I’ve had a bad head cold and congestion for the last two weeks, so I’ve had to stay out of the water.

Popping Sudafed and keeping my body hydrated with The King Of Beers hasn’t done a thing to shake this cold, except making me feel sort of strung out.

To stay in the local diving loop, and bless my fellow local divers with my presence, I showed up to do shore support for our regular Sunday Services dive.

Not many divers – a couple from Dive N Surf, three sort of strangers and four regular Diveveters.

No females.

It was a great day – very flat water with the air temperature in the mid-70s.

Reverend Al, Chipper, Military Bob (back from Chicago, on vacation) and Ted made a safe, but boring, entrance off The Point.

And likewise, they all made a safe, but boring exit at The Cove.

Lobsters were spotted in the shallows and visibility was said to be 10-12 feet, with reports it got to as good as 20 feet in some areas.

There were migrating whales in the distance.

One of the divers was saying that he heard the whales speaking to one another – something that he had never heard before.

It was later discovered that the “whale cries” were Ted just humming in his regulator.

Debriefing followed, or in my case continued, as usual.

I took the time to get used to my new camera; the video is below.

To view this video on YouTube, click here.

This week I’m going to try Chicken Soup and Sudafed to try and shake this cold and hopefully be back under the water next weekend.

So, with our first dive history, and some apparently really good video from my new camera, Dry Suit Greg and I were in good spirits.

Another dive, as we both felt, may not be necessary, as before our surface interval would be over, the tech divers would be ready to leave.

All the tech divers made it back to the boat, but Andrew, the Tech Instructor had a mission – retrieve the reel that they had left behind.

OK, we now had a reason for them to wait…

Logged SCUBA Dive #395

Dove with Dry Suit Greg
The Palawan Wreck, Redondo Beach, CA

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 1200 psi
Max depth: 120 feet
Waves: Choppy
Visibility: 30 to 40 feet
Water Temperature: 53 degrees
Air Temperature: 72 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 14 minutes bottom time, 22 minutes total

I did not take my camera on this dive.

We descended, just like the first dive, but Greg had on a second tank, of pure Oxygen.

Hmm? We still had some surface interval left.

We hit bottom and swam to the wreck.

Right on the bow was a line that was tied; Greg followed it under the deck, all the way to the stern, found the lost reel and reeled it all the way back to the bow.

I followed behind and above him – that was basically the entire dive.

After retrieving the reel, he motioned to me and asked “What do you want to do?”

I responded with the signal, “I’ll follow you.”

To the anchor line we went.

During the safety stop at 15 feet, Greg started breathing his pure Oxygen.

I looked at my computer – I was in the “green” of my non decompression limits, just barely.

I wondered if I should be hitting the O2 myself?

We both made it back, safe, and without getting bent.

Below is the first video that I made with my new camera – I’m not as good of an editor as Professional Debriefer Paul, so you’ll have to bare with me.

It is in 3D – start the video and adjust it to the viewing method you wish (type of glasses, etc.), or turn the 3D off altogether.

To view this video on YouTube, click here.