ScubaPro Solo Scuba Snorkeling Dive Mask

The Solo Mask from Scubapro is a brand new mask for scuba diving and snorkelling.  It has a low volume for a great fit and easy clearing.  With a swivel buckles for easy adjustment to fit any face shape. 

I use this mask myself and it is fantastic!

• Low volume…..a great fit
• Silicone skirt
• Easy clearing and equalization

Anyway, I brief the dive in order to allow plenty of time under the area of the boat just in case one of the divers, who I haven’t been out with yet, (which is all of them) goes through there air quicker than the rest.  

By doing this we are all close to the ascent line and we all do not have to detour back to the ascent line to the boat, we are near by already. 

Ok, I’ve set the stage.  Here it comes.  

We are all enjoying the dive, just over the wall a little.  At about 80 feet.  Having a great dive. The boat is close, everyone is comfortable, visibility is grea,t the coral and sponges are fantastic.  Sun beaming through the water column, just amazing.  

Then, ten minutes into the dive it happens.  In from the reef, heading towards the edge of the wall we all see a six to seven foot Hammer Head Shark!!  

That’s right, I said it, a Hammer Head Shark on the West side of Grand Cayman,Cayman Islands.  Unheard of on this side!

We were all able to hang with it for about a minute and a half.  Underwater this is a long time looking at a huge creature like a Hammer Head Shark!  I would say I got within twenty feet from the beautiful Hammer Head.  

The beauty finally had enough of us and swam off the wall into the blue! 

Outstanding!! 

Now I’ve been diving down here for the last 12 years, living here year round for the last 5 years. 

I have never seen any type of shark on the west side ofGrand Cayman,Cayman Islands(not including the Nurse Shark by the way). 

We all finished our dive, surfaced and began going crazy about it.  Especially to Denise who is an instructor/dive master as well.  She was the surface support on this dive. 

She was not fortunate enough to be only one of eight people onGrand Cayman,Cayman IslandstodayMarch 21, 2012to see this particular Hammer Head Shark today! 

Sorry Denise……NOT!  

What a great experience for all of us!  Thank you Mother Nature!!

 Catch you later!

 Celebrate the Lifestyle

What a great week of diving here inGrand Cayman!  I was even able to get my wife Farron out for a two tank dive!  You see she spends a lot of her time in the swimming pool or gym.  She owns a company called Swim and Trim.  She teaches anyone and everyone how to swim and get fit down here in the Cayman Islands.  Business is great for her ever since she got going. 

That was last Saturday and the rest of the week stayed just as good as that great day of diving.  If you’re wondering, and I know that you are, we dived Big Tunnels and La Mesa.  Two outstanding choices I don’t mind saying. 

For the week, we’ve had some long time customers as well as new customers to share the clear Caribbeanwaters with.  Temp is still around 79-80 degrees Fahrenheit.  Not bad.  Some are in rash guards still.  Others have broken out there shorties.  

It is amazing at some of these dive sites where you have schools and schools of fish to keep your eyes roaming.  It makes one wonder why this particular site, called La Mesa, has these numbers of fish anyway.  No complaints here! 

Then of course we still come across the invasive Lion Fish down here.  At this point we are able to euthanize three to four Lion Fish each dive.  On average.   They sure are a beautiful creature aren’t they!?   

Ok Mouth Breathers,  that will do it for now.  Heading to the beach with Farron and daughter Landyn (17 months old)  what a blast! 

Catch you later.

Celebrate the Lifestyle

So, I’m diving the Ex USS Kittiwake in Grand Cayman today with some pretty cool divers.   One of which had served eight years in the US Navy. 

Needless to say he was fired up to check out this gem of a wreck. 

We’ve had a great first dive today so this one better be a doozie!  (you know it will).  The dive started with a simple backwards roll off the back of the boat and heading to the yellow mooring ball at the front of our boat. 

This particular day we were hanging off of the line attached to the stern of the sunken Kittiwake below.  The small group of us worked our way down the line and begun our adventure at the huge propeller.  This puts us in about 60 feet of sea water.  This happens to be the deepest part of the dive, by the way.  

OK, 20 seconds in we come across this beautiful Spotted Eagle Ray just having a little late breakfast in the sand around the 251 foot Ex USS Kittiwake.  Fantastic surprise for us all!  We could have spent half the dive here, as the beautiful ray was not bothered in the slightest that we were chillin with her.  

Back to the wreck we go. 

Now we are on the main deck and loving it!  The Ex USS Kittiwake is alive today with a hugeschoolofHorse Eyed Jacksjust back of mid ships.  Not a bother in the world.  

Now we’ve made it in and around the recompression chambers, the shower and mess hall as well.  Gliding up towards the bow checking out the great viz and beautiful fish along the way. 

Divers seem amazed and delighted with the dive at this point! 

Now into the wheel house, pretending to steer the boat, seeing all the plaques dotted around and taking special notice of the one near the smoke stack giving the specifications about the Kittiwake.  If you have a camera, this is a must shot!  Very cool. 

So now we are winding up the dive, I’ve been alerted of a diver being down to 1000 psi remaining in his bottle.  It is time to think about making our way back to the ascent line. 

