Alan Scott is an exceptionally good friend and boating buddy of mine for many years. Besides owning and operating a cruising sail boat here in Puget Sound for many years, he has been a diver all his life. I think I remember (if I remember correctly) that he was on the dive team that brought up bags/boxes/chests full of gold from an old wooden sailing ship in the Caribbean. Alan didn’t get rich from that, not in money anyway, but in life experience he sure did. Ok, so I might be wrong about the gold doubloons and pieces of eight details, but I like what I think is true! 🙂
He has been diving on shoals and reefs, in bays and oceans, around islands and mainlands, all his life. And he takes the most extraordinary video of his dives.
Here is his most recent video, from November 2022 ……
The Revillagigedo Islands, and in particular Isla Socorro, are in the Pacific Ocean, about 300 miles off the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, off the west coast of Mexico.
Turn your sound on … click on that lower right square thing to enlarge the video. At about time stamp 7:17, you’ll hear Alan’s breathing apparatus, his scuba gear. Ok, what’s scuba gear? The letters “scuba” are an acronym or an anacronym for “Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus”, a term coined by Christian J. Lambertsen in a patent submitted in 1952. It’s the tanks and mouth-piece and other parts of that equipment used by humans that enable us to breathe underwater. Here is a wikipedia article about Scuba gear/diving.
Also at time stamp 7:17 in the video below, you can hear the real-time clicking and chatter of the Dolphins that Alan was swimming with.
So let’s get to Alan’s dive! Read all that other stuff about Scuba gear in the link above if you must, but Alan’s video is better than all the rest. Look for nose bumps between Dolphins soon after time stamp 7:17 and especially the tap on the nose! And then the cool little flipper friendliness at 8:55. 🙂 And the huge, huge Manta Rays at the end … 15-30 feet in wing span.
Ok, let’s start from the beginning.
What an amazing video. And an amazing life for Alan. Lots of us have hobbies … Alan’s is over the top!
The name of Alan’s own personal boat, a handsome and very well-maintained sail boat, is “Distant Drum”. There are sayings about hearing a distant drummer and marching to a distant drum. Some of us hear that distant drum beat from time to time. Alan actually listens to it and sets his course to the beat of that drum.
That was fascinating. I had no idea what SCUBA gear sounded like underwater. And the fish and other animals, oh my word. Might have to take scuba lessons. 🙂
Jim
I hadn’t heard that SCUBA sound either, Jim. So much to learn. 🙂
Aargh, another boating video. 🙂 Thanks Ann. This was great. As much boating as I’ve done, I’ve never dived. I read that Puget Sound has some of the best dive spots in the world, the largest octopi in the world, etc. A friend of mine is in a dive group down in Tacoma that dives under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge where those huge octopus are. This video from Alan that you shared is extraordinary. Thank you. Thanks Alan!
Yes, thanks to Alan!
Thanks Rob. 🙂
Ann, didn’t you do a blog post a couple of years ago about the octopus/octopi under Puget Sound? Alan’s video is amazing, our kids and grandkids will love it too. Ha-ho, we will not be taking scuba lessons, we will be following Alan’s videos. 🙂 Love the name of his boat.
Indeed M&M, here’s a link to that blog post: https://www.travelswithtowhee.com/giant-octopuses-yeah-right/.
I like his boat’s name too. 🙂
Super video. Love his choice of music, especially for the skates.
Oops! Sorry, rays not skates. Similar, but different. 🤔
Oh, I thought skates and rays were the same, just a different name. Sigh. Ok, after a little internet research … there are a number of differences, though they look a lot alike. Rays are generally much larger than skates. Thanks Fritzi. 🙂
Music sure can make or break a video can’t it? This one was great.
I did a little scuba in my younger years. This was amazing. Loved the nudibranch at 4:26. Looks like a little underwater helicopter. 🙂
Judy Bee, thank you! I loved that little helicopter! 🙂 But I didn’t know what it was really. 🙂
When I was young(er) I wanted to learn to scuba, but as I got old(er) I developed a bit of claustrophobia and can’t imagine being that deep with all the weight of the water above me. I know, that’s weird. But I can do snorkeling and that’s good enough for me.
There are a number of things in life that I do not need to experience too, Dawn … skydiving, scuba, stuff like that. I’m with you.
I swam a lot as a kid, but I never liked the idea of being underwater with a breathing apparatus stuck in my mouth such that I couldn’t breathe through my nose. Now I wish I had at least tried it. Alan’s videos are great! The octopus!
Oh, yes, that octopus in the video is really cool, how it moves, how it changes color. Great stuff.
Nope, never wanted to breathe under water, nope! But the video is super. And I really like the name of Alan’s boat and the fact that he listens to a distant drum, that’s really cool.
Tim, we’ll just have to keep watching Alan’s video, eh? Up here in the air!
Magnificent!
Yes!
Wow! Great video. I’ve never lived near any large body of water. Makes me want to drive to the coast and take a diving lesson. Really like the name of Alan’s boat, that’s so cool.
Get in touch with a dive shop out here on Puget Sound, Paul. It’s salt water, ocean water, for great diving, but it’s also extremely protected water hereabouts. Take a class and then tell us how it went. I’d love to hear.
“Distant Drum” is a 42-foot 1994 Cabo Rico custom offshore sailboat.