Florida Sea Base News

BSA TARPON

:’( Sad to see her go. The Tarpon was my favourite boat to serve as crew on and dive from. She’s the boat I logged most of the dives I needed to get into the DMA on, with Captain Dennis as her skipper. Tarpon was always, in my opinion, much more hospitable for crews than any of the Newtons with her huge, carpeted deck that was just perfect for sprawling out on on the way to/from a site, during lunch, or after a long day of diving. Her speaker system (and of course, the most awesome captain in the world – Captain Dennis) made it a pleasant ride out to/back from dive sites, and the raised dive platform was, to me, so much more comfortable to enter the water from. I have many fond memories of kids getting stuck in inner tubes, having fun diving off the boat during lunch (or pushing each other/their divemasters off the boat), even the occasional hilarious trip/faceplant into the water, and they’re all from that boat.

OH! And of course, the “splash zone.” Who could forget the “splash zone?” I often described the Tarpon as the rollercoaster of FSB in rough seas. I loved being aboard her in those conditions – waves crashing over the bow, the boat pitching and crashing onto the waves, but always remaining as steady as could be. In rough seas, the Tarpon carried a certain thrill not found on the Newtons.

Even with all of her old age issues (which, in my opinion, added to her charm), she was still a great boat. Perhaps not the fastest, but the best (though I’m biased).

Farewell, dear Tarpon. You will certainly be missed. <3 I hope your new owners treat you well. – April

Worked the Tarpon the summers of ’09 and ’10. Working with Dennis and Sea Base was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. I know those Newtons are designed for diving, and don’t break ask often, but they will never match the Tarpon in my eyes. – Dan Mikalian

SAILING

Four Coral Reef Sailing crews and one Sea Exploring crew returned to the Florida Sea Base Thursday for their luau.  No new crews checked in and no one was in for shore leave.

SCUBA

The divers completed two more dives Thursday.  The first was at a large patch reef named Capital and the second was at a smaller, crescent shaped patch named Crescent (imagine that).  They are scheduled for two more dives today and one more Saturday morning.

Scuba Instructor David Ball and I took eight questionable scuba tanks to Quiescence Diving Services for a second opinion.  The good news was that seven of them were fine.  The eighth tank was “borderline” according to their inspector.  Borderline is not acceptable so I had the tank condemned.

WEATHER

Thursday started out very windy, overcast and cold but ended with a light breeze, clear skies and comfortably warm.  The forecast calls for another cool, breezy morning today.  The wind has clocked to the northeast and it may be a tad bumpy for the divers today.The good news is the crew has 8 dives in their logbook so far this week and have matured substantially in their diving ability.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape

STAFF

Saturday started early at the Florida Sea Base; I was up a little after 05:00 to write yesterday’s post.  At 07:00 several of the staff rendezvoused at BSA Eagle for some morning training dives.  Captain Christy and Captain Sargon Smith volunteer to drive and serve as 1st mate. Scuba Instructor Rich Goldman was working with Coral Reef Mate Phillip Ferrier to complete his PADI Rescue Diver certification.  I was there to conduct PADI Open Water Training Dive #1 with Coral Reef Mates Jessica Skiba, Danielle Dasht and Emily Alesandrini.  Divemasters Paul Mangone and Tyler Giblin and Rescue Diver Chris Smith were there to help us out as needed.

We conducted our dives at Alligator Reef.  Phillip was successful in completing his PADI Rescue Diver certification.  Jessica, Danielle, and Emily did an excellent job of meeting all of the objectives of their dive.

The remainder of the program staff had an 07:30 meeting.  Robbie Adams and Dan Henson set sail on Schooner Yankee with their Sea Exploring crews.  The Coral Reef Sailing staff had four arriving crews.  Most of the scuba staff worked on scuba tank maintenance and other preparations in the scuba area.  Steven Raymond and Jenna Burton received a Scuba Liveaboard crew.

