Spend April Fools Weekend diving with Neal Watson, World’s Scuba Depth & Distance Record Holder, Scuba Radio host Greg (The Divemaster) Holt and Mermaids, at the new world class dive operation, …
Official Letter of Congratulations to Dive Bimini’s "Name That Boat" Contest Winner
1 Nov 201010:37 PM
Letter of congratulations to Karen Bond, winner of the Dive Bimini “Name That Boat” contest, from Guy Harvey and Neal Watson:
Karen’s submission, Bimini Blue, won out over several hundred entries. Congrats, Karen and enjoy your trip to the Bimini Big Game Club!
Pro team Member
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![](mailto:?subject=Dive With A Legend, Scuba Radio & Mermaids – No Foolin!&body=
<a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/guyneal.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-544" title=""Dive God" Neal Watson guides Guy Harvey around Bimini's reefs & wrecks" src="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/guyneal.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="369" /></a>
Spend April Fools Weekend diving with <a title="Neal Watson's web site" href="http://www.nealwatson.com" target="_blank">Neal Watson</a>, World’s Scuba Depth & Distance Record Holder, <a title="Scuba Radio web site" href="http://www.scubaradio.com" target="_blank">Scuba Radio</a> host <a title="Greg The DiveMaster's blog" href="http://www.scubaradio.com/dive-blogs/gregthedivemaster/" target="_blank">Greg (The Divemaster) Holt</a> and Mermaids, at the new world class dive operation, Neal Watson’s <a title="About Dive Bimini" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/dive-bimini.htm" target="_blank">Dive Bimini</a> located at the <a title="BBGC web site" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Club</a>, a <a title="About Guy Harvey Outpost" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/aboutus.htm" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost Resort</a>.
Friday: Sunset cruise aboard the <a title="About Bimini Blue" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/our-boat.htm" target="_blank">60’ Bimini Blue</a> Glassbottom Dive Boat with music and adult beverages.
Saturday: Two tank morning dive off Bimini Island returning for lunch and then a special afternoon snorkel with the <a title="About snorkeling with wild dolphins" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/dolphin-experience.htm" target="_blank">wild dolphins</a>, or join Neal, Greg and Mermaids for a live remote Scuba Radio broadcast.
Sunday: Two tank day trip to the <a title="About Bimini's dive sites" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/favorite-dives.htm" target="_blank">Victory Reef and Tuna Alley</a> South of Bimini off <a title="About Cat Cay" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Cays" target="_blank">Cat Cay</a>. (Sunday diving not included on a 3 day / 2 night package).
3 day / 2 night $592.00
4 day / 3 night $769.00
Package Price based on a per person rate / double occupancy in the room
Package includes
Round trip airfare from Fort Lauderdale including US Departure Taxes ($20.00 Bahamian departure tax not included)
All New Guestrooms & Facilities
Sunset Cruise
2 Tank Dive Daily (excluding arrival & departure days)
Special Wild Dolphin Encounter
Tanks, Weights & Belts
For information about extending your package stay, call 800-867-4764 or email: <a href="mailto:sales@guyharveyoutpost.com">sales@guyharveyoutpost.com</a>.
You never know who may show up during the week!!! https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/dive-with-a-legend-scuba-radio-mermaids-no-foolin/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Guy Harvey Outpost Visits Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Land-Ocean Observatory&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/hboi.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2854 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/hboi.jpg?w=300" alt="HBOI" width="300" height="232" /></a>A group of marine scientists sits before a computer screen in an air-conditioned command center in Fort Pierce, watching intently as a robot plucks a sea sponge from deep on the ocean floor that just might hold the key to combating diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's.
Elsewhere on the same FAU/Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute campus, two technicians are preparing a special ambulance to rescue a bottlenose dolphin snared in an illegal fishing net. And out on the adjacent Indian River Lagoon, a university official is demonstrating for the local news media the latest additions to the world's largest interactive land-ocean observatory monitoring water quality in the one of the nation's richest estuaries.
And the expansive reach of Harbor Branch-- which was established in 1971 and merged with Florida Atlantic University in 2007-- doesn't stop there.
The institute's engineers develop the technology that enable its research scientists such as Brian Lapointe and Stephanie Farrington to figure out why coral reefs are declining so rapidly throughout the Caribbean and Florida and why thick carpets of maize-colored sargassum weed recently have clogged local beaches.
On the outskirts of the campus working in small Quonset huts, aquaculture scientists come up with techniques for growing food fish such as cobia and pompano and ornamentals such as clownfish in captivity to help end overfishing for these commercially-important species.
Although Harbor Branch's focus is "Ocean Science for a Better World", its researchers, professors and students pursue holistic, ecosystem-based courses of study encompassing the environment some 45 miles inland to the fresh waters of Lake Okeechobee, the Kissimmee River and beyond.
Adhering to the adage that 'everything flows downstream', scientists look at the connectivity between land and ocean, freshwater and salt, seeking ways to keep the entire ecosystem in balance. For example, if too much fresh water is discharged from Lake Okeechobee east to the St. Lucie Estuary or west through the Caloosahatchee River to the Gulf of Mexico, sea grasses, shellfish, food fish, dolphins and manatees suffer. The land-ocean observatory network rolled out before the reporters and television cameras recently will enable resource managers to address those issues in real time.
