Sand Dog VII, My Perspective
The vintage dive events called Sand Dogs have now experienced 7 years of gathering. I have been able to be at 5 of them. Each has had its own characteristic that will be remembered as such. Sand Dog VII is no exception. The attendance for SD VII was about average if you compare the highest attended to the lowest. I would have liked to see more of the people who had mentioned on this thread that they were coming actually show up. But I am sure various reasons prevented their doing so. The basic core group was there as well as some new faces to match to the forum names and avatars.
Diving this year was with Jupiter Dive Center based in Jupiter, FL, a northern suburb of West Palm Beach. The flyers and drivers to the event were about equal. The base of operations was the La Quinta Inn, about 5 minutes from the dive boat. Diving in the Atlantic off Jupiter was exciting. It is all drift dives which were rather deep. Almost all of us were using Nitrox and used in the two dives per trip all of the no decompression time allowed. The dive operation was top notch. From store owner to boat captain to divemaster to boat mate, all but one (boat mate) knew their job and went out of their way to make the dive trips as easy as possible. The seas were a challenge. Ranging from 3 to 6 feet at times, each dive trip had a few divers "chumming" over the side. However, the numerous species we saw were some of the largest found anywhere. Goliath Groupers, Tortugas, nurse and reef sharks, green and spotted eels, rays and all the other critters must really eat well as they seem to be quite big.
Over the three days we were with Jupiter, 10 dives were scheduled, and there were a few of us nuts who did all 10. [As a side bar, Jupiter has you actually pay just before each trip. So if you had "signed-up" prior to the actual dive departure and decided not to go, you were not charged. A great dive operation.]
On Friday evening the group gathered at the hotel hospitality room where we paid tribute to Fredrick James Morrison, aka Scubanut. Stories were told about this kind, but quirky man, laughs were had and we all left feeling a sense of loss of one of our own. Realivan made a memorial shirt for us depicting Fred at one of the past Sand Dogs.
We had lots of goodies to give away so we did a lottery for choice. The remainder of the time was spent discussing Sand Dog VIII, which will be in Bonaire under the guidance of Herman. (I do pass the torch).
I am sure more information will be upcoming.
Saturday and Sunday had more diving for the brave or nuts (your choice) until the event was over. A great time for all. Sand Dog VIII is just 12 months away at a location that is world class. So start socking away a few dollars each month or maybe clean out your dive lockers and do the eBay thing. Bonaire is not to be missed.