Wait, they found what?

They what? They found a second Stonehenge in 40 ft. of water in Lake Michigan?  That’s what Mark Holley a professor of underwater Archaeology  at Northwestern Michigan College thinks he found in Lake Michigan’s Traverse Bay. In 2007 archeologists were using special sonar to look for a series of pre-civil war boats that were sunk in the area.  They found the boats as well as a pier, an old buggy and some junk cars.  The archeologists something more  interesting than they bargained for  on the bottom. They found a series of  upright stones arranged in a Stonehenge-like manner. The sonar also picked up a number of other rock patterns including a large rock that appears to have  prehistoric carving of a mastodon on it. Divers were sent down to investigate and photograph.

The boulder with the carving is  3 .5 to 4 ft. high and 5 ft. long.  Photos show a surface with numerous fissures, some may be natural while others are of human origin.  Viewed together,  they look like the outlines of a mastodon-like back, hump ,head ,trunk, tusk, ear and legs.  “We couldn’t believe what we were looking at” Said Greg MacMaster, president of the underwater preserve council. Specialists that have been shown pictures of the  boulder  with the markings want more evidence before they confirm that its an ancient petroglyph. The experts want to actually see it, unfortunately experts in petroglyphs generally don’t dive so that’s a bit of a problem.  If this is real it could be as much as 10000 years old. It could prove that both humans and mastodons roamed the upper Midwest  at that time.  Maybe we need to get petroglyph experts into a dive class and the take them on a road trip to dive the boulder with the carving. What’s next pyramids in Lake Winnebago?

Has This Ever Happened To You?

Has it ever happened to you? You tell someone that you’re a SCUBA diver and the next thing they ask is “Where is your favorite dive spot?” This happens to me all the time. There are other variations like,  “Where’s the best wreck dive or the best shark dive or the best corral?” If you’ve only been to one dive destination, the answer is easy but if you’ve dived many places, it gets difficult to identify the best.  Best is also an opinion with a lot of variables. 

For example, if you asked me what wreck dive is my favorite, I don’t know how I would choose. Would I say is my favorite it would be the Tibbets in Cayman Brac? Or is it the C-58 in Cancun or Hilma Hooker in Bonaire or the remains and anchor from ship that broke up in the 1600’s in Bonaire. There are a lot of wrecks that come to mind but it’s almost impossible to say that one was the best or a favorite because they all have so much to see. I’ve dived these wrecks numerous times and each time I see something I missed on a previous dive.

There isn’t favorite or best place for sharks, coral, turtles or rays either, since the creatures you see on a dive is completely up to chance.  I’ve done organized shark diving in Roatan where they fed chum to the sharks. Amazing as that was, I find that it is particularly thrilling to see sharks by chance, just cruising through the reef.  I have been lucky enough to see magnificent sharks of many varieties in the Hawaiian Islands and in just about all the islands I’ve been to in the Caribbean, without having to lure them in. Diving with a shark anywhere is experience that I never get tired of.

Coral and sponges can vary in character from one island to another. Cayman Brac used to have the biggest Stag Horn coral that I ever saw until the hurricane took most of it out, but is still has some of the biggest barrel sponges I’ve seen. The Brain corals seem to be the biggest in the Bay Islands of Honduras, and they are enhanced with a riot of colorful sponges and tunicates. Whatever the reason that the coral varies from Island to Island it’s a reason to dive all the Islands. So many islands, so little time. 

There is such diversity of life in the ocean you can dive the same island over and over and always see something new each time. So when people ask me where the best place to SCUBA dive is I answer “under water”.

The Six Highlights of the 2013 Diving Season

Here are the six highlights of the 2013 diving season

Number 1: Bonaire

Dived our brains out and loved it! In January, we returned to one of my favorite spots, Bonaire.  Though we did several boat dives that allowed us to explore the more remote reefs, we saved plenty of time to experience what Bonaire is known: for their shore diving. Shore diving can be challenging in terms of dive planning since divers must prepare for an entry and exit in what can be high surf, but the trade-off is the freedom of diving on your schedule where you want to dive. It also affords the chance to take photos without having to worry about holding anyone up.  As long as your dive buddy is in agreement, you can go as fast or slow as you want.




Number 2: Cayman Brac 

One of the few dive destinations where the diving was almost overshadowed by the fantastic food!  Team Manta spent a week on the island of Cayman Brac in April, 2013.  We negotiated an exceptional deal with three dives per day and all the gourmet food we could eat three times a day! We visited some of the best loved sites around the Brac, such as Preacher’s Barge, Tarpon Reef and of course the MV Keith Tibbetts.  We also took a jaunt over to Little Cayman and did two dives in the famed Bloody Bay marine park. As always, the group was comprised of divers of all experience levels, looking for fun and laughs underwater!

Number 3: Ohio Trout!  

