Whale Sharks in Isla de Mujeres, Mexico

July 5th thru July 8th, 2019 Whale Shark Trip.

First of all, the people on Isla de Mujeres are great. Taxi drivers are everywhere on the tiny island and for 50 pesos($3.00us), they will take you anywhere on the island. Our small group of 5 went on Ceviche Tours for our Whale Shark excursion and they were awesome.

I landed at the airport in Cancun, Mexico. No problems going through customs and just as you get to the exit, there are plenty of shuttles to choose from, just waiting to take you where you need to go. Hop on one of the shuttles and have them take you to the port where you can pick up the Ferry to take you across to Isla de Mujeres. The ferry runs every half hour. Once you get to the island, it's time to pick up your taxi and take you to your hotel. As you exit the ferry, the taxi pick up is to the left. Tell them where you are going and be ready with your 50 pesos.

Relax at your hotel and be ready for the next day to swim. Have the hotel schedule a taxi for your morning pick up and get you to the boat. Ceviche Tours will meet you at the boat and you are on your way. After a short boat ride, you will come to the spot where they know the sharks are. They are gentle giants of the ocean and your are free to drop in, two snorkelers at a time with the guide and the Whale Sharks swim by you, collecting the plankton from the water. New rule this year for safety, you must wear a life jacket, unless you have a certification for Freediving and you wear a wetsuit. It was fantastic. The sharks stay close to the surface so there is no need for scuba gear on this trip. You are in the water a few minutes at a time to let others swim with the sharks as well but you end up getting in the water multiple times and can take as many pictures or video as you heart desires.

The afternoons are yours to do with what you want. Downtown is the place to be for shopping and multiple restaurants. Take in the culture or just rest up at your hotel for the next day of swimming with the Whale Sharks again.

You never know what else you may see while with the Whale Sharks. Our group was very lucky on our second day of snorkeling, we were surprised by a Manta Ray, scooping up the plankton right along next to the pod of sharks. On our boat trip to the grounds we spotted a couple of Green Sea Turtles mating. Prime season for turtle mating is June/July so we were happy to get to see that.

The trip was amazing and I definitely want to try to put my own little group together for next year. Keep track of our Facebook page and you may see a trip to Mexico on our events by November for a trip in July 2020.

Thank you for reading this blog and I hope you enjoyed it. Remember to Dive, Dive, Dive!!! Unless your can only snorkel. LOL

Michele

Guiness World Record in Deerfield Beach on June 15th, 2019

What a crazy day Saturday was for this clean up dive at the Deerfield Beach Pier. There are several news stations that broadcast the news of the World Record being broken by 633 divers and I happened to be one of the lucky ones included in this record.

It is incredible how the dive community can come together for an awesome cause and make history at the same time. Be sure to follow our Instagram page as well as our Facebook page for all of the adventures we do. Still to come, another dive going to Epcot. We will post an event of Facebook for the next dive date.

Feeling the heat?

Hope everyone had a Good Memorial Weekend. Temperatures are climbing and thoughts of cool waters are in everyone's mind. Trip to Jupiter, FL tomorrow and more trips in the works. Dive classes for June are nearly full so if you have been thinking of getting certified, only a few spaces left in both group classes so call now to secure your spot and get your bookwork completed to be ready for your course. We have classes beginning June 8th and June 22nd. Two weekends in a row and the water days are only half days. This way you don't lose out on the entire weekend. New ladies wetsuits have arrived and they are so comfortable. Front zips available as well. So stop by, sign up for your PADI certification and join the fun waiting for you.

Dive, Dive, Dive.

Summer is almost here!!!

Our store is ready! We have most of our summer inventory in and are ready for our students and customers. We have many projects in the works for trips in the upcoming months. June 1st kicking off summer trips will be a trip to Jupiter with ScubaWorks for an Orientation 2 Tank Dive with Instructor Brad. You can just give the dive shop a call to reserve your space for this trip. These dives are great for us divers that only get to see the ocean a few times a year and just want an easy (get back into the water) trip that you just don't even have to think about.

As usual, class schedules are still in full swing. This blog is about to blow up from the stories we are hearing from getting certified to funny things some people do to prepare for their dives. If you have a funny story and you would like us to share it on our blog, e-mail us the story and if we use your story, you will get some free swag from some of our dive companies. (Hint, Hint, dive companies) LOL

Check our Instagram: Daytonascuba


Follow us on facebook: DiscoverDiving

March 20, 2019 at 6:00pm

Sign up and complete or renew your EFR Primary and Secondary Care Course by contacting Michele at Discover Diving Dive Center at (386) 760-3483. We have limited space for this course so sign up early. If you need your two year renewal or need to take this course for your Rescue Diver Certification, this is the class you need.

What does this course include? This course includes the Emergency First Responder and CPR certifications.

Who should take this course? Anyone who is interested in receiving or updating CPR and First Aid skills. No Diving certification is required.

Class DATE: March 20, 2019 at 6 p.m.
Location: Discover Diving Dive Center I 92 Dunlawton Ave. Port Orange, FL
Class Cost: $120 (this includes the books and the class)
There are NO Prerequisites for this class! Anyone can sign up for the class.
What you need to bring: All you need to bring is yourself and your book.
You will need to be enrolled by March 6th with a non-refundable deposit of $20 to order your book. The balance is due upon the start of the class.

What you will learn:

▪ BLS (Basic Life Support) CPR and Rescue Breathing at the layperson level
▪ AED (Automated External Difribulation) use (optional)
▪ Preventing and Caring for shock
▪ Spinal Injury Management
▪ Use of barriers to reduce disease transmission risk
▪ Basic First Aid: illness & injury assessment, bandaging, management of fractures & dislocations, and first aid kit considerations.

After completing this course, it will give you the skills necessary to help others in case of an emergency.

New Year, New Dive Sites and what has been going on since the last time we posted a blog?

I know, I know, we haven't been posting blogs like we should have been and I am fully responsible for this, considering I am the only one that has the information on how to get to our site and post anything. My bad!

