- REBREATHERS - SPORT DIVERS ... - Stingray Divers
- REBREATHERS - SPORT DIVERS ... - Stingray Divers
- REBREATHERS - SPORT DIVERS ... - Stingray Divers
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Issue 3<br />
June/July 2007<br />
- RebReatheRs -<br />
spoRt DiveRs DiscoveRing<br />
the Fun anD aDvantages<br />
oF going on the loop<br />
Socorro Islands • Solmar V • Goliath Groupers • Zeagle Octo-Z • Diving Vintage Scuba<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
CONTENTS Pg 11 Adventure Diving in<br />
the Socorro Islands<br />
Cover: <strong>Divers</strong> on KISS closed-circut<br />
rebreathers explore the wheelhouse of<br />
the RSB wreck off Pompano, Florida.<br />
Photo by Walt Stearns.<br />
Pg 3 Editor’s Page<br />
Uncertain Future for our Big Fish<br />
Pg 5 Going on the Loop<br />
Can closed-circuit rebreathers work<br />
in a sport diver’s world?<br />
Pg 9 Dive Computers<br />
Which do for recreational CCR<br />
diving<br />
2<br />
Pg 16 Solmar V<br />
Live-aboard Profile<br />
Pg 20 Goliath Grouper<br />
Is this fish headed for another<br />
goliath problem?<br />
Pg 34 Gear Locker<br />
Zeagle’s new Octo-Z<br />
Pg 36 Vintage Scuba<br />
Some collect cars ... others collect<br />
and dive vintage scuba gear<br />
Pg 42 St. Lucia Thing<br />
OMG! Another creepy reef critter<br />
Walt Stearns - Editor-in-Chief<br />
Cheri Craft - Art Director<br />
Karen Stearns - Assistant Editor<br />
Barbara Hay - Contract Manager<br />
Lori Lachnicht - Marketing/Sales<br />
Contributors<br />
Adam Matherson<br />
Allen Young<br />
Bonnie J. Cardone<br />
Douglas Ebersole<br />
Board of Advisors<br />
Chris Koenig, Ph.D.<br />
Samuel Gruber, Ph.D.<br />
Ned DeLoach<br />
Paul Humann<br />
Capt. Tim Taylor<br />
Tom Mount, D.Sc., Ph.D<br />
Underwater Journal is published<br />
by Aquafield Communications,<br />
LLC., 313 Kelsy Park Circle,<br />
West Palm Beach, FL 33410.<br />
All contents copyright©2007<br />
Aquafield Communications, LLC.<br />
No use may be made of<br />
material contained herein<br />
without express written consent<br />
of the Underwater Journal.<br />
For inquiries, contact:<br />
info@uwjournal.com.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
An Uncertain Future<br />
During my travels during the later 80’s and 90’s<br />
for magazines like Skin Diver and Sport Diver,<br />
the number one complaint I heard from divers is<br />
that there are no big fish left on the reefs. In some<br />
regions of the Caribbean, large species of groupers<br />
like black, yellowfin and even Nassau have become<br />
virtually non-existent. In others, seeing something<br />
like an adult angelfish was as good as it got.<br />
In my last editorial Big Fish, Going, Going…..<br />
Gone? I told you that on March 5, 2007, the<br />
Mexican government passed new regulations<br />
and protections for sharks. Most important was a<br />
finning ban on sharks, along with an extension of<br />
the moratorium on new commercial shark fishing<br />
permits, as well as extensive protections for great<br />
white sharks, whale sharks, basking sharks and<br />
manta rays.<br />
Recently in a press release issued by Seawatch,<br />
what we have been told may in reality be a sham.As<br />
of May 16, 2007 the Mexican government pushed<br />
through an additional piece of legislation “NOM-<br />
029-PESCA-2006,” which opens Baja’s 50-mile<br />
restricted zone to commercial longline fishing, and<br />
permits the longline fleet to keep both sport and<br />
reef fish as “by-catch.”<br />
I also mentioned one of our Florida success<br />
stories with the return of the fish we formerly called<br />
Jewfish, the goliath grouper. Unfortunately, as I<br />
started to put together a feature on the fish for this<br />
issue, I realized my previous assessment of the<br />
goliath’s future maybe premature.<br />
Last December I attended one of the Florida<br />
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)<br />
hearings in the Keys to learn how state and federal<br />
lawmakers plan to handle future protection of<br />
goliath grouper in state waters.<br />
Large goliath groupers like this can be easily approached making them easy targets.<br />
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)<br />
had already announced seasonal closures for the<br />
recreational harvest of red, black and gag (gray)<br />
grouper in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico<br />
from February 15 through March 15th. At this<br />
hearing, there was additional talk of a complete<br />
closure of the red and gag grouper fisheries in the<br />
Gulf if populations continued to decline.<br />
With these fisheries in decline, more pressure<br />
is being put on the FWC to open or allow a limited<br />
harvest of Florida’s growing goliath population.<br />
Unfortunately, the fishing community, who as a<br />
whole consider themselves the primary user group<br />
with the most rights to these waters, is putting on the<br />
pressure to change the current laws.<br />
At the close of that hearing, there were<br />
reassurances that full protection for goliaths would<br />
continue. Or continue at least for the next two more<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
years when Florida State University (FSU) and NMFS’<br />
population study is complete. But now that may not<br />
be the case.<br />
In a meeting slated for August 2007, the FWC, Fish<br />
and Wildlife Research Institute (FWC-FWRI) and the<br />
National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fishery<br />
Science Center (NMFS-SEFSC) are proposing a<br />
joint, collaborative research program directed at<br />
goliath grouper in the tropical Atlantic and eastern<br />
Gulf of Mexico.<br />
At the center of this discussion is a research<br />
proposal that would include the harvest of a limited<br />
number of goliath grouper for scientific purposes.<br />
Over a two-year period, the program would kill an<br />
estimated 800 fish in Florida’s southern Atlantic and<br />
the eastern Gulf of Mexico.<br />
The proposal states that “biological samples<br />
(otoliths, gonad tissue, etc.) collected through this<br />
limited harvest program would be used to augment<br />
our information base on goliath grouper age, growth,<br />
and reproduction, as well as supplement ongoing<br />
studies on feeding habits. However, besides providing<br />
specimens for life history studies, we believe that<br />
development of a State-Federal Cooperative Goliath<br />
Grouper Research Program will improve coordination<br />
of goliath grouper research activities being currently<br />
conducted or planned by scientists at FWC-FWRI,<br />
NMFS, and Florida State University, as well as<br />
facilitate consistent management of this species in<br />
state and federal waters.”<br />
For the most part, all of the tests suggested in this<br />
program could be accomplished without killing the fish<br />
– as has been the case for the past 16 years. So why<br />
kill these fish for no good reason? Many informed<br />
members of the fishing and scientific communities see<br />
this program as nothing more than an appeasement<br />
to specific fishing groups. Especially when the first<br />
listed recommended in this program proposes (in<br />
response to recent public interest in reopening the<br />
fishery) scientific research projects developed under<br />
the Cooperative Goliath Grouper Research Program<br />
(CGGRP) be conducted with the assistance of<br />
commercial and/or recreational fishers (e.g. for the<br />
collection of specimens). Fishers participating in this<br />
program would be required to coordinate activities with<br />
scientists submitting proposals to the CGGRP so their<br />
names can be listed in scientific collection permits<br />
issued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation<br />
Commission (for state waters) and/or the National<br />
Marine Fisheries Service (for federal waters).<br />
Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation<br />
Commission would issue 800 numbered plastic<br />
“harvest tags” (similar to kill tags issued by the FWC<br />
for tarpon) to be distributed to scientists participating<br />
in the CGGRP. What remains vague is how the<br />
collected goliath grouper specimens will be delivered<br />
to scientists facilitating this research program.<br />
On closer examination, one might conclude that<br />
this collection plan is nothing more than a loophole<br />
to allow commercial fishermen to kill the ever-soimportant<br />
large goliaths under the guise of science. If<br />
management of a species, especially one considered<br />
critically endangered throughout its range outside of<br />
US waters by the World Conservation Union (IUCN),<br />
is allowed to be governed by special interest groups<br />
more interested in appeasing their constituency, the<br />
fate of the goliath could be grim. How important is<br />
it for you to see a few big fish next time you’re out<br />
diving on the reef?<br />
Walt Stearns<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
Call to Action….<br />
Opposed?<br />
If you’re not in favor of the plan<br />
proposed by the Cooperative<br />
Goliath Grouper Research<br />
Program (CGGRP)...<br />
Write, email or call:<br />
Luiz Barbieri, Researcher<br />
Department for Marine Fisheries<br />
Research<br />
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation<br />
Commission (FWC)<br />
Fish and Wildlife Research Institute<br />
100 8th Avenue SE<br />
St. Petersburg, FL 33701-5020<br />
Email: Luiz.Barbieri@fwc.state.fl.us.<br />
Alex Chester, Science and<br />
Research Director<br />
Southeast Fisheries Science Center<br />
75 Virginia Beach Drive<br />
Miami, Florida 33149<br />
E mail: alex.chester@noaa.gov<br />
PH: 305-361-4259, ex: 259<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
By Douglas Ebersole<br />
ClOSEd-CirCuiT rEbrEaThErS<br />
iN a SpOrT divEr’S WOrld<br />
Can Recreational <strong>Divers</strong> Reach the Happy Medium of Silent Running?<br />
KISS Rebreather Instructors like Douglas Ebersole believe it to be so.<br />
I’m finning along in complete<br />
silence on my Sport Kiss CCR<br />
enjoying the beauties of the<br />
underwater world. However, I am<br />
not on a wreck 200 feet below<br />
the surface of the cold northern<br />
Atlantic. I’m drifting along at a<br />
depth of 60 feet off Breaker’s Reef<br />
in West Palm Beach, Florida. Yes,<br />
Virginia, closed-circuit rebreathers<br />
have crossed over into mainstream<br />
recreational diving.<br />
Getting into rebreathers, or as some<br />
jokingly refer to it as going over to the<br />
dark side, and discovering what they<br />
are all about, also exposed me even<br />
further to how others see them.<br />
There are several myths that have<br />
permeated the recreational diving<br />
community regarding rebreathers. The<br />
first of these is that they are solely the<br />
domain of technical divers. While it is<br />
true that rebreathers can greatly limit<br />
decompression obligations and allow<br />
technical divers to carry less gas than<br />
their open-circuit diver counterparts,<br />
many other advantages can be enjoyed<br />
by recreational divers as well. The most<br />
obvious advantage is the “bubblefree”<br />
diving. This allows much closer<br />
interaction with certain marine life,<br />
and the silence makes the dive much<br />
more peaceful.<br />
Believe me, the first thing you notice<br />
on a rebreather is how noisy the other<br />
divers are!<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
No Cloak of Invisibility<br />
Which brings me to the first myth, or misunderstood concept,<br />
about rebreathers and marine life.<br />
One of my most favorite whoppers is that diving with a<br />
rebreather gives you the ability to sneak up to anything. The<br />
reality is rebreathers are not Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility.<br />
Furthermore, fish are not blind, they know you are there!<br />
Last time I checked, the big stuff on the reef didn’t get big by<br />
letting even bigger things go unnoticed whenever it enters the<br />
picture. How it works is all marine animals have a comfort zone.<br />
Because you are not making any noise, you stand a better chance<br />
