Immerse Yourself, Man’s Relationship with the Sea at the History of Diving Museum, April 15th 7pm. Alyssa Engiles presents the story of Man, Homo Delphinus to the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis. Come …
Happy Birthday From 20,000 Leagues Under
7 Feb 201411:42 PM
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![](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>.
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For more information on the <a href="http://www.divingmuseum.org/">History of Diving Museum</a>
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![](mailto:?subject=Vet to Vet: Dive, Dive, Dive!&body=Retired U.S. Navy Petty Officer Seth Wade likely will have to get around using a wheelchair for the rest of his life-- a daunting prospect at the age of 26. After losing use of his legs in a 2014 auto accident that damaged his spinal cord while on deployment in Europe, Wade is adjusting to civilian life in his hometown of Tampa. But instead of being depressed about what he can't do as a paraplegic, Wade has decided to focus on what he CAN do-- snow and water skiing, sailing, and, just recently, scuba diving.
"Being in the water gives you a sense of freedom," Wade said between pool training sessions in Clearwater recently. "I love it. I can't wait to get to the good stuff."
Wade was trained by Scott Crawford, a U.S. Air Force retiree and owner/instructor at Rock Bottom Divers near Tarpon Springs. Crawford has been donating his time to teach and certify military vets-- both disabled and able-bodied-- as scuba divers for the past three years. He works with several non-profit veterans' groups to help defray costs for the dive boat, equipment and instructional materials.
"It's called 'adaptive diving'," Crawford said of how he trains his students. "It's based on what the candidate can do -- not what he can't do."
Crawford was introduced to Wade by Nelson Corbin, executive director of the North Carolina-based Wounded Veteran Retreat Program. Corbin, a U.S. Army Rangers veteran, began organizing outdoor outings for wounded vets about three years ago after his son, who served in Special Forces, lost both legs in Afghanistan.
Corbin helped out with Wade's dive training sessions in the pool and an inland spring. But neither he nor Crawford cut the young man any slack. Wade lowered himself from his wheelchair to pool side and in and out of the water. He had to perform the same skills as any other open-water dive candidate-- removing and clearing the mask underwater; executing out-of-air drills and emergency ascents; donning his buoyancy control device and many others-- all while swimming with webbed gloves and no fins. He took to the skills easily-- probably because he grew up fishing and snorkeling in Tampa Bay.
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"Good work, man!" Crawford congratulated Wade.
The student earned both an open-water and Nitrox scuba certification through the SSI agency. Nitrox is a breathing gas containing less nitrogen than regular compressed air-- important for Wade because it means less nitrogen accumulating in the scar tissue on his spine. Too much nitrogen in the blood and tissues can lead to decompression sickness, or the 'bends' -- a painful and serious medical condition.
"It's nice having two vets [in training sessions]," Wade said. "Doing it with non-vets from a local dive shop would be not as comfortable."
The new scuba diver reflected back on the dark days of his post-accident recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington, D.C. where he was treated by several psychologists, some of whom he "fired". But one who he called 'Lieutenant Dan' stood out as particularly helpful.
"Somehow, he was hooked up with Guy Harvey," Wade recalled.
'Lieutenant Dan' got Wade a limited-edition print of a tarpon signed by Harvey, along with a tee shirt. Today, that tarpon hangs over Wade's bed at home in Tampa.
"I never did get to thank Guy Harvey," Wade mused. "If you see him, tell him I said thanks."
<a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/dive-packages/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-4200 size-full" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ad.jpg" alt="ad" width="737" height="301" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/vet-to-vet-dive-dive-dive/){kind=link}
 in Orange Beach, Alabama){kind=link}
 in Orange Beach, Alabama&body=[Orange Beach, Ala.--]Scuba diving 90 feet deep on the sunken coastal freighter "The LuLu", I was completely surrounded by a curtain of fish: shimmering minnows; fairly large amberjacks chasing them; gray, red and vermillion snapper; and convict-striped spadefish. The shifting schools covered much of the surface of the 271-foot ship. A few lurid-colored exotic lionfish lurked around various ambush points, but unfortunately none of us aboard the Down Under dive charterboat had brought a spear gun.
