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Prime Scuba Dive Travel Calendar
- Cozumel, Mexico: January 31, 2009 to February 7th, 2009. Please click here for more information.
The following trips are pending, call for more information
- Fantasy Island - Roatan, Honduras: October 11th, 2008 to October 18th, 2008 - $769+16% tax ($123.04) = $892.04. All inclusive (Food, drink, 3 dives a day, round trip transfers, unlimited shore diving). Air not included.
- Brookville Ontario: August 2009 - Diving the St. Lawrence Seaway TBA
- Fiesta Americana - November (Dates to be announced): $1128 All inclusive taxes, 3 boat dives a day, round trip transfers, taxes, all, meals, all beverages (non-alcoholic and alcoholic) tips, non- motorized water sports, unlimited shore diving, no extra charge to dive Maricabo or Punta Sur.
- Aqua (102’ luxury live-a-board, Northern Exumas, Bahamas): January 3rd, 2009 to January 10th, 2009. $1795-$2195 plus $150 fuel surcharge, $90 port fees. (Plus air).
Dive / Travel Insurance is recommended
If you have any questions, please contact Prime Scuba
at 1-888-657-2822 or Angelo@PrimeScuba.com
Scuba Experiences
Starting at the very beginning!
by
George Kane
PADI MSDT 33859
Someone once asked me to talk about my most memorable experiences in scuba diving. Looking back on over 40 years of diving adventures, 20 of them as an instructor, I can honestly say that there is no single event that qualifies as my most memorable, but there are plenty that give me many happy memories. Since there are so many memories, the best place was to start at the very beginning.
Back in 1960 I was your average skinny non diving 4 year old who was hooked on TV shows like "Sea Hunt" and "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" My mother had made me a set of "Scuba Tanks" out of two oatmeal containers, and I made my "regulator" out of 2 pieces of garden hose along with some parts out of the old storage shed. I remember sitting in front of our old Black and White TV when the reception was good, wearing my "tanks and regulator", watching Mike Nelson fight off the underwater bad guy or creature of the week, or seeing Captain Cousteau and crew living in an undersea habitat. I remember getting mad at mom when she told me we couldn’t live under the ocean because it wasn’t practical. A likely excuse - I just believed she didn’t want to do it because she never learned how to swim! Ahh, the sweet innocence of childhood. One day, we went to visit my uncle who had a lake front home. We saw some strangers parked on his lake access who were dressing up in "Skin Diving" (as most of us incorrectly knew scuba divers by back then) equipment. Turns out that they had asked my uncle permission to park on and dive from his access (imagine that) and of course he agreed That’s when he called my mom to bring me over. She was in on it all along, and admittedly she was curious also. They both knew it would make my day. (actually they couldn’t have been more wrong - it DIDN’T make my day, it made my YEAR!) I couldn’t take my eyes off of them! They were dressed in black wetsuits and they strapped on huge knives. One of them (unfortunately I can no longer remember their names) had a "Sea Hunt" double hose regulator but only a single scuba tank. I just knew this was because he wasn’t as good as Mike Nelson who always had TWO tanks. The other poor diver not only had just a single tank, but he had a single hose regulator as well. YUCK! I knew he must have been really inexperienced. I truly hoped that he would be good enough someday to be able to use a double hose one, even if he was still stuck with a single tank.
They were very friendly, and told my Mom and I that after they finished their dive that they would show and explain their equipment to us, which they happily did. After that they joined all of us at my uncle’s house for coffee and cake. They also said that had a few old pieces of gear which they said I could have. About 2 weeks later, my uncle told me the divers came by and dropped off an old mask and set of full foot fins. I was in Kid Heaven! Now with these along with my oatmeal tanks and garden hose regulator, I was ready to tackle any underwater bad guy or giant squid! Unfortunately, that was the last time we ever saw or heard from them again. If you guys are around and reading this, I’d love to get back in contact with you. I owe you a huge thank you! Coffee and cake on me!!!!!
