Avalon Underwater Park
(aka Casino Point)
Catalina, CA

Dove with Instructor John, Ron T. and John’s Open Water student Jack* as part of our Dive Master class.

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 2000 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: 1-2 feet, insignificant
Visibility: 20 feet or so
Water Temperature: 58 degrees Fahrenheit
Total Bottom Time: About 30 minutes
*Student name has been changed.

We did the traditional skin dive first – we saw a HUGE black sea bass.

Jack was a little freaked and yelled to us, “What is that? Is it going to hurt us?”

We swam after it.

The free dive sort of reminded me how I sometimes don’t like free diving.

I think I almost passed out coming up from 25 feet; I was dizzy for a bit.

On the actual SCUBA dive, Jack slipped on the stairs leading to the water; he was all right.

We all made it out and met at the life preserver/ buoy.

Jack took a while getting down.

John fed the fish frozen peas.

The fish swarmed – Jack tried catching a few.

We headed over to the Jacques Cousteau memorial.

John had Jack adjust his BC jacket – something must have happened, like diver malfunction, because as soon as we left the memorial, Jack started to float up.

Ron chased after him, I went to get John.

We all surfaced, swam to where it was shallower and continued our dive.

Jack took his time getting down, which was okay.

We all made it back and up the stairs without incident.

Long Point, Palos Verdes, CA
(aka The Old Marineland)

Dove with Nick

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 1200 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: 1-2 feet, calm, except upon exit
Visibility: 5-10 feet at best, silty
Water Temperature: 47 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Nick; cold!
Total Bottom Time: 47 minutes

I met Nick around 9 AM; I sort of had a hangover from last night.

We went off the cove.

It was fairly calm going in with only a slight motion of the one to two foot swells.

The water seemed very cold.

When we submerged, my head felt like it was freezing.

Since Nick is out of shape and I had a hangover, we both agreed to go slow.

There was a seal swimming around us for a while; I don’t know if Nick saw it or not, but I think something spooked him.

The vis was very silty.

We traveled East, up the coastline, never getting deeper than 40 feet.

We had plenty of air after 30 minutes, but we headed back because we both were cold.

We swam back to the cove, avoiding some fishermen.

As we were approaching the surf zone, we were pounded by maybe three or four large swells.

Nick hurt his ankle, or was it his knee(?), coming ashore.

I took my fins off, but ended up diving back into a swell trying not to get smashed against the rocks.

I would was up, then fight the undertow – I crawled out and got pushed several times hoping that no really big wave would hit.

By the time I was on shore, Nick was already out.

Looking back at the water as we walked up, the surf zone was calm.

Just my luck!