Into the Drink

When I was a kid, I would dream of digging a hole straight down through the planet, and wonder where I’d wind up if I crawled through to the other side. The fact that I would be burned alive by the earth’s core notwithstanding, I always assumed I’d wind up in a rice paddy somewhere on the outskirts of Shanghai. After the mind-numbing journey to the Maldives, I realize that this is a place that’s truly on the other side of the globe, and a world away from anything I’d ever experienced below the surface.

For divers, that remoteness translates to some of the lushest reefs and abundant fish life anywhere, period, end of story. It’s one of those very unexpected places, where you’re just not sure what you’ll find when once you get there. The country is comprised of a string of atolls that run north and south spanning seven degrees of latitude, straddling the equator, and smack dab in the middle of the Indian Ocean (as a matter of fact, the word “atoll” comes from the Maldivian language). It’s strictly Muslim, so bringing alcohol, pornography or pork in is strictly out of the question. Long a vacation haven for upscale European and Asian tourists, it’s relatively unknown to many Americans.

But enough of all that, let’s get to the good stuff — the diving! I was last here in 1998, during a coral bleaching event that left many sections of the reef white, but it was still some of the best diving I’d ever done. This trip confirmed it – this place is simply amazing. Now I’ve been diving for nearly 25 years, and I had never, ever been in the water with a whale shark, let alone four. I had often told myself that I would hang up the fins and mask when I finally did. These thoughts ran through my mind as I swam alongside my first whale shark at South Ari Atoll, a juvenile that was much smaller than I had anticipated. In fact, the whole first half of the day was spent spotting and entering the water with the world’s largest fish.

Despite all I saw, the showstopper was the live-aboard that I called home for the week, the brand spankin’ new MV Carpe Vita Explorer, one of five Explorer Ventures vessels that serves their seven different destinations. It’s undoubtedly the most magnificent, luxurious yacht in their fleet, measuring in at 125 feet long with a 34-foot beam and accommodating 20 divers in 10 generously-sized cabins. Never before have you felt like you were truly diving from a floating resort. The Carpe Vita’s dhoni (tender) is bigger and more adequate than some live-aboards I’ve been on. Owner Agnes van Linden operates this stately, pristine boat and the itineraries bring you mask to gills with the Maldives’ best critters and diving experiences. The guides are friendly, generous and highly efficient at getting you in the action. And the food? Let’s just say you will not go hungry.

I’m sure some of you are wondering what beverages we wound up getting into in this devoutly nation. Well let’s just say that we stumbled upon a drink that we couldn’t confirm nor deny was not only illegal, but whether or not it had any intoxicating properties. You’ll just have to watch the Season 3 episodes to find out.

In short, the destination, the diving and the live-aboard all conspire to blow your mind. This is a bucket list dive vacation of grand proportions. Oh and did I actually quit diving after swimming with the whale sharks of the Maldives? To answer that question, I’ve got three words for you. Are you crazy?

It’s always cool catching up with people who you’ve dived with in far-flung corners of the world, especially when they’re all under one roof. Of course, seeing them under the fluorescent lights of a convention hall isn’t quite the same as diving with them in tropical sunshine, but hey, it’s the next best thing. In case you’re new to sport or live under a rock, DEMA is the Super Bowl of scuba diving industry networking. The acronym stands for Diving Equipment Marketing Association, but the event is so much more than gear. This year, the 35th annual event was held in the shadow of the big mouse ears, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, a venue it’s been held four of the last six years.The “Into the Drink” crew had the opportunity to catch up with some of their friends from around the world. Here’s a quick recap:

There had been a lot of build-up to Poseidon’s new gear offerings, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. From a company that was founded in 1958 and brought us the world’s first recreational rebreather, I thought that anything was possible. New product offerings include a ton of stand-alone accessories and accessories for their rebreather, new fins, and more. Some of the newly released color combinations are not only stunning, but show this company’s swagger and spirit of innovation. Most striking to me, however, are their new membrane suits — part racecar driver outfit, part Star Trek uniform, and all bow-chicka-bow-bow. I was instantly intrigued. And I won’t even mention their party at the Peabody Hotel … those Swedes sure know how to throw down.