Fast forward to 1968. Now at 12 years old, although I was good at snorkeling, I was still not a scuba diver. However I did manage to drive my mother crazy with my huge collection of "Skin Diver Magazine". One day a good friend of mine came over and asked me if I would come out in a row boat with him and watch him as he "scuba dived". OH TWIST MY ARM - PLEEEEESE!!! Sure enough we got to his house and he had a double hose regulator and a single tank. I now knew enough about diving to understand that equipment selection was not based on ability, but I was still fascinated. Since he also lived on a lake, he had access to a row boat, so off we went. He put on the gear - an old mask similar to the one I was given, his tank and regulator plus a pair of Voit full foot fins. Yes, the equipment was way different back then. For a weight belt he used one of his father’s garrison belts to which he attached pieces of lead he had gotten from the local gas stations. For his knife he strapped on a machete! (remember your knife can NEVER be big enough!) Gauges - we didn’t need no stinking gauges - when it got hard to breath you pulled your J valve and headed for the surface. We knew that the lake was 70 feet maximum, so no dive could last more than 30 minutes to be safe. The only instructions he gave me is that if his bubbles stopped, I was to run and get help fast. Talk about a well thought out pre dive plan! Anyway, he was down for his full 1/2 hour and while I could barely see his yellow tank way down there, I never lost sight of his bubbles which I dutifully followed like a bloodhound on the hunt. We both survived and went back to his house. Once back there, he showed me another set of gear, a similar set up, double hose regulator and all. I asked him what he was going to do with that set, as I was hoping I could talk him into selling it to me. He thought about it for a while and then stated his most immortal words: "If you come diving with me, I’ll give it to you!" OH, TWIST BOTH ARMS - DOUBLE PLEEEEESE!" "I’ll even throw in a leg for good measure"!
To say my mother was horrified at the idea of her "baby" fighting off underwater bad guys and giant squid was a gross understatement. However to her credit, she said I could try it out in VERY SHALLOW water, (I still believe she had the bathtub in mind even though she always denied it) PROVIDING I got the proper training. Mom always had mucho wisdom, even though I didn’t always appreciate it at the time. So off my buddy and I went to the local Army Surplus store where we purchased for the major price of $2.00 (which I borrowed from Mom who never spared any expense on my education) an official U.S. Navy Diving Manual. Thus we gave ourselves "the proper training" to comply with mom.
My buddy and I did many dives in the local lakes and river, actually reaching depths of over 80 feet on some occasions. We even managed to pick up wetsuits. It was still chilly but who cared - WE WERE DIVERS!!!!! I remember my first wreck dive - it was a deco (well the navy manual said we could and who were we to argue with the navy?) dive to around 70 feet, and lo and behold there was my first wreck - an old rotten row boat! I was beside myself! I think mom was just relieved that the giant squid had already vacated it. I think we must have visited that old boat a dozen or more times. Then one day we decided to salvage the wreck. We attached three 55 gallon garbage bags to the wreck and inflated them with air using a spare tank. Well the "Titanic" took off faster than an underwater missile and promptly disintegrated on it’s way to the surface. We were heartbroken, as we had visions of patching up that old girl and using her as our official dive boat. We were even going to name her Argonaut after Mike Nelson’s famous boat. (Jason and the Argonauts didn’t voice any concerns so it wasn’t an issue). I still have a piece from that old boat, and I will treasure it always.
Yes, we self taught ourselves how to dive, and did so quite effectively. You have to remember this was in the days before training agencies were common and the word liability was some lingo lawyers only used in court. It had nothing to do with everyday people. I could never recommend anyone self train now, but these were still the days of innocence. Heck, even my Woodstock adventures were a year away, but that’s another story in itself. We did however get certified officially in 1973, and I’ll cover that in my next story.
Civilian SEAL Training
by
George Kane
PADI MSDT 33859
As I stated in my last story, I started diving in 1968. At that time my buddy and I self taught ourselves using an old U.S. Navy Diving Manual. However my parents while grateful that I did dive responsibly - for those times anyway. They often went along with us to the lakes or on a boat to watch and assist as well as they could. However they always worried that neither my buddy nor I received any "official" training (What, the U.S. Navy wasn’t "Official"?) in spite of them also reading our navy diving manual and agreeing that we were following it to the letter. Anyway, jump to 1973 when I was in 11th grade. My step dad, being a volunteer firefighter in the Highland Lake Fire Department heard about an "Official Scuba Diving Course" being given locally. The cost was a whopping (again for the times) $65.00, not including personal gear of mask, snorkel, fins, boots, gloves and wetsuit. Except for the cost, we had the equipment and all the rest covered. After all, what else could we learn? We figured that we probably knew as much as any instructor, plus probably had alot more experience. After all with over 200 dives each, at the ripe old ages of 16 & 17 we were already very experienced divers. On top of that we could virtually recite the U.S. Navy Diving Manual from memory. What else was there for us to learn? Alot as it turns out! At this time another friend with no experience also wanted to learn how to dive, but the cost was prohibitive for all of us, even though we had enough spare gear to lend to him. I don’t know how, but my step dad managed to arrange for the fire department to pay for the training for all 3 of us. Thank you Dad and the Highland Lake Fire Department!
