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Captain's Comments
From Captain Al, 06-11-2008
What a weekend to get the season started! After waiting six months to get back in the water, the gods of the Crystal Coast were kind of enough to let the reunion of friends begin! The only thing better than the viz, seas and winds was seeing the friends who offer up their professional services to the "Mutiny". It was a family reunion. All the original members were present to partake in the fun. Special thanks to Captain "Shark Bait" Jimmy for making the 11 hour million-dollar drive to be with us! Also to Captain Mike "Bikini" Daniel for sharing some of his precious time away from his newlywed life to join in on the fun. It's not often that conditions warrant a little relaxed atmosphere on a dive boat when you're 30 miles from shore in water with depths exceeding 110'. Owners, instructors, assistant instructors, dive masters, future dive masters, web masters, fish cops and numerous captains on board are one of those rare times. Especially when ALL are avid, experienced North Carolina wreck divers. The fun times at the house and on the boat were really appreciated by me. Thanks guys!! I hope all were appreciative of my demonstrating the proper method of discharging your lunch overboard as well! Thanks for your time spent training. I pray we never need it!!! I'd also like to say thanks to two others who will be missed this year: Captain Roy "360" Cowan (rest in peace, brother); and our first mate Will, whose services and companionship, especially while spear fishing, will be missed this year. Good luck in all you do!
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From Captain Amy, 06-10-2008
Wow! We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2008 dive season than we had this weekend. It was one of “those weekends” that we as divers experience too infrequently in our lives: perfect weather, calm seas, endless visibility, and abundant marine life. It’s become our custom at ABDS to gather our crew at the beginning of each season to review our policies and procedures, renew any first aid or CPR certifications, discuss how we can make our business better, and train any new additions to our fold. I look forward to the training weekend because it’s seldom that the entire gang is together at one time. Not only are we great friends and have a good time together, but it’s a first-rate opportunity to learn from each other more about what we do. I am entering my second full year as a captain, and feel so fortunate to have the experience and council of the senior members of our crew (Al, Captain Jim Smith, and Captain Mike Daniel). Our drills went flawlessly, and our commitment to our duties was rewarded with nearly perfect diving conditions. Having been landlocked since October of last year, it was a FABULOUS way to start our dive season! We can’t wait to see all of you again, and also look forward to meeting our new divers as well. LET’S GO DIVING! |
From Captain Amy, 05-26-2008
HEY DIVERS! A new dive season is here! Captain Al and I successfully returned the Mutiny from Baltimore to Morehead City last weekend, and she's running like a champ. Her winter makeover has made her a more efficient vessel, which is critical in light of the absurd fuel prices we're experiencing. Captain Al has spent a lot of time with the engines, whom we affectionately call Huff and Puff. I'll be taking care of a few final touches (new anti-slip deck paint, final cleaning, and eradication of some of Captain Al's wild day with a can of green paint) next week, then I think we're ready for our first group of divers! We welcome dive master Jeff Lockwood to our crew for 2008, along with the usual faces and names you've come to know over the past couple of years. Check out the pictures of the Mutiny's winter rubdown on the Pictures page! We have truly missed you guys in the offseason, and look forward to seeing you all again very soon! |
From Captain Amy, 02-06-2008
Hey divers! Hope everyone’s having a great offseason! The Mutiny is currently receiving her annual physical and rubdown after a great 2007 season. Thanks to all our divers (and my loyal crew, too!) who helped make the summer of 2007 such a success. Now that the holidays have come and gone, we’re turning our attention to 2008, and all the planning and work associated with staying up to date in the dive industry. Just like the Mutiny, our website is getting a little makeover as well. We’ll have new information and pictures up shortly. Many thanks to my beleaguered webmaster, faithful manservant, and dive master extraordinaire Clint Babcock for keeping our website in tip top shape. Slow and steady wins the race, eh Clint? |
From Captain Al, 02-04-2008
Hello Pirates! Well I'm chomping at the bit to get back down south and get some real diving going! Even though I'm surrounded constantly by the beauty of ALL the women in my life (my lovely wife & ever-maturing daughter), I truly miss the other two women in my life - the sea and the M/V Mutiny. It's been quite a while since our adventurous journey to her winter home this year here in Baltimore (pronounced Bawlmer). I look forward to a much less adventurous journey back home to Morehead, and to seeing the rest of my adopted scuba family. For those of you who may have ever had a concern about the seaworthiness of the good ship Mutiny, let me put that thought to rest for you! We have routinely traveled in winds gusting to 25 kts and seas to 6-8 ' to get our anxious divers out to the dive sites and thought, “whew, what a day.” Well for myself and Captain Jim, I think those days will much more welcome now than the 10-15' seas, driving rain and wind gusts that at times exceeded 50 kts on our journey north. The good ship Mutiny endured that weather with an almost uncanny smile on her face. Man, I love that boat!!!!
