Captain's Chronicles July 2023

Marco Morphing / ‘I’m Melting / Damned Fools

‘Changes aren’t permanent but change is’ rings loud and true on Marco Island. New people continually come, and too often don’t always stay. Paul & Debbie and Scott & Colleen you will be missed and I wish you a happy journey down whatever path you choose! It sucks when cool people (divers) pull the plug. New replacements are always on deck though and not all of them are self-absorbed! Folks mostly come to the rock for the water and leave because of the people. Granted, Marco Island’s collective consciousness is not exactly a chill, laid-back, reggae vibe. Maybe for tourists, but not in the long run. Egos and bank accounts run very deep here and plenty of people will readily tell you what their net worth is. I’ve always thought that Jessi and I and even Scuba Marco are a counterbalance to that mentality. We focus on the water and not just because we own a dive shop here, it’s because that’s where we find our peace and sanity. When the idiots get you down, just go diving, most of them won’t follow you under and if they do they can’t talk to you! As you probably know, Melody abruptly morphed away from Scuba Marco a couple weeks back. Evidently she thought it was hunky-dory to take Scuba Marco’s email list to solicit for her own business venture. I sincerely apologize for that and we will take strides to protect your contact information moving forward.

As I currently write , I am aboard the Psychquatic anchored at the Wasmer Reef. Visibility hasn’t been spectacular lately, but the water is nice and warm and still very wet. Speaking of warm, can there possibly still be any climate change deniers left? HEAT making headline after headline all over the world. My mom let me watch the Wizard of Oz at a very young age. The scene where the wicked witch melts was awesome and terrifying at the same time. As a youngster, I struggled with wrapping my head around death and dying. I was happy to see the witch go away, but melting to death? If our earth could speak right now, 

I envision her repeating the wicked witch’s final phrases; “I’m melting, I’m melting”. I think even Ralfee acknowledges that humans have played a role in the meltdown. I just got the report from down below… 20 feet of vis, better than anything we’ve had recently. By the way, it’s 91° on the bottom at 45 feet. That’s warmer than I have seen in my my 50 years in Southwest Florida. Additionally, gulf temperatures don’t peek for another month. Yikes!! Let’s keep the Saharan dust flowing for our sake Africa!

Beyond humans just playing a role in global warming, ‘We’re Are Damned Fools!" That’s what James Harrison says. He was a NASA climate scientist in the 80’s. Harrison’s testimony to the Senate in 1988 is considered the first high profile revelation on the topic of global heating. He states that we’re damned fools for not acting upon the warnings over the climate crisis. Unfortunately, I think he’s spot on, and I couldn’t agree more with him. Those of you that have read my newsletter know that man screwing over Mother Nature was a frequent theme of my rants. I guess my Captain’s Chronicles wasn’t enough to move the pendulum. I haven’t gone there recently because it makes me sad and I’m out of hope.  I realized a while back that we are damned fools. The current state of affairs certainly challenges my happiness… As well as my sweat glands! I’m not giving up though, I realized over the weekend what’s been missing in my life. There has been a void since I sold my DPV’s (Diver Propulsion Vehicle) aka scooter, several months back. It’s now Monday morning and I just ordered my new Tusa SAV 07 lithium battery powered DPV! I feel a sense of excitement building inside me to get underwater  that hasn’t been there in way too long. It’s time to ride the ledge, not go over the edge!

Until then: Live-Love-Dive. —Jeff