As most of you know, as of last May 2016, Brian was let go from the Dive Center. I, (the owner Michele) and Brian had different views on how a situation was handled, therefore had no alternative but to ask him to quit the dive center and stop being our service tech and instructing for the center as well. It was best for all parties involved. Some of you were present on this day and it is now back to being a fun and crazy shop once more. Morale has improved and we welcomed Aaron Webster into the fold to take over duties of the technical service repairman. He is fitting in very well. If you haven't met him yet or seen the dive center in the last year, stop by on a Saturday and you might get to be introduced and check out what we have done with the classroom. That's us, always changing things up.

As far as instruction goes, I am unable to teach very much, if at all.:-( We have a great instructor to take up the slack and most of you have had the pleasure to be in his class already. Bradley Tonner had been helping with classes for Brian, at the beginning of last year and now is the full-time instructor for us. His teaching ethics are similar to the way Michele teaches and this produces confident divers that we are proud to have our names on their certification cards. It's always been said "You get what you pay for" and this is certainly true with our certification courses. Ask any one of our students, we will do what we need to in order to make you a confident diver, ready to go anywhere in the world and dive without the safety net of your instructor or Divemaster. From the first day in class, we treat you like a part of the family, as dysfunctional/functional as that may seem. HaHaHa We are sure it can't been any worse than your own dysfunctional/functional family.

If you haven't liked our page on Facebook yet, go and do so now. We try to keep you all up to date of the classes and trips that we have scheduled throughout each month. We recently did a dive to Jupiter, FL and everyone had an an absolute blast. You can look it up on Facebook for all of the pictures. We will try to start going back and diving Epcot's Dive Quest again. We have had some interest on this group trip again so that will be coming soon. Possibly in April, we just have to see what dates are available. We will be having an additional instructor joining up with us this year and we should be able to offer more trips down south for those of you who haven't gotten a chance to get out there with us yet, so look for these trips in the upcoming months. Brad has a trip coming up to Cozumel in April 2017. If you haven't heard about this trip yet, shoot us an e-mail or give us a call and we can give you all the details. I believe space is still available but April is right around the corner so you'll have to join up ASAP. I believe the trip total should be right around $1400 with airfare and all-inclusive resort.

Other than that, it was a pretty slow winter season. We fared the October Hurricane Matthew pretty well. A bit of flooding, OK a lot of flooding in the building but we didn't loose anything. All in all, it was not as bad as it could of been. Thank goodness for that. We are very glad we can still provide for the community and divers. With the election complete, it's time to start thinking about getting friends to get certified so you all can have built in dive buddies for all of your diving pleasure. You don't want to be the one that doesn't have a buddy so the dive charter puts you with someone who doesn't remember their training and hasn't dived since last season. Wait...maybe that is you? Oh my goodness, give us a call to get you back on track with a refresher course to help you remember. Can you remember how much weight you needed during class? What was that? You can't remember???? This is why you need a refresher so you don't have to waste time figuring it out as soon as you get into the water and now you are drifting away from the group and you will never find the group. Always better to be safe then sorry. We don't want to see anyone get hurt. Join us on a dive or three per year, even if it is just to keeps your skills up and #DiveDiveDive

Thanks for reading and Happy Diving.

Dangers of Carbon Dioxide (Hypercapnia) and Diving.

With the latest fatality from Ginnie Springs, we at Discover Diving would like to explain how Hypercapnia is a silent but dangerous part of diving and we wanted to enlighten you on this subject. Are you doing any of the things listed, that you may want to change, as you dive? Read this article and make sure you know you are a safe diver.

(This article quoted from scuba.about.sports)


Most scuba divers do not learn about carbon dioxide during the open water course. Because the likelihood of carbon dioxide-induced problems is almost zero when proper diving practices are followed, the topic is often skipped over in certification classes.

However, carbon dioxide levels in a diver's bloodstream can rise under certain circumstances, and the effects can be disastrous. This article is not intended to frighten, but merely to inform. When a diver understands the risks of high concentrations of carbon dioxide, he is less likely to engage in behaviors that may predispose him to those risks.

Carbon Dioxide and Breathing:

The body needs a small amount of carbon dioxide for normal body functions. One of these functions is respiration. When a person inhales, he breathes in oxygen which his body metabolizes to create energy. One of the waste products of this metabolic reaction is carbon dioxide, which is eliminated from the body when the person exhales.

Increasingly, it is the rising level of carbon dioxide in a person's bloodstream (not the falling level of oxygen) that signals the need for respiration.

How Does Your Body Maintain Safe Carbon Dioxide Levels During a Dive?:

A diver's body is constantly producing carbon dioxide, which it eliminates through exhalation. When a diver requires more energy, such as during moderate exercise, his body breaks down oxygen rapidly to provide that energy at a faster rate. This speeds the production of carbon dioxide. To keep the blood level of carbon dioxide steady, a diver's body increases his respiration rate to eliminate excess carbon dioxide, balancing its production and elimination.

Carbon Dioxide in a Diver's Body Can to Rise to an Unsafe Level:

Any factor that causes the concentration of carbon dioxide in a diver's body to rise to 45 mg Hg and above induces hypercapnia – a potentially dangerous excess of carbon dioxide. There are two situations in which this can happen.

• The concentration of carbon dioxide a diver inhales increases.
• A diver does not eliminate carbon dioxide as quickly as he produces it.

The Dangers of Hypercapnia:


1. Loss of Consciousness.

Carbon dioxide has an anesthetic effect on a diver's central nervous system. If the concentration of carbon dioxide rises to 75 mg Hg (depending upon the person), a diver may lose consciousness. Underwater, loss of consciousness is usually fatal – an unconscious diver generally loses his regulator and drowns.


2. Narcosis

The anesthetic properties of carbon dioxide at elevated concentrations can cause narcosis. Some of the common effects of carbon dioxide narcosis are the slowing of mental processes and the loss of dexterity. Only a very small increase in carbon dioxide levels is needed to produce these effects; carbon dioxide is four times more narcotic than nitrogen. In addition to producing narcosis on its own, carbon dioxide can also amplify the narcotic effects of nitrogen and other gases.


