Casino Point, Catalina, CA

I dove as a safety diver with Instructor John’s Open Water class.*

In With: 2400 psi
Out With: 1000 psi
Max depth: 65 feet
Waves: Insignificant, High Tide
Visibility: 20 feet plus
Water Temperature: Cold at depth
Total Bottom Time: About 30 minutes
*The names of students have been changed, probably because I don’t remember them to begin with.

The same students went as last time; Leeza was snorkeling on top.

This was Pedro and another student’s “check out” dive.

When Pedro finished his emergency swimming ascent, he swam over to the buoy and pulled himself down the rope to submerge.

He then started doing his bazaar trapeze act trying to stay down as he held on to the rope and chain of the buoy.

After the check outs, we followed John down to the barge that had the opening to squeeze through.

We all made it through, me taking up the back.

The barge has apparently moved some.

John checked everyone’s air and motioned to everyone to follow.

Pedro was facing away, holding on to the barge; two other students were taking pictures of themselves.

I swam back, got their attention and motioned to follow.

We went back to the stairs fairly quickly.

Apparently, Pedro was getting low on air and didn’t let anyone know.

One of the students was doing too much sight seeing and got lost for a few minutes.

We all exited from the stairs with no problem.

Casino Point, Catalina, CA

I dove as a safety diver with Instructor John’s Open Water class.*

In With: 3400 psi
Out With: 2400 psi
Max depth: 45 feet
Waves: Insignificant, High Tide
Visibility: 20 feet
Water Temperature: Cold at 45 feet
Total Bottom Time: About 30 minutes
*The names of students have been changed.

I went free diving while the students were gearing up.

I think I should take a few pounds off my weight belt.

Leeza had problems with the skin dive.

She was in near panic and John brought he back in.

So we geared up in the water we went, all eight of us.

The ninth person, Leeza, snorkeled on the surface per John’s instructions.

I submerged first, then the three students from the later class, Young Hottie, Green Horn, Pedro and then John followed.

John did basic check outs for three of his students, while the rest of us just floated around.

Pedro was holding on to a metal disk and chain trying to stay down.

It looked like some bizarre underwater trapeze act.

After the check outs, we followed John to the Jacques Cousteau memorial.

Some students were running low on air, so we headed back in.

Pedro was doing his bicycle kick/dog paddle routine.

Amazingly enough, he was able to propel himself.

The tide was so high, that three to four steps of the stairs were submerged.