Sea Hunt Forever 2019 - March 2-3

[SurfLung]

The Sea Hunt Forever divers are returning to Florida’s Silver Springs State Park the weekend of March 2-3, 2019 to put on another underwater show in conjunction with the Florida Springsfest celebration! Springsfest promotes preservation of the springs through awareness and stewardship and educates visitors about the importance of Florida's springs and preservation of its history. Part of the rich history of Silver Springs are the movies and television shows filmed there over many decades - think Tarzan, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and yes, Sea Hunt. More than half of the Sea Hunt TV show episodes starring Lloyd Bridges as Mike Nelson were filmed at Silver Springs from 1958 to 1961.

To help preserve and present the history of Silver Springs the divers will be acting out scenes from Sea Hunt using actual scripts from the show while being viewed by thousands of visitors on the Spring’s famous glass bottom boats. As historical re-enactors, only equipment that is historically accurate from face mask to flippers is being used. If a particular type or model of gear was not used in the original series, you won’t see it used at the show. What you will see at the show is underwater knife fights, bad guys being shot through and through by spearguns (complete with fake Hollywood-style blood packets), divers wrestling a giant anaconda underwater and sunken treasure being recovered.

While the cast and crew have already been selected to fill the limited number of slots available, everyone is invited to come down and see the show. Introduce yourself to one of the cast members and we will see if we can get you “back-stage” to see the Sea Hunt gear up close.

Renown Sea Hunt collector and historian Alec Peirce will be on hand with his fantastic collection of Sea Hunt memorabilia so be sure and stop by and talk to him.

Questions can be directed to SeaHuntForever2019@gmail.com

Hope to see everyone there!

THE SEA HUNT FOREVER DIVERS

 

[Sam Miller III]

@SurfLung

That should be a really big show !

Mark Spencer, Esq is producing it this year

Mark is certainly qualified, I first met Mark who was already an accomplished waterman and diver when he was 15 . A few years later Mark enrolled in my very advanced over 100 hour "Advanced Diving class" I presented for 15 years at a local SoCal community college --

What an Advanced Diving course it was! ...3 hours of Thursday night lectures by noted dive authorities, Dr Charlie Brown, the medical editor or SDM, Dr Bruce Halstead, author of the 1400 page - 3 volume book Dangerous and Venomous marine life of the world,, Dr Mia Teghner, California Abalone specialist, Mr. Jim Stewart CDO & DSO of SIO and numerous others luminaires.

Two dives every Saturday or a field trip … To SIO for a conducted tour of the dive locker and aquarium followed by a deep dive in the Scrips canyon, --- a tour of Commercial diving center (CDC) followed by a 165 chamber dive and a dive in the training tanks using commercial heavy gear, such as MK V, Swindel & Rat hats (It was here that my 12 year old son dove heavy gear and made a 165 chamber run) -- A three day camping trip to NorCal to dive Monterey and Jade cove-- Yes we got Jade!

After completing the course Mark received a LA Co Intermediate certification a NAUI Advanced certification and a PADI certification until Bob Wholers, of PADI HQ, located 2 miles away, stated the course exceeded PADI standards for an Advanced diving course-- so I dropped PADI.

After Mark completed the course he was invited to be a member of the training staff which he held until he was accepted into law school

Mark became a NAUI instructor and was accepted as a SSI Pro 5000 a few years later

Yes Mark is certainly qualified and will present a really big show !

Good luck !

SAM

 

[SurfLung]

Working the Crowd is Part Of It...

Here's Mark with his son and Bryan's daughter walking the park showing off vintage gear, posing for photographs, and signing autographs. Sea Hunt Forever cast members are encouraged stay in costume, see and be seen with park visitors and make the SpringsFest weekend a special memory (and history lesson) for all in attendance.
- Photo by Kevin Smith

 

[Sam Miller III]

The perfect Sea Hunt diver!

Straps & bands
Wire weight belt
Lead weights
Smooth wet suit

OOOOPS Mask on forehead !
The horror of it all !

Never the less a perfect Mike Nelson-- except for the old feller with the grey moustache

Sam Miller, 111

 

[Compressor]

WOW; Great pictures and idea. I need to get one of those DHRegs.

 

[SurfLung]

Sea Hunt Regulators...
- Three of the most common Voit regulators seen on the Sea Hunt TV Show.

- The top two are Voit 50 Fathom Double Hose Regulators... Most notable for their having full pressure single stage operation with a downstream valve configuration. They were seen in blue metallic painted as well as shiny chrome finish. The bottom regulator is a Voit Lung single stage with an upstream valve configuration.
- I believe that Voit was originally chosen because the green hoses showed up better than black hoses on black and white TV pictures. Later on the Voit regulators were supplied with gray hoses which also show up well on TV.
- Note: All of the vintage regulators used in the upcoming Sea Hunt Forever show have been restored to like new or better working condition. Sea Hunt Forever, Silver Springs Florida, Mar 2-3, 2018

 

[SurfLung]

Correction... March 2-3, 2019!
- Yes this post is not about past events... This is about Sea Hunt Forevers Yet To Come! Mark your 2019 calendars now Sea Hunt Forever 2019 is March 2-3 2019!

Fighting the Anaconda proved to be popular with the Glass Bottom Boat riders. The boats would follow us as we swam and the guests would watch the show through the glass. The trick is to hold the head in one hand and wave it back and forth as you swim forward. It looks like the fake snake is swimming and you are wrestling with it. Add in a couple of spirals for enhanced effect. Here we see (l-r) Ron Bentz, Rich Merten, and Eben Brown, cast members at one of the previous Sea Hunt Forever shows with the fake Anaconda.

 

[Sam Miller III]

The equipment appears correct for a reenacting of Sea Hunt and Mike Nelson
But the divers appear a little old and well nourished to be Mike Nelson
But it appears they are having a life time of fun --- in their second childhood

Sam

 

[SurfLung]

Mike Nelson's Sound Stage...
- The actual "ground zero" where most underwater scenes were filmed is this small basin at the mouth of Silver Spring. All of the caves, ledges, boulders, and underwater landscape are in this basin that's probably less than 50 yards in diameter. Maximum depth is about 33 feet. (Below - Don't bring a speargun to a knife fight!)

Photo by Kevin Smith

 

[SurfLung]

An All-Day Show by 30 Minute Divers...
- The Sea Hunt Forever 2019 show runs all day Saturday and Sunday (Mar2-3) as long as the park keeps filling up glass bottom boats. The divers/cast members accomplish this by working in shifts of 30 minutes. So every 30 minutes a new group goes in and the previous group comes out.

- Above you can see the glass bottom boats hovering over the diving cast members in the show. And in the foreground you can see the next shift of divers heading out to take their turn at entertaining the park guests. In between 30 minute shifts, the divers re-fill their tanks, grab a bite to eat, or mingle with the crowd in full gear!
- Photo by Kevin Smith