of being accepted or at least tolerated as another, be it somewhat<br />
deformed looking, marine creature.<br />
True, there will always be fish, sharks and sea turtles that<br />
just don’t care what equipment you’re using! But if you’re good<br />
with fish on conventional scuba, you will do even better in most<br />
cases on a CCR. Which is one of the reasons why more serious<br />
professionals in underwater photography and television production<br />
are switching to these specialized pieces of equipment.<br />
Large goliath groupers like the one above may be slowwitted, but they are<br />
are not blind to our presence.<br />
There are times when silence really counts for getting the shot, like<br />
approaching this sleeping reef shark under a ledge.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
About Time<br />
The other reason is time. That is, the<br />
ability to stay where you are longer. For<br />
example, the gas supply from a fourteen<br />
cubic foot cylinder of oxygen can easily<br />
provide a rebreather diver with four hours<br />
of dive time. While most of us will never do<br />
a four hour dive, it’s very nice to be able<br />
to make two one hour dives on a two tank<br />
morning dive charter and then repeat that<br />
on the afternoon charter without ever having<br />
to change tanks. Additionally, since you are<br />
always minimizing your nitrogen loading you<br />
have much longer no decompression limits,<br />
such as over two hours at 60 fsw! This can<br />
mean longer recreational dives and shorter<br />
surface intervals. More time in the water -<br />
- isn’t that why we all got into diving in the<br />
first place? Finally, my Sport Kiss complete<br />
only weighs 38 pounds. That’s the weight of<br />
a single aluminum 80 cubic foot cylinder!<br />
The second myth regarding rebreathers is<br />
the thought that you need a master’s degree<br />
in physics just to understand the technology.<br />
All that is really required is an understanding<br />
of enriched air nitrox. In simple terms, a<br />
rebreather is like breathing into a paper bag<br />
while adding back the oxygen your body<br />
consumes and removing the carbon dioxide<br />
it produces. Of note, the chemical reaction<br />
that occurs with removing the carbon dioxide<br />
provides a warm, moist breathing gas. No<br />
more of the “cotton mouth” of open-circuit<br />
diving. The carbon dioxide scrubber is good<br />
for several hours based on workload and<br />
water temperature. Diving a rebreather<br />
simply means filling your scrubber and<br />
keeping your PO2 at a reasonable limit such<br />
as 1.2. Beyond that, just enjoy your dive.<br />
7<br />
Douglas Ebersole and Alan Studley investigate the coral-encrusted bridge of the RSB wreck off<br />
Pompano Beach, Florida - without stirring up the dust for the photographer.<br />
From your basic nitrox course you will<br />
remember that the maximum PO2 for<br />
recreational diving is 1.4. The value of 1.2<br />
would be the equivalent of breathing EAN<br />
30 at 99 fsw (4 ATA) or breathing EAN 40<br />
at 66 fsw (3 ATA). While closed-circuit dive<br />
computers are available, for recreational<br />
diving, you can still get away with your old,<br />
trusty nitrox computer and set it like the<br />
examples above. Finally, just like driving an<br />
automobile, diving a rebreather is as safe as<br />
the person diving it.<br />
A third myth is that maintaining a<br />
rebreather is complicated and time<br />
consuming. Basically, at the end of the dive<br />
day you simply rinse everything with fresh<br />
water and a small amount of disinfectant.<br />
Let it dry and you are ready to assemble it<br />
and dive again! For me, it takes no longer<br />
to clean it at the end of the dive day than<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
my open-circuit gear. Assembly time is longer<br />
(about 20 minutes) than with open-circuit but<br />
is offset by not having to change tanks during<br />
the dive day. The scrubber needs to be changed<br />
out every several hours of dive time and the<br />
oxygen sensors last a year or so.<br />
For more information on rebreathers check out:<br />
www.rebreatherworld.com is widely recognized<br />
and has a highly knowledgeable member base. You<br />
can join the forum for great interaction.<br />
www.thedecostop.com covers rebreathers in<br />
addition to other fields of technical diving, like cave<br />
diving and deep wreck exploration.<br />
IANTD-www.iantd.com or<br />
TDI/SDI-www.tdisdi.com<br />
provide straight-forward information and explanation<br />
on how various types of rebreathers function, plus<br />
instruction on using rebreathers.<br />
Closed-Circuit Rebreathers<br />
Inspiration/Evolution - http://www.apdiving.com<br />
KISS - http://www.jetsam.ca<br />
Megalodon - http://www.customrebreathers.com<br />
Pelagian DCCCR - http://www.rebreatherlab.com<br />
Prism Topaz - http://www.steammachines.com<br />
Optima - www.diverite.com<br />
Ouroborus - www.ccrb.co.uk<br />
rEvo II – http://www.revo-rebreather.com<br />
Submatix CCR 100 - http://www.submatix.com<br />
Titan - http://www.bubbleseekers.com<br />
Down to Dollars and Sense<br />
The last myth is cost. While rebreathers<br />
definitely are more expensive than a buoyancy<br />
compensator, a regulator, and a couple of<br />
aluminum 80s, the costs have come down<br />
considerably. While some models like the<br />
Ouroborus (www.ccrb.co.uk) still cost $15,000<br />
or more, others such as the Sport Kiss (www.<br />
jetsam.ca) can be purchased for around $4500.<br />
A last example of rebreathers moving into<br />
the mainstream is provided by the International<br />
Association of Nitrox and Technical Diving<br />
(www.iantd.com). This training agency now<br />
offers an Open Water CCR Diver certification.<br />
This is an entry level certification and allows one<br />
to dive a rebreather to a depth of 70 fsw or to<br />
100 fsw accompanied by an instructor.<br />
Diving closed-circuit rebreathers is certainly<br />
not for everyone. Complacency and being<br />
overly comfortable with your unit and/or taking<br />
liberties with maintenance or diving protocol,<br />
will eventually lead to unfortunate results.<br />
However, if you are an avid diver and very<br />
attentive in your diving practices, rebreathers<br />
are very safe and can greatly enhance your<br />
diving experiences. v<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Dive Computers for the Recreational CCR Diver<br />
The advancement in dive computer<br />
design, type and capability has come a long<br />
way from the first Orca Edge, an air only,<br />
brick size computer that was considered<br />
state of the art in the early 1980’s. Today,<br />
dive computers not only come in units the<br />
size of a wrist watch, but also have the ability<br />
to work one, two, even three mixes during a<br />
single dive in both air and nitrox percentages<br />
as high as 99 percent.<br />
For the recreational CCR diver who is<br />
mainly interested in keeping to depths<br />
within 130 feet, can pretty much get a way<br />
with a run of the mill nitrox computer. The<br />
downside is that, that diver must adhere<br />
to the FO2 percentage programmed into<br />
the computer that matches his/her PO2 at<br />
the max targeted depth of that dive. For<br />
example, that max depth of the dive is 80<br />
feet, the diver is going to run their PO2 at<br />
1.3, which will be equal to 38%, that diver<br />
should conduct their profile for the dive as is<br />
to conduct as having only 38% regardless if<br />
of weather or not they go no deeper than 60-<br />
70 feet. That is with a one gas computer.<br />
Two and three gas models, most of which<br />
run below the $600 range, allow the same<br />
diver to design a profile with a bit more<br />
flexibility. The first setting will be reserved for<br />
the bottom PO2 mix equivalent, the second<br />
mix setting can act as either their deco mix<br />
or as richer mix setting for the second half of<br />
the dive, if the diver plans to work his or her<br />
way shallower as the dive progresses.<br />
Two Mix Nitrox Computers:<br />
Dive Rite NiTek Plus & Duo<br />
TUSA IQ-700<br />
Apeks Pulse & Quantum<br />
Cressi-sub Archimedes II<br />
Suunto Vyper2/wristwatch model D6<br />
Uwatec Tec 2G<br />
Three Mix Nitrox Computers:<br />
Oceanic VT3/wristwatch model Atom 2<br />
Aeris Elite T3/wristwatch model Epic<br />
Suunto Vytec DS/wristwatch model D9<br />
Note: When it comes to labels, the Dive Rite<br />
Duo, TUSA IQ-700, Apeks Pulse and Cressi -<br />
sub Archimedes II are all essentially the same<br />
computer built by Seiko. Oceanic and Aeris<br />
computers are manufactured by Pelagic Pressure<br />
Systems, of San Leandro, Calif., whereas both<br />
Suunto and Uwatec are manufactured uder their<br />
own name.<br />
Computers Specifically Designed for CCR’s<br />
Currently in Production<br />
Cochran EMC 16/20H www.divecochran.com<br />
HS Explorer - www.hs-eng.com<br />
Shearwater GF - www.rebreather.ca<br />
VR3 - www.vr3.co.uk<br />
New Computers on the way<br />
Dive Rite NiTek X - http://www.diverite.com<br />
Liquivision X1 - http://www.liquivision.ca<br />
OMS DCAP-X - http://www.omsdive.com<br />
CCR Specific<br />
There<br />
are a lot<br />
of decent<br />
opencircuit<br />
computers<br />
out there.<br />
But, once<br />
you go<br />
beyond VR3 with Spectrum color LCD<br />
mainstream<br />
and into more specialized systems that get<br />
into constant (or semi-constant) PO2, the<br />
game changes completely.<br />
All are aimed directly for CCR’s with<br />
most providing the ability to run a gambit of<br />
gas mixes from air to heliox for both open<br />
and closed circuit diving applications. With<br />
the exception of Cochran, these systems<br />
have the further ability to monitor a CCR’s<br />
PO2 progression (via a cable linkage to the<br />
rebreather’s O2 sensors), as well as run<br />
real time gas calculations. The downside<br />
of course is cost with most these models<br />
running between $1,400 and $2,000.<br />
If your plans don’t see you moving out of<br />
the recreational range and into the world of<br />
trimix, but you still like something beyond a<br />
basic one-gas or two-gas nitrox computer,<br />
two options with programmable PO2 set point<br />
features under a $1,000 include: Cochran<br />
EMC 16, manufactured by Cochran Undersea<br />
Technology, and the VR2 manufactured by<br />
Delta P Technology.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
7<br />
KEEPING IT<br />
SUPER SIMPLE<br />
Recreational and<br />
Technical Diving Rebreathers<br />
Jetsam Technologies, Ltd<br />
2817 Murray St Port Moody, BC V3H 1X3 Canada<br />
Ph: 604-469-9176 E-Mail: Info@Jetsam.ca<br />
• Designed for simplicity,<br />
durability, and ease of transport<br />
• Sport KISS rebreather is one of the lightest<br />
and smallest CCRs designed specifically<br />
for the recreational divers needs.<br />
• Easy and quick to clean and pack<br />
• Simple to maintain<br />
www.Jetsam.ca<br />
Cochran’s EMC 16 model<br />
comes preprogrammed for air<br />
or nitrox at $450, with the PO2<br />
function upgrade for one or<br />
two set point settings running<br />
(depending dealer) another $350<br />
to $450. Why Cochran doesn’t<br />
prepackage these babies with<br />
the full two-mix Nitrox FO2 mix<br />
choice switchable to two PO2 set<br />
point modes at the factory and<br />
push them out the door for $700<br />
or $800 instead of their al-la-cart<br />
system is beyond me. I’d think<br />
they might sell more of them.<br />
Another feature about the<br />
EMC 16 (and the 20H for that<br />
matter) is the fact that once<br />
the dive is underway, there are<br />
no provisions that will allow the<br />
diver to change the mix or PO2<br />
set point during the dive. While<br />
some see this as a big negative,<br />
the computer has also received<br />
plenty of praise for its ruggedness<br />
and intuitive operation.<br />
VR2 with monochrome LCD<br />
Cochran EMC 16<br />
In comparison to its big<br />
metal monster, the VR3, which<br />
can run as many as 10 pre-set<br />
gas mixes in any combination<br />
– air, nitrox, trimix and heliox,<br />
the VR2 is limited to only<br />
four air to nitrox mixes in<br />
both open and closed circuit<br />