3. Oxygen Toxicity

The human body has a programming glitch. It uses the level of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream to determine how much oxygen the body needs. In normal environments, this works well – as the carbon dioxide level increases, so does breathing rate, carbon dioxide elimination, and oxygen absorption. The higher the level of carbon dioxide, the harder a diver's body works to absorb oxygen. Unfortunately, in scuba diving high levels of oxygen can lead to oxygen toxicity, generally characterized by convulsions that result in drowning. High carbon dioxide levels cue the body to increase oxygen concentrations, speeding the onset of oxygen toxicity.


4. Decompression Sickness

Many hyperbaric physicians now believe that high levels of carbon dioxide may increase the risk of decompression sickness. One scenario is that high carbon dioxide levels interfere with the transport and elimination of nitrogen in the lungs. If the body is working hard to eliminate and exhale excess carbon dioxide, it will not be able to eliminate nitrogen as efficiently as it would if the carbon dioxide were not present. High levels of carbon dioxide lead to elevated levels of nitrogen in the body, which increases the risk of decompression sickness.
Avoid Elevated Carbon Dioxide Levels While Scuba Diving:

The most common behaviors and situations that increase the carbon dioxide concentration in a diver's bloodstream are listed below. By avoiding these situations, a diver nearly eliminates the risk of hypercapnia.


• Improper Breathing Techniques

Hyperventilation: When a diver hyperventilates, he fills only a small portion of his lungs and fails to fully exhale. This creates "dead" air spaces - spaces in the lungs and regulator in which air with high concentrations of carbon dioxide are not fully replaced with normally oxygenated air. For example, the first few mL of air a diver inhales from his regulator is "recycled," air with a high level of carbon dioxide from his previous exhalation. A diver must inhale fully to get past this air and receive fresh air. If a diver does not fully exhale, some of the of the old, carbon dioxide-filled air will remain in his lungs and he will breathe it again with his next breath. The concentration of carbon dioxide in a diver's lungs and regulator "dead" air space increases with each hyperventilated breath, leading to an increase in the level of carbon dioxide in his bloodstream.

Skip Breathing: In an effort to reduce air consumption, many divers hypoventilate or skip breathe. This involves extremely slow breathing. The diver exhales fully and then holds his breath "out", keeping his lungs empty for a period of time before breathing in. Hypoventilation increases the carbon dioxide level in a diver's lungs. Skip breathing can be dangerous because of the risk of hypercapnia.

• Physical Exertion

On land, a person's body adequately deals with the increased production of carbon dioxide during physical exertion by raising respiration rates. Underwater, the excess carbon dioxide is more difficult to eliminate. The breathing resistance of the regulator and the greater density of inspired air at depth make it nearly impossible for a diver to increase his breathing rate to match strong physical exertion. Either the diver begins to hyperventilate, increasing the level of carbon dioxide in his lungs while the carbon dioxide level in his bloodstream also increases, or he maintains a slow and steady breathing rate which is insufficient to eliminate the huge excess of carbon dioxide in his body.


• Deep Diving Without Proper Instruction and Gases

Air and other breathing gases become denser as they compress with depth. The more dense the air, the more difficult it will be for a diver to properly empty and fill his lungs with each breath. The result is retained carbon dioxide in the diver's lungs, similar to the situations listed in "Improper Breathing Techniques" above. This is yet another reason for divers not to go beyond the depth limits of their certification level. Deep diving courses train scuba divers in proper breathing techniques and teaches them about the gas mixtures needed for deep diving. Proper training will help deep divers avoid the risk of hypercapnia.


• Poorly Functioning Breathing Equipment

Regulators that breathe "hard" or increase the resistance of breathing can increase the level of carbon dioxide in a diver's bloodstream. When breathing resistance increases, divers find it hard to draw a full breath and exhale fully. Again, this leads to unintentional hyper- or hypoventilation, which increases carbon dioxide levels. Keep in mind that some regulators will breath easily on shallow dives, but may be inappropriate at greater depths.


• Breathing Gas Contamination

In contemporary scuba diving, it is extremely unlikely to encounter contaminated breathing gas. Strict regulations governing compressor use have helped to standardize tank filling practices. However, if the intake of a compressor is close to the exhaust from an internal combustion engine or other source of carbon dioxide, the air from the tank may contain abnormally high levels of carbon dioxide. While a high level of carbon dioxide may not cause any ill-effects when the tank is tested on the surface, underwater the increased concentration of carbon dioxide may lead to hypercapnia. Carbon dioxide is an odorless and tasteless gas, but other contaminants from exhaust are noticeable. Smell and taste the air from a scuba tank before diving with it. Any unusual findings could indicate that the tank air is contaminated with exhaust or other pollutants which may be accompanied by carbon dioxide. Report strange odors and flavors to the fill station or dive shop and don't dive if you think the tank may be contaminated.
Signs and Symptoms of Hypercapnia:

One of the problems divers face when dealing with elevated levels of carbon dioxide is that the signs and symptoms indicative of an increasing concentration of carbon dioxide may be masked by the dive environment. For example, symptoms such as elevated breathing rate may be attributed to excitement or cold water. Symptoms like headache may be misattributed or absent due to the high partial pressure of oxygen at depth. Unfortunately, this means that the first sign of carbon dioxide toxicity may be sudden unconsciousness. Here are common signs and symptoms of hypercapnia.

• shortness of breath
• headache
• narcosis - confusion, slowed thought processing, loss of manual dexterity
• unconsciousness

Remember, Hypercapnia Is Avoidable:

Basic good diving practices can nearly eliminate the chance of hypercapnia. Hopefully after reading this article, you will be convinced to always . . .

