Diving the USNS Vandenberg

I am going to use this lead paragraph to put the information describing this adventure as concisely as I can so here goes:

On July 17, 2015 friends took me along for a dive on the 524' USNS Vandenberg lying in 140' of water seven miles south of Key West. We left the dock at about 8:15 for the two tank dive the first of which took place approx. an hour after leaving the dock. The first dive was about 29 minutes below the surface with a 32% mix 3000 psi nitrox mix in an aluminum tank. After a one hour interval aboard the "Emily Anne" it was back down with the same mix for approximately the same duration for a dive that started at the bow and ended at the stern. Truly a wonderful time for which I am humbly grateful.



This vessel is massive with it's best feature being more clean swim throughs than you could experience in a half dozen dives!





Our charter was with www.adventurewatersportcharters.com who were great. Thank you Capt. Jack and Kelly!





See you in the next post. Jesus loves you!

1Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.... 1 Corinthians 15:1-3

Sheridan Dive #4

A faithful family from the church I love invited me along for a dive trip. We also recruited a couple of capable young men to come along from yet another family I have been blessed to grow up with.

Once the craft was in the water and loaded we began our journey over the rather choppy surface of the Gulf of Mexico!

We cut and slammed our way through 4’ to 6’ seas and in an hour or so we arrived at the Sheridan. See the trip here in Google Earth.

After a blissful and exhausting day we loaded up and headed for home.

Life with God is a life full of meaning in every circumstance. A life full of love with hope and a future!

But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat? With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding. With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
(Job 12:7-16)

Diving West Palm Beach

I had the pleasure of diving West Palm Beach with friends aboard Pura Vida's  the Sirena.

Great place to drift dive and make lasting memories. We saw turtles, sharks, innumerable colorful reef fish, lobster, squid and one big green eel! I tried to make a gopro underwater housing capture clear video but the silicon used to make the fix did not have enough time to cure.

Dive Preparation I Hope.

Might be going on a dive tomorrow so I have been making some preparations. I have the use of a Gopro and made a mask mount for it that turned out very well.

Next thing you know I see on youtube how miserably inadequate the original underwater housing is for getting anything resembling HD quality video. To late to order the new housing as I refuse to pay as much for shipping as for the product being shipped. I decide to make a solution out of an old cokin filter and it worked flawlessly in my sink so here is hoping it can take the pressure out in the Atlantic. You will know soon enough by the video quality that shows up in my next post.

I sure hope it works!

Here is a great example of the difference by "TheTomEGunn" thanks.

Diving The Sheridan & Military Tanks

We set off from the Tierra Verde Marina on a brisk Monday morning for a day of Creation Therapy. The wreck Sheridan 27º52.578 N 083º11.150 W and a group of 10 Military tanks 27º40.690 N 082º51.810 W were our goal in that order.

Again let me say it was a bit brisk while underway.

After a bit of bouncing we reached the Sheridan hooked up to her stern and dropped in. The water temp must have been in the low 60’s and took a few minutes to forget.

The visibility was acceptable and we had a good time swimming around and thought the old 180’ tug!

Our next stop was the tanks and we had no problem hooking up. The visibility here was mediocre but that did not stop my friend and his daughter from plunging in. With the visibility low I was not very interested in video so I busied myself retrieving anchors left behind by fishermen who found then fouled on the structure cut them loose. The final count was four.

We headed back with the sun low on the horizon the time sure flew with the fun we were having! It was not long before the boat was trailored at the Ft. Desoto ramp and we were on the road for home. Thank so much Brent for making all this possible. The burdens of boat ownership are many but you bear them with grace.

McDiving Palm Beach Florida

What an amazing adventure yet again! Thank you! We did a three tank dive with the juggernauts from  Jim Abernethey’s www.scuba-adventures.com and we would not have it any other way. I am giong to let the images and video do the talking so strap on your imaginary tank pop in your fictions regulator and do not forget to spray the defogger on your nonexistent mask. We are going under!

Wow what a trip!

I have to mention my trusty little canon SD960 and it’s impenetrable canon wp-dc32 housing. Just add photoshop and you have great results!