TOUGHER

According to a recent email from the BSA Office of Marketing, here’s what the BSA is doing to promote the show (Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout) this week:

•        Paid keyword search on Google (426,000 impressions to date)

•        ToughScout.com website (52,000 unique visitors to date)

•        Web banners on Scouting.org (ongoing)

•        450,000 email messages to Eagle Scouts on Monday, March 11

•        Email to 700,000-plus volunteers the week of March 11

•        “Tougher” on our NASCAR hood for the March 9 race in Las Vegas

•        Scoutstuff.org Web banners

•        Posters/postcards in all Scout shops

•        All Scout shop employees wearing “Tougher” T-shirts

•        Reminder email to marketing volunteers and professionals

•        “Tougher” feature in Scout Wire (Thursday, March 7)

•        Summit/jamboree blogging/social media (ongoing schedule of content)

•        BSA social media (ongoing schedule of content)

•        Email to employees (second update)

NASCAR

Scott Lagasse Jr. started 40th (out of 43 positions) in the #8 Hybrid Light / Boy Scout of America Chevrolet Camaro in Saturday’s Nationwide NASCAR event in Las Vegas.  Scott finished in 20th place.  I watched the race twice and never saw a clean shot of the #8 car; disappointing.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape

END OF AN ERA

I will be on the road early (VERY early) Wednesday morning on my way to Slidell, LA to check on the BSA Sea Scout and then to Dallas for the BSA national committee meetings.  So today is my last day of working with Captain Rich Beliveau.  He will be on his way to North Carolina and a new beginning before I get back.  Captain Rich and I have been a great team.  I love him like a brother.  I will miss him very day.  BUT, never say never; there remains the chance of a sequel on a future endeavor.  A plan for future collaboration is afoot.  Godspeed & fair winds Captain Rich.

SCUBA

With the combined efforts of Florida Sea Base staff members Captain Christy Clemenson, Captain Sargon Smith, Divemaster Brenda Mallory, and Captain Rich Beliveau the pros from the BSA Centennial Eagle have been removed, resurfaced, and reinstalled.  Captain Christy reports the vessel is running better than ever.  Way to go team!!!

CONFERENCES

The Bay Lakes Council conference attendees were taken on an eco-tour that included Lignum Vitae State Park, Indian Key State Park and the Alligator Reef lighthouse.  I was busy elsewhere so I am not sure what staff members attended.  Food and Conference Director Tim Stanfill spent most of the day at the Brinton Environmental Center where the Ortho-Biony group is meeting.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape

SPRING SEASON

The Florida Sea Base will have a busy spring.  While we continue to struggle to attract enough Scouting units to fill the spring season with program activities, Food and Conference Director Tim Stanfill has done an excellent job of filling all of the holes with conferences.

The program season kicks off 16 February.  I don’t have copies of any of the schedules except scuba at this time.  The first week we have one Scuba Adventure crew and one Scuba Liveaboard crew.  The next 12 days there are no Scout units but the place will be a beehive of conference activity.  After that we have three scuba crews, then three more.  The week before Easter we have eight scuba crews and the week post Easter we have another eight crews.  The following week we are down to six crews, then one crew and then one final crew and the 2013 spring program season will conclude.

While I don’t have a copy of the other program schedules, their general trends follow those of the scuba attendance.  Generally speaking we start about President’s Day, then nothing, then a crescendo until the week before and after Easter (when we get slammed) and then it tapers off until the end of April.

 STAFF

Many of the Florida Sea base staff members are very involved with their local councils when not serving Scouts here.  To wit, and email from PADI Divemaster Paul Mangone who is the Cubmaster back home:

Steve and Tim,

Thought you all might be interested in our pack trip to the Florida Aquarium. We have other really great shots of the boys. We had a great time during this overnight adventure “sleeping with the fishes”, dissecting a carp, and learning about or wonderful Florida marine environment. We had about 56 scouts, parents and siblings attend. See you all soon!

Paul Mangone

Pack 8463

SW FL Council

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Captain Christy Clemenson spent Sunday working on the paperwork for all of the US Coast Guard inspected dive boat at the Florida Sea Base.  This was an all day project.  I appreciate her detail to regulations and neatness.

Captain Sargon Smith was granted Sunday off.  So he spent the morning driving a dive boat in an attempt to take some of the staff diving.  (The attempt was aborted due to sea state.)  The Food and Conference Director Tim Stanfill had to dispatch some of his staff to the Brinton Environmental Center to assist with a conference there and Captain Sargon was drafted to take the Sea Base conference group stand-up paddle boarding.

