The 2019 Dive Schedule is Open for Booking!!

• Blackbeard's Cruises
• My Favorite Dive: Hammerhead Shark Memories in the Bahamas
• The Galapagos - a Naturalist’s Dream Come True!
• Scuba Skills Tune-Up Event
• Sea Turtle Nesting Season is Here
• Seafood Recipe: Crab Cakes with Easy Rémoulade
• Test Your Knowledge
• Preventing Seasickness
• Who is Sylvia Earle?
• A Couple of Fun Facts About the Sea
• Newsletter Delivery Options
• Email or Address Change?
• T-Shirts For Sale
• Active Divers Guidelines & Policies

Wait a minute- we haven’t even done a 2019 international dive trip, and we are talking about a 2020 trip?? Well, Blackbeard’s is so popular that you have to book well over a year in advance to get a group booking in prime dive season, and there are a lot of reasons why it’s so popular:

• Up to 19 dives
• Tanks and weight belts
• All meals and snacks
• Beer, wine and rum punch (post-dive, of course)
• $995 plus $135 port fees for the entire week on board!!

Over the years, Dan and I have done this trip several times and it is one of the best and most complete total disconnects from real life you will ever experience! We call it “dive camping” and that’s exactly how Blackbeard’s describes it. Here is what to expect:

• Exceptional oceanfront and island views
• Dining – picnic-style outdoors in the horseshoe or inside near the kitchen (galley)
• Bunks – beds come in doubles and singles as uppers or lowers
• Bathrooms (heads) – small and shared with your shipmates
• Showers – hot water and long showers are a luxury – enjoy them before you arrive
• Kitchen (galley) – yes, a compact space where all your meals are prepared
•  No WIFI
• Don’t bother packing a lot of clothes, you will be in a bathing suit most of the time, and there is no space to put a suitcase!

Some of the things you may experience:

• Diving and playing with dolphins in the water
• Lounging on the open deck
• Sitting under the canopy
• Hanging in the horseshoe (on the top deck)
• Fishing for dinner
• Making memories with new and old friends
• Stargazing under a clear night sky (the most stars you will ever see on a clear Bahamas night!)
• Getting 40 winks in your bunk

The boat departs from Nassau by 3:00 PM and you need to be onboard by 1:00 PM on June 6th, so you will need to make flight arrangements to get there on time (airfare is NOT included). Better yet, come early and spend a few nights in Nassau.  Our favorite spot is the resort area on Telegraph Beach. Both bahamasair and jetBlue fly that route nonstop for about $250 roundtrip. The boat arrives back to the dock on Thursday, June 11th and dinner is served onboard at the dock. You have the evening free to explore Nassau and return to the ship later that night (or early Friday morning!). You must be off the boat by 9:00 AM Friday morning. Transfers to and from the ship are not included, but you can buy them by using this link provided by Blackbeard’s: https://allstarliveaboards.com/ground-transfers/.

We have been diving all over the world, and this is the only trip we have done more than three times. That’s a testament to the experience that awaits you on this first time ever Active Divers Blackbeard’s Cruise. Part of the experience is meeting new divers so I have only reserved 12 of the available 22 spaces and 4 are already taken! Who will the lucky eight remaining Active Divers be??? Lock in your spot by making a $206 Per Person deposit with the handy deposit button. Final payment of $930 Per Person will be due on February 20, 2020 via check made out to Active Divers Association sent to:

Jerry Kosakowski
298 NW 83 Lane
Coral Springs FL 33071-7439

If you have any questions, check out the really very complete Blackbeard’s website at https://allstarliveaboards.com/blackbeards-liveaboard-diving/ or send me an email at diverdaryl@bellsouth.net.

See you onboard!

--Daryl

Online Deposit for Blackbeard's Cruise: $206
June 6 to June 12, 2020

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My favorite dive in 30 years of diving involved being alone 60 feet deep on a remote reef in the Bahamas with a 12-foot hammerhead shark.

Diving alone? Not exactly. We all know that when our buddy is a photographer, we are pretty much diving alone.

We went to the Bahamas to do several magazine stories on shark diving, then the center for this activity. We dived several days with Stuart Cove’s team out of Nassau. First, we took a long boat ride to the Tongue of the Ocean, where we strided off the dive boat into the virtually bottomless aquamarine ocean, far away from the sight of land. To combat challenging currents, we were tethered to the boat with plastic ski ropes, as curious silky sharks swam around us for nearly an hour. We were less than 20 feet deep over the awesome abyss.

But the favorite dive of this working trip was a specialty dive off the southern side of the island with a divemaster in a small boat, just three of us.

We had been down for more than half an hour, swimming over the bright white sand and vibrant reefs. My photographer buddy, Doug Perrine, and I were exploring the reef when my computer signaled that it was time to head back to the boat. I gave him the ascent signal. Alone, I swam about 50 feet to the anchor and grabbed the line.

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For many years I have thought about diving in the Galapagos but knew that it was advanced diving done in the far north part of the islands while on a live aboard. And worst of all the water can be VERY cold!! The islands are 600 miles west of the coast of Ecuador and are virtually on the equator. The confluence of the Humboldt and Cromwell currents bathe the islands in a combination of cold and temperate water filled with nutrients. As a result, the water is not perfectly clear, but still has generally good visibility.

