Open Water Class today.

Well I thought I had a weekend with no diving or teaching. But one the instructors at the shop asked if I could assist with the second day of the Confined water class.  It started out as usual be at the shop at 7:00 AM leave for the pool between 7:30 and 8 AM. Problem was the Freedom Center was having a Triathlon today, and we did not know it. It pushed our whole schedule back two hours. Long wait but it all worked out. It's fun to teach people to dive.  (I'll add more to this later)

Now I am going to take a nap.

Another American Icon has passed.

The LA Times and the Daily Herald has reported that Oscar G.Mayer passed away Monday at the age of 95. From the article he was the son of the on three brothers that started the company in 1890.

Who doesn't know the song. "My bologna has a first name...." come on sing it with me!! Or now it will be stuck in you head and you won't be able to get it to stop.

SO, go grill, boil or roast a hot dog and raise a toast to OSCAR MAYER.

Here is a link to article:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2009/07/oscar-mayer-is-dead.html

On Memorial Weekend I was at the Sheetz gas station in Haymarket Virginia. The Wienermobile had pulled in as I was pulling out. This picture was shot out my Jeep window while waiting for traffic to move, anyone that has been to that Sheetz on the weekend knows this place is a zoo.

Scuba Tune Up - Sunday

Want a great way to spend a few hours on a Sunday morning! How about signing up for a Scuba Tune up class?

That is what Certified Diver Scott and Gerry did. Scott will be an adult leader for a local Boy Scout Troop Going to Sea Base in Flordia in July.  Gerry had recently went diving after a being out the of water for a while and through a Scuba refresher of the basic skills would make him feel more comfortable in the water.

We took a few hours to refresh thier skills, which from watching them I could tell they where already good divers. We swam around the pool for a while to make sure they where comfortable with their gear and in the water.

Discover Scuba - Saturday

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!!

Thinking about it, ever wondered what it’s like to breath underwater?

If you want to find out but aren’t quite ready to take the plunge into a certification course, Discover Scuba Diving will let you try scuba to see if you like it.

That is what Emily did this morning. She wanted to take the Discover Scuba course before her family when to to the Florida Keys later this summer. Part of her trip will be to get Open Water Certified.  Emily had a great time and did well with this introduction to the underwater world. She is now really looking forward to her family trip to the Keys.

EFR Class

Today I had the fun task of teaching the EFR Primary and Secondary Care course. Normally the course is divided into two parts, first is independent study which the student reviews the course work and video at home. Then we do skill development, knowledge reviews and testing.  Due to the students time constraints we did the whole course together. Made for a long day, but it was fun. Serious subject matter - keep the training light, engaging and lots of hands on and the time flys by.

We covered Primary Care, the ABCDS of the Life Line and practice the skills needed to assist someone is trouble. We worked with an AED and its proper use.

With Secondary Care we covered how to assess a persons condition who is in need and how to administer basic first aid; you know bandages, splits, take a pulse, that stuff.

Congratulations to Mike, Nery, Eric, Manuel and Gerson on completing the course. Great Job!

Another one on the bottom ready to explore!

Just finished reading the Dixie Divers Newsletter, their project of sinking a ship for an artificial reef is complete and ready to dive.

From their news letter:

"Come dive the Miracle Of Life, a 170' ft vessel, sunk on June 6 right off of our very own Deerfield Beach. The ship sits upright in 140 feet of water, with the main deck at 125 feet and the wheelhouse roof at 100 feet. This is an interesting time for this wreck because it is new and hasn't had the time to develop growth yet. You'll be able track the wreck's development and watch the miracle of life unfold."

Dixie Divers is located in Deerfield Beach Florida, when I am in the area I dive with them and their dive boat Lady GO Diver. Good folks.

EFR & Oxygen Provider Class

This is always fun to teach and the more students the better. While the subject matter is serious the training is kept light, engaging and lots of hands on.

We covered Primary Care, the ABCDS of the Life Line and practice the skills needed to assist someone is trouble. We worked with an AED and its proper use.

With Secondary Care we covered how to assess a persons condition who is in need and how to administer basic first aid; you know bandages, splits, take a pulse, that stuff.

In the Oxygen Provider class we cover how to properly setup equipment and administer emergency oxygen (always check to make sure the washer is in place :-) ). Then we covered safety considerations, and how to assemble and disassemble emergency oxygen equipment.

Congratulations to Colleen and Rick on completing these courses!

Do you know who Roz Savage is?

I first became aware of Roz Savage when I was looking for Leo Laporte on the web ( I am big fan of Leo; yeah I know, I am such a GEEK). I found Leo's TWIT (This Week In Tech) site the day Roz Savage had completed her first leg of ROWING solo across the Pacific Ocean.

In 2005 Roz was the first woman to complete rowing across the Atlantic. In the summer of 2008 she rowed from California to Hawaii. On May 24, 2009 she left Hawaii headed to Tuvalu as the second stage of her three part row across the Pacific.

Roz is well connected as she row and has a great land based support crew. They have created the ROZ TRACKER, I have included a link to the tracker on the right side of the page. It shows her GPS location, her path through the ocean, as well as her Twitter feeds, Blogger post and when she has time You Tube post. Roz is also doing a weekly NetCast Roz rows the Pacific with Leo that is available from Leo's site or Itunes.  This is an amazing amount of tech she has taken with her. It is all portable, it is all solar recharged, very cool stuff.

Roz has a platform for each segment she rows. She runs the whole adventure on donations. She is bringing awareness to global warming, pollution in the Pacific,  as well as the United Nations Environment Program: World Environment Day, which is Friday, June 5th .  If you follow UNEP on Twitter before June 5th, UNEP will plant a tree for each of their followers.