We thought we would try something new and dive in some other states’ quarries. Our caravan travelled to the Toledo area in Ohio and dived the Whitestar and Gilboa quarries.  At Whitestar, we met some people from area diveshops who were amazed that we would travel so far to dive their quarries. Apparently, not many dive shops are as into road trips as Manta Divers is. Divers can test their navigation skills on one of the many “scuba trails” mapped out at Whitestar, or just explore and discover by serendipity. Gilboa was one of the clearest diving quarries I have been in.  I stood on the entry deck and could see the training platform at 20 ft, a sunken car and the tail piece of the Grumman Gulfstream airplane! It was so easy to find all the items of interest since the water is so clear!  The most remarkable thing though was the sheer numbers of fish!  The trout literally swarmed you when you went to the bus.  This is apparently a favorite spot to feed the fish. We had a lot of laughs and enjoyed cooking out on site.

Number 4: Lake Wazee

We enjoyed Wazee on a beautiful weekend in which the lake was nearly deserted. The water was clear as could be and we were able to squeeze in a couple of night dives

Number 5: Northern WI

Mook’s blown tire adventure, finding the ghost anchor: In August, we travelled to Northern Wisconsin to dive Butternut Lake.  Our mission was to locate the Ghost Anchor”  If you’ve not been following the blogs and tip reports, you don’t know about Mike’s obsession with finding this anchor that a couple of divers had spotted on previous dive trips, but had eluded rediscovery, but I get ahead of myself!  We loaded up headed for the north woods in a caravan. The journey there, alas, was not destined to be a smooth one.  Round about Oshkosh, we heard what sounded like an explosion.  Mike glanced at his rear view mirror in time to see pieces of tire and our trailer fender fly off into the air.  Pulling over, we saw that we had a blowout.  This whole team jumped into action, helping Mike to put on the spare, but we were bummed out that this would delay the progress of our journey.  However, in true team Manta fashion, we made the best of it and had the tires changed at the Fleet Farm in Grand Chute. If you are unfamiliar, this is a giant store, often referred to as the “Man Mall,” so we had fun shopping around as we waited. Soon we were on our way.  The diving was great and we had fun exploring the more remote parts of the lake from our rented pontoon boat.  We even took a sunset cruise around Butternut lake. The highlight, of course was finding the “Ghost Anchor.” That accomplished, we plan to find the “Popeye Anchor” this year.  This is reported to be in another part of the lake, so we will have more fun searching and diving!

Number 6: Certifying students Lots of classes , Rescuedivers, Divemasters, using FFM to teach

Of course, we had a busy year teaching numerous classes for divers of all levels.  As a new part of my teaching, I added the full face mask to my open water repertoire.  With me in the Full face mask, and the students with comms on their masks, I am able to talk to the student for better coaching and explaining.  This makes it easier to make sure the student knows what to do and understands any corrections given.  Other teaching highlights included Tater (a.k.a. Scott Duban) earning his Divemaster certification, (We are looking forward to his valuable assistance with classed this coming year.) and  Sarah Barrett, who took Advanced open water and Rescue diver from us, going on to an instructor training course in FL. We look forward to relating her stories to you in future blogs.

Join us on at the shop Feb. 8 at 3pm for our summer 2014 planning meeting.  Don’t get left out of the fun!

Diving in the Working Opportunities

Happy Sunday!

I have been gathering my gear in preparation for my trip to Curacao in January, and it got me thinking about all the great people I have met on dive trips; the 70 year old guy who digs up wooly mammoths in Alberta, the trauma surgeon with hundreds of stories, the nuclear engineer working for NOAA, to name a few.   In fact, meeting new and interesting people are one thing I really look forward to when traveling. Well, I got an email from one of our former students that tops my encounters.

Some of you may remember Sarah Barrett who dove with us this past summer.  She came to us as an open water diver looking to advance to dive instructor and work in the dive industry.  She took Advanced Open Water and Rescue Diver courses with us and then spent the rest of the summer racking up dives so she could start her Divemaster course. At the end of the summer, she moved down to Florida and started her training.  She sends Mike and me periodic updates and we are very interested to hear of her progress. She shared with us that she had earned her divemaster and was already hard at work to become an instructor, but she also shared an encounter that is bound to set her life on end!

While practicing skills with the other instructor candidates, she realized that the woman who is working with her class and going for IDC staff was none other than Christina Zenato.  Christina is known the world over for her work to protect the cave systems on Grand Bahama Island, but for most of us, she is known as the “shark whisperer.”  She helps scientist to take DNA samples and collect data by putting the shark into a state called, “tonic immobility,” a trance-like state.  She also does this with sharks so she can rid them of fishing hooks and parasites.