It’s always a pleasure to chew the fat with our pals at Explorer Ventures, who operate the finest live-aboards in some of the world’s best diving destinations, bar none. We’ve had the pleasure of diving from three of their boats this year alone — the MV Carpe Vita Explorer in the Maldives (whale sharks and mantas and huge schools of fish, oh my!), the Turks & Caicos Explorer II on their special itinerary in Mayaguana, Bahamas (the Caribbean like you haven’t seen it in ages), and the MV Caribbean Explorer II in St. Kitts, Saba and St. Maarten (you’ll think you’re diving the Pacific). But don’t overlook their Turks & Caicos and Silver Bank itineraries with their Turks & Caicos vessel, their Galapagos itinerary with the Humboldt Explorer, and their newest destination, the Chinchorro Bank off the Mexican Yucatan with the new Moondiver Explorer.

We also saw the buttoned-up professionals from Divers Alert Network (DAN), who keep divers safe, informed and most importantly, covered. If you’re a diver and you don’t have DAN insurance, you’re simply asking for trouble. Consider DAN insurance an essential piece of gear, no less important than your regulator or BC. We are going to be working a little closer with DAN in 2012, so stay tuned for some exciting news on the diving safety front. The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) continues to lead the way in dive training, and we’ll also be working more closely with them in 2012, so keep an eye out for news on that as well. I caught up with my old colleagues at Scuba Diving Magazine, who continue to be the flag-bearer for dive journalism. We talked new product offerings with all-around great guy Berkley White from Backscatter, a company that provides us with video gear support and are experts at their craft. If you’re on the market for photo or video gear, look no further. We also spent a some time with Tim Monsul of Albatross Charters in Greece, an operation we dived with while filming two episodes there in July, and Mike and Vickie Coker from Sipadan Water Village in Malaysia, a place that’s definitely on our wish list.

It may have been the 18th DEMA I’ve attended since entering the diving industry in the early 90′s, but the show never ceases to amaze, inspire and motivate me. The only downside? I find myself drooling over gear that I want to buy, and destinations I want to dive. And that’s not such a bad thing.

I don’t often admit this, but this was perhaps the trip that I was most looking forward to of all the scheduled 2011 Into the Drink episode shoots. Greece is a land that’s always intrigued me, if not for my love of gyros, history, and the fact that I was named after Nick the Greek (my birthday, 7/11, is a famously lucky number embraced by many gamblers … or so I’m told). New countries I can check off my bucket list are always special. The birthplace of democracy? Extra special.

Let me start by saying that the reports of political and economic unrest in Greece were greatly exaggerated. We found ourselves in the middle of a couple peaceful protests, which wound up being nothing more than glorified block parties. If blasting music and waving signs is social upheaval, I’ve seen rowdier crowds of disgruntled souls tailgating. The people, first and foremost, were wonderful. Not just our hosts (thank you Tim and Popie of Albatross Charters, and everybody too numerous to mention), but complete strangers who would walk up to us and say, “thank you for visiting our country.” You don’t find truth in destinations when they’re fat and happy, you find the true character of a culture when they’re faced with challenges. This is the time to visit Greece. Turn off the TV and go.

If you’re not a fan of history, you’ll find yourself being one after a trip to Greece. To stroll across the Acropolis and gaze on the majestic columns of the Parthenon, to witness the golden hour glow of the Temple of Poseidon as the sun sinks into the Aegean Sea, to stand in the space that the apostle Paul delivered his letter to the Corinthians, is all life-altering stuff. This isn’t a “I visited (insert destination here) and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” kind of experience. This is a “wow, this really puts life into perspective” kind of journey.

You can find this historical beauty in the most minute things, too — such as pieces of decorative marble strewn about archaeological sites like Legos in a classroom. But my defining moment occurred underwater at a site off the island of Kythnos where 2,100-year-old pottery is littered on the seafloor everywhere you look. I touched a piece of earthenware, the handles of the jars to be exact, and felt that I was making a tactile connection to the artisan who created it 21 centuries ago. That it still is nearly completely intact is a testament to his craft and the fact that Greece’s antiquities are revered and have been protected for so long.

