Back in the U S A

     The trip to St Kitts had been hard on equipment.  I flooded the Intova and it is officially dead, dead, dead.  Not a major expense, but not cheap, either.  Wasn't a great camera, but it was handy to take with students or give to students to use and get pictures of them with turtles, moray eels and other sea life.  Suppose I need to replace it, but maybe not right now.

     I didn't take the Canon 5d Mk ii into the water, but I ended up shorting it out playing with the battery pack.  Sad.  I broke two cameras and only got one weeks worth of pictures during a 3 week trip to St. Kitts and Nevis.  I got no pictures of Nevis, which was the fairer of the two islands.

     Dropped the Canon off at the Camera Clinic.  Pete estimates he can repair it for $850.  I bought it new for just under $2,000.  Oh well.  I did order a Mk iii and housing, but I need to learn the camera before I take it into the water.

Off to St Kitts and Nevis

     I learned that even divers suffering non-neurological decompression hits were well advised to stay out of the water for at least 60 days after suffering DCS, so I went on a 3-week trip to St Kitts to visit Gillian Harper and the Ocean Terrace Inn.  I took snorkel gear with me, but not my diving gear.  I should have stayed out of the water until at least the 22nd of November.

This is a composite of three pictures of the view of Basseterre, from Gillian's unit at the Ocean Terrace Inn.

 This is the view from the Bay Road back towards the Cenotaph and the Ocean Terrace Inn. The following are pictures of some of the more interesting buildings along the Bay Road, which is really Basseterre's harbor.

I was well advised to stick to the Bay Road and not venture the two blocks up to Irish Town, which was apparently the domain of Bad Boys and a place where tourists were likely to be accosted.  Too bad.

This picture is an open air fish market just South of the Bus and Ferry Terminals.










This picture is of the Clock in the large traffic circle called the Circus, which is the town center of Basseterre.

This London phone booth sits just behind the clock and can be seen in the previous picture.  It speaks to the Island's British heritage.










This is the National Museum, which separates the Circus from Port Zante.  If you walk through the opening you will be on the road to the Port.










During the 3 weeks I was on the island, there was almost always one cruise ship in port and frequently two.  The oft cited population of St Kitts is only 35,000 people, so two cruise ships bringing 2-3 thousand tourists, each, is a noteworthy event.






The Port is filled with T-shirt shops as well as duty-free shops selling primarily liquor, but also jewelry and some camera equipment.

At one end of the Port, there are booths reserved for local craftsmen to sell their goods.

   Below is another composite picture.  This one is a picture of the Ocean Terrace Inn taken from the breakwater visible in the composite picture at the beginning of this post.  The hotel is not a monolithic chain hotel, but was constructed in stages and is made up of several clusters of rooms sprawling over 3 acres. There are plenty of stairs but the gorgeous landscaping and spectacular views are worth the effort.  See the website for more information (oceanterraceinn.com) or check them out on facebook (Ocean Terrace Inn on facebook).

I was impressed enough with the two islands to list The Bridge @ Cordova Crew Hotel for sale.  If you are interested in buying a 20-room hotel on two city lots just off SE 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale, let me know.

First time Back with the Camera

I was running late and Luis was already at the beach when I arrived.  Leo came a few minutes later.  We geared up and got in, though the visibility was not as good as we had hoped.  The ocean was relatively calm, but there was still a lot of sand in the water. Visibility was only about 10 ft. We swam out looking for the concrete blocks but did not find them.  I think we swam out  too far.




  I did spot Irish Thighs, though, and got on track.  Ended up well North of the Gray Mid-way Rock, but we recognized the Green Mountainous Coral of the Fish Camp Rocks and then swam to the Perpendicular Rocks, the Swept Rock and the Knoll.





 Found the Twospot Cardinalfish pictured above on the NW slope of the Knoll.  The Balloonfish was in the middle of the Knoll on the South edge.  The Lantern Bass to the left was on the North edge of the Knoll by the large rocks.


  The Shapnose Puffer below was also near the large rocks on the Northern edge of the Knoll.

We made a side trip to the English Garden, where I found the Juvenile Foureye Butterfulyfish below, as well as the Ocean Surgeonfish to the right and below.

Saw the Hawksbill pictured below on the North edge of the Knoll as we swam back from the English Garden.   Luis spotted an eel hiding in a hole on the Knoll with a little crab.  I blew through my air, though, and I brought everyone back early.

