40 replies to this topic

[MikeM]

Hey there, sounds like y'all had a great time here in Florida! When is the next get-together over this way? I'll have to make it to that one! My consolation for missing out will hopefully be to make it down to the middle/lower Keys next month with a couple friends here in town to dive the Thunderbolt and Adolphus Busch wrecks, along with the Looe Key marine sanctuary. I can't wait!

Glad you all had a great time

[ScubaDadMiami]

I had a great time meeting everyone. I think my favorite part was everyone asking "What kind of wet suit is that?"

Thanks for a fun time and some great dives. Let's do it again soon

[WreckWench]

Hey gang....WOW!!! What a trip! I just want to thank YOU all for making it awesome! We had 28 people for the bbq on Friday...20 different people diving the am and pm dives in Key Largo...another 9 or so doing the dives in Deerfield Beach and lots of other folks for shore diving and jaunts in between!

Kim has written a great trip report I hope she gets posted tonight or tomorrow! I'm out of the country again tomorrow until Sept 1 so I won't get to chat with you all until I return.

As for our next trip to Florida...the next Regional is planned for June of next year...but our next Happy Hour and/or "Dive In Day" may be as early as Sept or October...or as soon as someone wants to organize it! Maybe MikeM will take the lead on that one? LOL!!! -ww

[MikeM]

Hey WW,

Care to fill me in on what the Happy Hour and Dive In Day is all about? Sounds like fun stuff, I'm sure. I like that "fun stuff"!

See ya and have a great trip!

[Dennis]

It was wonderful meeting new friends and old ones I haven't seen in years. Thanks Kamala, for a wonderful Friday evening. I wish I had been able to go diving on Saturday, but I needed to get headed back up North. Next time.

[finGrabber]

This is my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

A Diving Odyssey
Or
The Eagle has Landed!!

A trip report for first SE Florida Regional!

At the last minute, I found out I could make this trip and I was really excited about it! I arrived on Thursday, August 19 at approx 6pm…the flight from DFW was late due to weather…and lo, and behold, Marvel picked me up at the Fort Lauderdale airport right on time!

WW (Kamala) and Ray (Latitude Adjustment) were already in Florida at the hotel...Gar (BluBlood) and ZD were already at Marvel's. And so, the early crowd was here as Walter and others would not arrive until Friday.

We headed straight to the dive shop to pick up the tanks she borrowed for me, nicely filled and ready to dive. Then, we headed to her pad…and what a pad it is!! Right on the beach, plenty of parking and great company, not to mention a really cool place to live! What more could a finGrabber ask for?? (Except for some cute fins to grab maybe???) Well, once there, I met the rest of the gang...ZD, BluBlood (Gar), Scuba Jenny (Jenny), idive2 (Kevin), GrierHPharmD (Grier), LatitudeAdjustment (Ray), and, of course, WreckWench (Kamala)

After visiting, we decided to head for dinner down the block from Marvel’s house. The food was great and the atmosphere was wonderful, as well. In fact, I think I overheard Grier say he was going to join WW on her October NC trip...but it was hard to hear much with ZD in between me and Marvel...both of us trying to drive the man wild...or was that the other way around? LOL!! Poor WW was suffering from a bronchial infection from an allergic response to smoke so Marvel, ZD, and Gar kept their 'breaks' outside so as to not agitate her condition even more. Good thing...cuz she was my roomie and she and I BOTH needed sleep! We all chatted about lots of things over dinner but the main topic of discussion was, you guessed it, diving!! Among other topics were – where and when!

We had set up diving for the next day Friday at the pier outside our resort (Pier Pointe Resort) for a pier clean-up early in the morning. Somehow the late night festivities and camaraderie prevented the gang from hooking up with us at 8 as was arranged so the clean up dives were pushed out to later morning when Marvel, Gar, ZD, & Kevin (IDive2) joined us. Ray had already done a morning dive to scope out the pier and started the clean up early since the early gang was not there yet...WW had to run and fax the tank requirements for Sat's dives so when she got back we wanted to do a dive while waiting for the others but our tanks were trapped in Falconer's car...no not ZD...but Kevin! (Hint...Falconer is his last name! Yep...TWO birds of prey on this trip!! ) My,my,my...what fun we were in store for with Eagles and Falcons!!!

Our clean up teams consisted of ZD and Marvel vs Kim, Gar, Kevin and Kamala. Naturally, since we had numbers on our side, we came out with more trash...but somehow Marvel and ZD came out of the water more times. Rumor has it pictures were taken of one, not so picture perfect, shore exit but alas we can not show the graphics taken, resembling the "From Here to Eternity" rolling shore exit...but we'll let you imagine for yourself...and for a slight fee I might have more memory on this subject!! Just kidding! By the end of our dives, we'd all had a great time and we served a great cause as well.