• Use regulators appropriate for the depth of your dive
• Avoid exertion underwater
• Use proper breathing techniques
• Avoid deep diving without proper training, gear, and gas mixtures
• Smell and taste tank air to check for pollutants that may indicate an excess of carbon dioxide

Remember, knowledge is power. The more you know, the safer you will be underwater. Happy Diving!

The Wrecks of West Palm Beach W/ Little Deeper Charters. Written by Brad Tonner, PADI Instructor

The first of our dives on Sunday was The Corridor which is definitely one of the best dives in Palm Beach County. The corridor is composed of four wrecks (Mizpah, PC1170, Amaryllis and the China Barge) that line up to form an amazing 1700-foot drift dive depending on the current. The China Barge is the last in line on this amazing site, although most divers don’t reach it before needing to ascend. As a dive site, The Corridor is an excellent training site for advanced, deep, and wreck specialties.

Our second dive was The Danny. The Danny sunk February 22nd, 2013 just north of the Lake Worth Inlet due to the combined efforts of the McCauley Family, Palm Beach County Diving Association, and Palm Beach County Artificial Reef Program. This 130ft ice class tug sits in 85ft of water and is now home to Goliath grouper, tropical fish and new sponge growth.

Even though some of our divers developed motion sickness and were unable to complete the second dive, the dives were enjoyed by most. The Captain and crew of the Little Deeper Charter took us out in windy and choppy conditions and dropped us right in front of each dive spot so we were able to successfully drift on to the wrecks and conduct our advanced and wreck dives. With a small current we were able to drift over the dive sites while seeing a green moray eel, a couple of sea turtles and 2 bull sharks.

All in all, it was an exciting day of diving!!

Come join our dive center for our next charter trip. Check out the Facebook page or call the dive center to find out when the next trip is scheduled.

Blue Grotto, Williston, FL - February Check-Out Dives

Our newest addition to the dive center, Brad, was with the group this weekend for our Open Water class final check out dives and had this to say about it:



We completed openwater dives 1 & 2 Saturday at Deleon Springs with zero issues. Everyone executed the skills required in a very calm manner. Today we will complete openwater dives 3 & 4 at the Blue Grotto dive facility in Williston FL and if all goes as planned we will be heading home with 6 new PADI openwater divers!! We also have several PADI Advance and Enriched Diver students participating as well. We are anticipating a lot of fun and excitement today!!



Brian and I arrived at the Blue Grotto Dive Facility at 9:15 and slowly signed in our dive students and pleasure divers as they arrived. We had a group of 6 openwater students, 2 Divemaster trainees and 4 pleasure divers. After getting set up and completing the dive brief we headed down the stairs to the 74-degree water that was full of others divers and one soft shell turtle named Virgil.

The dives went well and we would like to congratulate Marissa, Justin, Eric, Christian, Maggie and Dan on becoming certified PADI Openwater Divers!!!.

Preston and John (Both certified Divemasters, looking to link up with Discover Diving Dive Center and become part of the family), pared up with Charity and Selina and completed two pleasure dives to 60’.

Afterwards, everyone shared their stories of the dives while breaking down their gear with the exception of Christian, Dan and Maggie who decided to enroll in the Advanced Openwater Diver course and went back in for their third and final dive of the day.

It was a great day for everyone and Brian and I got a chance to meet some great people and make some new dive buddies!!


Big thank you to everyone in attendance. It was a great time for all. Thank you Brad for sharing with us your experiences with such a great a class. We hope we have inspired someone else that wants to get into diving. If you ever get the chance to take classes and learn how to dive, even if we aren't your instructors, don't hesitate trying it. You won't ever regret it. It is such an awesome experience and a lifetime of enjoyment. Dive, Dive, Dive!

There is nothing worse then a blog that is old! I am fixing that right now.

I know we haven't been the most up to date on these things but that is because we have been busy teaching some awesome people like you, how to dive and doing some fabulous dive trips.



We started making monthly dive trips to Epcot. That's right, Epcot. DiveQuest is what they call it. The living seas, inside Epcot, where it's located. This trip has gotten more and more popular the longer we offer to do these trips. If you have not done this dive, it is a great experience, even if you just go once. Drop by the dive center and take a look at the video we have of the actual trip we first did in May of 2015. First thing they do when we are taken back stage is we get to see just how large this facility is. We find out what the different species of aquatic life eats and where that is prepared. They supply all of the gear so the only thing you need to do is get your wetsuit and booties on and meet the guide before you dive. They suit you up and take you to the descent line. Once you descend you will get to dive with sharks, rays, tons of tropical fish and the best part...you get to be part of Disney's "show" to all the visitors in the observatory. Children and Adults alike, get to view your dive from the large glass windows. The children LOVE interacting with the divers and love to watch you. We have gotten several of the kids to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with us as we swim by the windows. It is only 25 feet deep so you should be able to make your air cylinder last the entire 40 minute dive. Don't worry if you can't, Disney gets you topside and hooks you right back up with a new cylinder and your back to the dive again in no time. We get a bit of a break in price if you come out with our group, so if you have been thinking about doing this dive, stop by and sign up for the next trip we have going. You won't be disappointed!

Summer is almost here!!!

Tuesday, May 26th, join us for our first pre-summer dive trip to West Palm Beach. Should be an awesome day of diving. We have decided to use Little Deeper Charters for this first dive trip of the season. We are the only dive group on the charter for the day and we are hoping it stays that way. LOL We will post up pictures from this dive on our Facebook page so be sure to check that out.

Click here to connect to Facebook.

Just in case you haven't heard yet...Ryan is no longer with the shop. We parted ways in March 2015 and he has gone solo. Still doing his thing in the area for a little while. He is expecting his first child in late August or early September. Once his bundle of joy is here, he will determine where life will take him next. Any students that had Ryan as an instructor, you are still a Discover Diving Dive Center student so feel free to continue your diving with us.

The shop may start doing some offshore Daytona Beach dive trips this summer. We have been in talks with an instructor that has a boat and plans on doing some trips right here in Daytona. We will keep you guys informed of that, if and when it becomes available.

Discover Diving Dive Center has a new employee, Jenn.

