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Staying longer / Rainbows / Help Me!
There are several ways I could take the theme of staying longer. Like when a houseguest that you didn’t really invite in the first place decides they are going to stay longer than you expected. There is a very popular blue pill that allows males to stay longer. I think the phrase erectile dysfunction is misleading. Most men at least my age have followed that thing around for over 40 years now (some of us recklessly). Seems like erectile exhaustion would be more appropriate! You guys all know that I’m talking about Nitrox though.
Good Dives / William Anders - Earth Rise
Good dives is what we’ve been experiencing aboard the Psychquatic recently! We are enjoying calm seas, plentiful marine life and warm water. Even the currents haven’t been too strong. All in all, the last six weeks have been above average for local diving this time of the year. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say that!
Crossing Currents / Invasive People/ Wearily Hot
There’s a lot of strong currents out there. We are a big country and it’s an election year. Wait, what… I mean it’s a big earth and there’s a lot of water on it. I experienced first hand how not to swim across a strong current a long time ago, while diving by myself. Although solo diving ads risks, it isn’t illegal. You can add additional risk by driving a boat out all by yourself, anchoring it, and jumping in the water to spearfish.
Love / Mother / Nature
Evidently, I am not excessively fired up over any issues right now because I’m struggling to come up with topics to talk about. So let’s keep things short, sweet and simple! I love to dive the Gulf but just as I wrote last month, as local dive conditions get sweet, the next cold front comes through and crushes our visibility. It seems like each winter and spring brings a higher frequency of cold fronts. It is what it is and certainly out of my control, I’ll just stay prepared and ready to dive when the conditions are right. But so far in 2024 there’s been more golfing than Gulfing going on around here. Focus on love and try to stay positive… That’s a good mantra for us all.
Washing Machine / Summiting / sCUBA!!!
Normally, agitation is not a good thing, but it is if you’re washing clothes. The herky-jerky back-and-forth movement of the agitator was how the clothes used to get cleaned. Front-load washers nowadays no longer have agitators, I imagine our clothes aren’t getting as clean as they used to. When the the wind is blowing at or close to the opposite direction from where the tide is flowing, that creates surface water agitation all along the Gulf coast. The stronger the wind is blowing and the tide is flowing, the greater the agitation. This ‘washing machine’ effect is magnified in and around the passes as the current speed increases. It makes the seas rough, and the wave period short.
Loop Current Woes / Tribe loss/ ‘Tisn’t the Season
The loop current is warm water that enters the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean between Cuba and the Yucatan peninsula. It makes its way north before looping east and then finally south along Florida’s West Coast. It is part of the reason that we have not ran a dive trip into the gulf since January 2nd. Cold fronts are the main culprit though, the alternative title to this segment would be ‘cold front caca’. Cold fronts here generally blow out of the northwest which crashes waves along the shoreline. That action quickly thrashes near shore visibility. The west Florida coastline has an extremely gradual drop off so that allows for large areas of shallow water to be churned up.
My DDC? Construct / Is it what it should be?
First, let’s tackle the local diving report. I have a very small sample size to draw upon but the report I got was encouraging. Joshua and crew braved a cold, rainy Friday morning last week to run offshore and do some spearing off of his sweet, recently acquired 26 foot Glacier Bay. The water was too cold for most of us locals (mid 60s).
Dodging Disasters / Circling Around / Good & Loud
The weather this summer has been unlike any of the other 49 summers I’ve spent down here. That’s probably a true statement for the majority of people wherever you are. I’ve always been a student of the weather, but when you’re trying to run a boat back into port and have to deal with massive thunderstorms rolling off the coast, it personalizes the relationship between man and Mother Nature. Whenever I knew we were going to dance around lightning I started saying the phrase, ‘it’s time to play dodge the thunderstorms’ as we would get underway.
August 23,1998 / Air J&J / Good Ole Days
Twenty-five years ago today I opened up the doors to Scuba Marco (we actually opened as Scubadventures w/ Captain Jeff Dawson) for the first time. I never thought I’d be sitting in the same shop STILL OPEN a quarter century later. Yes, that’s a long time and it hasn’t been easy. I credit my perseverance and stubbornness for the shop still being viable. Throw in a little luck, extreme frugalness, and a lot of really cool people coming through the front door and you have a dive shop celebrating its 25th anniversary/birthday!
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!
Tranquility or Anxiety / Happy Anniversary Baby / Rock Lobster!!
There’s something special about those first initial breathes taken as you deflate your BC to drop below the surface for a brief encounter with the aquatic realm. For me it’s very relaxing and yet exciting at the same time. I’m relaxed because I’m entering into a different world where my cell phone is no longer a thought (unless it’s an a waterproof case and I’m taking pictures with it). I am excited because you never know what you’re going to see on a dive, especially in the Gulf.
Rebooting / Michael Sipos: Eye D / The Heat!
Reboot is a funny word. It’s what you would do after your dive buddy realizes you put on their boots instead of your own. Did this word even exist before computers? That’s my memory of how reboot came into language. I could be wrong, perhaps it goes way back to a farmer that had to kick his tractor repeatedly to get it to run. Or an abusive parent; ‘you know I’ve put my boot to your backside before boy… You want me to do it again?’
