Missing the Keys

Today I find myself missing the Florida Keys with a passion. I called and talked to the Scuba Commissioner at the Florida Sea Base, Laura Kuras. I asked her if she had heard anything about how the hiring process was going for the summer. She said she believes Im hired, unless Capt. Steve makes any last minute decisions. I can’t wait to get back to the Keys. I miss diving, I miss the wildlife, I miss all the kids, and the people I work with. I really miss having endless amounts of things that I wanted to photograph too. It is so easy to find interesting, and challenging things to take photos of. The dolphin photograph to the right was taken laying on the swim platform of the dive boat. It is one of a series of about 50 images.
This was the only good one. It was not common to have the dolphins following the boat, but it happened often enough that I kept my gear accessible in case they decided to show up. A photograph by another staff member by the name of Alex Lipsky, inspired me to capture images of the dolphins in mid air behind the boat, in the wild. The Captain of the boat has to know what the dolphins like, in order for them to follow the boat for a period of time. Capt. Carol Chapman, knows the exact RPMs that the boat should be set at in order to let the dolphins continue to play in the wake. The other photo was an experiment with half in, and half out of the water shots. Not the spectacular image I thought it was going to be, but interesting none the less. Anyway, images like these demonstrate exactly why I want to spend another summer in the Florida Keys, getting paid to teach scuba diving, and diving in the beautiful waters off the coast of Islamorada every day. I want to go diving now… right now…