She is only part time but would love to meet all of you guys. Stop and say "Hi" if you are in the area on a Tuesday, Friday or Saturday. She is likely going to be working these days, to help us out here at the shop. She is an awesome addition to the shop.

Friday, May 29th will be our first Epcot Dive Quest trip. Therefore, the shop will be closed so all of us can be involved on this There was a high demand for this dive adventure so we booked it and the trip was full within 2 days of announcement. We will definitely be hosting this trip again in August 2015. So, don't be too upset if you weren't able to join on this trip. You will have another opportunity to get to dive in Disney next time. LOL Of course, we will be purchasing the video Disney offers so you guys can stop by the dive shop to watch the fun!

St. Croix Diving with Ryan and Dan

November 3, 2014

Dive Site: Cane Bay Wall, St. Croix
Depth: 216’
Time: 63 minutes
Surface Temp: 82 Degrees

On November 3, 2014 I set off with Dan Weeks, for our Deep Dive off Cane Bay wall. Ever since crossing into the Technical Diving world, 200’ has been a huge goal of mine. Michele having been to 208’, I was planning on going Deeper. Dan and I planned the Dive to 216’.

We started our 250yard swim offshore and it became real. I was so excited, yet focused on such an awesome dive. We set off to our first gas-switching point which was 130’. At that point we switched from 32EAN to Air. We dove Air to our final Destination.

Upon Reaching 216’, We gave each other a high five, and took a few minutes to enjoy the view. There is nothing in my life that compares to looking up from 200’ underwater. We began our ascent, nice and slow. I shot a lionfish at about 185’ and immediately had a Black tip Shark come to investigate. I wouldn’t give him the Fish, not for a while at least, so he would stick around for some photos! Around 130’, when it was time to switch back to 32EAN, I kicked the lionfish off and got the video of the shark taking the lionfish. We never saw the shark again.

From there it was smooth Sailing, the majority of our Deco Obligations were fulfilled between 90’-130’. We took our time enjoying the beautiful Cane Bay Coral Nursery, taking note of countless Christmas Tree worms, A large Barracuda, schools of snapper, squirrelfish, Tangs, Filefish and butterfly fish. I could go on forever, if it’s a Caribbean fish, it was there.

In the End, we did 63 minutes total, after a beautiful dive to 216’. If you are interested in Technical or Sidemount diving, feel free to contact us at the shop for more information! We offer several different courses to get you involved with either!

Watch their video: Click here

Gary Kessler's Heroic Adventure aboard Underwater Explorers charter on March 16, 2014.

Just a little background information on Gary. He is a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach and a PADI Open Water instructor. Gary has been an active member of our dive center for some time now and we thank him for allowing us to use this story in both our newsletter and this blog.






Gary tells us his accounts of the events as they happened...

So, my captain's license rating is for inland waters -- such as Lake Champlain -- and I would eventually like a raise in grade to cover near coastal waters, but that means an additional 360 days on near coastal waters! Anyway, to that end, Kevin Metz from Underwater Explorers in Boynton Beach, FL said that I could spend a few days with him during my Spring Break this week.

Now, for more explanation -- Kevin runs a six-pack boat, meaning that he cannot have on board more than six paying customers. He is also allowed one crew member; in this case, a dive master named John. PLUS, he took me, as a captain-in-training. Today, we had a full complement of divers meaning that there were nine people on board. Today, per Kevin, was the first time that he has ever had nine people on his boat. Today was very windy and somewhat rough out on the ocean. No matter, out we went -- as did other dive boats -- and we made our 40 minute ride out to the dive site, which was a wreck sitting in about 105' with the deck at about 85'. We put John, the dive master, in the water at about 0905 to secure a descent/ascent line to the wreck. We put the six other divers in the water at about 0910.

At about 0930, the first diver -- a guy named Richie -- came back up and we picked him up. At about 0938, we saw other divers' bubbles approaching the surface, and I said to Kevin, "Ok, there are a couple of divers. No, three... four." As we watched them surface, one of them started slapping the water. Now, for you non-divers... the proper signal upon surfacing is to face the boat and put one or both hands on the top of your head, indicating the OK signal. Slapping the water means that something has gone terribly wrong. So, we see the slapping and my first thought is, "These people do not know how to signal a dive boat." Then, one femtosecond later, I realize "Oh crap, these people do know how to signal a dive boat" as I noticed that three of the divers were way closer to each other than would ordinarily be the case. As we approached the divers in the boat, Kevin and I could both see that one diver was being held up by the others and that he appeared unconscious. I immediately went below to grab the oxygen kit. By the time I got back to the deck, Kevin had swung the stern to the divers, and he and Richie had gotten the unconscious diver -- Micah -- on board. Kevin had ascertained that Micah was pulseless and apneic, which I also confirmed. I was on Micah's head by this time and turned to Kevin and said, "Oh, one more thing I forgot to tell you about myself. I worked 25 years on an ambulance."

Kevin returned to the helm to maintain control of the boat, what with the high waves, and to recover the other three divers. I taught Richie, in real time, how to do chest compressions (*not* the first time that I have done that in the field!). Anyway, every compression pushed more water out of Micah and I did some mouth-to-mouth although it wasn't that effective early on because of the water. [[ What we found out later was that Micah had been advised to start his return up the line when he was half-way through his tank at 1500 psi. Although diving Nitrox, one goes through your gas quickly at 90' -- I dove this same site with Kevin 2-3 weeks ago and I only got a 40-45 minute dive. Anyway, at about 70', Micah showed one of his buddies his gauge which showed 1000 psi. She signaled to go up and at 54' he signaled that he was out of air. Our guess was that he was anxious about some aspect of the dive and was just blowing through his air. Anyway, he signaled out-of-air and another of his buddies tried to give Micah his spare regulator but Micah wouldn't keep it in his mouth. Seeing that Micah was unresponsive, his two buddies made an emergency ascent from 54'. ]]