 It was a pleasant if short dive and it felt really good to be out on the reef with my camera.  I've missed this.

I had not intended to make a second dive, but Leo was up for it and Luis went along, so I did as well.  I thought about it, but decided not to take my camera along on this dive, either.  Visibility was poor and although I might have gotten some shots, there weren't many.

 This time, we swam out to the blocks before descending and had a good run up the gun sight and to the Cigar Rock.  Went a little South past the Cigar Rock, but found the split coral head and made the turn towards the Bubble Rocks and the Perpendicular Rocks.  From there we went easily to the Big Coral Knoll and even went to the English Garden.  Then it was back to the beach.

I was doing much better on my air for this dive.  Got a little over two hours of bottom time on the Knoll, which was just fine with me.

Back in the Water

     No pictures.  The visibility was very poor, but I needed to get back in the water after suffering a DCS hit on the 22nd of September.  Luis and Leo accompanied me. We met on the beach at 8:30 am and got in the water about an hour later.  We waded through the surf, swam a little past the swim buoy and then descended.  visibility was a little less than 3 feet over the sand.  We headed East and eventually ran into the Fish Camp Rocks, though I did not recognize them at first.  From there we swam over to the Big Coral Knoll then past the Swept Rock to the Perpendicular Rocks and back to the beach.  It was a 93 minute dive at a maximum depth of 22 feet.  Average dept was just over 18 feet and my SAC rate was .48 ft3/min.  But I made the dive without incident, even though I could not make my planned stop at 10 feet because of the surf and surge.  I'm back.

Decompression Sickness

     My last dive was on Sunday, 22 September 2013. Gary Smith and three other divers from Ontario, Canada, were down for a long weekend.  They arrived on Friday morning and we made a shore dive that afternoon.

     Saturday morning we dove the Ancient Mariner and a shallow reef with Scubatyme out of Pompano Beach.  We stayed with Scubatyme and dove the Sea Emperor and a shallow reef that afternoon, with a short underwater trip to the United Caribbean.

Wheel house on the Tortuga

     On Sunday, we first dove the wreck of the Tortuga with Ted Gawronski of Adventure Scuba Diving out of  North Miami.  The wreck was sunk in April, 1995 for the movie "Fair Game," which I have never seen.  The wreck is a 165 foot' freighter that sits in 110 feet of water and with its deck at about 90 feet.  The final scene of the movie is the actual sinking of the ship, as supervised by the Miami-Dade Department of Environmental Resources (DERM).

     I found an anchor with about 100 yards of good line.  I coiled the line and thought about taking the anchor and line back to the boat, but then decided against it since I was also carrying the big camera and did not want to use my BCD as a lift bag.  So I left the anchor next to the wreck with the line nicely coiled next to it.  Pity.

We had a little over an hour surface interval and  then dove the Wall, which was the grown over trench left after digging in the sand for a beach re-nourishment project years ago.  At Ted's direction, the Captain anchored the boat  in 50 feet of water and about 100 years from the Wall.  I considered passing on the dive as I had not slept well the night before and was extremely tired and dehydrated.  I changed my mind as I watched the other divers get in.  I wanted to see the Wall for myself.

     I swam the 50 yards or so to the Wall and then swam over the edge and let myself sink down to a small outcropping at maybe 90 feet.  I got some good pictures of Creole Wrasse, as there were several schools that came by.

I got a nice shot of a Yellow Jack

 and a Graysby,














as well as the fish to the right, which I did not recognize.  Fifteen minutes into the dive, I found myself at 99 feet, for which the NDL is 20 minutes, so I headed back to the outcropping and then went up to the top of the Wall at 50 feet and swam back to the anchor line.  I kept my rate of ascent at about 30 ft per minute and stopped at 10 feet to clear a 1 minute deco obligation my computer showed before I surfaced.


     I swam to the stern of the boat and climbed aboard, walked to my seat and got out of my gear.  I felt tired, but good.  I dried off and was joking with the other divers when someone handed me a snack bar.  I took a bite of the sticky sweet bar and started to pass out.  I sat down, then I lay down and then I was out.

     I came to at the dock.  I thought I had some food issue or maybe was hyperglyciemic. It really did not occur to me that I had decompression sickness. I was breathing O2 and had been given an IV saline drip. By the time we got to Aventura Hospital, I felt pretty good.  I never did experience any pain, stiffness, nausea, or dizziness.  I really had no symptoms at all except that I could not walk a straight line. I was ready to leave.  My white cell count was high, however, and my blood pressure was erratic.