modes. That said, the VR2 is<br />
not without same ability to<br />
monitor (via a cable linkage to<br />
the rebreather’s O2 sensors)<br />
Po2 levels in the loop as well<br />
as run gas calculations. The<br />
base price (w/o the O2 sensor<br />
cable linkage) for a VR2 from<br />
dealers like Golemgear.<br />
com and scuba.com is in the<br />
$850.00 price range.<br />
The downside, Delta P<br />
Technology has fazed out the<br />
VR2, but there are units out<br />
there and Delta P will continue<br />
providing service for it. v<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Adventure Diving<br />
It’s four thirty in the afternoon, and we are<br />
about to begin the last dive of the day.<br />
Not far from our panga, Roca Partida’s<br />
twin spires cast a broad shadow on the water.<br />
Rolling over the side, we encounter strong<br />
current. The overcast gave the slightly murky<br />
water a dull blue-gray tint, with visibility of<br />
perhaps 50 feet at best.<br />
When I reached the desired depth, I leveled<br />
off and looked for the rest of the group. That’s<br />
when my hair stood on end, my heart began<br />
to pound and boy, did I suck air. Just in front<br />
of me was a literal wall of hammerheads.<br />
Hundreds of them! The formation spread as<br />
far as I could see in any direction to within a<br />
few feet of the surface.<br />
From near the surface to the depths below,<br />
and in every direction I could see, there were<br />
sharks, their sheer number so overwhelming<br />
that I forgot to take a single picture. I didn’t<br />
even raise my camera. I just wanted to close<br />
my eyes and hope the sharks were gone<br />
when I opened them.<br />
Instead, I broke speed records churning<br />
water with my Jet Fins to catch up to my dive<br />
group. And when I did, I did not look back.<br />
So much for photography, but sometimes<br />
the most spectacular images aren’t stored<br />
on film or a hard drive but in my mind’s eye.<br />
That particular scene, which shall forever is adventure diving at its best – both You should always keep an eye on the<br />
remain etched in my memory, was from my exhilarating and unpredictable. One minute blue, as well, because there’s always a<br />
first trip to Mexico’s Socorro Islands, in March a school of jacks obscures the sun, the chance of seeing something really big, like a<br />
of 1999. No way was it going to be my last. next minute a manta ray flies by or you whale shark or humpback whale. And that’s<br />
The underwater scene in the Socorros, come face to face with sharks - or a pod of the part that gets you’re your blood, bringing<br />
also known as the Revillagigedo Islands, dolphin appears.<br />
you back for more.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007<br />
the Socorros<br />
By Bonnie J. Cardone
Act Two<br />
Eight years to the month after that<br />
first memorable encounter with the<br />
hammerheads, I was back on board the<br />
same boat, the Solmar V, once again diving<br />
the Socorros. It was like finally seeing that<br />
long awaited sequel to your favorite action/<br />
adventure flick. You know most of the<br />
characters will be in it, following a familiar<br />
script, but with some new plot twists.<br />
The second day of the trip found us near<br />
Isla Revillagigedo’s main island. Motoring<br />
out for a morning dive, our panga a group<br />
of dolphins greeted us and provided an<br />
escort to the dive site. We were on our way<br />
to spot off Cabo Pearce, which comprised a<br />
long submerged ridge of volcanic rock that<br />
is often a good place to see the schooling<br />
hammerheads. I learned later that the<br />
dolphins, all Pacific bottlenoses, have for<br />
the past few years become regulars here as<br />
well, often providing a diver or two with a<br />
nice swim by and a smile for the camera.<br />
We rolled off the panga on Luis’ count of<br />
three and descended. The dolphins darted<br />
after us, a half dozen adults with two<br />
juveniles in tow. For several minutes they<br />
zoomed among our group of nine divers,<br />
checking everyone out.<br />
At one point they formed a group<br />
and sped past me, reminding me of the<br />
bronze sculpture a friend has in her living<br />
room. They were incredibly beautiful in<br />
the deep blue water with the sun shining<br />
down on their sleek heads and backs. Oh<br />
the hell with looking for the sharks, this<br />
was more fun!<br />
2<br />
Back To Roca Partida<br />
The Socorros’ most adventurous dive has<br />
to be Roca Partida, where I encountered the<br />
unforgettable Wall of Hammerheads back in<br />
1999. The Rock, 60 miles due west of San<br />
Benedicto Island in the Isla Revillagigedos,<br />
is the remains of a volcanic plug. Getting to<br />
it is not guaranteed.<br />
Alone on an open horizon, Roca Partida’s<br />
single formation, whitewashed by the flocks<br />
of birds that roost on it, rises 100 feet above<br />
the surface. Underwater, its sides drop<br />
nearly vertically to depths beyond 200 feet,<br />
with its lower base sloping onward to 3,000<br />
plus feet. Almost small enough to circle in<br />
one dive, the “Rock” is often not an easy<br />
dive, as there may be a stiff current often<br />
with accompanied by big swells which can<br />
Above: How Roca Partida (meaning part of a rock)<br />
got classified as an island is suspect.<br />
Below: Large silky sharks in the Socorro’s like this<br />
one can be cool customers around divers.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
make maintaining a specific depth impossible.<br />
On the upside, it is a magnet to passing pelagics.<br />
Especially sharks.<br />
This trip I was determined to photograph the<br />
Wall of Hammerheads, should I see it again.<br />
Luckily, perhaps, my resolve wasn’t tested.<br />
During the four dives I made on the Rock this<br />
trip, I saw lots of sharks, at least five different<br />
species. And though schools of hammerheads<br />
were always present they were way below us, at<br />
the edge of visibility.<br />
Whitetip reefs, on the other hand, were easy to<br />
photograph. They were always found lying about in the<br />
same shallow depressions on one side of the Rock.<br />
Schools of bigeye jacks large<br />
enough to blot out the sun<br />
are a common occurence in<br />
the Socorro Islands.<br />
Five large Galapagos sharks had a certain<br />
rocky promontory they liked to circle. On one<br />
occasion we rounded a corner and came face<br />
to face with them. The sharks recovered first<br />
and moved to shallower water. In addition to<br />
this regular cast of characters, there were also<br />
appearances by silky and silvertip sharks.<br />
While we didn’t see a whale shark at Roca<br />
Partida, divers on the trip before ours did. We<br />
also didn’t see humpback whales underwater,<br />
though there was plenty of activity on the<br />
surface, typically just before sunset. That’s<br />
when the city bus sized giants seemed to rouse<br />
from their slumbers and begin blowing and<br />
The Socorro islands<br />
(islas revillagigedo)<br />
Comprised of only four islands,<br />
this covers 320 square miles. The<br />
northernmost of this small archipelago<br />
is San Benedicto, a sleeping volcano<br />
(2.6 miles across), 180 miles southwest<br />
of Cabo San Lucas. Socorro (Spanish<br />
for “help”), the largest (10 miles long,<br />
9 miles wide), is 40 miles south of<br />
San Benedicto. Roca Partida (300 feet<br />
long, 115 feet tall) is 60 miles west<br />
of Socorro. The fourth major island,<br />
Clarion, is 250 miles west of Socorro<br />
and is rarely, if ever, visited by dive liveaboards<br />
today.<br />
Above water, the islands are home to<br />
birds and other endemic and introduced<br />
species; humans live only at the Mexican<br />
naval bases on Socorro and Clarion.<br />
The Mexican government declared the<br />
islands a Biosphere Reserve in June<br />
1994 and banned fishing within 12 miles<br />
of land. According to Wikipedia.com,<br />
the islands were named after Don Juan<br />
Vicente de Guemes Padilla Horcasitas<br />
y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo,<br />
the 53rd viceroy of New Spain.<br />
Long known for their friendly manta<br />
rays, the Socorro’s are also the winter<br />
calving and mating grounds for<br />
humpback whales, which make the long<br />
journey here from Alaska and the U.S.<br />
West Coast.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Above: A giant manta makes a close pass over a<br />
waiting diver at the Boiler.<br />
breaching, sometimes spectacularly.<br />
There was also a highly entertaining<br />
and energetic display of tail lobbing by<br />
two pairs of whales as we rode pangas<br />
to The Rock for an afternoon dive. The<br />
white water produced by high-flung<br />
flukes was awesome!<br />
The Manta Imperative<br />
If there is one thing that is a given<br />
about these islands, it is their reliability<br />
for encounters with manta rays. And the<br />
best place to find it, see it and experience<br />
it is on the Boiler off San Benedicto.<br />
Rising from a depth of 130 feet,<br />
the Boiler is a flat-topped seamount<br />
roughly 80 feet in diameter that rises<br />
to within a few feet of the surface.<br />
Unlike most dives, which are done from<br />
When good imagery is just not good enough<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
pangas, the Solmar V positions<br />
its stern to the Boiler so that<br />
divers can enter and exit freely<br />
from the boat’s swim step. As<br />
a precaution, the crew also<br />
employs both pangas to pick<br />
up anyone who might get<br />
carried away should a current<br />
spring up. Having the Solmar’s<br />
two longtime veteran panga<br />
drivers Luis and Jeronimo,<br />
both extraordinarily vigilant<br />
and competent, is a comforting<br />
piece of insurance.<br />
Even when the mantas make<br />
a no show, there is plenty to see<br />
and photograph here. Schools of<br />
crevales and cotton jacks, king<br />
anglefish are the norm, while<br />
tons of small stuff live in the<br />
rock’s cracks and crevices. The<br />
site is also a cleaning station<br />
hence the reason mantas are attracted to it.<br />
When they do make an appearance, divers are<br />
treated to a real show. The wingspan of pacific<br />
manta average 15 feet tip to tip. When the<br />
manta appear, its best to just hang in the water<br />
column and let them come to you, which they<br />
usually do quickly, stalling overhead to bathe in<br />
your exhaust bubbles.<br />
The Solmar V crew has discovered that rays<br />
will stay around longer if they aren’t pursued.<br />
Some days, there can be so many rays vying for<br />
attention; you don’t know which way to look.<br />
My last day at the Boiler was one of those. And<br />
to my absolute delight I had an all-black manta<br />
that approached and seemed to single me out.<br />
During our 20-minute encounter, I could have<br />
easily stroked its belly each time it banked into<br />
the bubbles.<br />
The last dives of our trip were at The Canyon,<br />
off San Benedicto. Hammerheads are often seen<br />
at deeper depths here, but on this day they were<br />
nowhere to be found. Instead was a school of<br />
juvenile silvertips that like to favor the rock piles<br />
near the drop-off at 83 feet.<br />
Unlike their Roca Partida cousins, the<br />
individuals in this group are not shy, coming<br />
plenty close enough to photos. All too soon, the<br />
diving was done and it was time to head home.<br />
The Solmar V cruise back to Cabo San Lucas<br />
takes 24 hours; time enough to pack, get some<br />
sun, read a book or two and plot a return visit to<br />
the Isla Revillagigedo. April 2008 looks good... v<br />
Socorro’s Season and<br />
diving Conditions<br />
Dive season for the Socorro Islands<br />
runs from November 1 through to<br />
mid-June. From July to November<br />
hurricane activity makes the islands<br />
too risky for scheduled trips. Water<br />
temperatures start around 78 - 82<br />
F in November and December,<br />
dropping into the mid to lower 70’s<br />
January on into April then climb<br />
back into the upper 70’s by May.<br />
Mantas and sharks are the main<br />
