During this week’s Billfish Invitational tournament, Fred Garth, Editor-In-Chief of Guy Harvey Magazine, will be filing a series of dispatches from tournament headquarters at the Bimini Big Game Club. …
Diving with Santa Claus
6 Dec 201610:41 AM
It turns out that Santa Claus carries more than toys in that reindeer-driven sleigh: a set of scuba tanks. And you will have two opportunities to dive underwater, sit on his lap, get your photo taken, and present him with your holiday wish list.
Santa’s sleigh will take him first to Pompano Beach where South Florida Diving Headquarters, a Guy Harvey Outpost Outfitter, will host a two-tank dive on Dec. 11. One of Captain Jeff Torode’s dive boats will give you and Santa (and a couple of his elves) a lift out to the 70-foot-deep wreck of the Ancient Mariner where you’ll proceed down to the deck for a photo op. For the second dive, you and Santa will do a drift dive along a shallower reef. Afterward, digital photos will be available that you can convert to holiday cards or decorations or just plaster all over Facebook and Instagram. Cost is $60; for reservations, call the shop at 800-771-DIVE or go to www.southfloridadiving.com.
Then on December 22, Santa arrives at Captain Slate’s Scuba Adventures, a Guy Harvey Outpost Outfitter near Islamorada, for a two-tank afternoon dive on a couple of shallow reefs where snorkelers also are welcome. You’ll get a photo session and a holiday gift. Cost is $85; for reservations, call 800-331-3483.
Pro team Member
Related Articles
Popular Post
-
Redfish in Florida is “Red Hot” !
26 Feb 2018 11:48 am -
Cuba Un-canned: See It With the Locals
22 Aug 2017 10:51 am
Pro Team
Connect & Follow
Connect & Follow
General
Bon Appetit
Conservation corner
Dive In
Got Photo
Get Hooked
Outdoor Adventure
Travel Tips
![](mailto:?subject=Billfish Invitational Day 1 – Scuba Diving?&body=During this week’s Billfish Invitational tournament, Fred Garth, Editor-In-Chief of <a title="GHM web site" href="http://www.guyharveymagazine.com" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Magazine</a>, will be filing a series of dispatches from tournament headquarters at the Bimini Big Game Club.
The day began with sunny skies and nice reggae music playing at the open air <a title="About the Big Game Bar & Grill" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/bimini-bar-grill.htm" target="_blank">Big Game Bar and Grill</a>. I munched on eggs and bacon and slurped down mucho coffee after a big night of festivities at the <a title="Billfish Invitational web site" href="http://www.billfishinvitational.com/" target="_blank">Billfish Invitational</a> opening celebration. (Note to self: avoid Appleton’s Reserve Rum in the future – stick to virgin Coca Cola).
We set out after a hearty breakfast for a few scuba dives with <a title="Guy Harvey Inc. web site" href="http://www.guyharvey.com" target="_blank">Guy Harvey</a>, his son Alex, Steve Stock (GH Inc, President), Frank Johnson of <a title="Mold Craft web site" href="http://www.moldcraft.com" target="_blank">Mold Craft</a> and sculptor <a title="Kent Ullberg's web site" href="http://www.kentullberg.net" target="_blank">Kent Ullberg</a>. Fishing boats headed out into a glassy sea and negligible winds – 12 boats in all – to try their luck with the wily billfish. A full report on that will come later tonight or tomorrow.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/stevekentguyalex11.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-737" title="Scuba Diving at the Billfish Invitational!" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/stevekentguyalex11.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="366" /></a>Left to right: Steve Stock, Kent Ullberg, Guy Harvey and Alex Harvey
The weather is absolutely and positively PERFECT with zero wind or waves. The scuba trip was also stellar. Saw lots of cool critters – turtles, rays, grouper, permit, and the rest of their slimy brethren. But no sharks. However, Guy Harvey is not the kind of dude to be disappointed. He gathered four mahi-mahi carcasses yesterday for a chum fest this afternoon on the shark dive.