Harbor Branch doesn't close itself off to the local community. Residents and visitors can stop by the Ocean Discovery Center open five days a week and they may attend free weekly ocean science lectures conducted from January through April.
Whether you're a bass aficionado battling lunkers in the Big O or a salt chaser bagging kingfish for the grill off Fort Pierce, you both have a lot in common. Check out www.fau.edu/hboi. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/guy-harvey-outpost-visits-harbor-branch-oceanographic-institute-land-ocean-observatory/){kind=link}
 has pretty much done it all: set world records for depth and distance; tangoed with huge sharks; travelled the world; and appeared underwater in numerous television shows and movies. But there WAS one place on the globe that Guy Harvey Outpost's dive team leader had never taken the plunge: Cuba.
That is, until very recently.
Watson joined Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts president Mark Ellert; Guy Harvey Research Institute head Mahmood Shivji; and Scuba Radio founder Greg Holt on a four-day diving/fact-finding mission to the island nation under the 'people-to-people' program.
To say the Dive God was wowed by his visit would be a gross understatement.
"This place ROCKS!" Watson said. "This is the pinnacle. I have literally travelled around the world and you'd be hard-pressed to find any place as uniquely different from any other culture in the world as you find 45 minutes from South Florida. Unbelievable!"
Watson's enchantment began almost as soon as he deplaned in Havana: downtown streets filled with vintage American cars.
"It was like being in the world's biggest antique car show," he said.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Cuba.mules_.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-4014 size-full" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Cuba.mules_.jpg" alt="Cuba.mules" width="800" height="531" /></a>
And things only got better from there.
Accompanied by their Cuban American guide, the group rented a 1957 Pontiac, overnighted at a family-run bed and breakfast; sampled hand-rolled cigars at a tobacco farm; enjoyed dancing and listening to acoustic salsa music at various Havana night spots; sampled the signature daiquiris at La Floridita-- a favorite hangout of author Ernest Hemingway; and, oh yes, dived.
The group cruised west in the Pontiac for about six hours from Havana to a dive resort in the village of Maria La Gorda located on the western tip of the Pinar del Rio province. Watson was pleasantly surprised at the fleet of clean, modern dive boats; well-maintained rental and first-aid equipment and the capable, friendly and knowledgeable dive crew.
The group only had time for a one-tank dive -- an 80-foot-deep guided drift along mountainous coral heads and scenic caverns in a marine park established in 1984. It reminded Watson of his underwater explorations of Andros and the Exuma Islands in the Bahamas.
"Amazing," Watson said.
Shivji, a marine scientist who has logged hundreds of dives, also was impressed.
"The coral reefs are in really good shape compared to quite a few other places I've been diving," Shivji said.
The Guy Harvey Outpost team enjoyed the whirlwind visit so much that it organized another cultural/scientific/diving expedition to Cuba in June in conjunction with the Reef Environmental Education Foundation. The trip sold out in one hour. Stay tuned for more about future Guy Harvey Outpost expeditions to the island.
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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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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/the-dive-god-visits-cuba/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Connecting With One Special Veteran&body=On this Veterans’ Day the staff at Guy Harvey Outpost would like to share a letter we received from a Veteran. This letter has moved each of us and we are honored to have Veterans as our guests.
Dear Anyone,
My name is Christian and I am a disabled veteran. I recently had an opportunity to spend time at the Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost on Islamorda. I have to say it changed my life. I am writing Mr. Harvey and wondering if he would ever be interested in opening a facility in the islands for veterans? I know its crazy but I spent 3 days there and I slept more in three days than in years. I felt at peace and I didn't have bad dreams. I got to feel and smell and touch things without feeling anger or hate, I found my Jesus.. My wife Janet cried because for the first time in years I slept, and it was a beautiful sleep..
I bought a print of yours that hangs in my office at home. I look at it everyday and it brings me.. Hope, joy, peace.. I don't have a name like Guy Harvey but I believe your name can change the lives of veterans... The life style can release the anger and start the healing. I know this is a long shot and I don't expect much but what if we could open another resort? What if we could give them peace? What if we could save a generation from suffering and give them hope? No matter what happens I thank you. I am staying at the Islander again in July... No matter what I thank you for sleep.. I can never repay you for the peace I feel in Islamorada.
I hope and pray for you.. Thank you, Christian
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-veterans-day.png"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2334" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-veterans-day.png?w=550" alt="2014-Veterans-Day" width="550" height="430" /></a>
On Christian’s July visit he brought his family including his father (a former Navy SEAL). We look forward to the family's next visit.
See our response in the next Outpost Blog post.
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/connecting-with-one-special-veteran/){kind=link}
![](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>.
More Information on Guy Harvey Outpost & their other great resorts: <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/">http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/</a>
For the Guy Harvey Outpost Blog <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpostnews.com/">www.guyharveyoutpostnews.com</a>
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For Guy Harvey Outpost on YouTube <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/GuyHarveyOutpost">http://www.youtube.com/user/GuyHarveyOutpost</a>
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/neal-watson-inducted-into-the-international-scuba-diving-hall-of-fame/){kind=link}
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