Anyway, after about 5 minutes of CPR, Micah started to respond(!). He was not responding to verbal commands but he was clearly breathing on his own and, of course, had a pulse. During this time, Kevin had called the Coast Guard. A nearby dive boat came to our aid to pick up our last two divers. Meanwhile, SeaTow had a rubber boat nearby and offered to take the rescuers in because he could go much faster than our dive boat.
By the time SeaTow got to us a few minutes later, Micah could squeeze his hand upon command, his hand grip was strong and equal, he could follow our voice, and I started taking vitals. SeaTow arrived, and DM John and I got in the boat with Micah, who was no longer dead weight. We kept him on O2 and monitored him and kept improving. SeaTow, indeed, made much better time than the dive boat! As we approached the Boynton Beach Inlet, both Coast Guard and Palm County Sheriff's boats were coming out and they were hauling -- both were at at least a 45 degree angle as they cleared the inlet; they saw us and got in line behind us as we went in to the sheriff's dock. By this time, Micah was pretty responsive, at least to name. He didn't know where he was but he did remember diving. We transferred him to the paramedics, and as they did their stuff, he was able to verbally answer questions.

About 25 minutes after we got to shore with SeaTow -- and the paramedics had already left -- our dive boat arrives. And, that, of course, is the beginning of a very long process!!! So, the event started at about 0940. It's now 1040. USCG, Palm Co. Sheriff, FL Fish & Game, and local police are there. We all get interviewed by all the cops. Media arrives and none us agree to talk on camera. USCG does an inspection of Kevin's boat and interview Kevin. Sheriff interviews Kevin. One by one, the agencies leave. It is now almost noon. John, Kevin, and me -- the crew -- are instructed to stay on the boat and await the USCG Safety Officer. AND, to not eat or drink, as we have to have a breath test -- which, BTW, must happen within two hours or as soon as practical. It's now been been closing on three hours.

Safety Officer arrives. We fill out statements and how try to find a cop with a breathalyzer. Although we are docked at the Sheriff's pier and there is a substation there, there is no sheriff to be found. Safety Officer tells us to go to any police station ASAP. During this time, Kevin had left all of the instruments on on his boat -- meaning that both batteries were dead and we couldn't start the engine. We couldn't get a charge right there so he asked a buddy to come give us a tow. So, we get the tow, back to the dock... and by now, it is 1530 and six hours after the event. We dutifully drive to Boynton Beach PD where we are told that no one can administer a breath test. We are told to try the sheriff. We call the sheriff's office and they tell us to go to the main station, which we do... a 25 minutes drive. We arrive and they say that we have to go to the adjacent jail. Jail tells us to talk to probation -- TOMORROW!!! It will be 24 hours after the event before we get our "within two hours" breath test!!! [[ In my opinion, if a breath test soon after an incident is so important -- and it could well be -- USCG or Sheriff should equip their marine units with a testing device. But, I digress... ]]

Anyway, the next day we also needed to get our drug test. We had 32 or 36 hours to get that done.
We have had no word about Micah's status but, as Kevin observed, "he was brought back on the boat dead and left the boat alive." Just fortunate, maybe, that today he had a ninth person on board!

Update: March 23, 2014 - The victim does not have any brain damage but there are some respiratory issues, although the expectation is that he will recover. The object lesson, obviously, is to watch our gauges!

Sunday, March 16, 2014 - Ft. Lauderdale dive with Instructor Ryan Walton

Sunday March 16, 2014


Dive Location: Ft. Lauderdale
Seas Projected 2-3’ / Actual 3-5’
Visibility: 60’

Dive Site 1 – The Rodeo Shipwreck
Dive Site 2 – The Copenhagen wreck / reef drift



Heading out to the dive site we had the 2-3’ seas that were projected. Everyone was geared up and ready to dive before leaving the inlet. It’s always amazing strolling past the massive cruise ships and multi million dollar homes. The highlight yacht we went past was Stephen Spielberg’s floating mansion.

As we made our way on approach to the planned wreck on the itiniary, another local charter was already on it and the seas were starting to get bigger. Our captain called over to there’s to a response of “our captain is in the water.” Therefore we moved a mile north to the “Rodeo.”

During the Decent it was really cool to watch from about 30’ as the wreck came into view. A massive Wreck, slightly listed to its starboard side still lays completely intact. We tied off to the bow and began to explore. I took note of the large Spanish hogfish all over the wreck and the perfect “swim through” for newer wreck divers. Where the wreck laid in the sand was about 125’ but the majority of the wreck can be seen around 85.’

The second dive was the Copenhagen wreck which had run aground and scattered across the reef in about 30’ of water. The ledge was at less than 20.’ We dropped in immediately on top of the remains of the wreck scattered across the oceans floor. The light shining through reflecting off the live rock and coral was a cool sight since normally our dives are 60-80’. There were lots of Angelfish, butterfly fish, a massive goby I wasn’t familiar with and of course all your favorite inverts like arrow crabs and banded shrimp!

Next time we’re in Lauderdale the goal is to hit the Captain Dan or the Tenaco Towers. Stay Tuned for all our awesome upcoming trips!!

April 19/20 – AWARE Shark Conservation Class
Cost - $200 Includes 2 tank charter
April 19th Knowledge Session in store / April 20th West Palm 2-tank trip

April 13/27 – Rescue Diver Class
Cost - $350

Sunday, February 9, 2014 - Wreck Trek and Juno Ledge in Jupiter, Florida

Dive Sites: Jupiter Wreck Trek and Juno Ledge
Water Temp: 75 Degrees
Visibility: 60+
Seas: 3’-5’

February is Lemon Shark season along the coast of Southern Florida. With that said, our group set out with that in mind! Just the day before, several lemons had been spotted between both dive sites we decided to head to. Along the ledges in Jupiter, Tiger Sharks have also been spotted as of late.