After putting off the trip for years, Dan Baeza talked me into visiting via a cruise aboard the Celebrity Xpedition, a 296 foot passenger cruise ship with a maximum capacity of 100 passengers specifically made for cruising these islands. It’s not the least expensive way to go, but the Galapagos Islands are a National Park of Ecuador and visiting the many uninhabited sites is strictly controlled (limited to 100 visitors on land at any time) by the park service, so you have to take a licensed tour operator to all locations. While you can take land-based tours and individual boats to the sites out of Puerto Ayora, you will lose a lot of time and see a much less than going on a cruise. Our ship did what is called the “inner loop” shown at left to visit all of the main sites:

While the star attraction most people look forward to is the “Blue-footed Booby” (a seabird found here) for me the surprise was the Galapagos Penguin, the only penguin in the northern hemisphere. While the ship did not offer diving they did do “advanced snorkeling” where you drop off a Zodiac in 40 feet of water to snorkel with the wildlife. So, while I never thought I would swim with a penguin I got to do it on this trip! Often we would be snorkeling where dive boats were taking divers so I felt like I got both a naturalist tour and ocean experience in one trip.

It would take many more pages to describe the trip since we took 2 to 3 excursions a day (all via Zodiac) and hundreds of pictures, but the takeaway is that I would recommend this trip to anybody with an interest in land and marine wildlife.

Top Row L to R: A pair of Blue-footed Boobies, Sea Lion, Galapagos Penguins
Bottom Row L to R: Giant Saddleback Tortoise, Land Iguana, Sally Lightfoot Crab

Photos by Dr. Dan Baeza

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Scuba Skills Tune-Up Event
--by Rachel Davis

Date: Saturday, May 11, 2019, 9am to 1pm

Location: A.D. Barnes Park Park Pool, 3401 SW 72 Avenue, Miami, FL 33155 (305) 666-5883

Cost: Free to current paid-up Active Divers members; $25 one-day only membership promotion for certified divers wishing to join Active Divers at the event – offer available to new members only. New membership valid only through December 31, 2019.

Events and Activities: The day consists of two hours of scuba tune-up clinics taught by Active Divers Safety Officers, followed by two hours in the water in small groups working on scuba skills with a Safety Officer. Clinic topics include buoyancy, pressure, breathing, the Buddy System, communication, hand signals, the underwater environment, dive planning and safety. The pool session with full scuba gear will cover the typical pool skills taught in the Open Water course. Note: This is not the official PADI scuba refresher course and participants do not receive any certification for this event. Lunch: Poolside lunch served after the pool session compliments of Active Divers.

Equipment Rental: Members and Non-Members may bring their own gear or rent gear at the event for an additional $44 which includes tank, regulator, BCD, belt and weights. Members and non-members must provide personal mask, fins, and snorkel.

Spread the Word and Bring Your Friends! We want to use this event to get in as many new members as possible, so please spread the word and bring your friends. There will not be another opportunity to join Active Divers for just $25 for the rest of the year.

For more information, please contact Rachel Davis at rachelhancock7@gmail.com or call 786-316-9852.

To register for the event, fill in the form located at Scuba Skills Workshop. You may also prepay for the event and rent equipment on this page, as well. Please note that credit card payments will not be accepted on the day of the event.

Please Note: You must bring a valid scuba certification card to the event.

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Ninety percent of sea turtle nesting in the U.S. occurs in Florida from March through October of each year. Florida represents the largest aggregation of nesting loggerhead sea turtles in the world, and it’s the second largest green turtle nesting aggregation in the Western Atlantic Hemisphere. And Florida is the only state in the continental U.S. where leatherback turtles regularly nest. Our state is especially critical for endangered sea turtles, and you can help protect sea turtles.

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission advises that though turtle nesting and hatching usually happens in the middle of the night, it is very possible for humans to cross paths with nesting females or hatchlings on their way to the sea. Should this happen to you, it is important to stay out of the sea turtle's way. Don't put your hands on or near the turtle. Any distractions may frighten or disorient them, causing a female to return to the ocean before finishing her nest, or misdirecting a hatchling away from the water.

Light can also cause a major disruption in the natural behavior of the turtles. Don't use any flashlights, flash photography, or video equipment. This can cause a female to false crawl or lead a hatchling away from the water.

Hatchlings must overcome many obstacles in their natural habitat to successfully reach adulthood. After hatching, they must dig out of their nest, a process that may take a few days. Once out, predators feed on them, and any misdirection may leave them lost and, soon, dehydrated by the morning sun. Enjoy the experience from a distance. Don't make it any more difficult for sea turtles to survive.

If you come across a sea turtle that is stranded or dead; a hatchling that is wandering in a road, parking lot; or directions other than the water; or if you see someone disturbing a nest or turtle, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Division of Law Enforcement at 1-888-404-FWCC or *FWC from your cell phone.

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Growing up nine blocks from the Gulf of Mexico in Corpus Christi, Texas, I developed a taste for crab meat at a young age. Here is a great way to enjoy this delicious seafood:

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