Sea Hunt

[Walter]

Yes, it was poorly made. Yes, the plots were often pretty bad. Yes, there are glaring errors in both fact and film (decompression chamber - recompression treatments for "the rapture" - Killer Whale becomes a Pilot Whale and a Basking Shark underwater). I loved it as a kid and I still love it today.

 

[Colliam7]

A modern day scuba drama would be just that - mostly nauseating drama with some poser wannabe tech diver stereotyped character with a perpetual 3 day beard solving non-existent mysteries ala Deep Sea Detectives.

Well said!! It is more fun to watch the original shows, flawed as they were, simply for the pure entertainment - the interesting, the corney, the funny, the ridiculous. A group of us drove to 40 Fathom weekend before last, and watched a number of episodes in the car on the way down and back. We chuckled at some of the absurdities, but I found it fascinating how it held our collective interest.

 

[Nemrod]

Nemrod--

Awesome pics of an awesome place. Is this open to the public for diving?

Well, basically, no. But, Mammoth Spring is the head spring where we took these pics and the river that forms from it is navigable and does carry private boats. I am not sure exactly what keeps one from diving there from your own boat, however, I am sure it would raise a fuss of major proportions from the Silver Springs park staff who own the surrounding land and who let us in for a "special" occasion.

N

 

[Luis H]

Nemrod--

Awesome pics of an awesome place. Is this open to the public for diving?

At this point it is not open to the public.
My understanding is that this is the first time in close to 40 years that private divers have been invited to dive in Silver Springs…and I missed it.

All the divers involved in the 50 anniversary celebration event used pure Sea Hunt era dive gear …double hose regulator, tank harness only (no back pack), steel 72 with J valve, no pressure gauge, no flotation device (horse collar BC, etc.), not Jet fins…etc.

The wet suits were not vintage, but looked similar.

Women wore swimming caps just like in the show. I heard the actress in “The lady in the trunk” episode was moved when she saw one of the lady divers fully dressed in original gear.

One of the participants made some rubber bladed Vulcan knifes and they had simulated fights under the glass bottom boats.

It was an effort to put it together, but I heard it was a lot of fun!


Edit: I didn't notice Nemrod answer before I posted.

 

[Luis H]

I own a full collection of the original show and we watch them every once in a while. I always wonder if we were that gullible back in the late 50’s…actually, we probably still are…we just feel that we are more sophisticated.

I originally watched all the Sea Hunt episode in Spanish back in the late 60’s when I lived in Puerto Rico. At the time even the translations sounded perfect to me. I bet if could find a Spanish dubbed copy now a days it would sound terrible and the lips would not sync as well as I though they did.


Added:

And no, I don’t think there is any way to recapture the magic (I can’t come up with a better description) that the original Sea Hunt show had.

As it has being mentioned, it was full of flaws, but the timing and time period was perfect.

 

[Nemrod]

Yes, we had to have gear from a "list" of authentic items. Some concessions were made to a small degree with wetusits. I did however dive a for real, vintage, Parkaways Rubatex Sharkskin wet suit from circa 1968 or so. It is a very bouyant suit and does not compress much and is therefore stiff as well like suits of that era. It took a moment for me to get my weight right but after that brief trial and error it was clear sailing. I did have a foot issue due to my ill fitting Nemrod Super A fins crushing an unhealed broken bone spur from a long ago marathon injury but I am 100% functional again now. Everyone went to alot of effort to be period correct if not Sea Hunt correct. An example, the only acceptable depth guage was the "Navy" guage. Several of us did not have Navy guages but did have vintage watch cases so we Zeroxed the front of the Navy guage and stuck it in the watch case creating a faux Navy guage--lol. We also had to use bare lead weights with a vintage look. Some made their own molds and cast weights of the style that used the old one inch webbing or military surplus belts. A wire quick release was required, no modern plastic or metal clasps. So there was effort involved.

Obviously some diving has taken place in the basin since the Sea Hunt era, scientific divers, perhaps survey divers, maybe some others snuck in. Here is a photo of the opening of Mammoth Spring that I saw on the net, sorry, I don't know who it belongs to or who took it but it is clearly showing a diver of a more modern era in the spring basin. Nice photo whoever took it.

Below are mine:

N

 

[captain]

Just as in the case of those of us who were invited, the main concern of the management was a diver being hit by one of the glass bottom boats or one of the private boats that enter the spring basin. We had to have a marked entry and exit lane and also maintain a 10 ceiling. Until the management does away with the glass bottom boats I don't think the spring will ever be open to the general diving public. I was honored to be one of the few allowed to dive the spring.

 

[Digger54]

Ahhh, Nemrod.....

Your photos are bringing up memories. We had family in Ocala and would visit Silver Springs often as a kid. I've snorkeled many hours in the swimming area they used to have. Even then (late '60s and early '70s) you could not swim or snorkel in the Mammoth Springs area, probably mainly to not interfere with the glass bottom boats.

Now if you go there and want to get wet I believe you have to go to the water park on adjoining property.

Is it correct that there are also archaeological considerations that keep divers out of the springs in addition to the hazards from the glass bottom boat traffic?

Ive go the full Sea Hunt series on DVD and it's interesting how often you seem the same parts of Silver Springs, maybe just shot from a slightly different angle that are supposed to be different locations.

I've only made it part of the way through the first season. The photo of you at the mouth of the spring, back lighted, looks like the entrance to the "cave" where the mermaid was supposed to be killing off sponge divers at Tarpon Springs. Am I right.

They really do reuse some actors, too. I've seen a very young Larry Hagman two or three times.

 

[horsediver1]

Nostalgia got the best of me on this thread. How many of us sat glued to the b&w TV watching hokey story lines, same plot bad guys lose good guys win dreaming of the day we could do what Mike Nelson did. Only to have that dream come true back then in basic equipment no bc a suit that didn't fit all that well talc powder to try and get it on, but thought we were in 7th heaven, because of one TV show that turned us on to one of the greatest sports.

 

[Couv]

"What she needed was a good spanking; I just didn't have time to give it to her," Mike Nelson

Sea Hunt... I became a diver because of that show. Someone has already mentioned the Ron Ely remake. What a disappointment, but yes, if Hollywood took another stab at it, I would watch at least the first few episodes and pray...

Great photos Nemrod, thanks for sharing.

couv