Many times when I am either teaching or assisting in a scuba class, I hear how tough the training is. Perhaps after reading this, you may want to reconsider the definition of tough. The modern scuba class lasts between 20 and 40 hours total. It consists of an academic portion which is usually self taught, plus any quizzes or exams are generally multiple choice. Some are even take home. The confined water sessions start with simple skills and work their way to more complex ones. There are no surprises, and the skills are generally straight forward. The open water training, where you put your academic knowledge and pool skills together in a calm open water environment, again offers no surprises. Everything is done exactly as it was in the classroom and pool. Just the environment is changed. As a modern open water diver, you are limited to no decompression diving to a maximum of 60 feet. Things like deep diving, navigation, diver rescue, etc are advanced skills to be learned in advanced and/or specialty classes. Well, back in the day, this was not so, as you will soon read.
Our class was to meet twice a week, 4-6 hours each class for 12 weeks. That equals a minimum of 96 hours training! In actuality it was more like 150 hours. And that was just for classroom and pool training.
The manual was "The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving" which was supplemented by the latest edition of the "U.S. Navy Diving Manual". When the two manuals disagreed, the U.S. Navy prevailed. The academic portion was done at pool side for about an hour, then we jumped into the pool. During the academic sessions we learned pretty much the same as is learned today, after all physics are physics and the underwater world is the underwater world. The major difference was that we covered not only what is contained in the modern open water class, but also the knowledge that is contained in modern advanced open water diver, rescue diver, night/limited visibility diver specialty, decompression deep diver specialty, search and recovery specialty, navigation specialty, mixed gas specialities, and equipment specialty. The homework was also different. We had to write our own evaluation of the information we were to study, as well as to upgrade our knowledge in areas we had trouble. We were tested every class, and the questions were not only on the current lessons, but anything covered in the past was fair game also. One top of that we had to be able to describe any pool skills we had learned, all of this in full hand writing - no multiple choice or take home tests here - you either knew it or you didn’t. To add insult to injury, spelling counted. You could have the correct answer, but if you misspelled anything, points were still deducted. You could actually fail a test even though you had all the correct answers! Passing by the way was 80% on all quizzes and tests. Fail more than 2 quizzes and you were out. You were allowed one make up. If you failed your makeup, that was considered your second failure and you were out. Fail the final and you weren’t allowed to do your open water certification dives, regardless of your quiz average.
The pool sessions were equally as tough. The initial evaluation was a 12 lap (lap = down and back the length of the Olympic size pool) timed swim, immediately followed by a 15 minute water tread, the last 5 minutes with our wrists held above the water, then a minimum of 1 full lap underwater swim following the bottom contour of the pool both ways. EVERY pool session after that started with a 15 lap swim with mask, snorkel and fins, plus an underwater swim of 2 complete laps using mask, snorkel and fins. Oh yes, these water skills followed a warm up session of 25 jumping jacks, 25 sit ups, 25 push ups, plus 5 laps running around the pool. Screw up and you could end up doing the 25 push ups and/or running laps around the pool in full scuba gear.
The actual skills themselves are mostly the same as we do in classes today, except they cover all the skills covered in the classes mentioned above. There was one HUGE difference however. When you hear the word "Shark" today, most generally you think of a Great White. Well the Great White would soon learn to fear our instructor "Great Dark Shark" Our "Shark" called the "Great Dark Shark" because of the color of his wetsuit, was one or both instructors dressed in a Shark Skin Wetsuit - a style common back then. For the record, you could select any color you wanted for your equipment, so long as it was black. No problems getting matching equipment back then. The material of their wetsuits had a rough exterior for abrasion resistance, and it could really hurt if you rubbed it hard. Well our "Shark" could come up on you from anywhere at anytime you were in the pool and really mess with you. He could pull off your mask, pull your regulator out of your mouth, turn off your air, release your weight belt, release your scuba harness, pull off your fins and in the worst case scenario, shut off your tank AND hand you your regulator. Yes, he could do any and all at the same time. The fun part is that the "bait fish or guppies" (us - the students) had to deal with these problems without going to the surface. The worst was "The Black Out Game". Again the shark or sharks could "attack" as before, but in this case our masks were taped off so we were completely in the dark - literally. Again, all the problems had to be correctly underwater without going to the surface. We also learned such things as breathing off of a tank valve. The idea being that if there was a regulator malfunction, we could remove it and breath off the valve while feathering the valve as needed. We also learned how to remove a regulator from an empty tank and put it on a full one while underwater. This way you were equipped in case one person had regulator failure and the other had an empty tank. I’ve never ran into either of these scenarios, but I guess it’s better to be safely prepared rather than being sorry. After the skill and shark session were over, we ended our pool sessions with a rugged game of water polo. Again, aggressive dunking and holding your victim underwater was encouraged. We started out with a class of over 40. Only about 20 survived to go on to open water training.