As we pass by the makeshift diving bell near the stern of the USS Kittiwake I notice the red algae on top of it and decide to have a look around, thinking I might find me a decorator crab to show these divers. 

WOW!  What I do find is not a decorator crab at all, but a juvenile Great Anemone!! 

I’ve never seen a Great Anemone this small before and I was fired up!  To me, this is a great sign that things sure are starting to come to life on the Ex USS Kittiwake after a year of getting comfortable on the sea floor here in the Cayman Islands.   Now, I’ve dived or dove, or whatever you’re supposed to say, this Kittiwake at least 60 times now.  This new growth is the first significant thing  I’ve seen begining its life here.  Welcome!

After showing the small group of us this young Anemone, it was about time to call it a dive.  So, with out further delay, we all began to  worked our way up the same line we came down, nice and slow.  We all did our safety stop at 15 feet for at least three minutes and were back on board the boat with at least 500 psi in our SCUBA tanks! 

What an adventure for all of us.  This is my job by the way!

Celebrate the Lifestyle! 

Catch you later.

 Well, one of those SCUBA divers who, after a  week or even a year of diving you realize that, WOW, are my hands dry, and even cracking a bit! 

 The sea water, the heat, the sea water again!  Who knows why, but my hands, ever since I made my descent to the Cayman Islands to work in the SCUBA industry, have been dry, dry, dry!  Lotions have been, eh, so, so…..it works for a little while through-out the day and is a great supplement to these Gel Gloves.

 The real deal has been these Soft-Hands Gel Gloves.  I know it sounds silly and a bit un-manly as a tough SCUBA diver, but if your hands need it, and you’ll know if they do, you will be fired up in a few short nights that you’ve got yourself a pair of these bad boys. 

 A little lotion or Vaseline first, followed by slipping these on and off to bed.  I guess you could wear them during the day in the right situation too.

 You will wake up feeling great and your hands are on there way to being those normal hands and finger tips you remembered a few short days weeks or months ago.

 Your SCUBA gear will even be easier to assemble!

 Thank me later.

 Celebrate the Lifestyle.

 Catch you later.

A great looking Dive T-Shirt for those of us who love Sea Turtles.  After all, Sea Turtles are Mouth Breathers too!

• This Dive T-Shirt holds a special place with I’m a Mouth Breather.  
• Fifty percent of our profits will go to help save the Sea Turtles!
• So pick yours up today and you will be able to say you have helped the Sea Turtles around the world too!
•  Good work!

Three things you need to dive.

• Do you ever wonder what you really need to dive?  Well now you know.  You see, without air, a dive buddy, and no decompression time, you must end your dive.  It seems simple but it is often overlooked. 
•  Never run out of air – watch my gauges, Never dive alone – where is my buddy?,  Never go into deco – how much time do I have left on my computer?
• Our durable, high-quality, pre-shrunk 100% cotton t-shirt is what to wear when you want to go comfortably casual. Preshrunk, durable and guaranteed.

The new Nemesis

Anything will eat these #Lionfish!  Let’s get that straight.  We’ve fed them to mutton snapper (who absolutely love them by the way),Nassaugroupers, queen trigger fish; french angel fish, green, spotted and golden tail eels.  Lets see, even a barracuda had a go at one on an occasion.  Sting rays have fired them down.  The list goes on and on. 

So, it is not that there is nothing to eat these beautiful creatures that make them such a threat to theCaribbean; it’s that these fish can not catch them because they are fast, quick and smart as well.  Also, these Lionfish eat anything and everything that will get in there way.  Juvenile reef fish, cleaner fish, you name it they will eat it.  I have pulled fish, on multiple occasions, out of the jaws of these Lionfish.  Some were returned to the reef, others…..not so much.

Oh, and did I mention the ability of these Lionfish to reproduce??  Thousands, yep I said it, thousands of eggs every few days.  These eggs are not like your typical eggs lying on the sea floor either.  Oh no, these gems float mid water column so any predator will have a difficult time finding them.  Therefore, greater chance of a successful “birth” lets say.  Next thing you know it there are hundreds even thousands of these bad boys combing the reef.   This is the problem!  Then the cycle starts all over again.

So here in the Cayman Islands we’ve been doing a bang up job keeping these creatures off our dive sites.  Where a year ago we were killing twenty a dive site, today we may only take three to four a dive.  The trained SCUBA diver is the Nemesis!

Stay tuned.  Celebrate the Lifestyle.

Five of us just descended down the line and begun to head north up the wall. Within 30 seconds it was on. Patrick was pointing down wiggling his fingers indicating a Lionfish.

The guests stayed up at 1ooish feet as I exhaled and dropped down to, well, retrieve the said fish.

Perfect blast and I was beginning my ascent to join the rest of the group. It was at this time I got a signal that there was a Green Moray Eel drawling on the reef.

Without hesitation I changed my path and just like that the huge, intimidating eel had a free breakfast. Poof it was gone!

To go with this, I had a great dive trip today. Turtles, turtles and more turtles. Great divers and lots of laughs.

Celebrate the Lifestyle

Catch you later!