Too bad, because we could have carried our catch over to the popular restaurant SALT at SanRoc Cay Marina in Orange Beach where the dive boat docks. Chef Chris Sherrill and Chef Landon Benton would have prepared the lionfish in multiple creative dishes like they do with just about any other kind of fish their customers bring in. (More on that later.) Meanwhile, we simply enjoyed the swirl of colorful marine life populating the wreck.
"The LuLu" is the largest shipwreck in Alabama's vast array of artificial reefs, which include (but are not limited to): Army tanks, culvert pipes, bridge rubble, oil and gas platforms, big ships, small boats, and planes. Despite claiming only about 53 miles of coastline, Alabama boasts more than 14,000 manmade structures deployed in the Gulf from right off the beach to about 60 miles offshore, covering about 1,200 square nautical miles. In and around Mobile Bay lie another 30 smaller structures. The state plans to deploy another 600 reefs from the shore out to 70 feet deep, and it's almost ready to sink another big ship perhaps as early as this winter-- a 250-foot retired oceanographic survey vessel called the Fairfield New Venture--in about 125 feet of water.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/LilaHarris2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4946" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/LilaHarris2.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1367" /></a>
"We consider ourselves to have the largest and most productive artificial reef program in the country," said Craig Newton, a biologist who serves as Alabama's artificial reef chief.
For Newton, the artificial reef program is all about creating a diverse set of habitats for a wide range of marine animals-- as well as diving and fishing destinations for the state's residents and visitors.
"The more diverse you can make the artificial reef program, it's better able to withstand fishing pressure and produce large numbers of snappers each year," he said.
For example, Newton said, species like amberjack and snapper prefer larger, taller structures like ships and oil rigs while other species tend to favor smaller, shallower havens. And he plans to create "stepping stone" reefs to establish connectivity between near-shore and offshore regions. Some species such as gray snapper spend their early lives in inshore estuaries, then head to deep water to reproduce.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/LilaHarris4.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4947" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/LilaHarris4.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1399" /></a>
A big reason Alabama has so many man-made diving and fishing reefs off its shores is that in addition to its own deployments, it permits private individuals to sink their own -- just as long as they are properly inspected to ensure they don't pollute the waters or pose a safety hazard. While these serve as private honey holes whose locations are not published on Alabama's artificial reef website <a href="http://www.outdooralabama.com/artificial-reefs/">www.outdooralabama.com/artificial-reefs/</a>, anyone who stumbles across them may fish or dive them.
On my second dive of the day with Down Under, we visited the Captain Shirley Brown, a 128-foot ferro-cement ship that once served as a waterborne club before being sent to the bottom about 85 feet deep two years ago. On that dive, I saw more amberjack and snapper and even larger lionfish than on the LuLu, and my dive buddy Chandra Wright spent her safety stop 20 feet deep fending off a pesky remora that tried to stick to her wetsuit, then gave her a kiss on the cheek before swimming off.
That evening at SALT, Sherrill prepared a delicious feast for Wright and me and our party including a charcuterie of meats and cheeses, quail gumbo, and crabmeat-stuffed grouper with fresh vegetable succotash. He told us to bring him lionfish the next time we dive, and said he could have created something from the remora if Wright had let it stick to her! He wasn't joking; he has whipped up culinary treasures from supposed 'trash' fish at other Alabama eateries. And I bet it would have tasted great.