draw, but during late January to the<br />
end of March humpback whales<br />
sometimes pay surprise visits during<br />
dives. Like Hawaii, the islands<br />
serve as breeding grounds for large<br />
numbers of these marine mammals,<br />
as evidenced by the presence of<br />
their peaceful songs most dives.<br />
Currents and surge should be<br />
expected, and lack of a white sand<br />
bottom will make the water appear<br />
darker, even on days when visibility<br />
is in the 80 – 100-foot range. If<br />
you don’t already carry a personal<br />
surface marker, invest in a good one<br />
before you go. The boat provides<br />
inexpensive plastic models for those<br />
without them, but those produced<br />
by companies like OMS, Dive Rite<br />
and Zeagle are a better choice.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
The SOLMAR V<br />
When you hear others tell<br />
you about their experiences<br />
on this grand Mexican<br />
lady, be it the The Isla<br />
Revillagigedo’s (Socorro<br />
Islands), Southern Sea of<br />
Cortez or Great White Sharks<br />
off Guadalupe, the green eyes<br />
of envy will turn as dark as<br />
her hull.<br />
Review by Bonnie J. Cardone<br />
Measuring 112 feet in length, the<br />
Solmar V is queen of the live-aboards<br />
operating in the Eastern Pacific.<br />
The onboard ambiance is several steps<br />
aboard the average dive boat, as the interior<br />
is resplendent with gleaming mahogany<br />
woodwork, polished brass and decorative,<br />
lighted glass panels etched with marine<br />
motifs. The main salon offers four U-shaped<br />
booths with granite-topped tables and<br />
upholstered seats, as well as four, two person<br />
tables with bar stools.<br />
The boat can accommodate 22<br />
divers in six standard staterooms<br />
(bow) and six superior staterooms<br />
(amidships). The staterooms<br />
are finished as beautifully<br />
as the salon, with pillow-top<br />
mattresses and down pillows in<br />
all staterooms, but stateroom<br />
floor and storage space is fairly<br />
tight. Toilets and in some cases<br />
the sink are housed the stateroom’s shower<br />
compartment. Each stateroom is fitted with<br />
individually controlled air-conditioning and<br />
an entertainment system, should you want<br />
to watch movie of your choice from the ships<br />
video library.<br />
The stern dive deck is well organized, with<br />
benches along each side with a huge, twotiered<br />
camera table as the centerpiece. Tanks<br />
are secured behind the benches; personal<br />
gear goes in boxes under them. Suits can be<br />
hung to dry on racks outside the salon.<br />
The Solmar has 3 watermakers capable<br />
of making 1,600 gallons of fresh water per<br />
day. This allows water in the four 45-gallon<br />
freshwater rinse buckets - two for cameras/<br />
regulators with the other two for wetsuits<br />
and equipment – to be changed daily. There<br />
are also two freshwater showers (and a<br />
stack of towels) for diver rinses on the stern<br />
each dive.<br />
Dives are conducted in one of two ways,<br />
based on the site’s location and physical<br />
dynamics. When possible, at sites like the<br />
boiler, diving is carried out directly from<br />
the vessel. On the stern, the swim platform<br />
features an impressive, super-wide, rock solid<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Left: For underwater<br />
photographers, camera tables<br />
are a must, and the Solmar V’s is<br />
certainly more than adequate.<br />
Right: Solmar V’s new computer<br />
alcove and library.<br />
Below: While diving from pangas<br />
is most often the rule, some sites<br />
are accessible enough to dive<br />
from the Solmar V’s stern ladder<br />
and swim step.<br />
in-water staircase. Due to the wild nature<br />
station with a laptop for digital editing, a<br />
of the region, the Solmar V also utilizes a<br />
Seawave Satellite Communications system<br />
pair of 22-foot Achilles inflatables with 60hp<br />
for hassle free e-mails and sat phone calls<br />
outboards for both dropping and retrieving<br />
by guests. In place of the two small TVs and<br />
divers at specific sites like Roca Partida and<br />
antiquated VCR, the main salon now has<br />
Cabo Pierce.<br />
large screen HDTV and DVD/stereo system,<br />
When the Solmar V began operation in<br />
and all the old tapes have been replaced<br />
Mexico in 1993, Jose Luis Sanchez, owner of<br />
with DVDs?<br />
Amigos Del Mar diving services, was tasked<br />
In addition brining the Solmar V up to date,<br />
with setting up the Solmar V’s initial dive<br />
with all safety equipment in accordance with<br />
operations and overseeing exploration in the<br />
U.S. Coast Guard Safety Requirements, Jose<br />
Socorro Islands for its cache of dive sites, as<br />
Luis ordered a complete overhaul of vessel’s<br />
well as doubling as boat’s marketing director.<br />
main engines and auxiliaries. Anything that<br />
But with the operation split between two the parent company, Solmar Resorts. With needed tweaking got tweaked, right down<br />
entities, there were some inconsistencies boat in hand, Jose hit the ground running, to the propellers, which were re-tuned for<br />
such as the quality of food and onboard and soon installed a state-of-the-art Nitrox maximum fuel efficiency.<br />
diving services. By 2005, when just about Membrane System providing 32 to 34 percent Powered by a pair of turbo charged Detroit<br />
everybody and their sister had nitrox, the nitrox fills.<br />
12V-71’s, and boasting a 10,000 gallon fuel<br />
Solmar V was still without it!<br />
Additional improvements included a face capacity, the Solmar V has a range of 2,300<br />
Call it frustration in not seeing the boat lift to the salon’s library alcove, which had nautical miles, making trips to and from<br />
reach its full potential, in February 2006, once housed only had a tattered collection of the Socorro’s an easy jaunt. Most crossings<br />
Jose Luis and his wife Leslie purchased the marine I.D. books, novels and VHS tapes. It from its homeport in Cabo San Lucas take<br />
Solmar V and the attendant business from now sports a designated onboard computer approximately 23 hours to complete. Factor<br />
7 www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Cabins: The Solmar V accommodates 22<br />
guests. While they’re a bit tight, each is<br />
beautifully appointed.<br />
in the crossing time, all Soccoro<br />
Island trips run nine days in<br />
length, providing 5 full and one<br />
half day of diving.<br />
When weather conditions<br />
are favorable, the Solmar V will<br />
often cross over to Roca Partida<br />
to spend a day or two taking in<br />
the slender spire of rock in the<br />
middle of nowhere’s hot pelagic<br />
action. Due to the Solmar V’s<br />
increased fuel efficiency enables<br />
it to be one of the only vessels<br />
currently NOT asking guests to<br />
pay a fuel surcharge.<br />
The Solmar V has a large crew,<br />
and all of them, from Captain<br />
Gerrardo to jack-of-all-trades,<br />
Francisco, are conscientious,<br />
accommodating and friendly.<br />
Chef Pedro prepares wonderful<br />
meals. Besides coffee and tea,<br />
breakfast always features a large<br />
platter of fresh fruit — including<br />
melons, papaya and kiwi fruit —<br />
along with yogurt, cereal, pan dulce<br />
(Mexican sweet breads) and juice.<br />
Eggs with toast and, depending on<br />
the day, hash browns, bacon, ham<br />
or sausage, were also offered.<br />
There are always homemade<br />
soups for lunch. The entrée might<br />
be cheeseburgers and fries or<br />
grilled chicken breasts or fish fillets,<br />
usually with vegetables (broccoli,<br />
squash, cauliflower) steamed al<br />
dente. There was always a luscious<br />
dessert, too.<br />
Dinners start with a salad of<br />
fresh vegetables and included a<br />
variety of entrees - fish, chicken,<br />
shrimp, pork chops or steak —<br />
along with fresh vegetables and<br />
perhaps rice or mashed potatoes.<br />
The desserts, from a bakery in<br />
Cabo, are suitably delicious:<br />
cheesecake, pies, and cakes. Beer<br />
and wine are included in the cost<br />
of the trip and several times a<br />
week, specialty drinks, such as<br />
margaritas and tequila sunrises<br />
are offered. The only complaint I<br />
heard about any of the meals was<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
The comfortable main salon features four U-shaped booths and four two-person tables.<br />
Inbetween dives, guests often relax in air conditioned surroundings to read, watch a movie or<br />
play a game of backgammon.<br />
that the portions were too large.<br />
The boat runs three itineraries - the Islas Revillagigedo’s (a.k.a,<br />
Socorro Islands) from November through May; the Sea of Cortez (for<br />
both scuba and Baja nature cruises) in June and the middle of October,<br />
with Guadalupe Island for cage diving with great white sharks thrown in<br />
during August and September before returning to its Socorro itinerary<br />
in November. v<br />
For more information visit www.Solmarv.com.<br />
“WOW -- What is that?”<br />
www.fishid.com<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
20<br />
FLORIDA’s GOLIAth GROupeR<br />
Text & Photography<br />
By Walt Stearns<br />
Now that they have returned,<br />
will it last, or will this be this<br />
giant’s final show?<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Stepping off the Republic IV, I began<br />
the 60-foot descent to the familiar<br />
remains of the MG-111 cargo<br />
barge. As its derelict steel structure<br />
came into focus, so did another nowfamiliar<br />
sight: grouped tightly around<br />
the wreck were some two dozen really<br />
big fish. And they weren’t scared.<br />
These gray-and-tan behemoths,<br />
which ranged from at least 100 pounds<br />
to well over 400 pounds, sported<br />
distinctive curved tails, small beady<br />
eyes and rotund physiques peppered<br />
with black spots. They hovered with<br />
mouths agape, ready to inhale any<br />
prey that came within range. There<br />
was no mistaking them for anything<br />
but goliath grouper.<br />
And unlike most other large<br />
predatory fish – including many sharks<br />
– they didn’t back off as I approached.<br />
Closing to within a few feet of one<br />
particularly large fish caused no visible<br />
reaction. It held its ground and gave<br />
me a look as if to say, “O.K., we’re all<br />
here, now what?”<br />
Coming face-to-face with a fish the<br />
size of 55-gallon drum is definitely<br />
an experience no diver will forget<br />
– especially if they’ve ever heard<br />
those urban myths about divers being<br />
swallowed whole by these outsized<br />
members of the grouper clan. But after<br />
the initial adrenaline rush of confronting<br />
something bigger than you wears off,<br />
most divers soon discover that goliath<br />
groupers (Epinephelus itajara) are not<br />
the ferocious brutes some would have<br />
us believe.<br />
2<br />
In fact, when confronted by divers,<br />
goliath’s turn into rather big babies. If<br />
threatened, they sound off with a short<br />
series of loud booms. In grouper speak,<br />
they’re saying “you’re in my territory,<br />
go away!” But such displays are just<br />
bark, not bite. The moment their bluff<br />
is called, these big fish will likely turn<br />
to the safety of a deep hole in a reef<br />
or wreck.<br />
The bigger the wreck the greater the<br />
odds of finding one, two, three or more<br />
goliath grouper. Why do these fish favor<br />
wrecks over natural structures? Look at it<br />
this way: where would you want to live, in a<br />
mansion or in a tent?<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
They’re Baaaaaaackk!<br />
Not that long ago, any type of encounter<br />
with these reef giants off Florida’s east coast<br />
would have been a rarity. Now, divers see<br />
them on a regular basis, especially on the<br />
region’s various wrecks. This return is the<br />
result of a complete ban on the killing of<br />
goliath grouper, which was implemented in<br />
1990, and has now been in effect long enough<br />
to allow an increasing number of juveniles to<br />
reach maturity.<br />
But though the goliaths are once more<br />