That report as well as fishing results will be coming later, that is, unless the song of the Appleton’s Reserve fills the air with its sweet music before I can jump into the blogosphere. We will see what wins – rum or blog. Place your bets!!
Garth Out! https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/billfish-invitational-day-1-scuba-diving/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Goliath Grouper Diving Season Peaks in South Florida&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/goliath2.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2934 size-medium" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/goliath2.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a>Credit: Alan Egan
By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Staff Writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com.
[Jupiter, FL--] If you have ever wanted to get up close and personal with schools of fish the size of Smart Cars as they check out the action in their underwater singles bars, now is your best opportunity.
Scores of Goliath grouper weighing hundreds of pounds are gathered at their annual spawning sites on reefs and wrecks in southeast and southwest Florida. They started showing up in August and will likely remain through early to mid-October.
By far the best viewing is on artificial reefs 60 feet and deeper from Boynton Beach to Jupiter in Palm Beach County. On a Sept. 12th dive on the 60-foot-deep MG 111 off Jupiter, Ryan Kobylski-- divemaster with Jupiter Dive Center-- counted 80 individuals hovering inside and around the wreck.
"This is the hot time," Kobylski said. "This is when they're all fired up."
The large, gentle, mottled-brown fish mostly ignore divers or move away when approached. But if you sit still on the bottom or hover stationary in the middle of the water column, they may swim up to you. When upset or frightened, they emit a sonic boom from deep in their throats. With lots of divers around, the MG 111 often sounds like an underwater bass drum concert.
Scientific tagging data shows Goliaths come from hundreds of miles away to reproduce on southeast Florida wrecks in late summer. Most are gone by mid-October, but a few stick around.
The giant groupers have been protected from all harvest since 1990 after their populations crashed due to overfishing by both hook-and-line and spear guns. Now, after 25 years of closure, stocks have bounced back-- prompting some commercial and recreational anglers and spearfishers to call for a resumption of harvest. That won't happen anytime soon, however, because state and federal fisheries managers don't expect to complete a new Goliath stock assessment until the middle of 2016. If the numbers show that the fishery has reached a sustainable level, then a limited harvest could be considered.
Over the past decade, some dive operators-- especially in Palm Beach County-- have come to rely on bountiful numbers of Goliaths for a substantial portion of their summertime income, as tourists travel from all over the world to interact with the huge creatures. Those business owners staunchly oppose lifting the harvest ban.
And, just recently, another potential impediment to a future harvest has come to light: high levels of the heavy metal mercury found in many of the largest Goliaths.
Dr. Chris Koenig, a Florida State University fisheries scientist who's been studying the species since the 1990s, says mercury levels are so high in fish over four feet long as to weaken and maybe even kill them. And that means people who eat them risk mercury poisoning. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration says no one should consume fish with levels higher than one part per million; Koenig and colleagues have detected up to four parts per million of mercury in many Goliaths they've examined.
"Commercial fishing is out of the question and recreational fishing is foolish," Koenig said. "Why would you want to kill something you couldn't eat?"
The problem with opening a fishery for smaller Goliaths in the two-to-three-foot range found mostly in shallowEverglades estuaries is removing fish before they've had a chance to spawn. Coupled with the massive cold-kill of juvenile Goliaths in early 2010, recovery of the species could suffer serious setbacks.
So for now, the best way to handle Goliaths is to enjoy their company underwater while they're around and release them quickly and unharmed if you catch them on hook and line.
******
Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling, camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/goliath-grouper-diving-season-peaks-in-south-florida/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Diving South Florida’s Best New Underwater Attraction: Lady Luck&body=By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Journalist
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Pulling myself hand over hand down a descent line to the shipwreck Lady Luck against a stiff current took a couple minutes. But when I finally reached the main deck of the 324-foot-long former sludge tanker, I was glad to see it sits perfectly upright in the sand. Sunk on July 23 about 130 feet deep off Pompano Beach, Florida, the region's newest shipwreck is attracting hundreds of eager divers-- and also some fish.