WW had a great lunch spread consisting of sandwiches, killer cookies, chips, veggies and lots of drinks! After lunch, we all headed out again for a purely recreational dive. Seventy minutes later and about 1500 psi, we were all back on the beach, deciding what we needed to do to get ready for that evenings’ BBQ. Once back to the resort, we met Sylvia and H2Oaddict (Lisa) who had arrived early! We started pulling the lead from our trash haul and sorted it for a future SingleDivers.com project where, according to WW, SD will make commemorative diving weights from the scrap lead and offer them for sale via SD, as well as local dive shops. A % of the proceeds will go back toward reef clean up efforts worldwide and we hope to make clean up dives a permanent part of SD's future diving plans and trips! We collected about 35-40 pounds of lead from our first clean up efforts and expect more as this idea grows. I'm sure WW can tell you more about it!

As the lead was being cleaned, others started to come in as well. WW snuck off quickly to get cleaned up and start the plans for dinner. As the bbq got started and people started to arrive...Walter joined up as did Nextariel (Jill); Dennis (Walter's Brother); Joe Scuba (Joe), who saved the night by getting the fire going; Patty (PattyCol); Blue Angel (Julia); LA of course (Ray); Glen (Glendivesalot) and his girlfriend, Debra; Howard (ScubaDadMiami); Mary Ann and her husband David (students of Walter's). Gar showed back up again early as more people kept arriving including Maria (Mahoneme) and her boyfriend, Mike (Handfulz28); Scuba Jenny and her little one, hermit crab; Scuba Wesley and his friend Lollystoy (Laura). ZD and Marvel and a few others arrived late but just in time for the food which was also late in getting off the grill due to technical fire issues. However the wait was worth it as the food was awesome...Kamala had marinated the steak, pork, chicken and salmon for over 30 hours along with sautéed marinated fresh veggies, potato salad, Cole slaw, chips and salsa and birthday brownies for our very own Nextariel! Add to that beer, (and extra beer from Glen as well!) wine, water and sodas...the meal was complete! Oh yes...I understand Boca Burgers were also served up for the non-meat eater in the group! What a meal, but the company was even better. After singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY badly out of tune to Jill (not even the 3 musicians that Sylvia had recruited for the event could help the noise emanating from our poorly trained mouths but huge hearts)...the evening still showed no signs of winding down. At last count there were about 28 people in all at the bbq so I'm sure I've forgotten some of you all and I'm very sorry! I noticed that S. Florida is for lovers and several cupid connections seemed to be blossoming...Blue Angel and Latitude Adjustment were seen linked up this weekend...and yes, our very own "Eagle" seemed to have landed this weekend as well. I guess Marvelicious had collected the right twigs for the Eagleman, afterall!

After cleaning up the few leftovers and tidying up our picnic area, we finally called it an evening as we had a 5:30 am departure for Key Largo the next morning. We met up with ScubaSusan who rode down with Walter, WW & me. Upon reaching Tavernier Dive Center, a number of other folks joined us including Belarosi (Becky), Simbrooks (Simon), Stu_In_Florida, and BoatLawyer (Theresa also the one responsible for picking up WW at the airport, getting her to SAM's to buy food and allowing her the run of her kitchen to create the much talked about BBQ creation and for lending her a vehicle to run errands with! Theresa gets the MVP award for last minute help with critical projects necessary for the trip!)

Saturday, August 21, 2004 marked a historic day for ZD. He made his 1000th dive that day on the wreck of the Eagle, a very nice artificial reef off Key Largo. We did 2 reefs in the am, a short interval in port for lunch, then our 2 dives on the Eagle. (What better wreck for the Eagleman to do his 1000th???) The 2 reefs were Conch Reef and the 3 Stooges. Lunch was sandwiches from a local deli in Key Largo. But, the best part was actually diving the Eagle!! (I mean the wreck! Not that ZD wouldn’t have been fun to ride!!! ) I maxed at 109’ for a total dive time of 30 minutes for each dive. I, unfortunately, got to my no deco limit before I ran out of air, so hanging at 20’ for 5 minutes was no big deal. But, I heard someone fell asleep on their safety stop!! I wonder who that might have been, Kamala?? I guess this is the real reason why we dive with a buddy…someone has to wake you up!! All kidding aside, Walter, Kamala, and Marvel had quite a surprise for ZD, also known as “Mr. Deco�, on the second dive on the Eagle which was the infamous 1000th dive. They put together a bag of cool stuff, which included a dee-rag, nemo card game, lots of play things and toys and an engraved flask that said:

ZD
Congratulations on your
1000th dive!
What an accomplishment!
August, 2004

with some SERIOUS Brandy in it!! As you may suspect, we had a wonderful ride back to port and the Brandy had NOTHING to do with it!!!! Many thanks to Lisa for the watermelon and cookies between dives and Marvel for more watermelon between the Eagle dives. Thank you both!!