     The doctor was a younger guy who really was doing a great job with a difficult patient. He convinced me to transfer to Mercy for evaluation by Dr. Montoya. It was late when I got there, however, and I did not see Dr. Montoya until the next morning.

     All of my various scans were clear, but I was treated in the chamber anyway, and it helped. It helped a lot. So I got scheduled in and treated with a total of six chamber rides over 5 days. Three days into the treatments, Dr. Montoya used an X-ray to find two small lesions in my cerebellum. Apparently, I got hit sometime within the previous 12 months, as well, and I do remember a couple of weeks in August of 2012 during which I had some balance problems which then cleared themselves.

     I left the hospital Wednesday night, but drove myself back both Thursday and Friday for additional chamber treatments.  I was doing much better.

     I was shocked to see the amount I was charged for the treatments I received.  The total was about $50,000, of which the chamber treatments were only $16,000.  I am so glad I had insurance.    

Easter Sunday on the Yankee Clipper Reef

 Luis borrowed one of my aluminum 80's to make the dive.  We swam on the surface a ways out, but did not get past the algae before Luis wanted to go down.  So we did.  Visibility wasn't too bad:  maybe 10 ft.  Got a  shot of a Planehead Filefish.  Then we got to the limestone shelf and visibility went to hell.  We could barely see one another.

Found a bell anchor and chain that didn't go anywhere but was quite large.   Found this little Rosy Blenny in one of the holes.

 Luis found this Lionfish, which stayed where he was while Luis got me and we both swam back. 

 Lots of Flamingo Tongues, though this was not a very good shot.

 Ran into a small Purplemouth Moray, who was very surprised to see us and didn't act as if he knew what to do.  He stopped dead still for a moment, then backed up, then came right back at me. 

 Found this little Yellow Sand Ray hiding in the sand.  As soon as I took this shot, he took off.

 This is a Florida Regal Sea Goddess.  Used to see a lot more of these than I do now. 

As we left the rocky limestone area, I spotted this Spotted Moran under a rock and got this shot.

It was a cold dive, but not impossible.  Not as cold as yesterday, but I was glad to get out of the water.  Luis ran out of air just minutes from the beach, and swam in using my alternate air source.  

Another Cold Cold day diving the Big Coral Knoll

I arranged with Katie to meet her at the beach at 10:30 am on Saturday morning for her last two dives.  In particular, we needed to make a 400 yard surface swim to the Western edge of the First Reefline.  A surface swim to avoid any excess nitrogen buildup and to the Western edge to find 35-40 feet of water so she could make her ascents.  Saturday was supposed to be a warm day, so Luis and I arranged to meet at 8:00 am to make a dive before meeting Katie.

As agreed I met Luis at 8:00 am on the beach.  We geared up and got in, but even if the surface temperature was warmer, the water was not.  In fact, the water was as cold as I have ever seen it:  64 degrees.  

 After 10 minutes in the water, the time it took to go from the swim buoy to the reefline, I was cold.  I was shivering.  Luis was having camera problems, so I asked if he wanted to go back.  He did not.  I then gave Luis the flag and I went back to call Katie and tell her not to bother.  Luis stayed in the water.

 I had set up to shot supermacro, with the 100 mm macro lens and a +10 diopter.  Got some okay shots.  I like the shot of the Neon Goby, but wasn't as excited about the Flamingo Tongue.  The Freckled Seahare to the right reminds me of some of the wilder parites from the early 70's.  Can't tell which body part is which and what its doing. 

We headed back shortly after I photographed the seahare.  I was shivering and so was Luis.  It took well over an hour to warm up and try a second dive. 

When we got in, the water temperature had risen to 66 degrees, which is still not warm, but was warmer that our first dive.

I think the guy above is a Molly Miller.  Handsome lad.  Found him on the edge of the reefline just past the sand. 

The Arrow Crab was a good shot except for the stray gray line on the left.  

 This is another shot of the Molly Miller from above. 

 This is a picture a 3 Freckled Seahares stacked together. 

 Saw lots of these White Encrusting Zoanthids, at least that's what I think they are. 

Finally found this little White Speckled Hermit Crab inhabiting a Conch Shell that was really too big for him.  He could barely carry it. 

This second dive was definitely warmer.  I didn't start shivering until after an hour and warmed up pretty quickly once we got out.