Exploring the Lady Luck is an exciting and challenging experience; there's really nothing like it underwater anywhere. Longer than a football field with its main deck sitting about 100 feet beneath the ocean's surface, the former Newtown Creek that for decades performed the mundane task of transporting New York City's sewage sludge is now decked out as a mock casino. And divers are taking full advantage of the opportunities for underwater selfies.
Our group -- consisting mostly of members of the South Florida Divers Scuba Club -- arrived at the stern of the ship and worked our way slowly forward, using its giant stacks and bulkheads to shield us from the current. No marine growth coats the wreck, but that's understandable given how recently it went down. We swam into the wheelhouse to find some navigation equipment still intact, then discovered some unexpected decorations outside on top: sculptures of shells and starfish created by Pompano Beach artist Dennis MacDonald.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julie-dealing-to-Jeanne-Kossey.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-4169" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julie-dealing-to-Jeanne-Kossey-1024x576.jpg" alt="Julie dealing to Jeanne Kossey" width="1024" height="576" /></a>
Continuing forward, we found giant dice; a poker table surrounded by sculptures of card sharks and a mermaid cocktail waitress; an octopus shooting craps; and a couple slot machines. Ironically, a school of real Atlantic spadefish hovered around the poker table!
Because of Lady Luck's length and depth, it's tough to cover in a single dive. Divers will want to return again and again to visit parts of the ship that they didn't have time to see the first time around. And it won't be too long before sponges and soft corals begin to attach to its decks and bulkheads and extensive network of piping, creating habitat for fish both large and small.
The Lady Luck is expected to be the centerpiece of Shipwreck Park, surrounded by 16 other sunken vessels. Its deployment was the work of a non-profit formed by the city of Pompano Beach, the Isle Casino and several local businesses that raised more than $300,000 to purchase, clean and sink it. Captain Jeff Torode, operator of South Florida Diving Headquarters, a Guy Harvey Outpost Outfitter in Pompano Beach, was a key player in the project.
To book a dive trip to the Lady Luck, call 800-771-DIVE (3483) or visit the <a href="http://www.southfloridadiving.com" target="_blank">SFDH web site</a>.
****************
Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling, camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
**********
Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/diving-south-floridas-best-new-underwater-attraction-lady-luck/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Explore Man’s Relationship with the Sea at the History of Diving Museum, Islamorada, April 15th&body=Immerse Yourself, Man’s Relationship with the Sea at the <a href="http://www.divingmuseum.org/">History of Diving Museum</a>, April 15th 7pm. Alyssa Engiles presents the story of Man, Homo Delphinus to the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/alyssa-engiles-history-of-diving-museum-friend.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2681 size-large" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/alyssa-engiles-history-of-diving-museum-friend.jpg?w=550" alt="Alyssa Engiles, History of Diving Museum & Friend" width="550" height="550" /></a>Alyssa Engiles, History of Diving Museum and Friend.
Come early to meet David Charash and learn about the underwater adventure of <a title="Cousteau Dives the Keys!" href="http://guyharveyoutpostnews.com/2014/06/11/cousteau-dives-the-keys/">Mission 31 </a>when Fabian Cousteau broke his grandfather’s endurance record.
