Category: Down where it’s wetter

That’s How We Roll-A Flipbook Video of the Last Dive of FnF 2012

The First Video of the “Friend. Not Fish. 2012” Dive Trip

It’s about time.  Back in ‘06, a group of my friends started the “Friend Not Fish Dive Trip” aided by the hard work of the original organizers, Aaron and Maquel Crist (of Crist Spears fame). We did it three years straight, and then unfortunately took 3 years off (the flailing economy didn’t help).  This year Todd (one of the original members of the group with us, and a die-hard in his own right) took it over from the Crists, and put the band back together.  He was on a mission to revive it.  This time we chartered a different boat from the same operator, and as usual, we had a great time.

I’ve become notorious among the group for taking great video on these trips, and then never showing anyone (sorry, everyone).  This time, to provide a good faith offering to everyone involved, I wanted to get something up within days of the trip, so I chose a really cool series of photos put into a video flipbook of sorts.  This was the dive deck of the Truth boat for an hour or so at the last dive site of the day (don’t worry…it’s time-lapsed, so it only takes 5 minutes or so).FNF2012Logo

The commotion near the end happened when Aaron, free diving and hunting with one of his spears, shot right through a fish and got a 3+ foot moray eel behind the target fish accidentally.  After having another moray steel the fish while he was figuring out how to deal with the razor sharp teeth of a squirming eel, he decided to bring it back to the boat on the pole spear and deal with it on our terms.  Aaron has video of this incident, so hopefully I’ll post a follow up soon with that clip (I haven’t seen it yet).

This video was shot on Santa Cruz Island, California, with a GoPro HD Hero.

I will get some more commentary and video up shortly. Honest. I will.  For now, enjoy the comings and goings of the divers, the hard work of the great Truth crew, and a beautiful day on the Pacific Ocean.

RVs Up the Coast of California

Okay…there should be a lot more coming on this, but I wanted to at least post a few of the pictures.  In late June an early July of this year the Cederstroms and the Williams families headed out to California, rented a couple of RVs, and headed up the central coast and back.  It was a blast!

We did get one dive in at Monterey…but it was nothing to write home about.  I got to use my drysuit in the ocean for the first time, but that was the highlight of the dive…and no video or photos from that one.  More on that later.

Like I said, I’ll get some more details here at some point when things get a little less crazy and travelling has slowed down, but here are some of the pictures from the trip.  I have more, of course, and Rachel took tons as well, so at some point maybe we have to do some pic swapping.  Enjoy.

Some Grand Cayman Diving

Last month my wife, Crystal, and I took a whirlwind vacation with some of our extended family to several great diving destinations including Cayman, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel and Ft. Lauderdale.  I’ve got a lot of video footage and some still photos from the trip, so I put together a little sample from Grand Cayman.  More to follow.

We dove with Casey from Neptune Divers and it was fabulous.  No big animals on our two dives this time, but the terrain on the wall was amazing, and the life around the wreck and reef we did on the second dive was fantastic.  My sister, Brenda, shown here in this video a few times, was on her first dive as a certified scuba diver (see her using her arms? :)). Her husband, David, is featured here too, along with Crystal and I.

I’ll also have a review/recap of our trip shortly.  For now, here is a quick view into the underwater world of Grand Cayman, featuring their world class wall that dives into the abyss just off shore.  Enjoy.

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Friend not Fish Video Update

To all those who are waiting for the official Friend not Fish 2008 Video to be released, I have hit a milestone.  An essential piece of my editing studio was broken for a couple of months…it has now been repaired by Sony, and is back in my hands.  My first order of business was to capture all of the footage into my editing suite so I can continue to get this done.  I’m making it my highest priority now…well, after all the other higher priority items. :)  It’s my highest priority video project, now, though.

Stay tuned…I’ll keep posting updates as I progress.  It should be a good one this year.  Thanks for your patience.  In the meantime, here is a little pic from Hawaii this past January…a couple of whale tails to tide you over for the FNF08 video.

whale tail

Friend not Fish dive tour T-Shirts are ready to order

Everyone who is participating in the 3rd annual Friend not Fish dive tour in the Channel Islands can now purchase the official shirt of this years trip.  See the panel below, and what you want.  Let me know if there are any questions.