Roz also has extended a personal challenge through her PULL Together 09 website.  Roz rows on average 10,000 strokes a day. She asked you join her by walking 10,000 steps a day. (I am trying but not doing so well) it is about 2 hours, about 6 miles, a way to either get fit and/or reduce your carbon foot print.

So keep tabs on Roz as she continues this amazing adventure through her site and her tracker.

Enjoy!

Search and Recovery Class

Spent the mornings this past weekend with two wonderful ladies teaching them how to do Search and Recovery. The was a particularly good weekend to be in Millbrook Quarry because it has been raining for the last week or so and the water was pretty stirred up. You could not see more then twelve inches away from you.

The Search and Recovery Diver Specialty course teaches you effective ways to find objects (usually lost) underwater and bring them to the surface. I had the ladies conducted search patterns to find various "lost" items.  One of them we actually lost on Saturday, I couldn't even find it.  Jen and Sherece where determined to locate it and did so first thing Sunday morning. They handed it to me and while we were talking about how their exercise went, I dropped it, truly it was an accident. Honest.

We went out to the platform and practice deploying a lift bag, tying knots and bringing our "lost" item to the surface. As a measure of testing their new skills, the ladies where determined to find the item I had drop. They develop a new search plan and pattern then executed it perfectly. Needless to say once they surface with our "recovered" item they would not let me hold on to it until we where well on shore.  Smart decision ladies! :-)

Thanks for a great class, lots of fun and laughs! Congratulations Jen and Sherece on completing your Search and Recovery Diver Specialty as well as earning your Master Scuba Diver Certifications! Hope to see your names on the shops Master Scuba Diver plaque soon.

Just finished watching the sinking

Just finished watching the Vandenberg go down.  It took some time to get a connection to feed. I will have to check back with the site to see what the actual time was. It appeared to go off as planned it was about two minutes from the first sign of a blast to no longer seeing the ship on the surface.   Waiting to see if all went well on the bottom. Then it will be time to plan a trip.

May 27th is the date.

Earlier this week it was reported May 27, 2009 is the date to scuttle the Vandenberg.

The Key West Citizen continues its great coverage of the progress and events surrounding the Vandenberg. Their Sunday May 11th edition had several pages of articles surrounding the ship. The Citizens on-line site KeysNews.com now has a Vandenberg link to the articles they have published on the project.

Another great blog on the process of clearing the ship for divers is from Seaduction. Seaduction will be the team of public safety and tech divers clearing the wreck after it settles on the bottom, in their blog article Sinking the Vandenberg they give details of the events between the sinking and allowing the public to dive the wreck.

Vandenberg sinking between May 26 and June1.

The Miami Herald has reported today the Vandenberg will be sent to the bottom between May 26 and June 1. The exact date will be dependant on weather and ship traffic.  

Should be exciting. My guess would be Wednesday or Thursday. Then it would be ready to dive for the weekend!

Otterventures.com is up and running

Well here it is www.otterventures.com.
Up and running...... yep.... here it is......

Enjoy.

Keep the government off the North Carolina wrecks!

Just finished reading though the discussions where NOAA is proposing to take ALL of the submarines and allied wrecks (some of the best diving, on the planet) in the waters known as the "Shipwreck Graveyard of the Atlantic" off of North Carolina and incorporating them into the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

If approved divers would either be denied access to these wrecks or would need to file for a permit (a process that currently takes weeks to dive the Monitor) There is NO need for this! See Bobby and Renate's of Atlantis Charters web site a call for action for all divers.

Help keep the government off the NC wrecks!

It is always who you know....

How about getting a tour of the Vandenberg while it is docked in Key West.  Well Captain Scotty of Blue Iguana Charters  and few others where lucky enough to be given a tour of the ship. He took lots of pictures, go check out the Photo Gallery on their site.

Vandenberg is docked in Key West

Bigshipwrecks.com is reporting that earlier this morning the HS Vandenberg is tied up at the Truman Annex dock. 

Now the work begins on scuttling her. The plan is to have her on the bottom on or before June 1.  The amount of work needed to to get her ready they say it is not possible to meet the mid-May date. The only time frame offer at this point is between May 15th and June 1.

Vandenberg is off Key West

The KeysNews and Bigshipwrecks.com report that the Vandenberg anchored south of Key West. The reports say are waiting until Wednesday morning to bring the ship in to the harbor and dock it near the Truman Annex. 

The ship will be prepared for its voyage to the bottom of the sea over the next month at the dock. The plan is to sink the Vandenberg before June 1.

Divers getting ready.

The KeysNews reports local divers in the Keys are brushing up on their skills in anticipation of the Vandenberg becoming Florida's newest artificial reef.  Good for the dive industry, good for the local economy and a great way to watch a reef form and the environment it will create.

Thinking about planning a trip to dive it maybe July/August time frame, anybody want to come.

The Vandenberg is underway!

The Keys News and BigShipwrecks.com have reported the Vandenberg left Norfork Virginia on Sunday April 12 headed for Key West. Depending on the weather and seas it should arrive by the end of the week.

Open Water Certs Easter weekend

It was 43 degrees at the platforms, 30 feet down.  I had two Open Water Student who wanted to get their Open Water Certification completed this weekend.  It rainy, damp and cold on Saturday, Sunday was sunny but the chilly wind was blowing.  They where troopers about getting this done. They drove down from New York on Easter weekend to complete their certs.  Congratulations to Alissa and Brent; they are Certified Open Water Divers. Great job!