Add to this experience the fact that I not only did my very first rebreather dives in Greece, but I became certified in recreational rebreather diving as well. Bonus! Marcus from the Poseidon office in Gothenburg, Sweden, accompanied us and taught me the ways of the Discovery, the company’s new recreational rebreather. This isn’t just A new way of diving, it’s THE new way of diving. Diving this rig was such a paradigm shift that after one dive on a wreck, I found myself ascending to the dive boat and proclaiming that I’d never dive open circuit again. Of course I was embellishing a bit, and perhaps sucking up to my instructor, but there was a lot of truth to my confession. This rebreather is going to change the way that we as human beings immerse ourselves in the ocean. It’s that cool, and that different. Thank you Poseidon!

And of course I’d be doing the nation a great injustice if I didn’t mention the food and wine. If great food is an art, Greece is the Louvre. If you’re the impatient type when it comes to dining and just want to stuff your pie-hole, you’re going to be disappointed and a tad frustrated. Eating out means lingering with friends over wine as you anticipate courses, being served dishes that you pass around the table family-style, and finding yourself stuffed sublimely. And if you don’t care for feta, one of the finest of the world’s cheeses, in my humble opinion, you’re missing out on the very reason why I’d rather die than be lactose intolerant.

So I implore you to visit Greece now. Its people are proud to show you how the world was centuries ago, while keeping itself planted firmly in the here and now. You just might learn something from it.

I have a soft spot for monkeys. They’re cute, they’re funny, and best of all, they’re prone to flinging poo. But I must confess, I was intrigued by the vervet, or green monkeys, of St. Kitts from the get-go. A wee bit nervous, even. I had heard the rumors prior to getting to the island to embark on a week-long live-aboard voyage aboard the Caribbean Explorer II. These monkeys were different. These monkeys liked a cocktail or two. These were my kind of monkeys.

But before we get into any monkey business, let’s talk about the Caribbean Explorer II. Besides, you’re probably more interested in that anyway. This is the venerable live-aboard dive vessel plying the waters of the Northeastern Caribbean. If you want to dive St. Kitts’ sublime wrecks and reefs, and Saba’s mind-blowing pinnacles, this is your chariot. Your trip will start in either St. Kitts or St. Maarten depending on the week, and include some of the most unique diving experiences in this corner of the Lesser Antilles. Simply put, there is a wild, “Pacific” feel to the diving here. The feeling that you could see almost anything, at any time.

Back to the monkeys. A handful of them were brought to the island by slave ship in the 17th Century, and the population has exploded to an estimated 50,000 today. Their insatiable sweet tooth originally drove them to eat fermenting sugar cane in the fields of local plantations, but the arrival of tourists recently have made their addiction much simpler to satisfy. Sappy-sweet umbrella drinks draw them out of the woodwork, and they snatch the libations practically right out of the hand of unwitting sightseers.

Perhaps what makes these primates so intriguing, however, is the way they mirror the human populous. Studies suggest that the percentage of alcoholism among them actually matches that of man — most drink in moderation, however, there are even binge drinkers, hard-core drinkers and tee-totalers among their ranks.

Now if these monkeys ever learn how to scuba dive, we’re definitely going to go back to film another episode.

Of the many things I dread returning home after a thoroughly enriching episode shoot – the inevitable expense reports, dealing with my chocolate lab’s acute aloofness due to separation anxiety, and a lawn that could work as the set of the jungle scenes in “Apocalypse Now” – blogging about the experience isn’t one of them. While the broadcast of the episode may still be months away, I can’t help but tell you about the time we had on the Big Island of Hawaii filming this Season 2 episode of “Into the Drink.”

The trip represented several firsts for me. First time surfing, first time standing up on a surf board, and first time falling off of one head-first into a pile of rocks on the bottom of the ocean, immediately following standing up triumphantly for approximately 0.42 seconds. First time seeing hot, flowing lava with my naked eyes, first time hiking two hours over dried lava to get to hot, flowing lava, first time being sincerely afraid of falling through hollow-sounding dried lava into hot, flowing lava.

