Scuba Diving

After moving to Melbourne Florida in 1976 I took scuba diving lessons and did a considerable amount of diving over the next few years. I later got my Advanced Open Water diving certificate. I did a lot of diving all over Florida, the Keys, beaches, off shore, springs and a some in the Bahamas. Here are some of my diving stories.

Nightmare on the Impossible Dream

Dive Log
(Note: Some dives not recorded in log are also shown.)

1	Date: Summer 1978	Dive Time: 4	Dive Buddy:
Visibility: 60+		Temperature: Air: 85	Depth: Max: 35; Ave: 25
John Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, Fla. Saturday afternoon: 2 tank dive two locations, 1) check out dive for certification, 2) check out dive for open water Sunday morning: 2 tank dive, two locations

2	Date: Summer 1978	Dive Time: 4	Dive Buddy: Sally, Craig
Visibility: 60+		Temperature:	Depth: Max: 35; Ave: 25
John Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, Fla. this was certification dive for Craig, Paul and Sally. I just went along for the dive. (Picture says Crystal River but this was at Pennekamp) Saturday afternoon: 2 tank dive two locations, 1) check out dive for certification, 2) check out dive for open water Sunday morning: 2 tank dive, two locations

3	Date: 11/4/1978	Dive Time: 1	Dive Buddy: Paul, David
Visibility: 100+		Temperature: Air: 72 Water: 72	Depth: Max: 37; Ave: 10
Ichetucknee Springs, Blue Hole and run Floated to Blue Hole, dived Blue Hole 45 min. exploring hole bottom, needed light, several other divers at spring, beautiful day, snorkeled run with occasional scuba in deeper parts, sighted various fish, snails, full wet suit must for 2 1/2 to 3 hrs. of run.

4	Date: 11/5/1978	Dive Time: 2	Dive Buddy: Paul, David
Visibility: Spring 100, River 12-20		Temperature: Air: 75 Water: 72	Depth: Max: 60; Ave: 10
Paul Smith, David and Me Ginne Springs, Devils Eye, July Spring, Sante Fe River Dived 1st tank in Ginne Springs, dived spring basin, spring entrance, first chamber, second room down to grating at 60 ft. Rented two lanterns, a must. Third diver held on to diver with light. Room beautiful in dark, Entrance looking up from bottom most beautiful sight. Second tank dived Devils Eye chamber and basin, crossing river to July Spring then down river and up Ginne Springs run. Sante Fe river bottom very interesting.

5	Date: 11/1978	Dive Time: 1.5	Dive Buddy: David
Visibility: 30=75+		Temperature: Air: 70 Water:72	Depth: Max: 60; Ave: 20
Larry and David Crystal River and other springs. Cool day, Vandy came with us but didn't dive. Rented boat and went out to spring. Crowded with 20-25 divers from GA. Spring bottom stirred up, visibility poor in 1st chamber. Spring basin full of fish and fauna. Feeding fish ball of bread a must! Smaller other springs up river interesting but bottom stirred up easily!! Look out or you will ruin an interesting sight.

6	Date: 4/1979	Dive Time: 1	Dive Buddy: David
Visibility: 20-25		Temperature: Air: 82 Water: 72	Depth: Max: 30; Ave: 25
Sand Key, Key West. 4-5 ft. seas, high wind 10-15 mph. Down wind side of key 2 ft. seas. Bottom stirred up, current sloshed back and forth in reef valleys. Numerous fish but all under reefs. Small moray eel and lobster sighted.

7	Date: 4/1979	Dive Time: 1.5	Dive Buddy: David
Visibility: 75+		Temperature: Air: 85 Water:74	Depth: Max: 40; Ave: 27
Pennekamp State Park, Benwood wreck, French Reef. 2-3 ft seas, beautiful day. Visibility great. Beenwood wreck first tank, 1hr bottom time. Many fish, great varity and color. Bow of wreck in 40 ft, David floated amongst fish just off bow, pretending he was flying. Second tank at French Reef. Huge mounds of coral with many arches one can swim under. Whole group on boat entered water and headed immediately for arch. Very funny sight seeing 15 divers doing a follow the leader act under the arch.
I did several dives for lobster off the beach south of Melbourne Florida at Wabasso Bearch where I caught my first lobster.

	Date: 5/1979	Dive Time:	Dive Buddy: David
Dive not recored in log
After being certified, I several times went on the check out dive trips for other divers which were out of West Palm Beach. On this one Daivd went with me.

8	Date: 7/1979	Dive Time: 1	Dive Buddy: John, Bob
Visibility: 15		Temperature: Air: Water:	Depth: Max: 35; Ave: 25
Morrow pit, Melbourne Fl. First night dive for Advance Open Water certification.

9	Date: 7/1979	Dive Time: 1	Dive Buddy: Fred
Visibility: 75+		Temperature: Air: 82 Water: 78	Depth: Max: 40; Ave: 35
West Palm Beach, Trench, Night dive for Advanced Open Water. Kollor's Reef boat, fantastic dive with great visibility. Current 2-3 knots at 25 ft but 0 in the trench. Saw moray eel, spotted scorpion fish and other night creatures.

	Date: 7/28/1979	Dive Time:	Dive Buddy: unknown
Dive not recored in log
I did several dives for lobster off the beach south of Melbourne Florida at Wabasso Bearch where I caught my first lobster.

