Aaron Martina is an Florida based programmer and an international man of mystery. Well, he's not all that mysterious but he does travel the world now and then taking photos, eating interesting foods and diving the depths.

Derby Dive 2018

Derby Dive 2018

For many years I have attempted and usually succeeded in attending the annual Derby Dive with the Orlando Reef Divers group in Boynton Beach. This year is no exception. I drove down to Boynton on Friday evening. On Saturday morning as the group gathered in the breakfast area of the hotel we were informed that the dive boat's captain had called off the morning dive due to the weather conditions. We were then told that it was highly likely that we would be able to take the afternoon trip.

Around noon we got the word that the afternoon trip was a go so we hightailed it to the docks and went through all of the procedures of a dive trip. The boat disembarked and as we were traveling the inter-coastal waterways the engine on the boat decided that it was time to throw a temper tantrum. We returned to the dock and the captain and the first mate/dive master attempted to get the boat running again.  After about 30 minutes our trip leader called it and we pulled our gear off the boat and headed back to the hotel with a short detour to Publix.

After getting cleaned up our group gathered to enjoy a pot luck dinner and watch the Kentucky Derby. It was fun but I was very tired so I ended up retiring early.

Sunday morning we headed back to the docks for a second attempt as we had gotten word that everything was working. We had a couple of very successful dives and I saw a nurse shark, a couple of very large green moray eels, and some turtles one of which had no compunction about swimming right through our group. In fact, it swam right through the legs of one of the divers on the trip.

St. Kitts 2018

St. Kitts 2018

Hawaii 2017 - Part 6

Hawaii 2017 - Part 6