May Captain's Chronicles

Rebooting / Michael Sipos: Eye D / The Heat!

Reboot is a funny word. It’s what you would do after your dive buddy realizes you put on their boots instead of your own. Did this word even exist before computers? That’s my memory of how reboot came into language. I could be wrong, perhaps it goes way back to a farmer that had to kick his tractor repeatedly to get it to run. Or an abusive parent; ‘you know I’ve put my boot to your backside before boy… You want me to do it again?’ The family and I experienced the best form of rebooting the past several days, an escape to the Keys for some much needed down time. Four days of light winds and flat seas snorkeling and diving around Marathon with the Mrs. and the kids. We even took big dog Gunther. That’s a proper reboot! I joke that I’m not ‘living the dream, I’m facilitating others to live theirs’. I’m realizing how true that is and that I’ve been prone to tinges of jealousy working hard to allow others to go play in the water. I need to stop that! Helping others to properly aquatic reboot is a noble and admirable occupation. The key is to not go too long without rebooting one’s self!

Eye D is a play on I.D., like the license fish have to show the Goliath bouncer at the Fish Bar. Knowing the names of all the cool critters we see diving seems to be at the source of a deeply rooted biological drive. The need to breathe, the need to eat, the need to know the name of that wild looking fish. I’m stretching it a bit but I also know I’m hitting cords! Similar to my thought a ways back that these cell phones should have a camera built into them (true story and that changed the world about 6 months later), I have an idea that would redefine aquatic animal identification. Build a small camera into the frame of the mask that is linked to a data base. Press a button to send an image of the specimen to the ‘base’ and up pops the name of the animal on a heads up display. Press the button again and information about it is displayed. That’s likely a ways off but thankfully we have Michael Sipos to supply the information to bridge that gap. He’s the UF IFAS Sea Grant Agent for Collier County. He doesn’t just talk the talk, he swims the swim and is a treasure chest of marine life information. Michael is joining us for the dive club gathering this Friday at 6:00 at New Life church to give a presentation on fish identification and morphing. His presentations are fun and informative and he enjoys sharing his knowledge. New Life is at 489 West Elkcam Circle.  Light refreshments (sans alcohol) will be served at the church. After his presentation (about an hour) we will cross the street to Margaritas for more dive talk and grub/libations if you desire.

Our pool is 93 degrees, Tarpon Bay is 89 and the Gulf is 84! The heat is on and the time to dive is now! Locally, light winds remain in the forecast, the moon is far from the earth and moving towards quarter (tides are mild), and visibility is good. Rainy and hurricane seasons are on our doorstep though. Don’t hesitate or procrastinate, conditions are good now and we all know the future grants no guarantees! Give the shop a shout if you’re interested in jumping onboard the Psychquatic and doing a local dive. I’m not a huge NBA fan but Miami is making a historic run through the NBA playoffs… The Miami Heat are on fire!! Don’t get burned though, apply liberal amounts of reef safe sunscreen when heading out on the water. Scuba Marco has a wide variety of Stream to Sea products available! Looking forward to seeing you Friday (if you’re in the area)… Let’s give Michael a good showing and learn a thing or two along the way.

Until Then, Live Love Dive —Jeff