The History of Diving Museum is located at: 82990 Overseas Hwy about one mile north of the <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/florida/islamorada-fl/islamorada-fl-overview.html">Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost</a>.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/dive-helmet.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2678" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/dive-helmet.png" alt="Dive Helmet" width="199" height="275" /></a>
For more information on the <a href="http://www.divingmuseum.org/">History of Diving Museum</a>
For Fishing with Guy Harvey Outpost: <a href="http://www.ghofish.com/">www.ghofish.com</a>
For Guy Harvey Outpost & their great resorts: <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/" target="_parent">http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/</a>
For the Guy Harvey Outpost Blog <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpostnews.com/" target="_parent">www.guyharveyoutpostnews.com</a>
For Guy Harvey Outpost on Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GuyHarveyOutpost" target="_parent">https://www.facebook.com/GuyHarveyOutpost</a>
For Guy Harvey Outpost on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/GHOutpost" target="_parent">https://twitter.com/GHOutpost</a>
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/00-gho-logo.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2458" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/00-gho-logo.jpg?w=550" alt="00 GHO-Logo" width="550" height="550" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/explore-mans-relationship-with-the-sea-at-the-history-of-diving-museum-islamorada-april-15th/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Capt. Slate’s ‘Creature Feature’ Dive – New Location, New Thrills&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/slate.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2903 size-large" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/slate.jpg?w=660" alt="Slate" width="660" height="256" /></a>
(Tavernier, FL) The five-foot-long green moray eel glides out of its coral reef cave and heads straight for the ballyhoo that Captain Spencer Slate dangles from two gloved fingers. The eel quickly gulps the bait then allows Slate to cradle it in his arms and stroke its slick sides. Slate holds the eel out to a ten-year-old diver sitting nearby who gives it a pat, and it returns to its cave.
"A sweetheart, a doll," Slate says later of the eel, who he has named Wasabi.
Slate has been making friends with eels, sharks, barracudas, Goliath groupers, and numerous other Upper Keys reef denizens since the late 1970s. His twice-weekly 'creature feature' feeding dives on Fridays and Sundays conducted from Captain Slate's Scuba Adventures Dive Center, a Guy Harvey Outpost outfitter in Tavernier, regularly draws a sell-out audience.
On a recent Sunday, two families from Fort Pierce-- both with newly certified scuba diving ten-year-old daughters-- travelled to the Keys for the third time to participate. Both girls thoroughly enjoyed the dive, and declared they would share photos and videos upon returning to school.
"They were cute!" one girl said of Wasabi and Lester, another green moray befriended by Slate.
Slate escorted his guests to the first dive at Davis Reef, a shallow, scenic coral ledge about 25 feet deep where Wasabi makes her home. Slate dropped to the bottom carrying a PVC canister filled with chum and bally hoo, quickly attracting a school of yellowtail snapper and grunts that followed the scent trail.
The captain stopped in front of a shallow cave near a large Southern stingray that rested half-buried in the sand and kept a wary eye on the food fest. The swarming snapper and grunts were so thick around the chum canister that the divers could barely see Slate. The divers settled down in the sand to see what would happen next.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/10924171_770345289702868_1772420048942809884_o.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2907 size-large" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/10924171_770345289702868_1772420048942809884_o.jpg?w=660" alt="10924171_770345289702868_1772420048942809884_o" width="660" height="339" /></a>
Wasabi appeared pretty quickly after Slate took out the first bally hoo. Her jaws flexed open and closed as she approached the bait, then devoured it. She held pretty still for all the public displays of affection by the humans, then went back to her cave to digest the meal. She never snapped at anybody.
The stingray, tired of the hoopla, slowly dusted itself off and swam away.
Slate let the schooling fish have their way in the chum slick for a little while, then got out another bally hoo for Wasabi. She re-emerged from her cave, ate her snack, indulged the divers, then departed.
None of Slate's guests has been injured by his featured creatures in decades, but he has. Following numerous nips to the fingers requiring multiple visits to a hand surgeon over the years, Slate began wearing chain-mail gloves. Even today, he has very little feeling in his digits. Trying to feed barracudas bally hoo clasped between his teeth, Slate has suffered split lips, a black eye and a severed nerve in his cheek.
"Like getting a haymaker from Sonny Liston," he said.
A Goliath grouper he fed regularly at the wreck of the City of Washington off Key Largo once swallowed his arm and part of his head in its haste to score a meal.
