Uneven growth pattern of this large old brain coral.
More of our crew leader.
Billy gearing.
Crew leader back from the deep!
Black band disease on a coral cluster. This disease has wiped out many corals.
Brain coral at Toppino’s Buoy.
Breakfast grace.
Brian gearing up.
Brian!
Cameron breaks our fishless streak! Unfortunately, this is not a keeper. Too fishy tasting!
Cannon ball!
Going down the chow line.
Sometimes gearing up can be a cluster #$@!
Dave doing quality control on the Giradelli chocolate chips I got to make the pancakes just that much better.
More male bonding.
Dave getting to his happy place!
Dave in his happy place.
Pulling up a bucket of clean water for dipping masks.
Rinsing the defog out of his mask before diving.
Denny give directions on where to dive.
After snorkeling, an exhilarating dive!
A single dolphin swam along with us briefly. Everyone crowds around to get a look!
Doug striding.
Another plate without the evidence!
Breakfast must have been tasty–there’s not much left!
Putting out the fender for our night at the dock.
There are always yellowtail snapper and sargent majors.
Everyone is looking at the fish that are hanging out in the shade of the boat.
Wish I had some better shots of the landings!
More flipping.
These guys love doing these flips!
I love these head over heel pics!
Gearing up.
More heave, ho!
Hoisting the staysail, as seen from under the awning over the foremain.
Hoisting the main.
Here I am in my Jaguar Shark outfit! It’s a fabulous dive skin from “Dive Goddess.com”! Great jelly fish protection.
Hunter flipping out!
I am not sure why he looks confused?!?!?
I think this is Hunter. What an awesome photo!
If you look closely, you’ll see the jellies well below the surface.
Joe ready to splash!
Caught this stride an instant late, but still a cool pic!
Another smiley fella!
Justing getting ready!
Justin has a great stride too!
Justin and his catch! Seaweed salad, anyone?
Lobstering lecture.
Our two instructors, Megan and Dave.
At their bunks….
She doesn’t even know the clothespins are accumulating! It’s a favorite game each week to tag the unsuspecting with a randomly placed pin.
Megan pulls the tuna out of the net.
Smiles and gearing.
Gearing up.
The captain with the assist.
Cameron getting ready.
I am speechless……
Pancake making is some serious business!
Lunchtime!
More male bonding!
Parker!
Parker had a bout with some swollen toes. Here, duct tape to the rescue for a chafe guard.
The munchkin is small, but he can heft a tank up for his pal. Parker and Billy…..
This is just a crazy pile o boys!
Beautiful pillar coral at Toppino’s Buoy.
Raising the sails, Denny and Megan climb on the pilot house roof to coax the lines along the mast.
Getting ready to jump.
When a fish hits a line, everyone wants to see the action!
Ryan is quick with the smiles, too!
More Ryan, form still great!
Ryan has a great giant stride.
Mealtime grace.
Passed out in the rack!
Cooking our big breakfast!
Giant stride.
Ted ready to dive.
Cameron reels in a tuna!
Jumps of the side–the twist! Some of these fellas flip around so fast, I cannot count the turns!
Cameron and Billy cheesing.
Buddies cheesing for me!
Cameron is Mr Cool!
And more clustering. It makes me chuckle to see them bumping into each other. Must be some form of male bonding that I am ill equipped to understand.
Clustering, clustering……
More clustering.
The divers usually go off in groups of two to explore a site. But the boys always find each other near the end of the dive and form a loosely milling cluster under the boat.
Dave is dreaming of a nap, who knows, maybe he’s really taking one in this shot…!?!?!?
Example of the dodging to ascend. Dave said it felt like playing “frogger”!
Doug gives me a formal greeting underwater!
Going for the ladder between the jellies.
Hunter chillin.
But I do find these brainless creatures interesting to photograph.
A closer look at the moon jellyfish, our nemesis for the past few weeks……
Right on, Joe!
Joe is in the zone!
They could appreciate the small stuff.
Justin and Brian discover something cool!
The jelly fish did finally make us call a dive today. There were just too many to make it in and out safely. Here, at Toppino’s Buoy yesterday, there were plenty to watch out for, but still a doable dive.
Parker is getting along swimmingly.
Ryan takes a break….
Here is the overhang, and why there are bubbles coming out of it…..
When you swim under an overhang, the bubbles that you exhale still have to come out somewhere.
Another father/son moment captured! Ted and Parker
Justin and his buddy Brian also ready to cooperate for the camera.
If he didn’t have that regulator in his mouth you’d see that Zach is smiling! 🙂
Zach and Austin
These guys are taking a breather, rating the others on their flips off the side of the boat.
Father and son–always ready with the smile!
I think this is Zachary.
More liveaboard scuba diving adventures from the Schooner Conch Pearl, running boy scout charters for Florida Sea Base since 2005!
1 thought on “Troop from Maryland”
So glad Ryan got to tag along with you guys. Looks like he has had fun and made some new friends. Living in Florida doesn’t get any better than this.
So glad Ryan got to tag along with you guys. Looks like he has had fun and made some new friends. Living in Florida doesn’t get any better than this.