	Date: 8/1979	Dive Time:	Dive Buddy: Craig
Dive not recored in log
Another lobster dive off the beach. On this one we broght the lobster back to the beach were we cooked and ate them on the beach.

	Date: 8/12/1979	Dive Time:	Dive Buddy: unknown
Dive not recored in log
Peacock Springs. For my advanced open water our instructor, Jim Bobb, took us to several springs near High Springs including Peacock, Jenny and others.

11	Date: 11/1979	Dive Time: 3.4 hrs	Dive Buddy: Fred
Visibility: 40-75		Temperature: Air: 85 Water: 78	Depth: Max: 80; Ave: 40
Bahamas trip aboard the Impossible Dream (see full story at Nightmare on the Impossible Dream). Depth Time (min) Vis. 1) Indian Reef, West End 40 25 75 2)Shark Reef, West End 70 30 75 3)Keith's Reef, Grand Bahama 35 50 75 4&5)Lucayan Caye Area 80/70 30/30 30/45 6) Keith's Reef, Grand Bahama 35 40 60

12	Date: 6/1980	Dive Time: 55 min	Dive Buddy: Fred
Visibility: 45		Temperature: Air: 90 Water: 80	Depth: Max: 50; Ave: 40
Chartered boat from Sea Pro Dive Shop, West Palm. 2-Tank afternoon dive. Great day drove to West Palm in morning, ate lunch then boarded boat. Saw good look nude women on passing sail boat! Drift dive both dives. Visibility fair, large numbers of fish. Both dives were cut short but captain o boat, pissed me off. 1) Cable crossing depth 50' time: 20 min, Vis. 45 2) Trench depth 40' time: 40 min, Vis. 40

13	Date: 6/1980	Dive Time: 10 min	Dive Buddy: Fred
Visibility: 50		Temperature: Air: 95 Water:68	Depth: Max: 125; Ave: 40
Went out on Little Diver from Divers World at West Palm. Left Melbourne at 5:30 AM for 8:00 AM dive but boat was re-scheduled and late so we did not board until 12:30. Dive was a drift dive though the "Tunnel", fantastic coral arch with a 20'x50' tunnel under arch. 10 minute bottom time allowed us to see giant grouper 50-60 lb., giant Jew fish 500 lb., schools of amberjacks, second dive was canceled because boat broke down. We had to sit on boat in scorching heat for 4 hours to get back to poat.

14	Date: 7/4/1980	Dive Time: 40 min	Dive Buddy: Don/Nancy
Visibility: 35		Temperature: Air: 95 Water: 72	Depth: Max: 45; Ave:
Went out from Sebastian Inlet with Don who had a boat to go lobstering. Tried unsuccessfully to find reef north of inlet. Headed south but still unable to find reef. Was 10-12 miles from shore 3-4 ft seas, slow swells. Because we could not find reef we did a drift dive, sand at bottom with many small shells, groups of sea enemies like fingers along bottom, many 2 ft. dia. jelly fish floating at random moving sidewise against current, most interesting to see. Saw nurse shark, gave me a scare.

15	Date: 3/16/81	Dive Time: 30 min, 40 min second dive	Dive Buddy: Patty
Visibility: 45		Temperature: Air: 80 Water: 74	Depth: Max: 35; Ave: 30
Was Julie's check out dive at West Palm cable. While she did check out dive I buddied with Patty. Dived Cable Crossing and other location.

16	Date: 6/28/1981	Dive Time: 25 min	Dive Buddy: Julie
Visibility: 100		Temperature: Air: 90 Water: 72	Depth: Max: 65; Ave: 40
Ginne Springs with Julie.

17	Date: 7/26/81	Dive Time: 60 min	Dive Buddy: Julie, Cellina
Visibility: 25		Temperature: Air: 90 Water: 76	Depth: Max: 35; Ave: 30
First day of lobster season, visibility fair. Julie bagged, Celina followed, I grabbed. Saw only two bugs, only caught one. Harlin Davis's boat. Dove with Jim Bobb and others, boat was a bit crowded with 7 divers. Second dive went out to deeper water, serf was glassy. Found 1-3 foot reef with 1-3 lobster every 5-6 feet. Last ones down but still caught six, cooked 4 up for dinner that night.

18	Date: 8/5/1981	Dive Time: two 35 min dives	Dive Buddy: Julie
Visibility: 60+		Temperature: Air: Water:	Depth: Max: 35; Ave: 25

19	Date: 9/5/81	Dive Time: 25 min, 35 min	Dive Buddy:
Visibility: 60/40		Temperature: Air: 90 Water: 79	Depth: Max: 60; Ave: 40
Reef closer to shore had poor visibility thus wet out to deeper water. Out directly from Breaker's Hotel in West Palm. Crossed cable crossing while on bottom. Reef 5-12 ft. high, beautiful fish and coral. I was the rope tender on the drift dive, gentle South to North current. Harlin Davis's boat. Second dive water was not as clear, had to wait on bottom 10-12 min. for Julie to descend. She had problems clearing her ears. E-W surge current made staying in single place difficult. Larry A. become low on air with 10 min bottom time left so had to shorten dive.

20	Date: 7/9-10/1990	Dive Time: 22 hours	Dive Buddy: David
Visibility: 20		Temperature: Air: 95 Water: 87	Depth: Max: 30; Ave: 21
David and I went to the Jules' Undersea Lodge and spent overnight in underwater lodge. More pictures and story at Lifeline 1990.