becoming a fixture of Florida’s reefs and<br />
wrecks, it is too early to determine the exact<br />
extent of this comeback. Working jointly with<br />
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in<br />
their efforts to determine the fish’s overall<br />
22<br />
population status, Florida State University’s<br />
Dr. Chris Koenig warns “Whenever a species<br />
begins showing signs of making a progressive<br />
comeback, certain dangers seem to follow,<br />
particularly public perception. We’ve gone<br />
from a long period in which we haven’t<br />
been seeing them, to now having something<br />
large - even a 50-lb youngster looks huge -<br />
suddenly in our face.”<br />
These sightings, especially on sites such<br />
as wrecks that concentrate the fish, may<br />
create a false sense of its actual numbers,<br />
he says. “The misconception may be that<br />
they are getting out of control and taking<br />
over everything!”<br />
In the waters of the Southern Gulf of<br />
Marathon Romance<br />
When a large number of big fish<br />
congregate, it’s usually for one purpose:<br />
to perpetuate the species. In the Gulf,<br />
spawning activity begins in late July, while<br />
the east coast populations start to get<br />
busy by late summer. As the dog days<br />
of August heat up, so do the hormones,<br />
triggering the need for these big reef fish<br />
to travel distances up to 90 miles to reach<br />
their rendezvous point.<br />
For example, a pair of adult fish tagged<br />
by FSU beneath an old Phosphate Dock<br />
in Boca Grande traveled a distance of<br />
65 miles out to the wreck of the Baja<br />
California to take part in the summer<br />
spawn. They returned to their home under<br />
the dock a couple months later.<br />
Mexico this perception is very much the<br />
rule. On Spearboard.com’s forum threads<br />
on goliaths can get volatile. Even people<br />
who don’t live in the state, like Spearboard<br />
member Mako993, weighed in on the thread.<br />
The comment: Interested in a Limited Goliath<br />
Grouper Harvest? Here’s How We Get One.<br />
“Yeah, if they’re not harvested even minimally,<br />
they’ll walk all over you because they’ve lost<br />
their fear of man, the top predator in the<br />
food chain. Sounds like we need to put the<br />
steel to those fellas down your way - sign me<br />
up for a harvest if a law ever passes. They’re<br />
decent eating.”<br />
continued on page 24<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
In the waters of Florida’s east coast, there<br />
are presently four known spawning sites. All<br />
are located off Palm Beach County: three<br />
in Jupiter with the Hole-in-the-Wall being<br />
2<br />
the deepest at 140 feet, the Zion Train/Esso<br />
Bonaire at 90 feet and the MG-111 (above), a<br />
busted up barge lying in 60 feet, the shallowest.<br />
The fourth, and newest addition as of the<br />
Seeing this many fish in one place can give a false<br />
sense that they are everywhere, when in reality a group<br />
like this, found on the MG-111, is a mix of animals from<br />
as far away as 20 to 30 miles. We are at a point now<br />
where can try to keep it, or throw it all away.<br />
summer of 2006 is the Castor Wreck, a huge<br />
258-foot freighter sunk in 110 feet of water off<br />
Boynton Beach in 2001.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
But, like most threads, the stories<br />
posted are based on opinions and<br />
anecdotal stories with little to no<br />
verifiable evidence or even proper<br />
understanding of this animal’s<br />
history. Others see dollar signs,<br />
calculating how many grouper<br />
sandwiches they could be making<br />
should the moratorium be lifted.<br />
Just as disturbing as those<br />
interested it making a buck through<br />
poaching are those who feel the need<br />
to kill the fish for no other reason than<br />
getting it out of the way. Such thinking<br />
is based on the misconception that<br />
it is the goliaths that are somehow<br />
the cause for the declining numbers<br />
of snapper, groupers and lobsters on<br />
the reefs.<br />
With the attention on goliaths<br />
mounting, some Florida dive<br />
operators like Jupiter Dive Center<br />
owner Gerry Carroll see this as<br />
a good thing. “From a business<br />
standpoint, they’re worth more<br />
to me alive than dead,” he says.<br />
“Nothing says that better than<br />
having a boat load of customers<br />
coming back to the dock jazzed<br />
about seeing these immense fish.”<br />
2<br />
A spawning aggregation assembles off Jupiter, FLorida at a site called the Hole-in-the-Wall.<br />
By the end of August there will typically be between 35 and 45 hefty individuals gathering at<br />
these spawning sites. Some aggregations have been recorded to last as long as two months. Talk<br />
about a long honeymoon.<br />
Interestingly, no one knows when, how often, or even what an actual spawning event looks<br />
like, because nobody has yet been witness to such an occurrence. Unlike their smaller cousin the<br />
Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), which spawn during the timeframe of a full moon, goliaths<br />
don’t appear to follow a set pattern in regards to the moon.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Back in the Day<br />
When I hear some divers talk of how<br />
many goliaths they are seeing today, I<br />
think back to the early days of my diving<br />
career and the stories I’ve heard from<br />
the real old timers, and remind them<br />
that they haven’t seen nothing yet!<br />
During the 1950’s and 60’s, goliath<br />
groupers were easy to find. Although<br />
they favor depths in the 60 to 200 foot<br />
range, to hear old timers tell it, it was<br />
not uncommon to find them lurking in<br />
very shallow water, often as close as the<br />
nearest pier, jetty or channel marker.<br />
So plentiful were these gigantic groupers<br />
many enterprising charter-boat skippers in<br />
Key West would routinely haul in dozens at<br />
a time, solely for photo opportunities with<br />
their proud anglers. Beyond that, goliaths<br />
held little commercial value, as the quality<br />
of their meat was more fit for cat food<br />
when compared to the other grouper and<br />
snapper stocks that were highly available<br />
in the area.<br />
My own introduction to these big fish<br />
dates back to when I was a hunter rather<br />
than a photographer - the art of taking<br />
resources over my interest in taking<br />
pictures. During the late 70’s, wrecks off of<br />
Florida’s west coast were literally swarming<br />
with gray, black and red grouper, as well<br />
as quite a few big lobster and, of course,<br />
scores of giant goliath groupers.<br />
I can recall mid to late summer trips<br />
to wrecks such as the Stony and Baja<br />
California when we would encounter<br />
literally hundreds of big goliaths in one<br />
location. We didn’t know it then, but we had<br />
been witnessing spawning aggregations.<br />
2<br />
Jewfish, June fish, Goliath Grouper, What’s in a Name<br />
Although most of us still recognize goliath groupers by their former name, Jewfish,<br />
Florida’s early settlers had another name for this behemoth, the June fish. Apparently the<br />
name was derived by the fact that these large fish were most accessible to fishermen during<br />
the summer months, beginning in June.<br />
Somewhere along the way the name evolved into Jewfish. As to how it got there has<br />
generated plenty of speculation. In 2001, the fish’s name was officially changed to goliath,<br />
meaning large, not “Goliath,” after the giant who was defeated by David.<br />
A snapshot from the early 1960’s shows a proud Key West boat captain with his family and<br />
morning haul of 17 large goliath grouper.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
The most startling moments were when<br />
these grouper herds rose up to meet us<br />
Goliaths are the<br />
half way up the descent line. Knowing<br />
that you were in no danger didn’t make<br />
it easier to fight off the instinct to retreat<br />
when confronted by the sight of a hundred<br />
or more big fish coming toward you like a<br />
stampeding her of buffalo.<br />
Most of the spearfishermen I knew felt<br />
little need to bother them except for the<br />
occasional hero photo at the dock. Besides,<br />
largest of all groupers<br />
in the Atlantic Ocean.<br />
They can reach a<br />
maximum length of<br />
eight feet, weigh up to<br />
approximately 880pounds,<br />
and live well<br />
over 35-years.<br />
there was plenty of other game about, the<br />
goliaths didn’t bother us, and for the most<br />
part, we didn’t bother them.<br />
By the early ‘80s, Florida waters began<br />
The largest<br />
goliath taken by a<br />
sport fisherman to<br />
to show signs of change. Many types of<br />
be accepted by the<br />
gamefish became noticeably scarcer,<br />
International Gamefish<br />
and those impressive herds of goliaths<br />
diminished faster with each successive<br />
year. By the end of the decade, many<br />
thought the goliath grouper was doomed.<br />
Association (IGFA)<br />
was a 680-lb behemoth<br />
landed off Fernandina<br />
Beach, Florida in 1961.<br />
Shooting Cows<br />
In August of 2002, I was invited to<br />
join Dr. Chris Koenig on a fish tagging<br />
Think how old that fish<br />
must have been.<br />
expedition in the Gulf of Mexico. I was<br />
introduced to Don DeMaria, a former<br />
commercial goliath grouper hunter who<br />
now puts his talents and energy into<br />
assisting FSU and NMFS research efforts<br />
on the fish.<br />
Watching Don systematically tag 24 of<br />
Goliath groupers are not particularly<br />
fast growers. Their average rate of growth<br />
from a tiny ¼ inch fry to a length of 4<br />
feet and weight of 60-lbs is five to six<br />
years. Although the fish has reached sexual<br />
maturity by this time, it is not yet a viable<br />
Nearly all of the fish taken by commercial<br />
fishers during the spawning seasons in the<br />
1980’s averaged between 16 to 37 years.<br />
And unlike some grouper species, there is<br />
no perceivable size difference between fully<br />
mature males and females. This means that<br />
the 33 residing goliaths on the partially breeder. It takes the really big, old fish to the majority of large fish divers are seeing<br />
collapsed hulk of the Baja California (a produce the right amount of eggs and sperm today are just approaching their potential<br />
300-foot WWII era freighter resting in<br />
115 of water) in the span of two dives was<br />
a chilling demonstration of his proficiency<br />
with a gun. As fast as he could reload his<br />
seahornet with a new tag on the shaft tip,<br />
another fish was accessorized with some<br />
essential for reproduction. According to<br />
Dr. Koenig and Dr. Felicia Coleman, FSU’s<br />
Institute for Fishery Resource Ecology<br />
Program Director, it can take as long as 15<br />
to 30 years for a fish to reach 300 – 450 lbs.<br />
prime for propagation.<br />
2 www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
27<br />
NEW<br />
Freeport,<br />
Grand Bahama<br />
Departure<br />
$ 899<br />
per<br />
week<br />
Twice<br />
the Fun...<br />
Half the Cost!<br />
Pirate’s Lady, Sea Explorer, and Morning Star leave from Freeport,<br />
Grand Bahama, sailing the crystal waters of the Bahamas on weekly<br />
dive cruise adventures. New Dive Sites!<br />
$100 Off All Weeklong Trips through end of February 2007<br />
Book 5 and bring the 6th Free!<br />
1-800-327-9600<br />
www.blackbeard-cruises.com • sales@blackbeard-cruises.com<br />
NMFS jewelry.<br />
According to Don, before the<br />
mid 80’s, the number of goliaths<br />
found on these wrecks would have<br />
been at least twice over what is it<br />
is today. Pointing to the back of his<br />
boat, Don described how he and<br />
a one or two man crew could, in<br />
one day, load up the entire cockpit<br />
with their giant carcasses. “Back<br />
then, we would drop in and shoot<br />
a dozen or more on a wreck like<br />
this without putting much of a<br />
dent in the school,” he says. “Or<br />
so we thought.”<br />
“Part of the problem,” Don<br />
explains, “is that these fish are<br />
not the creatures urban legends<br />
have made them out to be. True,<br />
they are intimidating when seen<br />
up close, but in all actuality, they<br />
are surprisingly docile, sometimes<br />
to the point of being a bit dense!<br />
I can’t even begin to tell you how<br />
many times they have just sat<br />
there instead of running, staring<br />
back at you the whole time my<br />
gun was leveled at close range on<br />
their head.”<br />
Having killed a few myself in<br />
my early days, I can attest to<br />
the fact that shooting one with a<br />
powerhead takes about as much<br />
skill as dropping a dairy cow with<br />
a high-powered rifle at point blank<br />
range. Even when a goliath decides<br />
to run, it’s seldom any farther than<br />
the nearest hole or ledge.And once<br />
they hole up, the outcome is often<br />
the same - bam!<br />
On days Don didn’t feel like<br />
going down and pulling the trigger,<br />
“it was just as simple as dropping<br />
a heavy line down with a live blue<br />
runner or jack to the bottom. A few<br />
seconds later, you had fish. It was<br />
insane; we were literally driving<br />
these fish to extinction.”<br />
Close to the Brink<br />
The continued slaughter of<br />
the big goliaths took its toll, and<br />
by the late 70’s, goliath’s had<br />
all but disappeared throughout<br />
most of southeast Florida. By the<br />
mid 1980’s, summer spawning<br />
aggregations, which historically<br />
featured some 80 to 100-plus<br />
breeding age fish on a number of<br />
sites in the central and southern<br />
Gulf of Mexico between Tampa<br />
and Key West, had fallen to less<br />
than ten.<br />
In 1989 the National Marine<br />
Fisheries Service (NMFS), under<br />
the authority of the Magnuson-<br />
Stevens Fisheries Act, listed<br />
goliath grouper populations as<br />
being on the verge of collapse. The<br />
following year, under supervision<br />
of the South Atlantic Fisheries<br />
Management Council, a federal<br />
moratorium was enacted, making<br />
the killing or retention of the<br />
goliath grouper a criminal offense.<br />
In 1991, goliaths were listed as<br />
candidates for the endangered<br />
species list.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
In the years since, goliath<br />
populations have seen a slow<br />
but steady return. Soon Fish<br />
of 100 pounds or more began<br />
to be seen on certain wrecks<br />
– first as singles, then in small<br />
groups. It was a slow but<br />
encouraging rebound.<br />
Just eight years ago, the<br />
entire known population of<br />
large goliath groupers off the<br />
Palm Beach County coast was<br />
estimated at about a dozen.<br />
At the same time, spawning<br />
aggregations of 20 to 30 fish<br />
were just starting to return to<br />
a select number of wrecks in<br />
the central and southern Gulf<br />
of Mexico.<br />
But despite these gains,<br />
the goliath grouper stock in<br />
U.S. waters is still considered<br />
overfished under the Magnuson-<br />
Stevens Fishery Conservation<br />
and Management Act; therefore,<br />
all recreational and commercial<br />
harvest is still prohibited.<br />
NOAA Fisheries Service created<br />
the species of concern list in<br />
2004 to identify species about<br />
which the service has concerns<br />
regarding status and threats,<br />
but does not have sufficient<br />
information to list the species<br />
as endangered or threatened<br />
under the Endangered Species<br />
Act. Twenty-five marine species,<br />
including goliath grouper, were<br />
added to this list. The species is<br />
considered endangered by the<br />
2<br />
IUCN, an international body that<br />
assesses the status of species<br />
around the world. Google up<br />
IUCN and search goliath grouper<br />
to see the status yourself.<br />
Goliath Conundrum<br />
In February 2006, NOAA<br />
Fisheries Service removed<br />
the goliath grouper from their<br />
“Species of Concern List” due to<br />
evidence that the fish had made<br />
a significant comeback. The<br />
evidence coming largely from<br />
Florida State University’s (FSU)<br />
work with NOAA’s National Marine<br />
Fisheries Services, which have<br />
been studying this fish closely<br />
since its Federal protection<br />
placement back in 1990.<br />
Sixteen years. That’s how<br />
long it has taken these fish to<br />
re-establish a foothold on their<br />
former historical range.<br />
On the heels of this news<br />
that the U.S. population<br />
segment is now at a positive<br />
level of abundance, questions<br />
are being raised at the<br />
possibility of reopening some<br />
form of season. According Dr.<br />
Koenig, “To lift the moratorium<br />
now would be premature and<br />
grossly irresponsible. We<br />
need to be extremely cautious<br />
with something that is highly<br />
vulnerable to overexploitation,<br />
especially in regards to its life<br />
history, longevity and behavior.”<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
“It’s not a just a fishing problem these fish face,<br />
but also one of habitat,” Dr. Koenig explains. The<br />
first five years are the most critical in a goliath’s<br />
life cycle - juvenile stages are spent in mangrove<br />
habitat using the protective undercuts provided by<br />
the tree’s prop roots for cover.<br />
“Goliath juveniles are adapted to the estuarine<br />
conditions existing in mangrove forests, however,<br />
they are not tolerant to severe cold snaps dipping<br />
water temps below 60 degrees, too much freshwater<br />
discharge or chemical contamination. Even without<br />
these influences at play the habitat essential for<br />
fish’s development is rapidly diminishing. At present,<br />
the largest remaining habitat is the Ten Thousand<br />
Island region of the Everglades National Park. Take<br />
that away, the fish’s future chance of survival in<br />
Florida waters is close to zip,” says Koenig.<br />
What does this mean for the goliath? Only time<br />
will tell. Hopefully 2007 won’t be the start up of the<br />
goliath groupers’ last, and final farewell. v<br />
2<br />
Map Courtesy of Florida State University’s Department (FSU) of Biological Science<br />
It could be said the central and southern regions of the gulf, along with part of<br />
Florida’s east coast from the Palm Beaches north to Daytona Beach have shown the<br />
greatest signs for the goliath’s comeback. However, the underlying regions from Ft.<br />
Lauderdale and Miami down through the Florida Keys to Key West still remain thin.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
0<br />
Florida State University<br />
Its not just about Football<br />
Florida State University’s Department (FSU) of<br />
Biological Science has been involved with goliath<br />
grouper research for as long as the fish has been<br />
under protective status.<br />
Since the study’s inception, Dr. Chris Koenig<br />
and Dr. Felicia Coleman, Koenig’s colleague/spouse<br />
and Director of the Florida State University Coastal<br />
and Marine Laboratory, have worked to define<br />
the rate of recovery of adult goliath grouper in the<br />
southeastern Gulf Mexico. According to both FSU<br />
and the National Marine Fisheres Service (NMFS),<br />
this region remains the most productive area in<br />
the entire tropical Western Atlantic and Caribbean<br />
basin, supporting numerous spawning aggregations<br />
and prime nursery habitat.<br />
To monitor these aggregations both FSU and<br />
NMFS tag adult fish with visually identifiable<br />
numbered tags, which are placed in the fish’s back<br />
adjacent to the dorsal fin using a modified spear<br />
gun. The researchers also mark and recapture<br />
juveniles in Florida Bay’s mangroves. In some<br />
cases, micro transponders are also placed on<br />
the fish to monitor their movements.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
What Are You<br />
Doing This<br />
Summer?<br />
You Could Be<br />
Doing This!<br />
Dive with us and experience the adventure.<br />
Three boats, two locations, Hotel Accommodations,<br />
Resturants and Tiki Bar on site. Non-divers can enjoy<br />
our glassbottom or try the “Dive Today Program”.<br />
South Florida Diving Headqaurters<br />
954.783.2299 / www.southfloridadiving.com<br />
101 N. Riverside Drive # 106, Pompano Beach, FL 33062<br />
Lazy, or just Resourceful?<br />
Like most reef predators, goliaths<br />
are highly opportunistic feeders.<br />
If something edible is slow and/<br />
or dumb enough to be where a<br />
goliath can get it, even something<br />
on the end of a line, it’s going<br />
to be lunch. But this does not<br />
mean the goliath grouper are<br />
indiscriminate eating machines.<br />
According to Dr. Koenig, and<br />
contrary to what some believe,<br />
grouper and snapper are not<br />
a normal part of the goliath’s<br />
diet. Working closely with NMFS,<br />
FSU’s team of researchers have<br />
examined the stomach contents<br />
from many captured adult and<br />
juvenile fish, only to find that<br />
“not even once have we found a<br />
grouper or snapper inside.”<br />
What they have found by<br />
examining the stomach contents<br />
is that the animal’s preferred prey<br />
- in addition to a wide assortment<br />
of crustaceans and mollusks -<br />
is fish with spiny defenses, like<br />
catfish, burrfish, porcupine fish<br />
and stingrays.<br />
One reason for this preference<br />
has to do with the physical<br />
ways in which goliaths differ<br />
from other species of grouper.<br />
Compared to its body mass and<br />
the size of its’ mouth, the teeth<br />
on a goliath are somewhat<br />
dainty. They lack the crushing<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
variety of frangible teeth that are located<br />
near the back of the throat in other large<br />
grouper species.<br />
Call it a test of the stomach’s constitution,<br />
but when something like a large angry blue<br />
crab is turned into lunch, it goes to the belly of<br />
the goliath alive and snapping.<br />
The final element dictating the goliath’s diet<br />
is the manner in which it will hunt. Instead of<br />
roaming long distances, it will often remain in<br />
a relatively small area, settling for whatever<br />
passes by (juvenile’s around mangrove islands<br />
have a considerably small home range, but the<br />
home range of adults may be a lot larger).<br />
2<br />
Off Florida’s East Coast, schools of redear herring and round<br />
scad will make their migration as far south as Jupiter, between late<br />
spring and early summer. As a defense against predation, the small<br />
shiny fish form up in tight polarized clouds, sometimes around<br />
stationary objects, so as to block and confuse rushing attacks from<br />
jacks, mackerel and cuda.<br />
For goliaths, this defense posture becomes easy to manipulate,<br />
allowing the small fish to mass up around them while at the same<br />
time slowly moving away from the wreck or reef where they are<br />
more exposed to attack. Before instinct can warn them of their<br />
mistake, faster moving predators begin their onslaught, driving the<br />
baitfish into a tighter ball up around the goliath’s head. For these big<br />
fish to get a meal, the act is as simple as taking a deep breath.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
• Bahamas • Saba/St. Kitts • Galapagos • Turks & Caicos • Australia •<br />
“I’ll definitely be back and recommend to my friends to come along. It was the most<br />
relaxing most active vacation I’ve ever had. My best dive trip ever!!”<br />
Rochelle T., 8 August 2006, Caribbean Explorer II, Saba/St. Kitts<br />
• 5 amazing destinations • 4-8 day unique itineraries • No more than 16-20 guests per vessel<br />
• Gear up once during the week & dive up to 5 times a day • Trained & certified staff<br />
• Groups & individual divers welcome • Exotic optional island tours • Nitrox & solo diver certifications<br />
• Itineraries to fit every budget - starting at just US$995 per person<br />
• Reefs, walls, wrecks, pinnacles & much more<br />
Arrive as a guest - leave as a friend!<br />
US/Canada: 800-322-3577 • Direct +1-903-887-8571 • Fax +1-903-887-8526 • info@explorerventures.com<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Gear Bag:<br />
Zeagle’s<br />
New!<br />
Octo-Z<br />
I’ve been a fan of combination second<br />
