Diving Little Cayman

The Atlanta-based Outlaw Dive club with its national following zeroed in on the small Caribbean island of Little Cayman for its spring 2010 dive adventure. It is the smallest of the three Cayman islands (10 square miles) and has a population of about 150.  Believe me, it’s small when Cayman Airlines has to fly 2 planes for each flight - one with bags, and one with people.

But the reason you visit Little Cayman isn’t for the above-water action - hanging out at the bar for karaoke on Friday night is the main social event.  It’s for scuba-diving.  We spent a ton of time on the northern side of the island hopping between locations at Bloody Bay wall and Jackson’s Bight.  We even managed a visit to the Tibbetts which is a Russian frigate that was sunk on Cayman Brac.

While the diving was very good (I still give Bonaire a leg up just because of the abundance of life), the resort we stayed at was outstanding.  The Little Cayman Beach Resort wasn’t the fanciest but the charm was in the staff, the pace, and the food.  BTW, did I mention the food?  Normally all inclusives are so-so for the food but not here.  Every meal was off the charts and the deserts - well, let’s just say I’m going to have to drop a few pounds as I enjoyed myself at lunch and dinner with the sweets!

Click here or on any of the pictures to see the photos from the trip.  Click here if you want to see the youtube video I made.

Congratulations to the newest certified divers

This weekend, the country celebrated our Independence Day.  In a way, so did 6 newly certified openwater divers.  They mastered all of the new skills needed to enjoy the beauty and freedom that only comes from the beauty of being underwater.

The class started as all openwater classes do - students eager to learn but a bit unsure of what to expect.  They completed academics this week along with 2 grueling in-water pool sessions where they learned all of the skills they would need.  This weekend, they put them on full display at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos where they simply “smoked” the class.  The last dive we did was perhaps one of the most enjoyable dives I’ve done in class as I watched everyone put their new skills on display and enjoy the beauty of Aquarena.  Each demonstrated very good buoyancy skills as they explored the vegetation and fish around the submersed submarine and then showed their buoyancy skills tackling the rings.

Congratulations to Joe, Chris, Adam, Joshua, David, and Mark as the newest PADI-certified OW divers.  Thanks for letting Nick and I in on the fun!

To see the pictures from this weekend, just click on the picture.

Congratulations Lance & Grant

This last weekend (May 2nd and 3rd), I had the priviledge of instructing Lance Clinton and Grant Heatherly in their Advanced open water class.  Congratulations to both for completing the course and quite frankly doing one of the best jobs I’ve seen in a while with navigating underwater and overcoming obstacles that divers sometime face - and they managed to have fun doing it.

We began the weekend Saturday at the Scubaland Lake store for a brief classroom tune up, and then headed to Aquarena Springs in San Marcos.  It was very busy when we arrived with a number of classes still going.  In fact, during one of our dives, there were 25 or so students in the water.  The highlight of our dives down there was a night dive.  By the time we got back in the water about 8:20, the visibility was much better.  Both Lance and Grant got to see a turtle and crawdad.  Pretty cool.  On Sunday we met out early afternoon and went out w/Robert on Lake Travis Scuba.  We did our deep dive at the Oasis wall and our wreck dive at Wreck Alley.  The deep dive was….well, what you come to expect deep at Lake Travis - dark, cold, and not alot to see.  I was disappointed that the visibility wasn’t a little better having dove that wall the weekend earlier.  The wrecks were a different story.  These guys were navigation animals and did so many things right.  The buddied very well together communicating and navigating all throughout.  When separated when viz got poor a few times, they did exactly as expected and looked and found each other.  At the end, we all navigated back to the boat under poor viz conditions just like you’re supposed to.

So….congratulations guys!  It was alot of fun!  BTW, click the picture to see all the photos from the class.  You can dowload them by right clicking when you’re viewing from the gallery.  Change the size of the photo when you’re viewing to “original” and you can download the full-size jpeg.

