When oil was reported to be in the Keys, we sent writer Terry Ward, here at ’s Horseshoe , to investigate. setting the record straight What we discovered about diving in the Gulf of Mexico and Keys will surprise you Mississippi Alabama Gulf Pensacola Pascagoula Shores Destin Slidell Panama Atlantic City Perry Ocean Louisiana Visible oil slick* Gulf of Mexico Site of explosion Florida

Eddy Franklin (clockwise) Favorable winds and currents have helped limit the impact National of oil on many Marine Sanctuary Key Gulf beaches Largo and dive sites, Warm Islamorada while the Loop water Dry Tortugas has Cold National Park been pinched off since early May, water Key protecting the West Florida Keys. Loop Florida Current Counter- Current clockwise eddy Straits of Florida source: noaa emergency response division CUBA

his is not a story of reefs covered in oil, because we didn’t find any. Shortly after the Deep- water Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, the mainstream media began report- ing that Northern Gulf beaches were being spoiled and that oil was invading the Florida Keys. T N O T I O N: FASAN DANA We decided to see for ourselves, so we sent a writer0 and photographers110 to the Northern Gulf to in- TR A *Satellite imagery, July 19, 2010 vestigate the state of diving in Louisiana, Mississippi, MilesAlabama andSOURCE: the Florida NOAA Emergency, Panhandle. Response Division Despite

restricted access — now lifted — at some sites, we found some of the best conditions reported in SI TE , ILLUS

years, and lots of divers making the most of it. In the Florida Keys, we sent a writer and photographer O PP from Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas; they found the Keys unaffected — and doomsday talk hard to find too. So this story is not about the end of diving in the Gulf. It’s the first story about what comes next for divers newly reminded of how precious and vulnerable our marine environment really is. ER ; B U R N ETT -PALM ANYA ANYA T

34 october 2010 sportdiver.com padi.com october 2010 35 the Gulf of mexico setting the record straight

And for three miles I squeaked along Sea birds, sea turtles, coastal marine together and keep information flowing. with the other shops to get people out,” the shore looking for any sign of oil. I life — all have definitely been impacted “We’ve started talking more about said Josh Gay, manager of MBT Dive saw families, sun worshippers, sand- in that area. But, to paraphrase Mark what we can do instead of what we Center in Pensacola, Florida. “It’s nice to castle builders, cruising teenagers, Twain, reports of the Panhandle’s de- can’t,” said Mitch Craft of Down Under be able to call somebody or have another lots of tourists and swimmers — none mise have been greatly exaggerated. Dive Shop in Gulf Shores, Alabama. captain call you to figure out what can of whom were covered in or appeared And that’s why it’s more important “Every dive-shop owner has to find be done to get people out. It doesn’t help worried about oil. than ever to dive there now. new ways to keep going, no matter what’s anyone to have a customer call and have As everybody knows, business is happening,” says Jason Peckhold, owner to say, ‘Nobody’s diving.’” Rising We hit the Northern Above Gulf of Mexico for a firsthand look at down along this coast. It just is. Add Keeping Divers Diving of Scuba 7 in Perry, Florida. “We’ve had Updating websites, posting blogs and the state of diving — and came back encouraged the media hyperbole to the state of The summer of 2010 has been one of the to do things more proactively and differ- employing social media — and encour- By Ty Sawyer the economy, and you’ve got a poten- most challenging seasons in memory for ently than we’ve done in the past.” aging divers to call operators and check tially lethal combination. And nobody dive operators in Louisiana, Mississippi, It’s a trend that has operators in the the status for themselves — are ways op- doubts that places like Louisiana’s bay- Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. region working together more than erators are keeping their divers informed It’s early August, and I’m about three hurt. Sometimes we’re the only dive ous and some Gulf fisheries near the BP But local PADI shops have been finding ever before. about conditions, often in real time. miles off Destin, Florida. I’m relax- boat going out.” well have been affected in ways nobody new ways to keep customers underwa- “There is a hurdle with BP hiring a “I can go out to the beach, and while ing on my safety stop over a site called “The media were just wrong,” says can yet fully understand. They have. ter. Their : Branch out, band lot of the charter boats, so we’re working I’m starting a class I can take a picture White Hill, where the water at 15 feet Tom Schmitz, captain of Emerald Diver’s is bathtub warm, 89 degrees F. Lots of . “They never came to see.” He things cruise by in the water column: swept his hand in front of him, gestur- tiny jellyfish, siphonophores, juvenile ing to a Gulf that, on this day, featured hot marine life, palometas and spadefish. I sun, blue water, flat seas and fish jumping examine each and every thing that pass- all over the place — pretty much a perfect es by in the gentle current, every speck. day off Destin. I had done the same thing at depth, “That’s what I’m doing here,” I tell at the at 55 and 70 feet, him. “Checking for myself, diving, where media reports led me to expect walking the beach.” I tell him I’m look- oil in the water. On the way out to the ing for oil. site, I looked for sheen, droplets, balls, “You’re not gonna find it here,” he says. slicks — anything brown, dark or goo- ey. What I found was water — regular, GETTING TO The BOTTOM OF IT beautiful Gulf of Mexico water. Aboard the Aquanaut, neither I nor the “People call and seem sur- other 18 divers who came from all over prised when I tell them we’re going the South saw any oil. We did see leop- out and conditions are great,” says ard and oyster toadfish, yellow-line arrow Anna Schmitz, the owner of Destin’s crabs, flamefish, goldentail and spotted Emerald Coast Scuba. “We made the morays, spotted scorpionfish, shovelnose decision to stay a rather than rays, shortnose batfish, baitfish, great bar- become a ‘vessel of opportunity’ for BP, racuda, African pompano, crevalle jack, like so many people did. The media has grouper, octopuses, nudibranchs, south- not done us any good, that’s for sure, ern stingrays 6 feet across and heaps of but being one of the BP holdouts hasn’t seaweed blennies. Afterward I headed to the beaches I had “People call heard such early ter- and seem rible reports about. The 24 miles of beach surprised that line the Gulf when I tell off Destin are stark, them we’re white Appalachian going out and quartz that over eons has become a fine, conditions soft, talcumlike sand. are great.” I can say without ex- — Anna Schmitz, aggeration, it’s some Emerald Coast Scuba, of the best beach sand Destin, Florida I’ve seen anywhere in the world. When you Abundant baitfish crowd clear water over

walk on it, it squeaks. ER (2) T Y SAWY Panama City Beach’s wreck.

36 october 2010 sportdiver.com padi.com october 2010 37 the Gulf of mexico setting the record straight with my iPhone, throw it on Twitter, several other like-mind- and by the time I get back to the shop, ed divers such as Fallon “We’ve start- I have 15 messages waiting for me ask- Reynolds and Brian ed talking ing, ‘Hey, when can I go with you?’” Powell, from South more about said Gay. Carolina and Wiscon- what we can Some have even turned to televi- sin, to dive off the sleek sion, such as John Gaffney of Round Newton 42 Steel Slinger, do instead Island Divers in Pascagoula, Missis- operated by Capt. Pat of what we sippi. “We’re running the DEMA ‘Be a Green, owner of the can’t.” Diver’ commercials on local cable that Panama City Dive Char- — Mitch Craft, covers from the Mississippi/Alabama ters boat. Down Under Dive state line almost all the way to the We head out on Shop, Gulf Shores, Louisiana line along the Gulf Coast.” the glass-slick Gulf to Alabama Operators are doing anything to re- dive a ship sunk the inforce the message that the Gulf of same day in 2009 as Mexico is not closed for diving. “The the Vandenberg in the worst thing is the media publicity,” says Keys, but without all the fanfare: the The clouds of fish — juvenile and adult Gaffney. “They’ve got us walking around 120-foot freighter Red Sea, sunk in 70 tomtate, and several species of jacks and knee-deep in oil, and it’s just not that.” feet. We have 60 feet of blue-water viz snapper — and the tenuous dance be- and the sea life on the wreck is so thick tween predators and prey make the dive HUNTING FOR EVIDENCE that at times the wreck itself disappears. electric with the zip and dash of attack- “I don’t believe anything the government A 12-foot spotted dolphin swings by the and-evade movements. or the news has to say anyway, so we came bow of the Red Sea, filling the sea with “I remember CNN reporting that to dive,” says Rick Gross, who drove down clicks and squeaks as we descend. A the beaches and water of Panama from Indiana with friends Jeff Hostetter giant goliath grouper has blocked the City were covered in oil, and I was and Frank Holmes Jr. for a pre-40th- hold with its bulk, but there are loads of out on the water that day diving, just birthday jaunt. They showed up with other opportunities for safe penetration. throwing my hands up in the air,” says

Cleanup efforts quickly cleared the Panhandle’s famous white-sand beaches. Florida’s Gulf Coast is thick with wrecks, Tiny critters like this seaweed and the viz is very good this year. blenny off Destin are thriving.

Tom Barefield as he points I repeat my long hang on the descent in frustration to the flat blue seas line, looking at every little fleck and dot. around him. “We had two people that I’m not a scientist, but neither I nor Dive Here day. Great day for them.” any of the dozens of divers I dove with “We got tired of the wrong re- during my three days in the Panhandle Now ports on the health of our water,” says experienced anything but a normal Gulf Green, “so we just started to take our marine environment. HOW TO GET INVOLVED own samples and tried to tell everyone Like so many people I met here, I and IN GULF COAST DIVING we knew that our water’s clean here.” the staff of Sport Diver had simply grown In the Northern Gulf of Mexico, dive weary of the reports and had to see with boats are currently running and cer- moving foRward our own eyes. As I write this, my gear tification classes are starting up. ER T Y SAWY Here’s how to find a PADI dive opera-

; CO For our second dive, we head to the sits soaking in my tub — I even looked AL 184-foot USS Strength. The boys from for oil there, something that might have tor, check current conditions and vol- unteer to help conservation efforts. Indiana are in the water almost before attached to me in the water. Nothing. the boat stops. Like the Red Sea, the I learned one big lesson here: Al- GAN C MA R AS PADI GULF COAST Strength is covered in an undulating ways call the shop. Like me, you’ll be LOCATOR padi.com/gulfstates

P: M E TO blanket of marine life. A massive spot- glad you did. M ted eagle ray sweeps by, and another Special thanks to Emerald Coast BE A DIVER GULF COAST DIVE FORUM gulfstatediving.com SI TE , F RO goliath grouper prowls just off the Convention and Visitors Bureau (destin-

O PP wreck. Atlantic spadefish and palometa fwb.com), Emerald Coast Scuba, Down PROJECT AWARE VOLUNTEER by the dozens move back and forth over Under Dive Shop, MBT Dive Center, RESOURCE PAGE projectaware.org the wreck, a whirlwind of life — and Round Island Divers, Scuba 7 Dive Center

ER (2); T Y SAWY not a drop of oil. and Panama City Dive Charters.

38 october 2010 sportdiver.com padi.com october 2010 39 the florida keys setting the record straight free and From Key Largo to the Dry cleTortugas, arwe went looking for oil — and found none By Terry Ward Photography by Tanya Burnett-Palmer

It’s one of America’s most fragile corners — a 120-mile-long chain of mangrove and fossilized -rock islands slung beneath Florida like a faint crescent moon. These low-lying islands have long been buoyed by brawn and beauty: onshore, a cast of fiercely independent ocean-going characters who make their living from the water; offshore, some of the most loved reefs in the world. It’s not my first visit to the Florida Keys, but this time is different. Exactly 479 miles from Key West, the wellhead of the Deepwater Horizon The Vandenberg, Key West’s newest The stunning soft at Pennekamp has spewed filth into one of the plan- attraction, is getting lots of attention. are accessible to divers and snorkelers . et’s most vital marine ecosystems. The Gulf of Mexico is an important spawn- ing ground for bluefin tuna, a major economic and ecological future. 70 miles from Key West. From the The slicks, mats and mousse that environmental unit for spill response. after a single dive, we can point to nearly migration zone for endangered Kemp’s I set out for seven days of diving ship’s deck, I watch dolphins slice the reached the Gulf areas north of here, we “But we are expecting nothing more than every fish on the ID card. Porkfish, Ridley sea turtles and for divers, of that would take me end-to-end through surface, turtles bubble up for air and learned, would not be seen in the Keys. tar balls, if we even get those.” French and gray angels, red grouper, course, a coral and tropical fish haven our country’s most famous underwa- flying fish erupt from the water like so “We are ready for whatever might It hurts to imagine even tar adrift in nurse shark, squirrelfish, oceanic trig- riddled with wrecks. ter treasure. From the reefs of the Dry many tribal spears. come,” says NOAA scientist Scott Dona- this endlessly blue water as I descend gerfish, hogfish, scrawled filefish — too During my mid-July visit to the Tortugas to the wrecks off Key Largo, If oil caught the Loop Current hue, who is heading up the sanctuary’s at the site called Alice in Wonderland many species to even recall. It’s precise- Florida Keys, no oil from the Deep- the pool was very much open and the south to the Keys, this is where div- that’s every bit as fantas- ly what the Keys has always been about water Horizon gusher had been iden- dive sites as spectacular as ever — but ers would see it first. “Based on ocean tical as it sounds. for divers: the fishiest place in America’s tified in the archipelago. Ships from the atmosphere was different. These currents, it was acknowledged early “Something We drift over fields Caribbean, no passport required. the National Oceanic and Atmospher- days, diving in the Florida Keys feels on that the Dry Tortugas would poten- positive to of yellow sea plumes “I was hoping to see this place no ic Administration were scouring the more precious than ever before. tially be the first place to see impacts,” come out of and small pinnacles matter what,” Gary Rosenberger, a New ocean, constantly sampling for oil, and Karrie Karnes, communications coordi- covered with purple York diver, tells me. He had no thought an underwater robot had been sent to From THE front line nator for NOAA’s Florida Keys National this is the sea fans and blue barrel of canceling. “Even if there were lots scan the Loop Current off the Keys. I’m as far west as you can get in the Flor- Marine Sanctuary, tells me. volunteer sponges, finning along- of tar balls everywhere, I would have Responders were poised to spring into ida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, an But as the science poured in dur- momentum. side hundreds of fish in wanted to see it to tell people what’s action on a should area of approximately 2,900 nautical ing the weeks following the spill, and There’s a lot the invisible current. going on,” he says. “But so far I haven’t oil arrive. But the news was good, and square miles that protects the nation’s the Eddy Franklin pinched off from of attention “So many different seen any evidence that it reached here. predictions for the future remained only living barrier , the third- the Loop Current — the main potential species out there, and a The diving is incredible.” as positive anyone could hope. The largest such system in the world. conveyance for oil to reach the Keys on the oceans lot of them,” says John Keys, it seemed, would dodge the bul- The M/V Spree live-aboard is — NOAA scientists relayed a clearer right now.” Broadhurst, a diver The Conch consensus let, but that’s not to say that people anchored to a mooring ball in the Tor- picture of how the spill was likely to — Karrie Karnes, NOAA from Virginia, when It’s sunset in Key West and the usual here weren’t fretting over the region’s tugas Ecological Reserve North, some impact the area. we surface. Indeed, suspects have gathered at Mallory Square

40 october 2010 sportdiver.com padi.com october 2010 41 the florida keys setting the record straight for that most famous Keys tradition. A they’ll be weathered Destin, Florida, an area closer to the juggling tightrope walker, his gray- and degraded. “Nothing has spill, and worries how the Keys will fare streaked hair in a ponytail, urges tourists “It’s highly unlikely changed from in the future. “But today was comfort- closer. “You guys look overmedicated,” people won’t be able to the first day they ing to see so many fish and everything he jabs. A man seated on an overturned dive due to stuff float- talked about the so nice,” she says. bait bucket strums a Grateful Dead ditty ing around,” he says. oil. We’re worried The highlight for both of us? A as tourists jostle near the sea wall for the All the topside talk large school of midnight parrotfish that perfect sunset shot. I stop to talk to a makes the underwa- about the long- chomp over the reef in our direction, family watching one of the shows. ter world feel more term effects, not oblivious to everything but their binge. I “We were going to go to Maine but like the refuge it has the short-term wonder about the potential effect of tar we changed our minds and decided always been. effects.” balls on them and their food sources. to come to Key West because of the It’s been months “It’s very well recognized that when oil spill,” says Deb Taylor, matron of since I dived Key — CeCe Roycroft, the weathered oil forms these tar balls, Dive Key West (with a group from Gulfport, Florida. “We West’s Vandenberg Bob Holston) the lighter, more toxic elements and wanted to come before it hits here, be- wreck; her steel sides components of the oil have already cause it’s not going to be the same.” are positively crawling evaporated away,” explains Roger It’s a fear I’ll hear often during the with arrow crabs and Zimmerman, laboratory director of course of the week, but one that NOAA’s urchins, the main excavators for the onto the Vandenberg, but over time soft the National Marine Fisheries Service scientists assure us is a gloom-and-doom corals and sponges that will eventually corals and even hard corals can recruit in Galveston, Texas. “There are cer- scenario not likely to come true. take over. Tarpon and barracuda hover onto the superstructure,” says Dona- tain animals that could ingest the tar “I think it’s healthy that we have that in the middle ground, and a giant mo- hue, “Divers should anticipate new balls, and it could mean an adverse ef- sweep of emotion. You’ve got people who ray eel threads through a stairwell near experiences with marine life on each fect on those animals, for instance sea are very passionate about the resources, the stern. With time and a continued successive trip to the Vandenberg.” turtles.” But without yet knowing the and everyone always fears the worst,” healthy environment in which to thrive, Later, at a site called Joe’s Tug, the amounts of tar balls that could poten- says NOAA’s Donahue. He reiterates the wreck will get only more interest- diving is as fishy as it gets. I fin for a tially reach the Keys, Zimmerman says that even tar balls remain an “if” rather ing to fish — and to divers too. “Algae few minutes alongside a hawksbill tur- that effects are hard to predict. “If it’s than a “when,” and that if they do arrive, and sponges were the first life to settle tle then drift through a large school of a really small amount, the effect is go- ing to be minimal, more of a nuisance than anything else,” he explains. “But if it’s a large amount, then certainly it An endangered hawksbill sea turtle finds could have some other effects. And I safe haven at Joe’s Tug wreck, Key West. wouldn’t even predict what those ef- fects are right now.” About an hour north along the Over- French grunts until they block my vision don’t escape anyone. seas Highway in Islamorada, not far with their shining stripes. Porkfish hide “It’s uncharted land,” Roycroft says, from where lobstermen lay their traps inside the wreck, a basket star is curled another common refrain from both sci- and boats depart to hook the big boys, into itself under a ledge and a particu- entists and stakeholders here. “We’re the turquoise deep beckons me down larly curious gray angel mugs at its own worried about the long-term effects, not to the Eagle wreck. At 95 feet, the water reflection in my mask. the short-term effects.” sparkles like a cut gem. I peer at a spot- I meet Bob Holston and Cece Roycroft ted eel in a hole in the freighter’s steel, of Dive Key West, a pioneering PADI Dive is the SANCTUARY INTACT? then turn my mask skyward to watch bar Center in the Keys, for a lunch of mahi I’m happy to see our boat full of - jacks rain down on the ship. A loggerhead sandwiches and ask how business has ers and divers as I motor out to Looe Key turtle cruises through a split in the boat. been. National Marine Sanctuary. Soon enough, All across the metallic mass, sponges and Right after the news broke that the I’m floating over a rare stand of elkhorn fans bristle with too many fish to name. well was leaking, says Holston, their coral. Bigeye jacks school over the sand, From the wreck’s fish-filled swim- shop had several thousand dollars’ where a closer look reveals yellowhead- throughs to colorful reefs as shallow as worth of cancellations. But people are ed jawfish popping up everywhere, doing 12 feet, the Florida Keys is that rare des- starting to realize oil is not affecting the their hula-esque dance of hide and seek. tination with a thrill for every diver. Keys, he says. Two tarpon hover like ghost ships, barely “The Keys is a great place for new “Nothing has changed from the twitching a fin, and nearby hundreds of divers because there are many shallow first day they talked about the oil,” says mangrove snapper pulse in a cloud of sil- dives with very limited currents,” says Roycroft. “The diving in the Keys is still ver. So many fish. So much life. Tom Timmerman of the Florida Keys wonderful, the beaches are still wonder- And so much at stake, laments Dive Center, a PADI Five-Star Instructor ful.” But the uncertainties — Will the Theresa Shaner, a nurse from West Development Center in Islamorada. “But Loop Current and Eddy reattach? What Palm Beach who has taken a few days then it’s also great for the experienced A trio of fat French angels feeds on a will be the effect of the dispersants? — off to visit the area. She’s originally from divers because we have the wrecks.” multihued sponge buffet off Key Largo. 42 october 2010 sportdiver.com padi.com october 2010 43 the florida keys What Comes Next? questions remain about the future of the environment

What is the long-term effect of - depleted dead zones? There have long been dead zones near the mouth of the Mississippi River due to runoff. But scientists have found evidence of dead zones near the spill area too, where the oxygen has been depleted due to methane bubbling from the well site. In oxygen-depleted dead zones, fish and other marine life cannot survive. Some findings suggest that this could lead to a disruption of the marine food chain.

How will the use of chemical dispersants affect marine life? Many scientists believe that disper- sants — a standard material used in oil cleanup to break up large masses of oil — are toxic, and most agree heavy use of dispersants could have Tending to his nursery, French grunts school in clean, clear water unknown effects. The fact that dis- Ken Nedimyer plans for the reef’s future. at the southern end of the Sanctuary. persants were used in unprecedented ways — Corexit, a dispersant used by BP, had never been employed at this Like most dive operators I encoun- “I think a lot of the people who are Foundation is doing. I’ve joined the him and replanting mission (special volun- low long before anyone wants a break depth — further complicates the ques- tered, Timmerman is less worried about coming here know the oil is not here,” for a foray to his offshore nursery near teer cleaning programs are scheduled from the underwater housekeeping. tion. If dispersants cause oil to sink far the oil spill affecting the Keys than he says Dan Dawson of PADI Five-Star IDC Key Largo, where thousands of staghorn one Saturday each month, and other When we surface, “That was so below the Gulf’s surface, dead zones could potentially be created, affecting is about the spread of misinformation. Horizon Divers in Key Largo. “We’ve had corals are being grown for transplanta- opportunities are often available too at cool!” is the ubiquitous chorus from areas in the water column where eggs “Everything we’re hearing from NOAA quite a few people come here and say, tion to nearby reefs. coralrestoration.org). We’re all filled the Girl Scouts as we cruise to nearby and larvae normally flourish. Since the says low risk,” he tells me, but adds that ‘We’re coming before the oil destroys the A group of Girl Scouts from Philadel- with anticipation as we descend into , where we learn how effect of dispersants — both alone educating the public is an important Keys,’ and I’m like, the oil is not going to phia is taking part in today’s cleaning Nedimyer’s nursery. to transplant broken pieces of coral and combined with oil — is largely step toward keeping visitors coming. destroy the Keys.” Nedimyer strips algae here, prunes onto the reef using an epoxy mixture unknown, it is hard to predict how “There are people in the Midwest You can fear the corals there, neutrally buoyant alongside (“Roll the epoxy like a blueberry, stick marine mammals, turtles and larger fish will be affected. and on the East Coast who are con- worst and cancel “If you’re doing necklacelike strands of staghorn babies it to the reef like a Hershey’s Kiss and cerned about it, but what we’re trying to your trip without do- things right, growing on lines below the ocean’s sur- gently ease the coral piece in,” says Are there plumes of oil tell them is just to be educated on what ing any research. Or face. All around us are rows of corals Nedimyer). part of the country is being affected by you can talk to peo- catastrophic attached to cement bases on the seafloor. One of my last dives in the Keys is at underwater? events can be Scientists from NOAA and several U.S. the oil and what isn’t,” he says. “It’s kind ple who are here now The CRF has about 5,500 corals Horseshoe Reef, a spectacular patch reef universities have released conflict- of like us, here, watching the news about for the true story of positive over growing at present, says Nedimyer. of , sea fans and pillar collar ing results. Some report evidence a tornado in the Midwest and thinking what’s going on and time because A recent $700,000 federal grant will that are the backdrop for French angels of areas of microscopic oil droplets ‘Who would want to live there?’” plan a dive trip to a it changes the keep the project going for the next few chomping yellow sponges under a ledge. originating from the well source — not To keep divers informed, Timmer- place that’s as stun- years and incorporate A school of glassy eyed sweepers stuffed from the sinking of degraded surface man, like other operators in the Keys, ning as ever. And way people live, into restoration projects too. in a cave expand in and out as a single en- oil — and others discount their exis- tence. Most agree that the possibility posts regular updates and provides links you can take things a and things get I grab a wire brush and join the tity as I dip into their personal space. of dissolved hydrocarbons beneath to spill-related sites on his shop’s website. step further too — by improved in Scouts on the sandy bottom to scrape al- Back on the boat, I chat with Bob the surface will have unknown effects lending a hand with some ways.” gae from around the corals. Blueheaded Bates, captain of Horizon’s Cheeca View. on the ecosystem. looking to the future conservation efforts. wrasse arrive to feed on an effortless “If you’re doing things right, you — Bob Bates, stay on top of the story Check for fre- As divers, staying informed about the That’s what Ken Horizon Divers, meal of flotsam, and a stingray wings its tend to view catastrophic events as posi- ocean has always been in our best inter- Nedimyer of the way down an aisle before thinking twice tive ones over time because it changes quent updates as we continue to follow Key Largo, Florida this story at sportdiver.com/gulfoilspill. est, now more than ever. Coral Restoration and jetting into the blue. Our air gets the way people (Continued on page 64)

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64 october 2010 sportdiver.com _AWARE_Shark_a_Chanc.pgs 08.11.2010 11:52 padi.com october 2010 65 LittleCayman _018605_SPD0610.indd 1 4/7/10 10:06 AM