Scuba Newb - Learning to Breathe Underwater

originally published October 11, 2017 While Irma has come and gone, the impact from her 130 MPH winds is still being felt. Big Pine and Cudjoe Keys were among the hardest hit areas in Florida. A month later, piles of debris still line the streets, evidence of the homes destroyed and despair left behind. The Lower Keys were cut off from the mainland in the wake of the storm. The only road into the chain of islands was closed pending inspection by structural engineers to ensure it was safe. Electricity was out and cell service was down. Residents wandered the blasted landscape in a daze, wondering when help would come, when they might be able to reach their loved ones to tell them they had survived.  Indicative of this close knit community, residents began to reach out to help each other in any way they could. A local radio station was still able to broadcast and spread the word about a store which had a working land line. People lined up out the door for the cha...

originally published October 3, 2017 After lashing the state for a harrowing 72 hours, Hurricane Irma finally spun her way out of Florida. She will not be missed. Churning from the Southernmost Point up to the Georgia line, the storm left no part of the state untouched - some 4.5 million people were left without electricity, homes were shredded by tornadoes, streets were flooded. For many Floridians, the storm had passed leaving only minor damage in its wake. For others, the real challenge was just beginning.  With dive boats grounded until the hurricane had safely passed, scuba divers statewide were partaking of an extended surface interval, many wondering how their favorite sites had weathered the storm. We'll talk at length about the Keys in my next post but first, let's talk about cave country. North Florida is home to dozens of underwater springs and caves that draw tec divers from all over the world, and the people in this region were find...

originally published September 11, 2017 It's 11:30 ish Sunday night, September 10, 2017. I'm so tired. This week has been madness. Right on the heels of Hurricane Harvey decimating south Texas with insane flooding, Hurricane Irma formed in the Atlantic, quickly growing into a Category 5 monster that would smash long standing meteorological records. There was talk of needing to create a Category 6 for this storm, that is how big and powerful it was.   September started off simply enough. I was planning a road trip to south Florida to meet up with a group of high school friends, still my nearest and dearest pals. We were gathering to celebrate the Bat Mitzvah of the youngest daughter of one of these friends. The only problem being that my own daughter happens to be 9 months pregnant right now. So I drove three hours away hoping I wouldn't get a frantic phone call to come back.  While I tried to work in a dive to the popular Blue Heron Bridge site while I was down...