He just laughs off the injuries and vows to keep hanging with the sea life.
"You know me. If I find an eel, I am going to make a buddy out of it," he said.
On the second dive with the group from Fort Pierce, Slate headed to nearby Pleasure Reef where he is trying to cultivate a more solid friendship with Lester, another moray. Lester responded a bit slowly to the offered bally hoo and didn't want to hang around too long for the requisite love fest. But he didn't display any hostility, just shyness.
During that dive, the guests also spotted a large nurse shark and a sea turtle passing by. Nobody was scared -- just excited.
That's the whole purpose behind the creature feature, Slate said -- showing visitors that residents of the underwater world are not out to get them.
"I've done this my whole life, so people will respect them and get over the idea they'll eat you alive," Slate said.
That message certainly went a long way with two very exhilarated ten-year-old girls.
Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling, camping, sailing, and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/capt-slates-creature-feature-dive-new-location-new-thrills/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Kids and Creatures Dive With Captain Slate&body=Seven youngsters age 10-15 became certified scuba divers last week with Captain Slate's Scuba Adventures in Islamorada. But their final two check-out dives 25 feet deep on the reef were anything but routine: they were accompanied by a pair of moray eels, a half-dozen nurse sharks, and big schools of chubs and snapper.
"It was really cool to see the sharks and everything!" newly-minted diver Bernard, 14, of Islamorada said afterward.
And the best thing about scuba diving?
"Being underwater and looking at everything and not running out of air," Bernard added.
For 23 years, Capt. Spencer Slate and his crew have been conducting a summer kids' scuba camp out of their Keys shop. The five-day June session was taught by Captain Russell "Skip" Dawson, a NAUI/SEI course director and Captain Sky Fabel -- Slate's daughter, dive boat captain, and dive instructor. Slate was master of ceremonies for the final two open-water dives--the popular "Creature Feature" where he feeds and cuddles tame eels and sharks.
The pre-dive briefing on the boat heading out to the site was more about creature safety than dive skills.
"Do not reach out to the eel with your hand if he's coming to you," Slate told the students. "Don't try to pick the eel up. I'll bring him up to you and you can pet him. If you are stupid, he will bite you."
Once at the reef, everyone descended and Slate banged on a tank to summon the eels-- a six-foot-long green and a smaller spotted moray. They seemed a little hesitant, venturing out of their rocky lairs just long enough to eat some fish bits, let Slate pet them, and inspect the divers kneeling on the bottom. No animals nor people were harmed during the filming of the dive by Emmy-winning videographer Frazier Nivens.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/P1020379.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4782" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/P1020379.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1920" /></a>
For the second dive, the group visited with a half dozen easygoing nurse sharks to about seven feet long. The sharks gobbled the fish snacks they were offered, allowed themselves to be petted, and rested on the bottom between the kneeling divers.
That was a highlight for newly-certified advanced diver, Patrick, 15, of Key Largo.
"I like seeing sharks. I'm interested in sharks," Patrick said. "I did the advanced course because I love scuba diving. I want to see wrecks and stuff."
Added Marco, 15, of Tavernier: "I like that it's another world that you can't see on dry land and it's only in specific areas of the world."
Fabel said she really enjoyed teaching the kids.
"They loved asking questions," she said. "That's what I love about this camp."
Captain Slate will offer two more kids' scuba camps this summer: July 10-14 and Aug. 7-11. Limited to 15 divers, they are expected to fill up fast.
For more information, visit <a href="http://www.captainslate.com">www.captainslate.com</a>, and to reserve a slot in the next camp, call 1-800-331-3483.
Families who need a room during the camps can reserve at the Islander, a Guy Harvey Outpost in Islamorada. Call 1-800-513-5257. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/kids-and-creatures-dive-with-captain-slate/){kind=link}
TRAVEL DESK : 800.513.5257
Connect & Follow