Scubaland launches new dive club

More information can be found on Scubaland’s dive club website.

Scubaland Adventures is dedicated to delivering some of  the best dive club events possible.  If you would like to join one of the most active dive groups in Austin, subscribe to the Yahoo news group.  You will receive the latest information on dive club events and other relevant topics to Austin divers.

Win a $100 gift certificate!
Design our 2009 dive club t-shirt.

Send submissions to mlutz@scubaland.com by March 31st.

1 Year Memberships
Individual $45    Couple $75    Family $99

Membership Benefits

• Free Club T-Shirt

• 15% Discount on all equipment purchases

• Reduced entry fees to events

• Early notification of special offers

Some of the events we have planned for 2009…

Check out some of the activities that we have planned for this year.  If you see something interesting, let us know.  If you would like to make some suggestions for group activities, contact Mike Lutz at mlutz@scubaland.com.  We’d like to have your help and suggestions.

In cooperation with the dive club Scubaland is also supporting Dive Around Texas, a statewide effort to organize Texas divers to take advantage of all the great local diving that Texas has to offer.  Checkout the Dive Around Texas website to learn about local dive destinations and all the great prizes you can win.  Sign up at any Scubaland location!

Dive Around Texas

DiveAroundTexas.com challenges Texas divers to get out and explore some of the great diving that Texas has to offer. Texas is blessed with over 30 different incredible dive spots including rivers, quarries, lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. DiveAroundTexas.com is about divers going diving in Texas and receiving the chance to win prizes and awards based on the number of verified dives you have in your Logbook. The more times you dive in Texas, the better your chance to win valuable prizes and trips.

The Program launches Saturday, February 14th, 2009. Any certified diver is invited to sign up. Sign up is simple. Stop by a Scubaland Adventures and get signed up. For a $25.00 registration fee you will receive an Event T shirt. Upon your completion of the Challenge you will receive one ticket to the lunch at the Awards Recognition Day in San Marcos on Saturday, September 26th, 2009.

The rules are simple. Get with your dive buddies and dive a minimum of 12 times in at least 4 different dive locations in Texas. See the Texas Parks and Wildlife brochure: ‘Scuba Diving in Texas’ for ideas on where to go. After each dive around Texas, stop by Scubaland and have them verify your dive in your personal logbook with the special ‘Dive Around Texas’ stamp. Continue to dive in Texas as often as you like, the more times you dive the more ‘stickers’ you receive for a chance to win Prizes and Trips at the Awards Recognition Day on September 26th.

Drysuit diving - I loved it!

I got a chance to dive dry for my 1st time yesterday when John Linsdsey from Scubaland taught me about drysuits.  I’ve got to admit, when I got into the pool for the 1st time, I was longing for my trusty wetsuit that I was so used to.  I found the drysuit very bulky and the buoyancy control just plain awful.  Think about it - you’re essentially wearing a balloon and you’re riding an air bubble.  For those of you that remember your openwater classes - remember how strange the hover felt?  Well, just imagine riding an air bubble that moves on you - from your legs to you neck just with changing positions.

Well, I completed all the required skills but still felt aprehensive about going to the lake.  What a difference a few more gallons of water make and actually getting some depth make.  The water was 59.  I dove the lake last year in a 5M with a 5M hooded vest.  I lasted 35 minutes and refused to do another dive I was so cold.  Yesterday, I did 2 dives with the last one being an hour and came up plenty warm.  I learned to love that little bubble of air and got more comfortable doing some strange moves to get the air where I needed it.   Any major change in swimming position alters the bubble so moves have to be slower - which is good because of the bulk of the suit itself.  The coolest part is hanging upside down where you can feel yourself suspended by your feet.