Sarah a wasted no time in introducing herself to this woman: her idol. She shared her desire to work with Ms. Zenato, and Christina, no doubt impressed with Sarah, has agreed to help her get the necessary visas to allow her to work in the Bahamas. This chance encounter is leading to a chance of a lifetime for our young friend.  We are so excited for her! Before any of this can happen, of course, Sarah has to complete her instructor training and earn her Master Scuba Diver Trainer rating, so, “Get to your studies, Sarah!” 

I guess one never knows to what other adventures diving travels may lead, but one thing is certain, it will never be boring!

You can check out Christina's diving here.  Until next time, cheers.

A Pebble Cast Into a Pond Creates Ever Expanding Ripples

Recently I heard a radio show in which the hosts were talking about how an event or activity can change the course of one’s future.  By extension, these changes also impact one’s family and circle of friends. It got me thinking about how scuba diving has affected me and my family.

It all started with a family vacation to the Bahamas. Our son, then 9yrs.old, was interested in marine biology and the ocean, so we thought the Bahamas would be a great spot to expose him to the ocean in a much more intimate way.  We purchased snorkeling gear and took a short class to learn how to use it all before we left. Arriving at Stuart Cove’s Dive Shop in South Ocean Bahamas, we signed up for a couple of boat snorkeling trips. One of the spots we snorkeled was the remnants of the airplane prop from the James Bond movie, Thunderball.  When we got to the wreck, the certified divers dropped down before we got into the water to snorkel. The whole time I was in the water I watched the divers exploring the wreck and knew that that is where I wanted to be. 

As soon as we got back home, I was looking into diving lessons.

Lisa and I were certified the following October in time for a trip to Aruba for the production awards for the company that I was working for. Though our first ocean dive was somewhat terrifying, it was wonderful as well. The first thing Lisa said to me after we surfaced from that first dive was, “We have to get the boys into this”.  I signed Dylan and Boomer up for classes as soon as Boomer was old enough to be certified. The boys were certified on their first dive trip to Bayman Bay Club in Honduras.  Little did I know that that trip would be beginning of our sons’ training for international travel.

We were fortunate enough to be able to take the boys on several dive trips throughout their teen years. By the time they went off to college both of our boys seasoned travelers.  I think that it also opened the door to other adventures.  When our older son, Dylan married Dominique, we of course pushed for her to learn to dive. She had no problem with that as she is adventurous as Dylan, so we taught her to dive one summer that they were home.  They were living in Taiwan at the time, and with the couple now both certified, they took the opportunity to dive in the Philippines and Thailand as well as the Sea south of Taiwan. They also traveled to Cambodia and Viet Nam. Our younger boy, Boomer, has also headed out to other adventures and travel. His career as a geologist takes him to some very remote and beautiful locations in the US and Canada. He spent 10 months on Admiralty Island in Alaska, where, unfortunately, he never got the chance to dive during crabbing season.

Diving in Cayman Brac with family and new friends

As for Lisa and I, diving turned to a passion that led to becoming Instructors, having a dive shop and of course more dive travel, expanding our destination list to many local diving venues we had never hear of. Who knew a trip to the Bahamas would set into motion the events that would influence all of our lives? It has for you too because you just read this blog.

Six Things: Non-diving Stuff to Bring

When packing for a dive trip, I tend to really stress over my gear: Is everything is functioning? Are the weight pockets are in place? Do I have all the retractors and clips I need, etc.  The diving, of course is my focus, but I also do not want to forget the non-diving items that are essential to the enjoyment of the trip.  Here are my top six non-diving items to add to your checklist for a dive trip.

Number 1

Lip Balm, preferably one with sunscreen:  Anyone who knows me will smirk at this suggestion since they know that I am almost unable to go out to get the paper without chapstick, however, even those who do not share my addiction need chapstick on a dive trip.  Breathing dry air through one’s mouth coupled with wind and sun on the tender tissues of the lips can make for some ugly blistering and serious discomfort.

Number 2

Meclizine:  This is an over the counter medication to prevent sea sickness.  This should always be on a dive trip because even if you do not usually experience sea sickness, if the water is rough enough, you will run the risk of experiencing this terrible scourge.   Meclizine should be taken an hour before boarding the boat in order to be effective.  If you’ve never used this medication before, it is a good idea to try it before your trip to see how it affects you. (In fact, any new medication should be tried at home before taking it on vacation.) Tiredness, a common side effect of meclizine, may be mitigated by taking half the dose.  For many, this decrease does not prevent the medicine from doing the trick.

Number 3

Jolly Ranchers (Team Manta’s favorite) or other individually wrapped hard candy:  After a dive, it is nice to get the saliva going and get the salt taste out of your mouth.  Hard candies work well for this.  You want to have the individually wrapped candies so they do not get soaked when everyone is grabbing their favorite flavor.  (Be careful not to toss the wrapper in the water, though!) I put an aliquot of the candies in a Ziplock box so I don’t have to take the whole bag on the boat each day.