WEATHER

Breezy – in one word, that’s it.  The wind has been blowing for a week or more.  For the coming week, the National Weather Service is forecasting high temperatures near 80, lows around 72, a 10%-20% chance of some rainfall, and continued 20 knot winds except on Thursday when we might get a one day break.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape

VOLUNTEERS

The Florida Sea Base volunteers were hard at it yesterday.  Recently a section of the walkway adjacent to our sea-life habitat collapsed.  Steve Martin and Warren Bacon were busy making repairs.  They had to remove all of the decking to get to the rotted boards that had supported the structure.

PADI MEMBER FORUM

The Florida Sea Base hosted a session of the 2013 PADI Member Forum in the Matecumbe Rooms last night.  Member Forums are held in several locations annually to afford the PADI Regional Managers the opportunity to bring PADI members up to date on changes that have been made over the past year and tell us about pending changes.  Our local manager is Mike Kurczewski.  He always does and outstanding job and did not let us down last night.

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WEATHER

We are expecting the continued strong winds that started yesterday.  Otherwise, we have a very decent forecast from the National Weather Service for the second week of January.

Today: A slight chance of showers before 7am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.
Breezy, with a east wind 15 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 10%.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. Breezy, with a east wind 15 to 20 mph.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Breezy, with a east wind 15 to 20 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. East wind around 15 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. East wind around 15 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 70.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 80.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 70.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 80.
Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70.
Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 80.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 71.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 80.

The ocean side water temperature is holding at an amazing 77°F.

Our General Manager, Captain Paul Beal, is attending a meeting at Philmont Scout Ranch today.  The National Weather Service station in nearby Angel Fire, New Mexico reported a temperature of 1°F at 05:00 Eastern time.  At 05:30 the NWS report was updated to -1.5°F.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape

DO LIST

Help Emily Sepeta de-tune some other the overhauled regulators.
Help Emily locate scuba tanks needing hydrostatic testing for transport to Quiescence Diving Services.
Take air samples from the scuba compressors to send out for analysis.
Place an Aqua Lung order for Jenna Burton.
Select spring scuba staff and provide info to Cheryl Ferreri for Letters of Employment.
Make preparations for the upcoming PADI Member Forum.

VOLUNTEERS

Steve and Leah Martin and some of our other annual Florida Sea Base winter volunteers are back.  I will find out who else is here.  They always do such great work.  I do not know what’s on their list for this year, but I’m glad they’re back.

CONFERENCES

When I left for the Circle 10 University of Scouting, conference attendees from the BSA International Division had arrived.  They are still here and are reportedly anxious to return again next year.  Meanwhile, a second conference group has arrived.  On top of that, the Florida Sea Base will host the PADI Member Forum Wednesday evening.

I’m running late.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape

Not surprisingly, I woke up at 02:30.  The alarm was set for 03:00 and I have always had this infernal internal clock that almost always wakes me up before the alarm.  By 03:45 I was on my way to the D/FW International Airport for my return flight to Fort Lauderdale.  From there I have a 2+ hour drive to the Florida Sea Base.

I flew in on Friday, spent Saturday at the Circle 10 University of Scouting and was allowed to stay over Sunday.  I am very grateful to have been afforded the opportunity spend a day with my wife, son, his wife and my granddaughter.  Unfortunately, I did not have time to make the 10 hour round trip drive to visit with my dad.  I will get to see him next month.

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There are no scuba crews scheduled to arrive at the Florida Sea Base until 16 February.  However; I have a long list of chores, both personal and professional.  Making final hiring decisions for the spring season is at the top of the list for work.  Rebuilding the heads aboard S/V Escape tops my personal list.

Have a great Monday!

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
From Terminal C Gate 31 D/FW International Airport

DIVEMASTER ACADEMY

Class 9 of the Florida Sea Base Divemaster Academy will conclude this evening.  We started New Year’s Day with concerns the wind might have on our planned dives.  Regardless, we were in do or die mode, so we loaded the boat after breakfast and headed to sea.  Captain Christy Clemenson is not feeling well but, being a real trooper, delivered us to our target – Alligator Deep.  The BSA Centennial Eagle was secured to the mooring by Divemaster Kyle Moran.  Once completed, our concerns increased.  The waves were only 2′-3′ with occasional 4′ rollers, but the mooring ball refused to float to the surface due to the strain of the vessel.  This gave us concern about the strength of the current.  I decided to do the conditions check.  Our fears were unjustified; there was no notable current, water temperature was 75°F and the visibility was 30′-40′.  We enjoyed a very successful dive, completing the PAD Deep Diver Specialty course.