It was also my first time aboard the Kona Aggressor II. Sure, I had dived Kona before, but only from land-based dive operations. Once again, my love of live-aboards was confirmed. In case you didn’t get the memo die-hard divers, this is the way to go. If you want to maximize your time in the water, you have to maximize your time on the water. Eat, sleep, dive – these aren’t hollow words, this is the mantra of the Aggressor Fleet, and they couldn’t make it any easier on you if they tried.

Big Island diving is fundamentally different from anything you’ll experience in the Caribbean, or the western Pacific for that matter. Here, a predominantly rocky substrate is punctuated by fascinating lava formations and hard corals painted in pastel hues. Hawaii’s remoteness – unparalleled among islands, lying nearly 2,500 from the closest continental landmass – rewards divers with an endemic catalog of marine life that you’ll find nowhere else on earth. Threespot chromis, masked angelfish, and milletseed butterflyfish are just three types of fish you’ll encounter only in Hawaii. In fact, 23% of the fish, 20% of the mollusks, and nearly 20% of the corals are considered endemic to the state.

While this might be fine for self-proclaimed fish geeks, the show stopper is the mantas. A protected cove near Kona’s airport now serves as the stage for the baddest-ass underwater rock concert (minus the distracting music) and light show anywhere, period, end of story. Dozens of divers with torches light up the stage, bait fish roil in the water column, zooplankton swarm the scene like so many groupies. And then enter the mantas … fearlessly buzzing your head like brave crop dusters. Don’t take it personally, but they’re not here to dance with you, they’re here to Hoover up plankton like Kevin Smith at a 24-hour buffet after a weekend beer binge. But that’s OK, they put on one hell of a show.

Best of all, I got to enjoy it with friends, old and new. In addition to the “Into the Drink” crew – Randy, Mark, Travis, and Johnny – I got to dive again with Brian, who I did a tour with in Okinawa back in my Marine Corps days, as well as Jim and Trish, people that I had known only through online scuba diving message boards. (Of course, I also thoroughly enjoyed the on-location regulars, including Tia, Ami and Holly – and the soon-to-be-regular Stacy. Wait, that didn’t sound right…)

Hawaii ushered in for me a new fascination with surfing, thanks to impromptu lessons with our lovely instructor Kate on some decent waves at Honolii Beach, just north of Hilo. Granted, the Big Island won’t be the filming location for Point Break 2, but that’s fine for this noob, who has decided that he prefers not to incorporate concussions into the learning curriculum.

I have to say, the most indelible image from my visit to the Island of Fire and Water had to be mighty Kilauea. By day, you stand on the precipice of the volcano’s caldera, trying to wrap your mind around the immensity of this fiery beast. At night, you hike over dried lava flows with flashlights, wandering toward the red glow on the horizon, fearing your shoes will melt, but not stopping until you observe up-close – and mouth agape, mind you – magma roaring out of the earth, and into the pounding Pacific surf. It’s mesmerizing to witness two great forces of nature in a giant battle royale: Lava vs. H2O. The orange-hot lava is eventually extinguished, though just slow enough to watch it burn beneath the waves. Steam rises from the conflagration, as if to say, “you both win.” In the end, the Big Island gets bigger, and I still don’t have the balls to get into the water with dive gear to see it happen. Oh well, I guess I live to dive another day.

And seemingly oblivious to the pundits who say that this volcanic soil should not produce award-winning wines is the fearless Volcano Winery (America’s southernmost!), which produces some incredible and memorable macadamia nut honey wine, as well as traditional blends. And a big shout-out goes to Josh Valdez. We couldn’t have found a better ambassador for the winery – or the Big Island’s nightlife, for that matter – if we tried.

So mahalo nui Big Island, for teaching us such great life lessons, even at my age. You are living proof that great things can come in big packages. Now I just wish there was a lawnmower in that package somewhere … –Nick Lucey