February Captain's Chronicles

Overhauled / Slithering / Ebb & Flow 

Overhauled is a beefy word. It insinuates that a lot of work needs to be done. It also implies that once the work is completed, the subject will be much improved, if not, in a like new condition. The Psychquatic is the subject of Scuba Marco‘s latest overhaul. We have been working hard on her for several weeks.  Thanks to Justin and The Boat Guys, and a special thanks to Jessi‘s dad Gary (my mechanic-in-law) and his boss (our son) Jayden. They’re special because they work for food and/or room and board. Besides a thorough cleaning and putting a new Garmin chart plotter on her, we dropped new motors  and redid the gelcoat on the deck. Most boats get abused, but dive boats get tortured! Boats are like anything else that is in or around salt water, they need periodic overhauling. The same is true for your dive gear! Good scuba repair technicians are hard to find… But we have one of the best. Nitrox Fox services gear for multiple shops in southwest Florida and he is busy, plus he resides in North Port. So don’t procrastinate until the time to dive is here… Anticipate up to a three week turnaround on gear servicing. The same has become true for our ability to turn around tanks that need hydrostatic testing. The facility we’ve used in Naples for 20 years sold to a conglomerate and they are no longer testing scuba tanks. Believe it or not the nearest hydrostatic testing facility is now in Punta Gorda. So remember, overhauling is good and to do it properly requires time.

For those of you that have been aboard the Psychquatic you may have noticed that she refuses to run in a straight line and is always slithering to the left or right, not unlike a snake. As Justin was preparing to swap out the motors, he looked at the old ones and said "hmmm, I’ve never seen a left-handed motor on the right side, and a right handed one on the left side?" The lightbulb went off in my head! That’s why she has been driving like a snake with the old engines… For six years! We launched her yesterday and I put a couple of hours on the new engines breaking them in. I am ecstatic that she now drives like an arrow and not a snake! I reckon her fuel consumption will probably improve too. What a relief. Slithering is not for boats… It’s for snakes and politicians!

In my last newsletter, I hypothesized that hibernation is for bears, and not divers. Although, based on the turnout at our last dive club meeting, I’ve concluded that divers hibernate also! Thanks to the dive club matriarch Marilyn (she always shows) and to Bob and Scott.  Yep, that’s it! I don’t think the slim turn out has anything to do with us forgetting how to socialize after the pandemic. Or the fact that Jessi and I are old and not fun anymore. In my 25 years here, I’ve come to realize that there is an ebb and flow to many aspects of the dive shop, especially the turn out and enthusiasm for the dive club. It doesn’t bother me like it used to, I believe it’s a natural cycle at play. I do realize that nothing brings people to the meetings like a raffle to give stuff away or throwing down a fish fry. So we will do something to generate more interest, and if anybody has ideas along that line, please share with us. No immediate rush, we are going to skip February‘s meeting tomorrow and circle back around in March after everybody wakes up from their winter sleep. So let’s get ourselves mentally prepared and our gear physically ready for an awesome 2023 dive season! It appears that spring is coming early (at least in South Florida). This warm sunny weather and light winds should produce the best water clarity since before Ian rocked our world. Let’s get ready to dive, dive, dive!!!

Besides, the diving… Work some living and loving into your life!  —Jeff