two large nurse sharks appeared circling the bottom of the platform.
But by that time I shot and bag and we headed up. He was empty handed.
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1103ring/
The second dive was 30 feet on what we call the Playground" which is a section
of Hammerhead reef just south of Port Everglades. The hunters lost a nice 3 ft
cobia, but came back with several hogfish and a gray snapper. I conducted a
positive fish count. :)
Everyone, please keep the ocean company while we are gone!
--Matt
Date: Mon Dec 16, 2002 1:43 pm
Subject: Sat Dec 7th Dive Report: Nova Coral Nursery Project
Hey Gang,
Staying wet?
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1207cn/
Sat Dec. 7th
Dive 1 I went out on the Nova Coral Nursery Project dives. We left at 9:30 AM,
cruised up the balls at Oakland Ridges and tied off. Then we spent 45 minutes
looking for Hard and softcorals to be transplanted. We filled our laundry
baskets in less than 40 minutes so we had 20 to swim around. Andrea picked up
some fireworms and I got a quick fish count in. Andrea screamed when a Gray
Triggerfish bit her hand trying to get her to drop the Ziploc bag with two
worms in it.
During the surface interval we were surrounded by storms. I have never seen a
rainbow form right off the ocean. I was spectacular!
Dive 2 After a long surface interval we started mixing concrete to attach the
corals. Andrea and Karen swam the first 5 gallon bucket of concrete softballs
to the team below. Then I got ready to swim the second. I jumped off the boat
and took a questimate on the bearing to the research site. After swimming 5
minutes I knew I was off coarse and surface slowly. I was a good 100 ft South
of my destination. I hit 20 feet and cranks my jetfins into overdrive. I felt
like I was pulling a boat with a V4, where were those free diving fins when I
need them? I found my target and dropped of my bucket of concrete. After
dropping I hovered at 40 ft as a my head was throbbing from a CO2 head ache. I
think I was overbreathing my reg? After ten minutes of hanging out it cleared
and I watched everyone finish the concreting.
Then Andrea and I went hunting for coral 160. This is the Great Star Coral
colony I found on the last dive. It was bleached down the middle from a board
laying on it. After 5 minutes of scrapping tags to ready the number we found
it. You can see the damaged area is still lighter, but it looks like the coral
is making a great recovery!
To participate in this program you need to register as a volunteer with Broward
County. Which means about 30 pages of paperwork including checking your
criminal background. But once that is done, its free to dive and air tanks are
provided.
--Matt
Subject: Sat Dec 7th Dive Report: Nova Coral Nursery Project
Hey Gang,
Staying wet?
Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1207cn/
Sat Dec. 7th
Dive 1 I went out on the Nova Coral Nursery Project dives. We left at 9:30 AM,
cruised up the balls at Oakland Ridges and tied off. Then we spent 45 minutes
looking for Hard and softcorals to be transplanted. We filled our laundry
baskets in less than 40 minutes so we had 20 to swim around. Andrea picked up
some fireworms and I got a quick fish count in. Andrea screamed when a Gray
Triggerfish bit her hand trying to get her to drop the Ziploc bag with two
worms in it.
During the surface interval we were surrounded by storms. I have never seen a
rainbow form right off the ocean. I was spectacular!
Dive 2 After a long surface interval we started mixing concrete to attach the
corals. Andrea and Karen swam the first 5 gallon bucket of concrete softballs
to the team below. Then I got ready to swim the second. I jumped off the boat
and took a questimate on the bearing to the research site. After swimming 5
minutes I knew I was off coarse and surface slowly. I was a good 100 ft South
of my destination. I hit 20 feet and cranks my jetfins into overdrive. I felt
like I was pulling a boat with a V4, where were those free diving fins when I
need them? I found my target and dropped of my bucket of concrete. After
dropping I hovered at 40 ft as a my head was throbbing from a CO2 head ache. I
think I was overbreathing my reg? After ten minutes of hanging out it cleared
and I watched everyone finish the concreting.
Then Andrea and I went hunting for coral 160. This is the Great Star Coral
colony I found on the last dive. It was bleached down the middle from a board
laying on it. After 5 minutes of scrapping tags to ready the number we found
it. You can see the damaged area is still lighter, but it looks like the coral
is making a great recovery!
To participate in this program you need to register as a volunteer with Broward
County. Which means about 30 pages of paperwork including checking your
criminal background. But once that is done, its free to dive and air tanks are
provided.
--Matt
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