I guess the new news for me this year is that I am a NAUI instructor now! Anyone seeking to further their education of diving will be able to do so in the very capable hands of the Atlantic Beach Diving crew. I can instruct and certify anyone from Open Water thru Assistant Instructor. By the time summer is here, I should have my technical side wrapped and be able to teach all specialties such as decompression diving, advanced nitrox and so on. Contact me directly via the web site for instruction needs.
Well the time has come for the Mutiny's yearly US Coast Guard inspection so I better get to work on her face lift. I so look forward to sailing the blue waters off the Crystal Coast and the business of diving. What a job! I must be the luckiest guy in the world (please, someone remind of this when I'm in the bilge with my wrenches and repeating "holy" sayings)! But I know his: the business is not the boat, it's not teaching, it's the business of great friends and great feelings! Looking forward to seeing my old friends and hope to make a few new ones! You’re only a stranger once and never a number!
Dive Deep! Stay Longer!
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From Captain Jim, 02-01-2008
Whew, what a long winter! Seems like an eternity since Capt. Al and I brought the boat up from Morehead City to Baltimore for the annual “spit shine” and repairs. We learned that the Mutiny is quite able to take on just about anything we can throw at her. We managed to stay about 20 hrs. ahead of a hurricane off the coast but the low pressure area around the hurricane and the full blown high pressure area in the Midwest created some, let’s say unusual conditions. We all survived the journey and learned one heck of a lot about the handling characteristics of the boat in rough seas!
I am personally looking forward to this coming season for several reasons, chief of which is the opportunity to again welcome old friends and rekindle the friendships that have been in hibernation since late October. The MUTINY family looks forward to welcoming new passengers as well and we have been eagerly honing our skills that will allow us to provide a safe and enjoyable weekend of diving. Our crew trip, scheduled for early May, will enable us to work on perfecting emergency protocols and working together as a team. With lots of hard work, the Mutiny will be ready to be delivered back to the Olympus dock in time for the summer diving season. The schedule is filling quickly, so pick a weekend, book ahead, and join the Mutiny family for some of the best diving in the world! |
Tribute to Roy Cowan by Captain Amy
Roy Cowan was a tough nut to crack, as they say. He never spoke when words weren’t needed, and he used only a few when they were. When I met Roy back in 1999, I often mistook his quiet demeanor for apathy or downright unfriendliness. However, his sense of humor began to peep through little by little as we spent countless hours together on the Flying Fish: Roy, my husband Wade and I. We learned to be better divers by watching him. We learned how to be better friends by knowing him. He spent the night before he died trying to explain to me, with infinite patience, how to find the wreck when I jumped over the side with the grapple. I never asked Roy for help that he didn’t deliver, regardless of the inconvenience or poor timing. He even helped us move all of our belongings from one house to another on New Year’s Day and was, I’m certain, delivered a one-two punch from his wife Kim for being away from home so long on a holiday. I’m sure it was difficult for Kim, sharing Roy so liberally with hundreds of people.
Roy was a strong, competent man. Outside of Wade, he was the most able man I ever knew. He plucked me from the ocean twice, pulling me and my buddy so easily we might not have been there. It seemed strangely appropriate that we all stood in our wetsuits yesterday as Kim returned Roy to the Schurz for the last time. The day was more difficult for me than I thought it would be, and others were struggling as I was. I had hoped that the “time heals all wounds” concept would kick into overdrive, but it left me as raw as I’d felt a year ago.
Today, though, I feel ready to move forward. I feel renewed and positive. I feel hopeful that I might have an impact on as many people as Roy did, perhaps even making them better divers. The time for healing has come, and the time for tears has passed. I believe I love diving as much as Roy did. I hope he’s as good an ocean guardian as he was a diver, because I dive a LOT. But perhaps I won’t need another rescue because he made me a better diver.
Rest in peace, my dear friend. |
2007 Captain's Comments
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