Captain's Chronicles April 2025

May-be / Torn / Healing

Maybe. May be. May be my favorite month in Southwest Florida… and It’s not close. The 90-90 rule finally arrives! 90° temperatures and 90% humidity drives all the snowbirds back to Yankeeville. That’s OK, most of you don’t dive and very few of you know how to drive. Plus, we’re certain that you will be back next winter. The lines at the grocery store evaporate. Instead of waiting to be seated at the restaurant, we walk right in, sit down and order one entrée and receive another one at 50% off. Cold fronts are forbidden from pushing this far south in May. Rainy season as well as tropical weather doesn’t start until June. Yeah May!!

All of us can get torn at times. Torn doesn’t necessarily imply negativity. Jessi and I can get torn about which fabulous tropical destination to plan our next drive trip to. You can be torn about whether to wear your 3 mm full suit or just a shorty? Torn can certainly be negative though. Are you old enough to remember the miracle on ice? That would be 1980 when heavy underdog the USA defeated the USSR in route to a Winter Olympics gold medal. A simple hockey game galvanized the citizens of a country into feeling pride and victorious. It essentially culminated the end of the Cold War era in a fantastic manner.  Every American felt the same way and it was wonderful. We were all of the same mindset.  Different circumstances, but we also came together as a nation after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was us versus terrorism. Love versus hate. We were truly united, steadfast, and resilient in our cause. Political party affiliation played no role in our determination to right the wrongs and have justice prevail.

Times have changed. We are torn apart as a country. Families are divided and neighborhoods are segregated all because of our political affiliation. We have lost sight of the fact that we all play for the same team. I think of political affiliations like I think about people of differing races and religions.  There are good white people and good black people. There is also not so good white people and not so good black people. There are those of Jewish and Christian faith with integrity and love at the center of their foundation. There are also Jews and Christians that prey and are hypocritical. Hmmm (prey vs pray) maybe the ultimate homophone. There are plenty of Republicans with sound reasoning and a rational thought process that make valid points. The same for Democrats.  There are also members of both of those parties that (I could use a lot of words here, but let’s keep it simple), that just are not good people. The divisiveness and vitriol between my fellow Americans sucks. I’m sick and tired of it and I know many of you are too. My magic wand has had a dead battery since 1980. There’s only one thing left for me to do. 

Go diving! Will it fix our political reality and the bitterness we feel towards one another? No way, but I guarantee that you will forget about it for a little bit. There’s nothing wrong with being an aquatic ostrich.  If you can’t heal the world, heal yourself at least. Speaking of, my marathon broken jaw healing is progressing nicely. It’s at a snails pace, but that’s the is-ness of my situation. I don’t remember my braces catching and storing this much food during a meal when I was 12 years old.

Thanks to everybody for your support and sentiments about our tenure at the little old Dive Shop. We have a couple of new Scuba Marco possibilities and definitely intend to stay on the island. Hopefully we are underneath the big tree through the summer (our busy season) and will relocate in the fall. Regardless of where we end up, dive time is now, and we’re here for you! Dust off your scuba gear and change your computer battery. Much easier to just bring it to us for a bench test and that battery change. As the winds lay down, the Psychquatic anticipates a lot of floating on the water instead of resting on its cradle. We intend on running a few trips to the new barge wreck about 17 miles southwest of Marco. Let us know if you’re interested in exploring a new dive site. Dive here, dive there, dive anywhere and everywhere. Don’t be torn internally… Tear up some air inside of a scuba tank!

Until then, Live, Love, Dive  —Jeff