The open water training actually consisted of 2 open water dives conducted during the day time and 1 night/limited visibility dive. Again, this was different from today not only in number, but also in teaching style. Each dive was to be a minimum of 1 hour and were to go to the deepest portion of whatever body of water you were training in, up to a maximum of 132 feet. You could progress to much deeper diving after completing the course, especially if you could get a hold of some of that NAVY mixed gas. Decompression techniques were to be carried out, or realistically simulated. Not only did you demonstrate your mastery of all the skills you learned, you also had to deal with the "Great Dark Shark" Yes, the shark could attack you in open water, and was allowed to do his worst. Again you could NOT pop to the surface, especially since you were in either simulated or real decompression situations. When all was over, the dust settled and the bodies of those who failed were removed (just kidding, no one died or was injured) we were given our official Basic Scuba Diver patches. YES, we were the elite, a man’s man, and the fish were terrified!
Academically we didn’t learn too much we didn’t already know, thanks to our obsession with the U.S. Navy Diving Manual. However our skill levels increased tremendously due to our adventures with the "Great Dark Shark" Reading some of the skills, and being able to do them while blindfolded is two different things. We were good divers before, we were damn good divers after the course. Both of our instructors wanted us to become instructors because our skill and knowledge was way above the rest of the class. However even though we helped out with many classes after that, none of us could afford the $500 to become instructors. At least not yet.....!
Needless to say, times have definitely changed. Modern equipment is so much better and much more comfortable, even with those YUCKY single hose regulators! (of course REBREATHERS have double hoses) The training is much more organized and standardized, and is done in such a way so that scuba diving is now within the abilities of almost everyone. This is as it should be. No longer does an instructor brag about how many students he managed to drum out of his course. Instead, most instructors are very proud on how they were able to help a weak student overcome their problems and go on to become safe and competent divers. Did our Civilian SEAL training make us better divers? For it’s time, considering the state of the equipment and our understanding of diving, it was probably needed in order to dive safely. Now that is certainly not the case, and I love to see all the new divers starting on their journeys to adventure. Besides, if the idea of surviving a diving course turns you on, well the real NAVY SEALS are always looking for volunteers to chew up and spit out during BUDS and Hell Week! Now, if they could only bring back basic black!
Having a Whale of a Time!
by
George Kane
PADI MSDT 33859
While staying in California back in 1988, I had the privilege to be able to interact with some marine life in a most profound way. The first was during a trip from San Pedro to Santa Catalina Island, which is about 20 miles off the California coast. It was not unusual for our boat to have to stop and give right of way to a whale. Even though this happened many times, it never got dull. I actually believe that the whales would spout just to hear us cheer, as they appeared to do it on command. We would point and wave, they would spout and we would cheer. Before you think this is hogwash, generally the whale or whales (if they were close together) we were pointing to were the ONLY ones who spouted. Talk about things that make you go HMMMMM.....!