stage/power inflators since they first appeared<br />
on the market. No matter how carefully I<br />
stowed it, the octo’s three-foot-long hose<br />
always seemed to find a way to snag on<br />
something at the wrong time. Combining the<br />
octopus with the inflator not only eliminated<br />
a hose, it also kept the regulator up out of<br />
the silt and placed it prominently on my chest<br />
where it was easy to reach, and always right<br />
where I expected it to be.<br />
For almost six years, my combo unit of<br />
choice has been the Zeagle Octo-plus. It served<br />
me well, was highly reliable and breathed<br />
with reasonable ease. My one pet-peeve<br />
with the unit, and I am sure there are others<br />
who will agree, was the relative difficulty of<br />
orally inflating the BC. With the Octo-plus,<br />
the user was required to place his lips on a<br />
small circular valve that was rather difficult to<br />
reach, and hard to maintain a seal.<br />
Well, this year, say goodbye to Zeagle’s Octoplus<br />
and hello to their “New” Octo-Z. Unlike its<br />
predecessor, which had a unique shape, the<br />
Octo-Z more closely resembles other combo<br />
seconds such as Atomic’s SS1, Dive Rite’s new<br />
RiteSource, and Sherwood’s Gemini. All of which<br />
follow Scubapro’s former second generation<br />
design for their Air II.<br />
The Octo-Z even utilizes<br />
the same High Flow model<br />
quick disconnect favored by<br />
Scubapro and Atomic. Same for<br />
the positioning for both inflate<br />
and dump buttons, which are<br />
finished in contrasting colors to<br />
distinguish one from another.<br />
The biggest improvement,<br />
however, is the Octo-Z’s ability<br />
to orally inflate the BC through<br />
the Octo-Z’s mouthpiece.<br />
The Octo-Z is housed<br />
in a rugged, fiberglassreinforced<br />
polymer housing. Air<br />
management is handled by a<br />
newly-designed, lever-actuated<br />
poppet valve with an adjustable orifice<br />
that makes it better suited for the rapid<br />
inflation of large bladders. Anyone who<br />
has worn a large steel tank or a heavilyweighted<br />
BC will appreciate this capability.<br />
From a performance standpoint, the<br />
Octo-Z is on par with other premium combo<br />
regulator/inflator rigs. That is to say it won’t<br />
breath as easily as your primary (something<br />
you don’t want anyway, as this would cause<br />
free flow every time you jumped into the<br />
water), but it will certainly deliver a welcome<br />
full breath of air at most any working depth.<br />
There’s one more feature that makes<br />
Zeagle’s redesign very enticing. Instead<br />
of going the traditional route, with the<br />
corrugated air hose held secured to the<br />
regulator by means of a zip tie or clamp,<br />
Zeagle cleverly incorporated a garden hose<br />
type threaded fitting that allows the Octio-Z<br />
to be removed and reattached as easily as a<br />
hose nozzle.<br />
Flushing the BC’s air cell with fresh<br />
water is as simple as unthreading the BC’s<br />
corrugated hose from the Octo-Z, threading<br />
it onto your garden hose, and turning the<br />
water on (low). Being able to quickly and<br />
easily remove the regulator from the BC also<br />
simplifies your annual overhaul. How many<br />
times have you taken your reg in for service<br />
but forgot to bring your octo/inflator with it?<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
For rinsing the inside<br />
of your BC, it doesn’t<br />
get any easier than this!<br />
Unscrew the Octo-Z,<br />
thread the end of the<br />
BC’s corrugated hose<br />
on the end of a garden<br />
hose, turn the tap and<br />
watch it do its thing.<br />
In addition, the ability to keep the<br />
Octo-Z with the regulator instead<br />
of the BC during both rinsing and<br />
storage will also decrease the<br />
chances of inadvertent damage<br />
through contamination by foreign<br />
material like dirt and salt.<br />
One nice final touch is the<br />
way the corrugated hose fitting<br />
is able to rotate so that both<br />
it and the low pressure hose<br />
quick disconnect fittings can be<br />
rotated for more comfortable<br />
positioning when you need to<br />
orally inflate the BC or breath<br />
from the mouthpiece.<br />
The Octo-Z weighs .5 lb without<br />
the hose, is available in yellow or<br />
black, and carries a suggested<br />
retail price of $199.<br />
To see what else Zeagle<br />
Systems have to offer, visit their<br />
website at www.zeagle.com<br />
- Allen Young<br />
$ 1995<br />
Play...<br />
Explore...<br />
Learn...<br />
102 Feet of liveaboard luxury... leaving weekly from Nassau to the unspoiled<br />
reefs and islands of the Exumas. Diving, snorkeling, sea-kayaking, fishing,<br />
birding, beaching... Live a dream on your own yacht.<br />
Book One at Full Fare and get the Second One for Half Off!<br />
Offer good on following dates:<br />
Febuary 3-10 • February 10-17<br />
1-800-327-9600<br />
www.aquacatcruises.com • sales@aquacatcruises.com<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007<br />
per<br />
week
It was the last weekend of March, the dive deck at Florida’s<br />
Weeki Wachee Springs looked like a scene from a Sea Hunt<br />
rerun. <strong>Divers</strong> clad in beavertail wetsuits with doublehose<br />
regulators attached to diminutive steel tanks, adjusted black oval<br />
masks and donned “duck feet” style fins.<br />
The event was the second annual “Dive Into History Day,”<br />
which brought together some 70 vintage scuba gear collectors<br />
from around the country. For the older participants, it was an<br />
opportunity to revisit their diving past. But in addition to the<br />
grizzled veterans, there were a surprising number of younger<br />
divers – folks who were still in diapers when Lloyd Bridges<br />
went off the air.<br />
For them and a growing number of divers across the country,<br />
collecting, restoring and using vintage scuba gear provides a<br />
chance to reconnect with diving’s roots, and to experience the<br />
underwater world in a way that is new to them, but comfortably<br />
familiar to those who have gone before.<br />
Diving Into History<br />
By Adam Matherson<br />
Photos by Walt Stearns<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
the simple<br />
solution<br />
Left: The man behind<br />
the design of the Phoenix<br />
Nozzle, Luis Heros, suited<br />
up in some of his classic<br />
Most anyone with the desire<br />
can purchase or restore a<br />
vintage double hose regulator<br />
gear, heads down for<br />
another cool dip at Weeki<br />
Wachee Springs.<br />
to safe working order, but<br />
most lack the physical capacity<br />
to accommodate the additional<br />
high and low pressure orifices<br />
needed to accommodate such<br />
as power inflators, submersible<br />
pressure gauges and alternate<br />
second stages. Because many<br />
dive operators require such<br />
basic items of their customers,<br />
it can be difficult to bring<br />
vintage gear along on many<br />
dive excursions.<br />
Right: With a Phoenix Nozzle<br />
in place on this 1970’s era<br />
AquaLung Royal AquaMaster, it<br />
can run hoses for a SPG, power<br />
inflator and octopus.<br />
In order to bring his older<br />
equipment up to modern<br />
because it can be fitted onto the<br />
regulator’s existing intake port,<br />
On North Carolina’s<br />
standards, Luis Heros created<br />
an ingeniously simple device<br />
he dubbed the Phoenix Nozzle<br />
(see Underwater Journal Issue<br />
II). An avid collector and user of<br />
no mechanical modifications<br />
are required – good news for<br />
collectors who want to update<br />
their prized gear for real-world<br />
diving, but don’t want to degrade<br />
Crystal Coast, you<br />
can do more than<br />
see history.<br />
double hose gear, Luis went to the unit’s value with permanent<br />
a machine shop and came back<br />
with a solid-brass attachment<br />
that fits between the regulator<br />
body and the yoke connection,<br />
modifications.<br />
Luis’s design has become a<br />
very popular topic of discussion on<br />
sites such as vintagedoublehose.<br />
On land and in the<br />
water, you can be a<br />
and provides three low-pressure<br />
and high-pressure ports.<br />
com and vintagescuba.com’s<br />
forum sites. Some owners have<br />
part of it.<br />
Designed for Aqualung DA gone as far as referring to their<br />
and Royal Aquamaster designs,<br />
the nozzle will also fit Voit<br />
Navy and Polaris regs. And<br />
regs as Phoenix Aquamasters.<br />
What was old, is new again.<br />
www.crystalcoastnc.org<br />
7 www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
iron Men<br />
non-Mag gear<br />
For the original UDT divers, it wasn’t about<br />
the gear as much as the guts. With less<br />
equipment than most modern-day snorklers,<br />
these brave men swam ashore – often under<br />
fire – to disable beach defenses and clear<br />
mines in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres<br />
of WWII. Here, diver Heath Yeager models an<br />
original UDT dive kit, which includes simple<br />
cotton shorts, a work weight belt with a nonmagnetic<br />
magnesium alloy buckle, a nonmag<br />
K Bar knife, Voit Duck Feet Fins, and a<br />
horse collar vest.<br />
In addition to staging demonstrations<br />
with vintage scuba gear and antique diving<br />
helmets, Heath is the founder and owner of<br />
www.divenowflorida.com - a central Floridabased<br />
company that offers dive tours to<br />
Weeki Wachee and numerous other locations<br />
around the state via a luxury van service.<br />
Vouching for the authenticity of Heath’s kit<br />
was veteran diver and Weeki Wachee regular<br />
Ed Burnod, who served as a Navy UDT diver<br />
from 1964 to 1976. Having recently moved to<br />
west Florida, he dives in the springs as often<br />
as possible, and still has one of his original<br />
non-magnetic doublehose regulators from<br />
his navy days.<br />
Keeping it Cousteau<br />
Like a lot of youngsters, Ryan Spence<br />
was captivated by the adventures of Captain<br />
Cousteau and crew of the Calypso. He<br />
became a diver when he grew up, and began<br />
collecting vintage gear about five years ago.<br />
His hunt for authentic equipment eventually<br />
lead him to Steven Arrington, a former chief<br />
diver for the Cousteau team who was looking<br />
to pass along some original equipment from<br />
his Calypso days.<br />
Unable to interest a museum in the gear,<br />
he eventually decided to sell it to a private<br />
collector. Enter Ryan, who recognized the<br />
historic importance of these pieces. It was<br />
the first of many acquisitions, as be began<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Dive Florida<br />
America’s Underwater Paradise<br />
Ned DeLoach’s<br />
Diving Guide to Underwater Florida<br />
The most complete diving information available with 50 maps and<br />
more than 600 superb diving locations. The bible of Florida Diving<br />
for more than 35 years, now in an expanded 11th Edition.<br />
www.fishid.com/uwf<br />
networking with other former<br />
Cousteau team members.<br />
“I wanted to pick up their lost<br />
legacy,” he explains. “Their stories<br />
and their gear are worth preserving,<br />
and I wanted to document the<br />
people who built, tested and used<br />
this gear.”<br />
A product development<br />
specialist by trade, Ryan recently<br />
moved to Seattle where he<br />
operates flashbackscuba.com.<br />
The concept behind flashback is<br />
to make this equipment available<br />
to the public. “I don’t just want<br />
to put this stuff in a closet or a<br />
display case,” he says. “I want to<br />
get it out and show it to people…<br />
to actually dive with it.”<br />
Among his working collection<br />
are custom Italian-made tanks,<br />
French regulators, custom fins and<br />
one of the team’s silver suits, which<br />
he carefully coats with sunscreen<br />
before each use to preserve its<br />
color. Other prized acquisitions<br />
include one of Jacques’s personal<br />
wetsuits, which has the initials<br />
JYC penned into the collar. “It was<br />
rotting in a garage in Vancouver<br />
when I found it,” Ryan says. “It’s a<br />
piece of history.”<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