That evening, dinner was at The Fish House. I don’t know who was there because Walter ran across an old dive colleague, who invited us to stop by for a minute to visit!! So, Walter, Kamala and I went by their house to say hi. And what a visit!! Come to find out, Walter isn’t as innocent as he looks! But, he will have to add more detail…I’m not giving away all of his secrets! Needless to say...by the time most of them were recounted...the evening had slipped away and we missed hooking up with the gang at The Fish House! I know we regretted it...we are still hearing stories about how great the food and company was!

Sunday was a day of rest and relaxation starting at about 10am for me…because I slept in!!! After the day before, I was wiped out! So, my day started rather late. Walter joined Jill and Joe Scuba for breakfast while WW and I tried to get moving and motivated. Yep, lights may have gone out…but our mouths did not so we needed the extra rest!!

Walter, Kamala and I then headed for a local dive shop to refill my tanks, then, we headed to Deerfield Beach for more boat diving. We had set up 2 afternoon boat dives with Capt Tony of Sun Star Aquatics. What a great captain and great dive operation. WW, please remind us we need to dive with him again! The first dive was on the United Caribbean, a wreck in 74 feet of water. It's an old Chinese freighter that was confiscated in NY harbor after the deaths of about 300 illegal immigrants. The second was a drift dive on San Remo Ledge. ZD, Marvel, Gar, Ray, Kamala, Walter, Howard & I were on that trip. We even recruited a new member to SD – Randal, a really nice guy and his brother Mitch from Boca! Those were the last dives I made in Florida. We had a great dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant and as I started to wind down my trip, I knew that Ray, Marvel, ZD, Kamala and Walter went back on Monday for more boat diving as Tony really wanted them to see some great drift diving in Florida. Tony graciously picked up the tab for Monday's dives. Thanks Tony!!!!! Hopefully, they will all have a report and pictures for those dives.

If you can't tell I had a great time!! Thanks should go to Marvel for getting my tanks and weights and your hospitality – you Rock!! ZD – congrats on your 1000th dive!! It really was a pleasure diving with you!! Walter – you really are Yoda and are cool beyond words! And Kamala, you’re the best! And for all my newly met friends, this was a weekend beyond words…Lets dive again!! SOON!!!!

And thanks to SingleDivers.com for making this possible...this is really what the whole concept is all about! Oh yeah...Walter, what do we do with the 'graduates of SD'???

Kim aka finGrabber

P.S. Valuable lessons learned: I learned not to grab Walter’s fins because…1) I was towed all over a reef by my fins for my efforts 2) I had my ankles tied together with rope, underwater; luckily it was all in fun! And 3) I learned to always have a way to tie myself off to my buddy…ya never know when you might need a ride! Yep...Walter taught me the fine art of turning your dive buddy into your own personal DPV...I also hear that Walter turned ZD into his DPV on this trip too! Seems he got WW in NC and Bonaire and Gar and Marvel in Bonaire and Vanessa (WreckGoddess) in NC and now ZD...who's next?

[WreckWench]

Hey WW,

Care to fill me in on what the Happy Hour and Dive In Day is all about? Sounds like fun stuff, I'm sure. I like that "fun stuff"!

See ya and have a great trip!

SD sponsors local Happy Hours and one day 'Dive In Days' to help members meet one another and to help recruit new people to SingleDivers.com (Walter and Marvel organized the first Dive In Day as well as the first couple of Florida Happy Hours!)

I'd love for you and anyone else that would like to help, organize the next Florida Happy Hour and/or Local Dive In Day! Don't forget to recruit at local dive shops...Marvel recruits lots of new members this way and we sure left lots of business cards at dive shops from Lauderdale by the Beach to Deerfield and in between!

You can check out the SD trips reports for a full account of the last one! -ww

SD trip and event reports!

[WreckWench]

Special Thank You's...

A few very special thank you's need to be given to unsung heros who were doing behind the scenes things and who were not visible trip leaders so would go unnoticed EXCEPT...for NOW!!!