On one of these trips, we didn’t encounter our normal whales, which were California Gray Whales. This was strange, but not unusual. We missed our aquatic friends and hoped they were all well. About halfway through the crossing, we all of a sudden saw the reason why our regular friends weren’t around. Coming on fast from the stern of our boat, we saw a large pod of Orca (Killer Whales). They overtook us like a Ferrari overtaking a mini van. Of course we stopped so as not to hurt any of them. However as we stopped, so did they! They wanted to check us out! You could actually see them coming close to the boat and turning on their sides so that they could look directly at us. Some popped their heads out of the water dolphin style for a closer look. Many of us definitely felt that there was direct eye to eye contact. Non of them showed any signs of aggression. The Orcas that came closest were all female. It wasn’t till later that we spotted the huge triangular dorsal fin of the male a few hundred yards away. Again, no aggression was noted - he just seemed to be hanging out while the girls of the pod went "window shopping" Hope they didn’t have his credit card. Now, I’ve never claimed to be the smartest person in the world, and I wasn’t the one to come up with the idea for us to put on our snorkeling gear and swim with our new found friends. I was however just dumb enough to go along with the idea, and soon found myself in the water with one of the most feared marine animals in the world. There is even an old joke about the power and ferocity of the Orca. It goes: What does an Orca do when he comes across a large Great White Shark? DINNER! This is NO exaggeration! The Orca were very curious about their new "playmates" and acted very much like dolphins do with divers. Initially they did not come too close, but rather sounded us with their sonar. They slowly came in closer, showing a surprising amount of caution, considering their reputation. Eventually they came within arms reach and would gently bump us with their fins. They were very gentle and did not appear to want to harm us in any way. Some of them actually let us touch them, and they seemed to enjoy a good belly rub. We had a beach ball on the boat which we asked the crew to toss into the water with us. (they used the pitiful excuse of Coast Guard regulations as to why they wouldn’t join us in the water. Something about not being to abandon the boat while their passengers were in the water. We weren’t fooled, we knew they were just chicken!) We passed the ball to each other as the Orca watched. We then passed it to one of the females who had her head on the surface. Immediately she pushed it with her head to another female, and that one did the same. Every once and awhile they pushed it to one of us, and the game continued for about 15 minutes. They were so gentle with the ball that it never popped. They seemed to be having fun. The male came around, close enough for us to see clearly, and he appeared to be enjoying the show. Guess he was just happy that they weren’t using his credit card. However, since we had a schedule to keep, this game had to end all too soon. We reboarded the boat and blew the horn. The pod hung around till we were all out of the water, checked us out one last time and slowly started to head off to wherever they were going.
Another time we were at diving in the marine park off the city of Avalon on Santa Catalina. Part of the park has a kelp forest in it and we were having fun watching the seals play in this incredible underwater forest. We were just finishing exploring a kelp covered wreck when our group experienced a strange sensation. It was like our insides were vibrating. It actually made a few of us nauseous. I asked our course director what it was, and he wrote on his slate that we had just been sonared by whale! This was totally different from what we experienced with the Orca. We could hear their clicks and squeaks, and never felt any internal vibration or had any nausea. The course director explained on his slate that the pitch was either too high or low for us to detect. He also said that the whale was probably close. Of course, we just HAD to investigate. As we came to the edge of the kelp forest, there she was - a mother California Gray Whale AND her calf!!!! This was awesome beyond belief. They were about 50 feet away and they definitely knew we were there. We slowly came out from behind the kelp and settled on the bottom. Since it was only about 60 feet deep, this was no problem. We did not want to spook this beautiful couple. Momma came closer and from about 20 feet away she looked directly at us - each one of us individually! I could actually see her eye move and stop to look at each and every one of us separately. A few of the group actually waved to her as she was checking them over. When you looked into her eye, you could tell there was intelligence behind it. Like the Orca, she was very gentle around us, and as she did several slow swim by’s she would adjust herself so as not to hit any of us, including moving her fins and flukes away from us. This was definitely a conscious thinking process on her part. Her calf slowly came up to us after Momma gave it a few squeaks. There was no question in my mind that she was actually talking to it just as any human mother would talk to her child. A few of us, including myself were actually able to reach out and gently touch it. At first it pulled away, sort of startled, and we were very concerned that Momma would think we were trying to hurt her child. Since she could very easily change life as we knew it with a single flip of her tail, things got very tense for a few seconds. Then the calf came back and let us touch it again. It would look at us eye to eye as we were making contact. Mind you, the calf appeared to be least 20 feet long, and Momma appeared to be at least twice that. Unfortunately the laws of physics, air supplies and decompression (that darn modern no deco diving rule) ended this incredible drama all to soon. We headed back into the kelp forest and back to shore. I looked back as we entered the forest, and both Momma and Baby appeared to be watching us go. I think baby wanted a longer belly rub. I often wonder if Baby, who G-D willing, is now a full adult with babies of her own, tells her babies about her childhood encounter with those strange, noisy. TINY, bubble blowing creatures in the marine park off of Santa Catalina Island. I know I definitely passed it on to my boys as well as to anyone who would listen.
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