So….. I liked it.  I need to dive it more (which I’ll do this weekend helping out an advanced class) to get more comfortable with it.  I liked the fact I came out of the water and wasn’t cold.  It wasn’t cold getting in.  And best of all, I got to dive Windy Point where John and I were the only 2 divers in the water.  The viz was pretty good in most spots and I got to see the biggest catfish ever.  I was tempted to put a hook and line in his mouth but he could of eaten me alive.  He was a good 4 1/2 foot long and had a head 1 foot wide.  He was inside a sailboat.

Bonaire lives up to the hype.

I just got back from Bonaire on what was an incredible diving vacation.  They say Bonaire is the shore diving capital of the world, and I can certainly see why.

The island’s western shore is surrounded by reefs from the northern-most tip all the way to the southern lighthouse.  Given the number of places to dive, our dive crew (Holly, Anna, Nav and myself) managed to only sample a few during the week.  The worse dive we had was probably the night dive that Nav and I did at Witches Hut and it was still very enjoyable. The viz was poor that night, but to watch a tarpon actually munch on a parrot fish just 5′ in front of you and hear his jaws slam shut was memorable. Not to mention surfacing to a full moon where the shoreline is all lit up and you can see the city lights twinkling towards the south.

There’s no doubt that we’ll all be going back.  There are simply too many great dive sites to visit not to mention I’d like to spend a little more time in the park on the northern side of the island.

Hope you enjoy my photographs as much as I enjoyed making them.  Click on the picture above to be taken directly to the Bonaire galleries.

Congratulations Michael Martin!

Congratulations to Michael Martin for completing (ahem - surviving) the PADI rescue diver course 2 weeks ago. It was a long grueling weekend as he had to endure panicked divers, lost divers, stupid divers, and of course a whole host of non-breathing, DCS-inflicted idiots. Those idiots - played by me

Seriously, this is a very big achievement. The rescue course is one mentioned by most advanced divers as the toughest they’ve ever done but also one of the most satisfying. It marks when a diver goes from thinking about just themself in the water to a diver who anticipates and correct most problems before they happen. It’s a tough course where you never know what’s going to happen and you have to respond to it.

Michael simply rocked and did an awesome job. I know this - after watching him this weekend, I would be more than comfortable diving with him in the future and confident in placing my wellbeing in his capable hands!

Scubaland Underwater Pumpkin Contest Winners

Scubaland Adventures dive club held it’s annual underwater pumpkin carving contest at Windy Point at Lake Travis. For those of you that didn’t attend, you missed alot of fun. For those of you that don’t dive - here’s the deal. Divers take a pumpkin underwater at night and have to carve it. The most creative pumpkin wins. Sounds easy right! Not. It’s a great test of dive skill as you’re having to do this at night and have to work well with your buddy. The pumpkin is positively buoyant meaning it wants to float to the surface so your buoyancy skills are in play. Now, combine that with the fact that you are using a big sharp knife around air hoses…and well, you can see the skill involved.

And of course, when you get back to the surface, that’s when the 2nd part of the fun began. Alot of folks camped and partook of a few adult beverages!

Camp Lonehollow - My Summer Vacation

On Sunday, July 29th, I packed up the car and headed west to Vanderpool Texas - home of Camp Lonehollow.  My plan was to take 2 weeks off from work and indulge in a little scuba instruction for a few weeks while taking in the views of the Texas Hill country.   To say it was a vacation would have been dead wrong.  But to say it was an incredible experience meeting some outstanding young people - well, that would be an understatement.

During the 2 weeks I spent at camp, I certified 19 kids with 23 certifications.  I got to work in the kitchen one afternoon and learned a whole lot more about nursing than I could have imagined.  I got bit by man-eating perch in the lake (no kidding - they actually bit one of my male students nipple almost off).  I managed to take a few afternoons off where I was able to explore the 3,000 acre ranch that was the camp’s playground.  But what I enjoyed most was the quiet evenings after a busy day where I sat outside with my new found buddies and drank coffee, star-gazed (yes, you could see the milky way with your naked eye), and enjoyed how quiet everything was.

I’ve uploaded pictures to my photography site.  You can click the picture above or click here to see them.