Following the deep dive we returned to the Florida Sea Base for lunch.  I stayed on base after lunch, paying bills, catching up on emails and completing my December expense report.  The Divemaster candidates and cadre went to Alligator Reef and completed the PADI Search and Recovery Specialty Diver certification course and a third dive of the day.  Since Captain Dennis Wyatt was finished with his driving responsibilities for the other scuba crews, he relieved Captain Christy and drove for the afternoon dives.

After dinner we worked on paperwork until after 21:00 and the cadre and I left the classroom after 22:00 (10 pm).

SCUBA

The Scuba Adventure and Scuba Certification crews went to the Landing Strip for their final Florida Sea Base dive.  The Scuba Liveaboard crew returned to the Florida Sea Base.  All of the (non-DMA) scuba crews will depart today.

SAILING

Two Sea Exploring crews and several (5 or 6) Coral Reef Sailing crews also returned to the Florida Sea Base to wrap up their Florida Sea Base adventure.  I believe our last Coral Reef Sailing crew returns to base today.

WEATHER

Today’s weather forecast is excellent for diving; sunny, calm winds, temperatures near 80°F this afternoon.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape

NEWTON #5

Newton Dive Boats is currently building the fifth Newton Dive Special ordered by the Florida Sea Base.  It will be a sister ship to BSA Explorer pictured below.

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The last accomplishment of the Saturday session of the Florida Sea Base Advisory Committee was to name the new vessel.  We have boats named Scoutmaster, Eagle, Venture Scout, Scouts Honor, Scuba Scout and on and on.  The last 46′ Newton was named BSA Centennial Eagle in honor of the BSA’s 100th anniversary.  2012 is the 100th anniversary of Sea Scouting.  Admiral Charles Wurster, National Commodore of Sea Scouts, sits on the FSB committee and was present at the meeting.  Mr. Keith Christopher, National Council Outdoor Programs/PropertyDepartment Manager, Fixer-of-Everything-No-One-Else-Can-Fix and Advisor to the Sea Scouts was also present.  I suggested we name the boat something Venturing or Sea Scout related like Ranger or Quartermaster.  Admiral Wurster and Mr. Christopher liked BSA Sea Scout.  In honor of Sea Scouting’s 100th anniversary, it was agreed unanimously by the committee, BSA Sea Scout is shall be!

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape

FSB ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Sorry to be brief, but I have an early morning.  The Florida Sea Base Advisory Committee met yesterday afternoon.  Captain Scott Martin, Captain Rich Beliveau and I brought the program subcommittee up to date and proposed some desires for the future.  All was well received.

SCUBA

Dave Parmly, Troop/Crew 506, Great Smokey Mountain Council, Knoxville, TN, emailed me yesterday.

We got 9 SCUBA certified for our first Troop/Crew 506 trek in 2006.  We got about 25 certified for our treks in Spring/summer 2011 (2 Scuba Adventure and 1 Scuba Liveaboard).  We have 35 signed up to begin their certification this spring for a 2014 scheduling.  I would say Troop/Crew 506 has a strong SCUBA tradition!

Actually, the boys we ran through certification leading up to our 2009 treks were the first SCUBA merit badge recipients in the GSMC.

Mind you, this is a single Troop/Crew!  We have made SCUBA pretty much the only way we expect to hit Sea Base.  It keeps it from being too “Club Med” of High Adventure.  We encourage parents to get their kid on one of the “tougher” HA treks, then go to FSB for SCUBA.  I have been consistently amazed at the maturation that occurs with hitherto-inattentive scatter-brain teens when you start the program with the simple admonition “YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THIS!”

We have built a great rapport with the University of Tennessee, who offers SCUBA as a non-credit course.  They follow a NAUI protocol and do an absolutely superb job of drilling the students to a point of utter familiarity with their equipment and the skills.

The underwater pic is from our first SA in 2006.  Megan Ware was our Divemaster then.  We missed her in 2011 but Sargon (Smith) did a great job too.

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Thanks for the kind words Dave.  Like most things in life, the more effort you put into preparing for a Florida Sea Base adventure he more you take away from the experience.

I am always happy to post reader stories.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape