Mini Season Toll

[Sh@rkW@tcher]

I lobster dive! I admit it. It was great fun. We didn't go out at midnight, we went at 8 AM. We didn't go to the Keys or West Palm Beach, we went to Port of Canaveral and out to Pelican Flats then over to Melbourne Reef. We had two great sun filled days on the water. We caught some bugs. We saw stingray, eels, tons of fish, nurse sharks, barricuda, Parrot fish, razor fish, starfish, scallops, and lots of female lobsters with eggs (caught and released). We all had great appetites, ate large meals, slept hard in motel beds. Our kids played at the beach and in the swimming pools at the motel. Our wives shopped for beach clothing, used the motel pool and had a great time. We saw no idiots diving, we saw no crazy boat drivers, we met no drunken once a year scuba divers, but then that might be just us.

We pumped into the Florida economy approximately $2000 dollars for our group. I'm sure the local merchants appreciated our coming.

(Sadly one of our friends died at Pelican Flats - a seasoned diver, and long time employee at one of the dive shops I use. My one dive buddy talked to Shane on Saturday as they filled their tanks. Shane was sober, skilled, and loved diving).

A lot of you here on this board and other boards as well, feel very superior to those of us that enjoy lobstering. If you don't like it what we do, when we do it, please by all means don't go out during Mini Season. Stay home, read a book, or post mineless chatter on the internet. We won't miss you.

I'm sunburned, happy, and will do this again with the right kind of sober, skilled divers that I dove with over the past two days.

It is great that you and your dive duddies had a safe and successful time. It is a shame that not all of the mini season divers behaved in a safe and sane manner. Some will have sworn off mini season due to all the craziness, some learned lessons that they will carry for a lifetime making them better divers and some won't have an opportunity to use the lessons learned. Now that it's over, maybe it's now safe to go back in the water for those of us that live here and dive 200 days a year.

 

[DebbyDiver]

I went out both days and I had a BLAST!!!! 14 keepers for both days. I do it every year. For the naysayers, stay home and let us have our fun. And yes, it is fun. Hey, diving is expensive whether you do, or do not catch bugs but it is FUN.

Besides, if I hadn't gone diving for lobsters this week, I never would have gotten to dive with a MANTA RAY. Off Boca Raton, I was in 60 feet of water and he was hovering at 30 feet. I went up to his level and he stayed with me forever.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

If this is such a "deadly two day event", then why does FWC continue it every year?

Thinning the herd?

 

[LowVizWiz]

I went out both days and I had a BLAST!!!! 14 keepers for both days.

Great, when is he cook out and what shall I bring besides my appetite?

 

[DebbyDiver]

What people don't realize is that the act of diving on mini-season is no different from diving any other time. IF you are an experienced diver who dives frequently, that is.

Too many people dive once a year only, on mini-season. They just aren't comfortable underwater and don't know how to use their gear if they have an emergency. Or, they are totally unfit and out of shape...the diving isn't really what kills them, it's the heart attack from the extra stress.

For those of us who dive frequently and stay in shape, it is no more or less dangerous than another similar day of diving. There is nothing about a date on the calendar that suddenly makes it more deadly.

 

[DebbyDiver]

Great, when is he cook out and what shall I bring besides my appetite?

The cookout was tonight...if you were a KAYUBA member you would have been there! :cool2:

 

[JRScuba]

makes you wonder if any of blame in this lies in the training agencies and their "get certified in one weekend" type courses?

Maybe if divers had better training, they wouldn't be floating up dead from mini season as much?

There is an old saying: I can teach you, but that does not mean you will learn

 

[Orlando Eric]

I agree with what is said here. Unfortunately the people who need to read this are not reading it. The people who need to refresh their skills are the unconcious Incompetent. They do not know what they do not know.

A major push for a Lobster Training refresher might bring them in but I doubt it. Some pool time with a lobster snare and a few fake critters might help. It would be a refresher disquised as a lobster tips class.. just a thought.

 

[HowardE]

What people don't realize is that the act of diving on mini-season is no different from diving any other time. IF you are an experienced diver who dives frequently, that is.

Too many people dive once a year only, on mini-season. They just aren't comfortable underwater and don't know how to use their gear if they have an emergency. Or, they are totally unfit and out of shape...the diving isn't really what kills them, it's the heart attack from the extra stress.

For those of us who dive frequently and stay in shape, it is no more or less dangerous than another similar day of diving. There is nothing about a date on the calendar that suddenly makes it more deadly.

Except that many of the boaters are also inexperienced, and people who are piloting the boats may not be practiced in that as well.

Often times, many of the accidents are boaters running over their own passengers.

A lot of these boats are running closer to shore than usual; visiting the shallower reefs, that many people shore dive to; instead of taking a boat.

Also - Mini-season includes a large number of freedivers.

Add all of this together, and this is the recipe for disaster.

 

[NoVaScuba]

I wonder how many of these incidents involve alcohol. With the party atmosphere a couple of beers in the diver and/or boater can really up the odds of an accident.