Emerald Bay at Indian Rocks, Catalina, CA
Diving off the Bottom Scratcher Boat

Dove with Tim and Reyna, who I know from Long Point

In With: 3100 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 80 feet
Waves: Insignificant
Visibility: 30 feet
Water Temperature: Cold – someone said it was 54 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes

Nick hurt his ankle, so I took his spot.

I had credit and reservations for the same boat and destination for February.

We left Long Beach at 6:45 AM.

I had number 13 again, as I requested.

I think the same people from the last two trip attempts were on this boat.

It was the same crew from the last time, Captain Greg, Bobby the Deck Hand and…

…Debbie the cook!

The dive master in his orientation said, “Everyone needs a buddy, no exceptions.”

I didn’t want to risk being banned from diving after the first dive, so I asked to be “buddied up” with someone.

The Dive Master asked a few of the members from, I guess, their dive club.

Everyone declined, so he went over and started talking to an Instructor that was teaching a class.

I thought, screw this, I’m not diving with an Open Water class so I begged Tim and Reyna to follow them.

Tim seemed a little concerned about my diving skill level.

“How deep can you go?”

I said, “130 feet.”

Anyway, they were both very nice and I told them I was just out to follow them.

Once off the boat, we submerged and headed away from the shore.

The environment resembled a lightly decorated White Point.

We went down to 80 feet.

Tim and I were both hunting lobsters; Reyna was behind us collecting Sea Shells.

Apparently, this is routine for them.

We started heading for the rocks; it got progressively shallower as we went towards them.

The environment changed to resemble what I envisioned Catalina should look like.

I spotted a few lobsters, none of them legal size.

Tim and Reyna were in dry suits and had 1600 psi when I got down to 500 psi.

I broke off and went back to the boat.

I had to swim back over the kelp as “Bubba” the chase boat wasn’t feeling too well.

Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Dove With Instructor John as part of an Advanced SCUBA diving class

In With: 2700 psi
Out With: 800 psi
Max depth: 103 feet
Waves: 1-4 feet
Visibility: 15 feet
Water Temperature: Cold at 100 feet
Total Bottom Time: About 30 minutes

I met John at 7 AM; we made a plan and entered the water at 7:45 AM.

The dive watch that I bought yesterday leaked the minute I entered the water.

“Freestyle” watches suck; this was my first dive with the watch.

We submerged to 25 feet and did a checkout:

Buddy breathing
Emergency swimming ascent
mask clearing
weight belt off/weight belt on
regulator ditch and recovery

John then had me take my mask off, hold his hand and swim with him for what seemed to be about 20 yards.

It didn’t bother my eyes, but the water and compressed air going up my nose was annoying.

We then went over the shelf and out to 96 feet.

John stopped me – his gauge read 103 feet.

For this record, I’ll go with John’s gauges.

It’s pretty much barren at 100 feet.

John had me release all the air out of my BCD jacket and try and ascent.

I had no problem and John later said that I was properly weighted.

I re-inflated my BCD and we started in – me leading the way.

The bottom is uneven when it starts going up to higher ground, but I just headed East; John followed.

We came up the shelf and ran into a trash marker – a bucket of cement.

I knew I was right on target.

John was impressed that I hit it right on the mark; it was some luck, too.

We surfaced at 10 feet and I walked ashore.

It was a little rough.

I had trouble taking my fins off since I put them on so tight; I fell walking out.

John advised, “The dive went really well, just blow bubbles when you have the second stage out of your mouth and ‘tighten up’ to reduce drag.”