Optima CCR Training

First and foremost I need to appologize to Cleatus, I haven't been updating my blog as often as I should, but I haven't been diving much since it's winter. For about four years now I have been travelling down to Northern Florida to dive over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. I did my open water certification dives in Ginne Springs, I did my cavern and basic cave dives in Madison Blue, Cow, Tory, and Peacock systems.

This time I was there for rebreather training (take this with a grain of salt it is the internet you know Rebreathers). I chose the Dive Rite Optima as my rebreather. There are plenty of others on the market, but my local dive shop and most of my CCR dive buddies dive it. Most importantly it did what I wanted it to do and I'm a Dive Rite fanboy. I was slated to take my training from John Jones, down in Lake City, FL. We started out with 2 hours in his pool learning the basics. Setup, safety checks, getting comfortable on the loop, and emergency procedures and bailouts. The next day we went to Troy Springs State Park. I've been there many times before helping out with open water classes. We spent a good three or four hours diving, doing drills and having fun.

Day three involved 3 hours on the loop as they say, in Orange Grove, part of the Peacock cave system. I got in my two deep dives to 100 ft, of course doing drills the whole way, and getting way overloaded with tasks, running reels...etc.

It was a whole lot of fun, basically learning how to dive all over again. I still have a lot of work to do perfecting skills and just having some fun dives and getting some time on the unit. To me it was money well spent, and I can't wait until this long Outer Banks winter is over so I can get into the ocean with it.

Here are some pics. Sorry, no underwater pictures this time. I had my hands full as it was. The cows and goats didn't dive, they were neighbors of Amigo's dive shop, where we got all our gas fills.

Enjoy...

It's not easy being green

It's nearing the end of the dive season here so every chance to dive is precious. I was given the opportunity to dive today, so a day of vacation time was well worth it. We headed to the U-85. It was a wonderful day to be on the water, with clear, crisp blue skies, and nice water. On the bottom visibility was anywhere from 10-25 feet depending on where you were. With the sun so low in the sky, the wreck was a bit dark, and the water still churned from past storms, gave the wreck an eerie hue of green. There's no better way to dive a U-boat!

Enjoy!!

Bill's Wreck

After of month of stormy weather, we were finally able to go diving. We visited "Bill's Wreck". It lies in about 25 feet of water. The visibility was very poor, probably around 8 to 10 feet. Being so shallow it makes for a nice long dive.

With the visibility as poor as it was, photography was a bit of a challenge. Not to mention it's been about 6 weeks since I've used my housing. It's amazing how quickly some of those skills get lost. On my way back to the anchor I swam right over a Loggerhead Sea Turtle. It was a mature female the best I could tell. She probably weighed about 150 lbs. I snapped off as many pictures as I could before the flash annoyed her enough to leave, but it's always an privilege to be so close to such an amazing animal.

Enjoy!!

Love A Storm Part 2

And I thought I was going to go diving this weekend...The wind is supposed to shift to off shore on Sunday so maybe we can at least get some surf out of this. These pics are from the Comfort Inn in Nags Head.

-Enjoy!!

Love A Storm

If you don't like a good storm, you probably shouldn't live here. It's a way of life.

TONIGHT NE WINDS 35 TO 45 KT WITH FREQUENT GUSTS TO 50 KT. SEAS 14 TO 19 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS. SHOWERS LIKELY WITH ISOLATED TSTMS.

THU NE WINDS 30 TO 40 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 KT...BECOMING E 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 13 TO 18FT DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS. WIDESPREAD RAIN WITH A CHANCE OF TSTMS.

Nothing makes you feel small, like the ocean on a day like today.

-Enjoy!!

A Different Wavelength

I started taking pictures of surfing before I actually started surfing. When I first got my camera, I thought how hard could it be. (Taking pictures of it, and doing it) Here are three of my better shots.
One year and 3 boards later, I no longer take many pictures of people surfing, because I'm usually in the water with them. If you've ever had a bad day, it's amazing what 30 minutes in the water at lunch can do for you. It's worth months of therapy.

Edit: Both are a lot harder then they look.

I want to go diving

Apparently I'm never going to get to dive again. With the active tropics it's not going to happen this week. I've been dry for 2 weeks, that's far too long.

I'm a big fan of making adjustments to photos I take. I'm not a purist. The great thing about digital is you can make a good picture better. That being said there's nothing you can do make a bad picture good. Typically I adjust blacks, white balance, and add a little sharpness. I use Lightroom to do all my developing.

The butterfly was made using Paint.Net. If you can't afford the Photoshop price tag, check it out.

The statue is the "Christ of the Abyss" off of Key Largo. Not a bad picture seeing that I took it with a camcorder.

Enjoy

It's about time

For a while now people have been telling me that I should try and sell some of my photographs. So I finally got off my ass, and I present to you OBX Underwater on SmugMug. If you see something you like, click the link on the right side of the page and make it your own, or visit
http://www.obxunderwater.com/

Because I'm shamelessly promoting myself, I have to give you a couple picture to look at. So here are two of my favorite local landmarks. The Bodie Island Lighthouse (pronounced "body") and the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

Enjoy!!

Old Friends

Old friends are great. The longer you've known them, and the more history you have with them the better. I caught up with one today, it was long overdue.

Since I'm not underwater today, I was struggling for something to post. I came back from vacation with a cold, so I'm sort of running on NyQuil today. So I introduce you to Cat #2, Coconut. Cat #1 was being uncooperative. It looks like she loves the fisheye as much as I do.

I also found a picture of a Jewelled Spider that was hanging out in Key Largo.

Enjoy!

The Final Day: Part 2

After lunch on the way to the pool we were called to the dock behind the hotel to check out the glorious sea cow. I want to make this very clear. We didn't harass this animal. It always had a way out, there were only 2 or 3 people in the water watching it from a safe distance. The close ups you see are because he/she came to me, not because I got all up in it's face. I like animals, and I'm not gonna freak one out to "maybe" get a shot. So if you're gonna get preachy in comments, please remember chances are I respect this animal more, than I ever will you.

Now that I'm off my soap box, this manatee was the subject of two of the best pictures I feel I've ever taken (the first two).

Enjoy!!

The Final Day: Part 1

Isn't it always that your last day of vacation is always your best? This one is no different. We were blessed with the best visibility of the week today at 15-20 feet. The reefs started to actually look like something, other than milky white soup. This will be the first of the final post from Key Largo. If you could only see the sunset that's keeping me company...some things are best left to the imagination.

Enjoy...Part 1

Edit: Props to my trusty sidekick/counselor/comic relief for the week, Davey. He's the one letting me know he wants his picture taken....2nd to last.