February 22, 2021 3 min read

Preparation’D’, Media Schmeedia, Anomalies Becoming Normality's

Implementing Preparation ’D’ is far better than having to apply Preparation ‘H’! According to the dictionary ‘prepare’ means: to get (something) ready for use or consideration. Of course the D means diving! We generally make a push this time of the year to motivate you guys to get your gear serviced now as opposed to just a few days before you plan on using it. This year there are even more reasons to bring your gear in for servicing early. First, regulator overhauls require service kits. Although we undoubtedly have Southwest Florida’s foremost repair technician and he stocks a room full of kits, John Fox can’t have them all. With the current supply chain situation some manufacturers don’t have service kits available, they’re on back order so instead of a couple weeks it could be a couple of months to properly service a regulator. Second, Scuba Marco is offering an early bird 10% off parts if you bring your regulator in before March 15th. The third reason is also a monetary incentive… For the first time in nearly 23 years we will be bumping our labor rates up from $30 a stage to $35 starting March 16th. PREPARE TO DIVE NOW!

Regardless of one’s political views there are multiple media outlets to substantiate any thought process . Shoot fake news even forms belief systems. When Q’anon first surfaced I had to talk a very good friend off the ledge because he was buying into it. Some people are still on that damn ledge! Back in the good old days journalism and the news media was held to a pretty high standard. There is no longer any standard or any accountability for misinformation. It wasn’t a national political story that got me thinking about this, it was a story about catching a fish in a local newspaper. The jist of the article was  a young girl landing a huge goliath grouper allegedly on hook and line. I’m not even going to get into how accurate a weight estimation is while you measure the girth and length of such a fish as it’s in the water. It was a cute story with comments from the young lady about being mentally tough to land the lunker. Then the author said: “it’s probably the largest grouper ever caught on rod and reel”. ‘Probably’ I thought? Although I knew it wasn’t true, a quick Google search proved that the largest goliath grouper was about 100 pounds bigger than that, caught  off northeast Florida in 1961. How difficult of a fact check was that one? That’s not the clincher though, he ended the story by saying how lucky she was to land that fish because there’s only ‘a few of them out there’... Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! He’s a comic not a journalist!

My gills are dry. I haven’t gone this long without doing an open water dive in nearly 30 years. Thank you John and Melody for enduring Marco Island’s frigid winter water! Whether you believe in climate change or are a denier, the weather doesn’t lie! Back when I was growing up here (the good old days), cold fronts came through on the average once every two weeks during the winter. The last five years has been more like two cold fronts per week. Not only does that keep our water chilly, it doesn’t give the gulf enough time to settle down and clear up after the front before the next one whammies us. I was about to write ‘this sucks’ but then I thought about Texas. Now my brain has circled back to the media. I read a blurb from a news outlet talking head a couple days ago. He was mostly ragging on the failure of the windmills in Texas. Although I wasn’t in agreement, I continued reading and tried to swallow what he was saying. However my blood pressure spiked and I blurted out expletives when he said that the severe storm in Texas ‘proves that global warming is a myth’. No idiot, the extreme winter weather we’re experiencing in the south is a direct result of climate change. Arrgghhhh, humans frustrate me. not you, divers are cool and have infallible beliefs! The bottom line is I need to get my head out of newsfeeds and get my ass into  that water!! I really miss our monthly gatherings... I have a feeling that like warmer water our dive club meetings will be coming soon. I am so looking forward to that! But until then…

Live Love Dive, -Jeff


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