1. Theresa aka BoatLawyer....you were an angel in picking me up on Thursday and then devoting most of your day and evening to my getting to Sam's to buy the food for the bbq...drawing maps so I could find the hotel as well as Marvel's from your home...allowing me use of your kitchen for making a mess...er...I mean marinades for the meats...and use of your refrigerator for storing food for the bbq and Friday's lunch...as well as the use of your truck to haul things around and to make much needed errand runs during the weekend! Oh yes and for the critical internet access on Thursday as I frantically tried to figure out if 4 people we still coming or not!!! I could not have done what I was able to do with out you! Thank you! Kamala

2. Kim aka Fin Grabber...you were my second set of hands...feet...and just about anything else I needed! You were washing dishes so we could grill food for the bbq...icing drinks and beer so they would be drinkable and of course doing whatever I needed when or even before I needed it!! Thank you soooooo much for all your help! You are a doll!

3. Lisa aka H20Addict...you just instinctively pitched in on Saturday when we needed an extra set of hands for lunch as well as making group dinner plans, etc! What will it take to have you help us run events in Florida...somehow I think you could do them in your sleep! Now of course I know you have tons of experinece doing this...I just want to know how you can get experience doing it for US!!! LOL!!!

4. And Sylvia...you were so kind to offer help regardess of the cost or time, effort or energy involved!

Thank you all! Your time, talent and efforts were so welcome! Kamala aka Wreck Wench

[Marvel]

OK, back at work & starting to catch up a little so now’s the perfect time to do some serious slacking & post my trip report. Don’t know if mine should really be called one, since I didn’t go anywhere!!

First, I have to take a moment to thank everyone who helped out on the trip- I freely admit that I got a little, um, distracted at times & were it not for the wonderful help that Kamala got from Sylvia, Kim, Lisa, Theresa et al. Hmmm….. Question- why no guys on that list to thank????

Thursday was filled with airport runs for the first few hours- ZD, then Gar, then Kim. ZD, Gar & I did manage to sneak in our first dive before I had to go get Kim & gotta tell you- it was a riot! Somehow, I managed to get us all turned around- guess I was a little discombobulated by diving with our site’s very own webgod but, as Gar would say, “It’s all good,� & we had a short but good dive before I had to head off to pick up Kim. All I can say is thank goodness her flight was late getting in- we were a little slow getting out of the water. Funny how we all look at dive times & forget to count the time we actually spend kicking out to the edge of the reef. That happened a couple of times during the trip, much to my chagrin- sure played havoc with the scheduling at times! Later, a few of us went on a night dive- we saw some of the usual cool critters that live out here & ZD shot some video. Afterwards, a few of us stayed up way too late- talking, laughing & generally having a good old time. It was fun but sure did make for some difficulty getting up in the morning…

After a late start, we did a couple of clean up dives around the pier. Despite our diligent efforts, the debris there is so prolific that we really didn’t make much of a dent in it but at least we got a great deal of personal satisfaction out of doing something to make the reef a little less messy. Yes, ZD & I did have a little difficulty getting out of the water one our first trip in with the bucket but YOU guys try carrying a bucket full of lead, a video camera, & a dive flag & see if you don’t wind up like a couple of beached turtles too! I even lost my mask but Latitude Adjustment spotted it washed up after about a 10 minute search & then ZD & I went back out for more.

The BBQ was absolutely fantastic! It surely was great putting faces to all the names & spending time with old friends. It was a typical sd.com get together filled with laughter, music, good times & lots of dive stories. We were having such a good time that we even skipped our planned night dive… I have to admit, the highlight of my night was actually taking Hermit Crab (Jenny’s 9 year old daughter, Julie) for a ride in my Beetle- something I had been promising her for a long time. And, for those who were there- "What if?" (You're dead, Jenny, dead)

The next morning, we all headed down to the keys in our various vehicles. ZD, Gar, & I wanted to make sure we weren’t the late ones this time & actually hit the road at 5 AM- despite yet another VERY late evening. I think we were all still so tired (a states we remained in all weekend) that we were punch drunk. Stopped at a McDonald's for a quick bite of breakfast & were acting so insane that the girl behind the counter must have thought we were still up from an all-night bender. Whaaattt???

The boat was completely full for our trip- mostly sd.comer’s, so much so that we had to actually store 2nd tanks down below just so people could have spots to gear up. Now, THAT’s a dive trip! Our first dives were on reefs- ZD was busily taking video while Gar & I just goofed around a lot. We saw a HUGE moray eel out in the open & ZD got some great shots of it. After the diving was over for the weekend, we watched all the video. I cracked up over the number of times that ZD’s voice was heard yelling, “Gar! GAR!!!" ZD is really good at talking underwater- very clear & understandable- he has a real hidden talent there.

