Far Rockaway Dives 9/30,10/1

Congrats to Juan for completing his NAUI Scuba Diver certification dives!  Once again, a super huge thanks to Ocean Horizons Scuba for being simply totally awesome!

Two beautiful days for diving.  Check it out, and you’ll check out a seahorse!!

A train to Far Rock

Checking the conditions

Guz, not afraid of anything

An unfortunate crab

Fishing in NYC

Wetsuitin' up

Me, Rolman, Paul, and Juan

Juan and Rolman being silly in the water

About to experience dive #1 for the weekend

Best friends ... aww!!

One GIGANTIC spider!!

One relatively decent sized fish.

Juan and me, just before dive #4

Actually, this is Juan and me just before dive #4

Juan and me, during dive #4

Juan, like a fish.

We found a bowling ball underwater. Gotta love NY.

Juan, showing us how it's done.

Juvenile Snowy Grouper

Hey everybody, look at me, I'm a starfish.

Butterfly fish, getting big!

Juan, with his souvenir.

More butterfly fish

Nice profile shot

Lizardfish

And the real prize of the day, a seahorse!!! Paul has been diving Beach 8th St. for over 30 years, and this is only the 3rd seahorse he's seen!

Awesome.

Congrats to our first cohort of certified divers!

This past weekend, Rolman, Quincy, Gideon, and Dierre completed their open water dives to become Schooba’s first cohort of fully certified scuba divers! They all received their NAUI Scuba Diver Certification, and we owe a super huge thanks to Paul Bardo and Ocean Horizons Scuba for providing fantastic instruction for the course.  Here are some pics from the weekend’s dives at Beach 8th St., Far Rockaway, Queens, NY.

Water temp = 68 degrees Fahrenheit

Visibility = 5-15 feet

Max depth = 27 feet

Ocean Horizons Scuba, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

Inside the shop, about to get fitted for our gear.

Rolman's first time putting on a wetsuit.

Quincy, lookin' sharp.

Rolman, checking out the compressor.

One 7th grade science teacher you do not want to mess with.

Last stop on the A train.

Beach 8th St.

The dive site.

Gearin' up.

Gideon and the Amazing Technicolor Swim Trunks

The dive briefing

Group shot before our first dive.

Waiting for the calm of slack tide.

Rolman, about to go under.

Quincy, about to go under.

Gideon and Dierre ... about to go under.

Group shot.

Single file

(The sound of bubbles.)

Gideon is OK.

Dierre is OK, too, and is - just for a moment - going to use the "thumbs up" to communicate how awesome it is.

Starfish, mussels

Crab

Fish

Sea Robin

Spot the flounders.

Rolman, having fun and not wanting to ascend.

Crab

Quincy, a fish in water.

Lobster

Gideon and Dierre, Mentors

Quincy and Rolman, soon to be 10th grade students at Lyons Community School, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn