Work at ReefCleaners

[johnmaloney]

John, are there any times during the year that you don't make it out? Or does the water/conditions usually stay reasonable enough to get out and do your thing?

 

we only stay on land when the landlord lets us forget about bills. There really are some days that I would rather be anywhere other than the water, but they tend to be the busiest time of year for us, (and the worst times to be in the water). (When it gets arctic in the northeast sales go way up as people don't like being stuck at home looking at cyano - this is when the seas get rough). My worst dive was a night dive of all things in 6-8 with 30 degree windchill on an oyster reef. We have gone out in worse weather, but if I had a dollar for every time I got wracked on those oysters I would have made more than the catches I brought in. Still have a few scars from that, but when you consider how many people are in the military or police officers who have truly dangerous jobs, well, swimming around in bad conditions is a cake walk. Cuts heal fast in SW, bruises as well, at least I can say I have never been shot at, so conditions are pretty good I would say.

 

yardboy - oh that is cool, I thought you were supposed to stay out of the water the whole time. Ok it is settled, John gets a SCUBA cert. (But really though first the boat, some of our spots are far from shore and this swimming out there non-sense is getting old-BTW, Kayaks suck IMO. They can go pretty fast but against the current..I would rather swim and pull the Kayak. I just don't have the upper body strength I guess. Although the man in KY could bench over 400 and he felt the same way. He was probably too big for his own good though). They are over shallows and there are some islands to break up the trip, but it gets old...plus if lightning rolls in, (I dont mess with lightning), it sucks to get almost all the way there just to swim back... I can see how you would be able to carry more gear, I haven't really though of it that way. I usually tie up the gear to a dive flag and go down barehanded with my mesh bag for algae, and with a net and tickle stick for fish. I figure if I can't catch the fish on one breath it deserves a shot in the ocean. If I was set netting though, yeah SCUBA would help. I am really not into taking pictures at all, so no loss of freedom there. Honestly, if it weren't for product descriptions, I would never have taken a picture in my life.