We dropped assuming a North Current on Dive 1. The Zion should have been in plain sight within minutes, but it was not. We dropped into NO current. We headed north in hopes of hitting the Zion, and getting back on track, but within minutes a 6’-7’ Bull Shark came into view. Everyone got close to the bottom as we admired this massive shark with about 8-10 Cobia along for the ride. We decided at this point, not to surface and re-drop because it would have made for a short drop. We stayed down, and thankfully we did because the same bull shark circled at a distance of 25’-30’ away. Within 10 minutes a second bull shark had come into view and stayed with us while we explored rubble on our trek north.

Group 2 decided to Re-drop and dropped right on the Esso T. Bonaire wreck. They saw several Goliath Grouper, Nurse Sharks and what we believe to be the same Bull shark sporting all the Cobia. They were able to enjoy about 20-25 minutes on the wreck before surfacing!

Dive 2 everyone dropped together onto Juno Ledge! Juno Ledge is a personal favorite of everyone at Discover Diving because you reach the ledge at 65’ and it drops off to sections over 90’ Deep! This ledge is home to everything! We immediately had a nurse shark swim up to us and a Reef shark with a hook and line in its mouth swam in for some action. These two sharks literally stayed with us the entire dive. The tropical Fish, such as Angels, Butterflies and Chromis are always so Big and colorful on Juno Ledge. Our Spear guys enjoyed shooting some plump mangrove snapper and we are still seeing Lobster!

If you aren't diving, you have only seen 1/3 of our world!!-Ryan

Busy dive season this year, means bigger dive shop

Thanks to all of our students, we were pretty busy this year.  In fact, we were so busy we decided to expand our shop into the space next door to our original shop.  If you haven't come by to check it out yet, feel free to do so anytime.  We haven't had our official grand opening yet but are looking forward to getting all of our contracted companies in on the festivities and forward any prizes and savings onto our loyal customers.  Keep checking our Facebook page for more details on that.

Let's see, what can I tell you about our past few months worth of dive trips?  We are still frequenting our favorite shop down in West Palm Beach, Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures.  They have also expanded into a full dive shop.  We are so happy for them.  You will have to check them out on our next trip down there.  Our last dive trip was for the Deep Specialty and we dove Hole in the Wall, Bonair and Tunnels.  Three great dive spots.  So great, we decided to go back on Dec. 8th and do another dive on Hole in the Wall.  Plenty of sharks on these dives as well.  This is a deep dive, so only our experienced divers can handle these dives.  Although, on our next trip scheduled for Dec. 8th, the charter is going to do a drift shark dive.  What does that mean?  I'll tell you.  The charter heads out to Shark Canyon and on the edge of Hole in the Wall.  They drop two buoy markers attached to a 35 foot line and attached with a pvc line attaching both buoy markers.  The shop then has all the divers go down to the 35 foot line and hang on there.  One of the dive guides stay with the group and another dives down with a basket of frozen fish parts.  As the diver swims around with the basket, the ice melts and lets out pieces of the frozen fish parts.  As these parts exit the basket, the sharks will swim up to snag these out of the water.  It makes for an exciting show.  The sharks are dynamic creatures and are so interested in what is in the basket, they don't even pay attention to the divers hanging on the 35 foot line.  If you have never been on a dive like this, you will want to experience it for yourself. 

There were many other dives down to West Palm Beach this year and it's always a great time when we head down there.  We have done Night dives, Wreck dives, Deep dives and introduced many new divers to the ocean.  Some of the dives were near perfect conditions, while others left something to be desired.  It is always hard when we plan a dive and the weather decides not to cooperate with our plans.  Then again, any day of diving, good or bad, is still better then a good or bad day at work. LOL

Hopefully, you caught our latest dive video on our Facebook page.  If not, you might want to go check that out and see what we do for a living.  Without great divers and new students like you, we wouldn't be able to spread the love for what we do.  Thank you for all you do for us.  We appreciate you sticking with your local dive shops for all your diving needs.  We do it all for you because without you, we wouldn't be here.  Remember, if you find it on-line, we might be able to match or beat that price.  You will never know, unless you ask.

As always, happy diving!

Diving Daytona

Hi Everyone!

Just in case you haven't heard yet, we now have a boat associated with the shop so we now do trips offshore Daytona Beach.  Most Tuesdays and Thursdays are available for trips to some of our wrecks right offshore.  We will also have some weekend days to get some dives done but will be few and far between.  Those of you who are interested in doing some diving offshore here, let us know and we can get your name on a list to get out there and dive.

Ryan hosts most of these trips but Michele will provide a few too.  Hopefully this year will be a better year for night dives.  I know some of you signed up for our night dives last year and we were only able to complete one, due to weather making us change our plans.  We plan on making this year one to remember and for all of you to get to know Daytona Wrecks and love them as much as we do.

Of course we will still be making our usual trips down to West Palm.  Ryan was actually going down there this past Memorial weekend to do a couple of deep dives but repairs needed to be done to the boat he was using, so that dive trip was cancelled.  The dive will need to be rescheduled and we will be sure to post up pictures, if not videos.

We hope you guys join us for one of our dive trips.  Happy Diving!

West Palm Beach February 24, 2013

Morning dive trip -

We were all excited for this mornings dives.  There was a total of 16 divers from Discover Diving Dive Center on board for this trip.  Most of us were on Nitrox and a few divers had not done their certification yet so they were on air.  As you may know, diving with air, your bottom time is much less than diving with Nitrox (Tanks with a higher percentage of oxygen in it).  Those divers with air tanks had a bottom time of 30 minutes, while Nitrox divers had a limit of 45 minutes.