(Photos courtesy of Lila Harris)
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If you plan a visit to the Orange Beach, Alabama area, a great place to stay is the Hilton Garden Inn, located on the beach. Visit <a href="http://HiltonGardenInnOrangeBeach.com">HiltonGardenInnOrangeBeach.com</a>. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/dive-dive-dive-and-fish-in-orange-beach-alabama/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Rehabbed Turtle Released off Florida Keys to participate in Tour de Turtles’ Event&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/11754301_733884743406613_3971705450198939655_o1.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2826 size-medium" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/11754301_733884743406613_3971705450198939655_o1.jpg?w=293" alt="11754301_733884743406613_3971705450198939655_o" width="293" height="300" /></a>Photo Courtesy of Andy Newman.
MARATHON, Florida Keys -- A rehabilitated loggerhead sea turtle that convalesced about four months at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital was fitted with a satellite-tracking transmitter and released Friday off the Florida Keys.
Named Aaron, the subadult reptile crawled into the Atlantic Ocean in front of several hundred cheering spectators at Marathon's Sombrero Beach.
It is the only rehabilitated turtle of 12 that is part of the Tour de Turtles initiative created by the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
Beginning Aug. 2, the online education and awareness program will track the reptiles for three months. Turtles will be followed after releases in Panama, Costa Rica, Nevis, W.I. and Florida.
"It's the sea turtle who goes the furthest distance in three months that wins the marathon and wins the Tour de Turtles," said Dan Evans, research and technology specialist with the Sea Turtle Conservancy. "The takeaway from the whole program is to really raise awareness about sea turtles, to get people interested in sea turtles through technology and to also let people know what they can do to help protect sea turtles."
Aaron was discovered floating in a Key Largo boat basin in March. It was treated at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon for an intestinal impaction and parasites in its digestive system with antibiotics, anti-parasitic medications, lactulose, vitamins and a diet of squid and fish
Learn more here:
Tour de Turtles: <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tourdeturtles.org%2F&h=tAQHKPX4B&enc=AZNRUuCt5hIJx33XuBw3zcy-tyIGy6-uvyaKnyWxJIqBOGXfS-FZhNUD9qYelatOGq5nvUvQfLji-c1LuPjQIHfPRp0Ozwei5hGNAK5NXO43BlJOoeO3jgyaOvEHeYj8yzW6Q_4HWMe16xT2rBmfZnbMniNaxUwTNHRt1sglx8RB5_g9jX-9IilW42_-LENnsnAnqxdwHfydNJWMKTInmj71&s=1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.tourdeturtles.org</a>
The Turtle Hospital: <a href="http://www.turtlehospital.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.turtlehospital.org</a>
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/rehabbed-turtle-released-off-florida-keys-to-participate-in-tour-de-turtles-event/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Gather Ye Lobsters While Ye May&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/lobster.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3967 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/lobster-225x300.jpg" alt="lobster" width="225" height="300" /></a>By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Lobster hunters have two more weeks to bag a limit of tasty entrees before Florida's harvest season closes on April 1. Whatever you catch will have to tide you over until the annual two-day lobster mini-season July 27-28.
Here are some tips from three South Florida lobster diving experts for getting your limit of six per person per day:
KEYS
Go shallow, advises Eric Billips, owner of Islamorada Dive Center and author of textbooks on underwater hunting.
"You'll be way better off in eight to 15 feet of water just inside the reef," Billips said. "Look for a solitary coral head in a sandy area. Where you see one [lobster], there's a chance there will be two or three in the same head."
Billips and his companions recently caught four large lobsters near Hens n' Chickens Reef-- including a four-pounder. His preferred method is to use a net and tickler stick instead of a snare or 'bugger'.
"Be super chill, not real aggressive, tap-tap-tap real gently behind them," he advised.
It's illegal to spear lobsters in Florida, but it's perfectly okay to add to your haul by spearing some exotic lionfish, which frequent the same habitats as the crustaceans.
MIAMI BEACH/BISCAYNE BAY
Like Billips, Miami Beach captain Abie Raymond is finding plenty of super-sized bugs on isolated coral heads in the shallow waters from South Beach to Haulover Inlet. If you don't know where these coral heads are, Raymond said, follow the fish.
"If you see blue tangs, chase them and they will 99 percent of the time lead you to a coral head you didn't know was there," he said.