After a brief trip back to the docks to discharge passengers, load up new tanks, & scarf down a quick lunch ordered ahead from a deli, we headed back out for the afternoon wreck dives on the Eagle. Originally we had planned to dive the Bibb & the Duane but the reports on currents made us change our itinerary & it was so fitting. Our second dive on the Eagle was ZD’s 1000th dive &, as it has been related already, we had a small surprise for him. Walter took the bag of goodies down, filled with toys, shark’s teeth, various cool things, & most importantly, an engraved flask filled with brandy & a jar that Walter proceeded to fill with water from the spot. After we got down to the wreck, Walter handed the bag to me & I was privileged enough to be able to present ZD with it. When he saw what was in it, especially the jar & the flask, I swear I saw a tear in the Eagle’s eye! A couple of other things that made the dive very special to us all was that the Eagle was where Walter did his 1000th dive too- he had actually had the same type of ceremony take place on his dive too. Coincidentally, it happened to be my 100th logged dive as well. It was just so cool to be part of that dive- something that I will never forget. And, to have the added bonus of being on the dive with both the Zendiver & the Yoda of the dive- Walter. Folks, you just cannot believe just how well their nicknames suit them- two people who are really in their element under the water- a joy to dive with.

After the dives most of us headed to a local restaurant for a good dinner in great company- poor Gar had to leave after ordering because we left one of our tanks behind but it was so nice getting to know Julia, Raymond, & Stuart a little better- there were so many of us that it was hard to talk to anyone down table a ways. The trip back was long & Gar was a real trooper driving the whole way while ZD & I slept.

Up in the morning to my usual weekend invasion- Scuba Jenny, Grier, Wes, Kevin- a slew of folks. We got in the water & Jenny lead us out to the second buoys- gotta stop doing that Girlfriend- too much swimming to get out there! A very long dive- over 2 hours, counting the time it too us to gear up & kick out. And, yes, we ran Jenny out of air!! We practically ran out of the water & rushed to the dive shop for fills for the afternoon boat dives. I confess (hanging head) that we were late but Tony, the captain of the Diversity was kind enough to wait for us. It didn’t stop the gang from having some fun at our expense, though!

Great trip out to the United (better, Walter? ) Caribbean & Sea Empress for some nice diving. I’ll definitely use that boat again- it’s such a pleasure to have a captain who never pressures you to get in or out of the water & is full of stories & funny comments on the goings on in the area. Thanks for picking him, Walter! Dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Boca & then back to the house for a little night dive in my side yard. I think, no, I KNOW that Gar & ZD were actively plotting a way to move to my little piece of paradise the whole time that they were here. Another late night just sitting out by the seawall & having fun together- it’s going to take a week or two just to catch up on my lost sleep!

The next morning we accepted Tony’s gracious offer of spots on his boat to see some of the “real� reef diving in our area- our drift dive on Sunday was good but not great & Tony wanted us to see just how good it could be. And yes, we were late again- those darn fills! I stopped at the wrong Force E for our fills & wound up waiting an hour to get the fills done. Despite Tony’s late schedule- 8:30 show, 9 o’clock departure, ZD & I were the last ones on the boat again…. The diving was great & it was really kind of funny- ZD overheard someone on the boat grumbling that not only did they have to wait for us to show but that they had to wait for us to get out of the water after every dive. Guess they need to work on their air consumption a little… We saw all kinds of critters &, as it was the whole trip was just so great to dive with all the sd.comer’s who were able to stay for that dive- Latitude Adjustment, Walter, Kamala, & ZD. By this time, most of the other folks had left town. Back to my area for lunch, an admin meeting in the newly-renamed Eagles Eyre, & the weekend was over (way too soon).

I think that ZD & I got in the most dives- sixteen- but everyone logged lots of great dives this time around. I cannot stress enough just how much fun it is to hang out with this gang of single divers- we all love to dive but when you throw in the great surface intervals well, that’s what it’s all about. I only regret not being able to spend more time with each & every one who came out. Thanks to all who participated & made this such a memorable weekend- I hope you all come back again soon & bring your friends!

[nextariel]

Kim and Marvel great reports! I feel like I was actually there. Oh, wait a minute I was, at least for part of it. Thanks, for filling me in on the days I missed.

[Walter]

United Caribbean, darlin', not Royal.

[Marvel]

United Caribbean, darlin', not Royal.

Lord, Walter! Post a trip report of your own instead of picking on me, why don't you???? (Love ya, Walter)

[Walter]

I'm not picking on you, sweetheart, just helping.

[Marvel]

I'm not pcking on you, sweetheart, just helping.

You're obfuscating, darlin'

[Walter]

Where is that Funk & Wagnall's?