Number 4

Hand held scale:  Even if your stuff was under 50lbs. when you traveled to your destination, and you did your best to dry everything before repacking it for the journey home, it may weigh slightly more at the end of your trip. Weigh your packed luggage prior to departing for the airport so you can avoid having to redistribute your stuff while in line at the airport, or worse face an “overweight” charge.

Number 5

ID/Credit Card case on a lanyard: You will doubtless want to bring some cash or a credit card for incidental purchases, but you will not want to have your entire wallet or purse with you.  Get a small, waterproof case that can be worn around your neck while touring around, or walking the beach.  This is a good place for your room key as well.  Most of these are not adequate for diving depths, but if you are strictly diving from a boat, it should be safe tucked in your drybag while you are underwater.  If you are shore diving, get a container that is rated to be waterproof at dive depths.  These are a bit more expensive, but what will it cost you if you lose those items?

Number 6

Spare glasses/sunglasses: This is especially important if you have a fairly strong prescription.  Stuff happens and glasses can be misplaced, or destroyed by carelessness, so if you do not want to walk around the island for a week wearing your scuba mask, it is a good idea to bring a spare pair of glasses.

Are these on your list of non-diving essentials?  Can you think of any items I forgot?

Going Up

It’s 50 minutes into Sandy’s dive and she is noodling around under the boat, snapping shots of corals, macro creatures and her fellow divers.  Checking her pressure gauge, Sandy sees it’s time to go up.  Sandy cannot wait to share her dive experience with everyone on the boat during the surface interval, and before she knows it, she’s at the surface.  The mistake here is that Sandy stopped diving before she got out of the water.  Just as important to the safety of a dive as gear, buoyancy, and attention to gauges is the ascent, and sadly, many divers never give it a thought.

At the end of the dive, the first thing that should happen is that the diver communicates with his dive buddy.  Compare gauges for NDL and tank pressure.  Even though you dived together, it is always possible for one member of a buddy team to require more deco/safety stop time than the other.  Air allowing, buddy teams should ascend and make those stops together.  This is important so each person has nearby help if an emergency should occur.

After agreeing to make the ascent, dump a little air from your BC. This allows proactive control of the ascent, allowing more time to respond to increased buoyancy due to expanding air.  Remember that you want to remain neutral or a little negative throughout your ascent to make sure you do not blow through your safety stop at 15 ft.  While 30ft./min is generally recommended as the rate for safe ascents, it is preferred, if you have one, to allow your computer to guide you.  As you ascend, keep a hand on your dump cord and a hand on your gauges.

Be aware of what is overhead and around you.  Nothing spoils a dive experience like doing a header into the bottom of the boat, coming up underneath another diver, or passing through a swarm of stinging jellies.  Again, control of the rate of your ascent along with attention to your surroundings, will go far to help avoid mishaps.

Once the safety stop depth is reached, make yourself neutral and relax.  You are still diving, so look around! Many times bigger animals vacate dive sites when groups of divers are around, but return when the divers are on their safety stops.  The safety stop has gone from optional to a routine part of a dive.  The usual safety stop, three minutes in length, allows the diver’s blood to circulate through his body three times.  This is important because it is easier to exhale the gas than to deal with it once it forms a bubble.  The small amount of pressure at 15ft. is enough to keep the nitrogen in circulation so it can be safely exchanged for oxygen in the lungs.

At the end of your safety stop, again check that your buddy is ready to make the final ascent to the surface.  Ascend close to the boat, but not under it or the swim ladder. If other divers are on the swim ladder, get over to the current line so you will not be pushed away from the boat by surface current. Inflate your BC so you can float comfortably and switch to your snorkel. When it is your turn to exit the water, get yourself over to the boat, but again, never directly below a diver climbing the boat ladder! To make sure that you are not separated from the boat, hold onto a line or the rung of the swim ladder when taking off your fins. Lengthen the straps and hang them on your wrists, or hand them up to a boat crew member, then make your way up the ladder.

 If your exit point is at the shore, swim in to a depth a little over your waist.  Remove your fins, enlisting your buddy’s help to stabilize you in the surf. If there are big waves, it is a good idea to keep your regulator in your mouth, so if you are knocked down, you are not in danger of drowning before you can make yourself upright again.

In a novel, the middle part is the most memorable, but without the set up in the beginning and the conclusion tying up all the details in the end, it will never make a best seller. Dives are like that.  A diver must pay attention to all the parts of the dive; descent, exploration and ascent to make the experience a great one.

SIDE NOTE:  Tis the season for gifts and giving and Manta Divers has just thing for that scuba divers on your list.  During the months of December, we a number of great deals so stop on into the shop and check them out.  What if the people on your list don't dive?  Perhaps your could sign them up for a class!  What better gift could you give than the world of scuba?  It is the gift that keeps on giving.