Our first dive was on "The Danny".  Named for a 16 year old Danny McCauley who was in a tragic automobile accident. This artificial reef was sunk two days prior to our dives on February 22, 2013.    This 110 foot World War II vintage tugboat, formerly called the Pocahontas, was deployed perfectly upright with the bow facing south. Being a relatively small vessel at a moderate depth with plenty of open areas to explore this promises to be an excellent dive for openwater divers.  We dropped down and with the northern current pushing us, we landed right on the wreck.  The tugboat sits in 74 feet of seawater with the deck in the 50 foot range.  Large holes throughout the wreck make this a perfect wreck for getting all of the required dives done for your wreck certification.  It hadn't been down long enough to do a penatration dive for our wreck certification divers this time so we will have to come back another day.  Oh Darn, we will have to make another dive trip down to West Palm Beach.  LOL  Once we got around the tug a few times, it was time to drift onto our next wreck site, "The Spud Barge".  All of our air divers had used up their aloted time of 30 minutes at this point so they were on their way back to the boat.  Those of us who still had enough air to get to this point got to see the two groupers that lived on this wreck.  We even got some video of these two beautiful creatures.  By this time it has been just about the full 45 minutes and most divers have used up their air or reached the 45 minute limits and we all made our ascents to the boat.

Our second dive was "North Double Ledges".  This dive is always a great one with two ledges to follow along the bottom.  Once again we filed off the charter in two sets.  Because this was a drift dive and the current pushes you with the direction of the ledges, it allows for a nice relaxed dive, while seeing all that the ocean has to offer.  Not everyone gets to see what the other does.  There were sightings of a shark, many Lionfish, a Scorpion Fish and a Moray Eel, just to name a few.   These dives are always fun because most of the time, the two groups catch up to one another and divers that don't always get to dive together, end up together.

Hope to see you on our next trip down south.

Happy Diving!

Diving in 2013

Wow!  Last year has just flown by and I can hardly believe it's 2013.  Hope everyone had a great year of diving.

Ryan went down to West Palm yesterday for some diving and had an awesome time.  After the holidays, everyone was looking for a good dive.  He saw the usual array of marine life but was happy to be back in the water. 

As you know, winter is a time of year that diving in general gets a bit slower for us.  The shop crawls along, just waiting for spring.  We get the annual visitors who want to get into the water, no matter what the weather but for the most part, everyone else is waiting for spring too.  Some of us do research on what the upcoming year's dive gear will look like.  What are the new colors this year?  (Well, maybe that's just me)  What technical advances have they done to the dive computers?  What innovative new ideas have they put into the BCD?  What's different about the mask  that might help me clearing it easier?  (I hated that part of my Open Water training!)  We can try and answer any of these questions for you and if we haven't heard of whatever it is you heard, we will try and find out.

We love telling stories in class and even posting them on facebook.  If you have a dive story that might make someone feel better about their dives, tell us and we might feature you in one of our blogs.  Some of you are featured in our conversations with our new classes and don't even know it.  We never give out names so you don't have to be embarrassed.  Now, if you drop into the shop while we are teaching a class, you might hear your story being told and if you want to add in any extra information, go ahead because your story might help another diver conquer any fears they might have about getting certified.  If you could do it, so can they.

I would love to sit and bable on and on but you would probably get bored so I will sign off for now and promise to keep up with this blogging thing.  Maybe even show some pictures or videos of The Exciting Tales of the Deep, via Ryan's pictures.  Be sure to check in frequently, I will try and post up some funny stories as they come in.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Diving!

North Carolina Diving May 2012

It was my first time diving in the waters off North Carolina and sounded like great place to dive.  I couldn't wait to get there and see what the sea had to offer.  We drove up on a Friday and arrived late.  Excited about the next couple of days ahead, we all had restless nights of sleep.  6:00 am came early but we were all ready to dive, dive, dive!


Our dive charter, Diver Down Scuba Divers in Morehead City, N.C., were a great bunch.  We were with a group of other divers that came down from Virginia.  All just as excited as we were to get to see some of the famous dive sites outside of North Carolina.

Our fist dive was to the U-352:


A German Submarine (VII-C Class) 218 feet long was sunk April 9, 1942 by the United States Coast Guard Cutter "ICARUS". This vessel is possibly the most intact and unique wreck in this area. This is the signature dive in the Morehead City area. The maximum depth of the dive is 110 feet.


Our second dive of the day was to the Spar:

The Coast Guard Cutter Spar was sunk as a diver friendly wreck just yards from the Aeolus. Known as a popular spot for Sand Tiger Sharks, the 180ft long and 37ft wide Spar sits upright in 100ft of water and is completely intact, allowing many opportunities for a diver to penetrate the wreck.

After a great fist day of diving, we got back to Fisherman's Inn and cleaned up before going to dinner.  We talked about what everyone had seen that day and how much fun we all had.  The video above is from our first dive on the U-352.  We were having some technical difficulties with the other video camera so we only had time to splice together a short clip of the first dive.  As soon as I have enough time to take a breath, I am going to get together another video clip of The Spar. 

The next morning we were on our way to do two more dive sites.  It's always great to be able to travel to another state and dive what the city has to offer.  You could never get tired of diving wrecks off our coastal waters.  The biggest thrill is knowing that most of the sites you dive in North Carolina have been sunk naturally, the way it was 30, 40, 50 years ago.  The water preserves these treasures for us to see but won't be there forever. 

Our first dive of the day was to The Papoose:

An American Tanker 412 ft. in length was torpedoed & sunk on march 3, 1942 by the German Submarine U-124 Vessel is intact & upside down with the hull rising approx. 30 ft. off the bottom. This wreck is a breeding ground for Atlantic Sand Tiger Sharks and lion fish. Depth of dive is approx. 125 ft.

Our second dive of the day was to The Schurz:

A WW1 German Cruiser 225 ft. in length was captured & repatriated by the U.S. at the outbreak off the war On June 21, 1918 it sunk after colliding with the S.S. FLORIDA. Time has taken a heavy toll on this vessel. The deck cannons, boilers,& engines are the remaining structures visible making this an excellent dive. Many artifacts are still being recovered. This one of the prettiest dives South of Cape Lookout !! Look for sharks, turtles, rays, and eels. Depth of dive is approx. 110 ft.

Tons of life on all these wrecks.  Excellent videos to come. 

If you ever have a chance to get to Morehead City, N.C., be sure to book your charter with Diver Down Scuba Click Here for more information.  To everyone there, thank you, we had a great couple of days with you.

That's it for now.  Happy Diving!!!