In addition to an array of original<br />
equipment, Ryan has faithfully<br />
recreated exact replicas of items such<br />
as the team’s signature light helmets.<br />
To do so, he took molds of an original,<br />
and fabricated the replicas using the<br />
same materials and manufacturing<br />
technique that would have been used<br />
by the original manufacturer.<br />
Eventually, Ryan hopes to send his<br />
collection to a museum. He believes<br />
that in time, the historic value of these<br />
artifacts will be more widely appreciated,<br />
and his preservation efforts will allow<br />
future generations to connect with the<br />
original Cousteau legacy.<br />
0<br />
A Bit of Fun in Weeki Wachee Springs<br />
“It’s an exciting time for divers. We’re at a<br />
point where a lot of things that were just old<br />
are now becoming historical.”<br />
- Ryan Spence of Flashback Scuba<br />
For For vintage scuba collectors,<br />
events like Dive Into History, held at<br />
Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida, prides<br />
great number opportunities. Along with<br />
the chance to meet fellow collectors face<br />
to face and show off their gear, it’s also<br />
the ability to dive it where others can see<br />
it. Not to mention, getting in some really<br />
fun dives with a few fellow divers, even<br />
if some of them don’t need scuba, like<br />
Weeki’s mermaids.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Hooked on<br />
Many a diver has a favorite old<br />
regulator stowed somewhere on<br />
a shelf in the garage or attic. Karl<br />
Gehring has more than 150, and<br />
he can tell you about every one<br />
of them.<br />
A diver for more than 15 years,<br />
Karl parlayed his skills as a computer<br />
technician into a job with Ikelite,<br />
where he now handles strobe<br />
repairs. About four years ago, he<br />
caught the vintage gear bug, and<br />
has since become an avid collector<br />
of historic regulators. His collection<br />
includes regulators from the 1950s<br />
and up, and currently includes some<br />
70 doublehose models and another<br />
90 vintage single hose designs.<br />
Vintage!<br />
To assemble this impressive<br />
collection, he prowls eBay and garage<br />
sales, but also has the advantage of<br />
working part time in a dive store,<br />
which gives him first shot at the old<br />
equipment that people inevitably<br />
bring by the shop.<br />
He says he can’t choose one<br />
that is his particular favorite, but<br />
considers his Royal Mistral the<br />
rarest addition to the collection. “I<br />
have a good collection,” he says,<br />
“but there are others out there who<br />
have a lot more than I do.” v<br />
Some people collect and<br />
refurbish antique cars,<br />
others like Karl Gehring<br />
collect and restore antique<br />
regulators.<br />
Like a proud papa, Karl<br />
poses with a few of his<br />
favorite regs. To Karl’s<br />
credit, his personal<br />
collection includes<br />
regulators from the 1950s<br />
and up, 70 of which are<br />
vintage doublehoses.<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
There are a lot of things still waiting to<br />
be discovered in the underwater world.<br />
<strong>Divers</strong> make new discoveries all the time,<br />
but often don’t realize the importance of what<br />
they have discovered.<br />
But sometimes they do, and when they<br />
report their findings, new behaviors and<br />
sometimes entirely new species are added to<br />
the scientific record. Take, for example, a day<br />
last May when underwater videographer Jay<br />
Garbose came across something he had never<br />
seen before while on one of his local haunts<br />
off Juno Beach, Florida.<br />
Jay is not exactly green behind the ears,<br />
having worked for both National Geographic<br />
and The Discovery Channel. But what he found<br />
on that day was a creature unlike anything<br />
he’d ever seen before. Lying on the bottom<br />
was a long, thin organism that he estimated<br />
to be between seven and ten feet in length. In<br />
subsequent interviews Jay said that when he<br />
first saw it, he thought it was a sea cucumber...<br />
then he realized how big it was.<br />
Although scientists have now identified it<br />
as a new species of marine worm, they are<br />
baffled by what they have seen from Jay’s<br />
video. It’s not the Loch Ness Monster or the<br />
Creature from the Black Lagoon, but this<br />
new addition to marine taxonomy does have<br />
scientists scratching their heads.<br />
For now, researchers at the Smithsonian<br />
say it may be some sort of Nemertean<br />
worm, but they’re puzzled by some of its<br />
characteristics, namely its incredibly large<br />
2<br />
Strange thingS<br />
size. They’re simply calling it “undescribed.”<br />
I just call it Jay’s Worm. And it’s not the<br />
only strange worm-like creature in the ocean.<br />
I once ran across an equally baffling animal<br />
during one of my own diving adventures.<br />
It was 1994, and I was staying at the<br />
Anse Chastanet Resort on the island of St.<br />
Lucia, which is located mid way down the<br />
Caribbean’s Windward Island chain. It was<br />
there that I heard about a mysterious reef<br />
creature locals called the “Thing.”<br />
Say hello to<br />
the Caribbean’s<br />
heavy-weight of<br />
sea worms, the<br />
St. Lucia Thing<br />
(Eunice roussaei)<br />
By Walt Stearns<br />
I enjoy island tales as much as the<br />
next guy, but this one seemed especially<br />
improbable. A worm-like creature<br />
supposedly 15 feet in length and as big<br />
around as a man’s arm - extremely elusive,<br />
and it only came out at night. Oh yes, it<br />
is especially sensitive to dive lights. In<br />
one divemaster’s words, “Man, light make<br />
it snap back into its holes faster than a<br />
rubber band.”<br />
Never one to pass up a good mystery,<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Like all polycheates, marine<br />
worms belonging to the Phylum<br />
Annelida, the giant St.Lucia<br />
Thing’s (Eunice roussaei) body<br />
is divided into a repetitive<br />
sequence of round segments<br />
(reddish brown to purple with<br />
a pearl-like tint) separated by<br />
deep creases.<br />
Like a centipede, large<br />
cirri (appendages used for<br />
locomotion) and feather shape<br />
gills flank both sides of this<br />
huge marine worm.<br />
no matter how improbable it might seem,<br />
I planned a few night dives. Much to my<br />
surprise, I found that The Thing really did<br />
exist, and I was even able to get a picture<br />
of it!<br />
It was a fairly small specimen compared to<br />
what the divemasters had described - about<br />
four feet in length and as thick as my wrist.<br />
But it didn’t recoil from the light. Maybe it<br />
was sick.<br />
Excited by my discovery, I passed a few<br />
images on to my good friend Paul Humann. He<br />
was working on the second revision of his and<br />
Ned Deloach’s Reef Creature Identification<br />
book, so I figured if anyone could, Paul could<br />
identify it.<br />
As it turned out, this was a new species<br />
never before identified. The best any of the<br />
scientists were able to do was determine it<br />
belongs to the Phylum Annelida, meaning little<br />
rings, which is applied to most segmented<br />
worms. “Common earthworms, as well as<br />
many marine worms are members of this<br />
phylum,” according to Paul.<br />
This group’s most distinguishing<br />
characteristic is that their body is divided into<br />
a repetitive sequence of round segments. The<br />
marine variety are known as polycheates.<br />
Examples would include the beared fireworm<br />
(Hermodice carunculata) commonly called<br />
bristle worm. Differing on this creature, body<br />
segments of dark to reddish/purple brown<br />
with a pearl-like tint, separated by deep<br />
creases with large cirri (appendages used<br />
for locomotion) and feather shaped gills that<br />
are soft to the touch (yes, I touched one)<br />
running down both sides, looking sort of like<br />
a centipede.<br />
The identification of the Thing is tentative,<br />
as more taxonomic research needs to<br />
be done once viable specimens or tissue<br />
samples are obtained. Problem is not only<br />
are they nocturnal, they are still considered<br />
extremely rare, with only a handful sightings<br />
in Bonaire, Curacao and the Bahamas, in<br />
addition to St. Lucia.<br />
For the moment, all anyone can say is that<br />
it belongs to the Family of elongated worms<br />
Eunicidae, giving rise to its genies species<br />
name: Eunice roussaei. And that it inhabits<br />
deep recesses in the reef, and can grow up<br />
to six feet in length.<br />
The last part is speculative, since scientists<br />
are really not sure how big this animal grows.<br />
Who knows, there may be a 15-foot monster<br />
out there on the reef. It may be you who will<br />
find it. v<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Japan’s Most Dishonorable Act<br />
Recently I received an e-mail with a link<br />
to Oceana’s web site, http://www.oceana.<br />
org/north-america/action-center/. I watched<br />
a video that has also made the rounds<br />
on You Tube. It is a disturbing clip that<br />
documents one of the most inhuman and<br />
brutal mass slaughters imaginable. Dolphins<br />
– warm blooded, intelligent creatures not all<br />
that different from you and me – are being<br />
chassed, trapped and killed by the thousands,<br />
with not even the basic regard for life that is<br />
common in a third-world slaughter house.<br />
This year, as in years past, Japan has begun<br />
its annual dolphin hunting season. Over the<br />
next six months, the hunt is expected to kill<br />
more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises,<br />
the majority being bottlenose dolphins,<br />
pilot whales and striped dolphins. While<br />
Japan’s position is that this brutal practice<br />
is a form of culling, they are actually killing<br />
animals that are on the threatened species<br />
list. Officials claim that the dolphins eat too<br />
many fish, and are therefore a “pest” that<br />
must be removed so as to not compete with<br />
fishermen. In actuality, the meat of these<br />
marine mammals is sold off to supermarkets<br />
and grocery stores.<br />
The full impact of these hunts on the<br />
marine mammal population is unknown due<br />
to the lack of good population estimates<br />
for the various targeted species. Scientists<br />
also don’t know the extent of the disruption<br />
the massacre causes on the complex social<br />
structure of dolphins or the affect on the<br />
ecosystem of removing so many large<br />
animals out of a small area.<br />
Moreover, the wholesale prices for dolphin<br />
meat have plummeted as fears over pollution<br />
levels have turned Japanese consumers<br />
against tinned dolphin.<br />
The Japanese dolphin hunters have<br />
admitted that they are worried the<br />
government will soon shut them down in<br />
light of international outrage over the hunt.<br />
As the publicity grows, the hunters are<br />
forced to hide their actions. They erect fake<br />
signs to divert the general public from the<br />
coves where the dolphins are ultimately<br />
trapped and have outlawed photos and<br />
videos of the killing.<br />
I understand if you just can’t bear<br />
to watch the video, part of me wishes I<br />
hadn’t. For those of you that do choose to<br />
watch it, remember the three minutes and<br />
16 seconds it takes is about half as long<br />
as some of the dolphins take to die. Please<br />
take action today.<br />
Add your name and comments in a letter<br />
addressed to the Japanese Embassy urging<br />
them to end this form of massacre. I have.<br />
For information, visit www.oceana.org.<br />
Or contact:<br />
Maureen Bonnerm<br />
E-Activism Manager, Oceana<br />
Oceana Inc.<br />
2501 M Street, NW, Suite 300<br />
Washington, D.C. 20037<br />
Phone: 202.833.3900<br />
email: info@oceana.org<br />
If you’d like to receive updates<br />
like this directly from Oceana, sign<br />
up to be a WaveMaker at: http://<br />
takeaction.oceana.org/signUp.jsp<br />
www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007