Also, don’t forget the dive trip checklist that I’ve posted before.


create & buy custom products at Zazzle

SCUBA Diving Checklist

A couple of years ago, as we began the preparations for what would become the “Friends, Not Fish” annual dive excursion, I created an almost foolproof checklist for dive trips.  The idea was to create a checklist that would work for most dive trips, and would not get confusing if conditions or needs changed (i.e. warm vs. cold water).  I’ve sent this checklist out to many friends in preparation for trips, but decided to post it here for everyone…and for future reference for my dive buddies…current and future.

It’s fairly self explanatory, but here is an explanation anyway.  Each line on the checklist needs to be checked off in some way, wether you have packed the item (TAKE column), wether you are going to rent the item at your destination, or its provided by the boat/dive operator (RENT column), or wether you won’t be using this item on this trip (LEAVE column).  This way there is no ambiguity as to wether you’ve got a particular item.  If each row is checked and crossed off, you are good to go.  I usually decide before packing what I will be taking, renting, or leaving behind and check those boxes.  Then I cross off each line that is checked as RENT or LEAVE.  Then I proceed to pack my bags, and as I pack each item, I cross of that line.  I only have to worry about lines that haven’t already been crossed off.  Simple.  Foolproof.  I’ve even left blank lines in each section to account for last minute or unique items.  Finally, since the checklist is in Word format, it can be customized for each diver (or even type of trip).  For example, if you are a hunter, items can be added such as ‘pole spear’, ‘cleaning knife’, etc., or if you are a pro photographer, maybe even a separate checklist for each piece of camera gear.

Anyway, no one wants to show up to a boat and realize 12 miles out to sea that they forgot their fins, regulator, or whatever…so use a checklist that is hard to mess up.

Okay, so here it is.  This document is in Word 2007 format.  If you have an earlier version of Microsoft Word, make sure you have the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack installed, and you should be good to go.  If you don’t have Word at all, you can download and install the Microsoft Word Viewer for free (you won’t be able to edit the document…but you can view it and print it out).

If you have ideas for additions, changes, or come up with new ideas, please post them in the comments below and/or contact me through my contact page.

Enjoy.

San Carlos Diving

Crystal and I just got back this past weekend from doing some diving in San Carlos, Mexico.  We went with Saguaro Diving and Sport on their last organized trip of the year to San Carlos.  While the bus ride was absolutely brutal (I’m not doing that again), we had a good time.  Eight hours on the uncomfortable bus seats down to San Carlos without stopping, and over 11 hours back with lots of border and drug checks, is enough to cure one of the need to ever see a bus again.

We went with our friends Melissa and Reed, and we had a great time diving and sleeping (a lot).  I’ve included a link to some pictures, mostly wet, from the trip.

Highlights included seeing and swimming with lots of seals, a medium sized green sea turtle, many tropical fish on the rocky reefs, including Angels, Damsels, Butterfly Fish, Puffers, etc.  We also encountered many moray eels, and some very interesting invertebrates.  Clicking on the pictures below will take you to the full gallery.



Channel Islands 2007 Dive Trip Photos

So, the 2007 “Friend, not Fish” dive trip has come to a close.  For the second year a bunch of buddies have gotten together on the Truth Aquatics “Conception” for a 3-day live-aboard dive trip in the northern Channel Islands off the coast of California.  Good food, decent diving, and good sleep pretty much make up the whole trip, and it was once again a nice break.  I’ve got some video and some photos from the trip.  I’ve completed the initial gallery of still photos, and have a link in this post.  The video I haven’t had a chance to work on yet, so that will be coming later.  For now, enjoy the photos.

Slideshow of the 2007 Channel Islands Dive trip Gallery.

Browse the images of this gallery.

A few of the selections from this gallery (click one of the links above for more images):