Biscayne Bay, the captain said, has not been as productive as usual due to this winter's unseasonable record rainfall.
Raymond, a free diver, uses a tickle stick and his bare hands to catch dinner.
"I tickle-stick them out and wiggle my fingers on my left hand and the lobster will put out his antennas," Raymond explained. "Then I put my [right] hand on the back of his tail."
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Slate-Special.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-3968 size-full" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Slate-Special.jpg" alt="Slate Special" width="724" height="351" /></a>
GREATER FORT LAUDERDALE
Few scuba divers are as successful at harvesting lobster in Broward County's urban waters than Jim "Chiefy" Mathie of Deerfield Beach and his regular dive crew. The author of the popular how-to manual "Catching the Bug" says the late-season hunter's best bet is to hit the east side of the third reef 75 to 85 feet deep, weather permitting.
"I can almost guarantee they'll be out there," Mathie said. "It's been bumpy. The visibility hasn't been the best due to rain and wind. The weather has kept people in. We've had an outstanding year. Almost every time we went out, we got our limit or almost our limit."
Mathie prefers the snare over the net and tickler stick.
"It's hard to get them out of the net," he said. "I use my snare like a tickler stick, withdrawing the loop and tickling them out. As soon as you've got that loop around the tail, you've got 'em."
NOT SO FAST...
Before you hit the hunting grounds, make sure you have a valid Florida saltwater fishing license and a lobster permit. To be legal, a lobster must measure greater than three inches on the carapace or head, and you must use a lobster gauge to measure it in the water. Taking egg-bearing females is prohibited. You must display a red-and-white diver-down flag whether you are diving from a boat or from shore. For a complete list of lobster regulations, visit the <a href="http://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/lobster/." target="_blank">MyFWC</a> web site.
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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.
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![](mailto:?subject=Neal Watson Inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame!&body=Headquartered in Georgetown, Grand Cayman; the <a title="International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame" href="http://www.scubahalloffame.com/main.html">International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame </a>recognizes the Pioneers of Diving. Neal has been a pioneering leader in dive tourism in the Bahamas and the Caribbean for 40+ years.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/10687291_967342136615595_9222110115519309721_o.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2280 size-large" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/10687291_967342136615595_9222110115519309721_o.jpg?w=550" alt="10687291_967342136615595_9222110115519309721_o" width="550" height="366" /></a>
Congratulations to the “Dive God!” Neal picked up his nick name for his record setting feats and well known sense of humor. He set the deepest compressed air dive at 437 feet. Neal also holds the longest underwater non-stop distance record of 66 miles starting off Islamorada, Florida and finishing 19 ½ hours and 25 tanks later off Miami.
Neal Watson serves as Director of Dive Operations for <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/">Guy Harvey Outpost</a> and operates <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/bimini-bahamas/bimini-sands-dive.html">Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Center</a>, a Guy Harvey Outpost Dive Outfitter. Among those on hand in Grand Cayman for Hall of Fame induction ceremony were two other ISDHF Inductees, Dr. Guy Harvey and <a href="http://www.captainslate.com/">Capt. Spencer Slate</a>. Also on hand to help celebrate were Neal’s daughter Beth Watson, Director of Sales for Guy Harvey Outpost and Outpost CFO Kevin Denell.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1798909_716052288475986_2053445800531585921_o.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2278 size-large" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1798909_716052288475986_2053445800531585921_o.jpg?w=550" alt="Neal & Beth Watson, happy father and daughter." width="550" height="366" /></a>Neal & Beth Watson, happy father and daughter. Photo Courtesy of Courtney Platt.
You can see video of Neal’s induction into the <a href="http://www.dema.org/">Dive Equipment Manufacturers’ Association</a> (DEMA) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBirs8XTH2M">Hall of Fame 2005 Induction</a>. Also available on YouTube is Neal’s 1978 appearance on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3CJBj6aYao">To Tell The Truth</a>.
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