Lobster season is finally here!  Reports from the keys have been mixed but those who know where to go generally got their fair share.  The human assault on the tasty crustacean was less this mini-season than usual.  Gas prices may have spared a few bugs (diver speak for spiny lobster) at least for a short while.  I hear that you can almost walk across lobster trap buoys in some areas.  I hope a few dodge traps and lassos until my tickle stick finds them in the Dry Tortugas this September!  This will be our 6^th annual live aboard Playmate trip from Key West through the Marquesas Islands to the Tortugas’ Bank and back.

The Playmate is a 60 foot dive vessel, not necessarily the theme of the trip.  Our theme will be spearing and lobstering.  It used to be the Volunteer which ran from the Naples City Dock.  Great food, fifteen dives in 3 days, calm nights at the Fort Jefferson anchorage, and a cool crew, I’m excited.  Not to mention they have satellite T.V. so I don’t even miss watching my Gators whip Tennessee on the grid iron.  Live- aboards are great way to get a major diving fix.  We have had a couple spots open up for this one.  Our local day trips depart from Marco Island’s Snook Inn restaurant adjacent to the dive shop.  We run when the conditions are decent and I can round up 4 to 6 people.  So if you’re a dive junkie in need of a bubble blowing fix, we’re your dealer, give us a call.

There is a strange parallel between diving and politics.  Farming and diving also have similarities.  I generally don’t talk politics.  I strictly govern the amount of political conversation onboard the dive boat.  ‘Come on now, we’ve spent significant time, energy and money to get out here, let’s focus on the diving’.  A second offense will receive something to the effect of ‘I don’t know, it’s a long way back to swim’, while shaking my head back and forth gazing at the condos sprouting from the horizon.  So now let’s tie in the correlation between diving and politics.

Tropical storm Faye has rendered the dive boat to the lift for five days now.  I love to dive; I’ll compare my dive addiction to my need for oxygen.  I want to dive, I choose to dive, and I need to dive!  The local waters are so confused and the vision is so diminished all around us, I have no choice on where to go to lead a successful dive.  It doesn’t matter if I run further north (to the right), or further south (to the left), or further out (impossible at this point in time), my desired objective is unobtainable.  I feel helpless, as if an attempt to launch a dive trip right now would be as fruitless as a trip to the voting booth in November.

A successful dive trip starts with adequate vision.  The visibility in our gulf is nil, and the vision of my choices to lead our country don’t seem any better.  At least I’m comforted in the realization that the visibility in the gulf will improve in the short term.  I trust Mother Nature, her storms and fires are ultimately cleansing and yield fresh growth.  I also believe in the potential of leadership in the country.  However, we are not going to elect a few leaders to steer this country back to the visions and ideals which once made us a great nation.  It requires you and me to govern our own lives in a responsible manner.  We must take good care of ourselves so we can help others. It’s useless to feel anxious over things out of our control (visibility). 

For me that’s diving the gulf, but until the visibility improves down there, I’ll just keep trying to do my little part to improve the visibility up here.  Join me?

The diving-farming analogy is shorter and easier.  For a dive operator, the water is your field and the diver is the seed.  This farmer has the seed but lacks a worthy field to plant them in.  The opposite happens and can be equally discouraging.  So the farmer does maintenance on the tractor, spruces up the barn and is prepared when the field is ready for the crop.  Despite the challenges and patience required for these two necessities to unite, when they do, they yield a magnificent crop that fuels an eternal fire in the farmer.  At least in this farmer!

Hopefully next month Mother Nature will yield more of a captain’s chronicle than philosophical cantor.  I do have a report from the fishing front.  This came first hand from a good friend who knows and spoke to the reputable angler, although we’re still seeking photographic evidence.  On the Saturday prior to tropical storm Faye’s arrival, this boater and his crew (I’ll call him Capt. Pinocchio) ventured out over forty miles to the southwest of Marco Island.  While anchored over a prominent wreck they supposedly exhausted themselves with non-stop catching action.  Their ‘take’ included large mangrove and mutton snapper, so many 5 pound yellowtails they were limited and tossing them back, permit, and african pompano.  As for the day, definitely possible, that was the last trip I took and we were out 20 miles.  Story goes that they fished so hard until sunset that they all had to lay down for a two hour nap to recoup for the ride home!  Capt. Pinocchio, please send me some visual evidence.  Same for all you captains, any feedback and reports are appreciated: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Until then, DIVE SAFE & STAY WET!                                     Capt. Jeff Dawson