Casino Point, Catalina, CA

Dove with Instructor John, his ex-private OW student (see dives #126 and ), and his Open Water class of students: a mother and daughter team – Kathy and Paris, General Custer and Dr. Smith*

In With: 3200 psi
Out With: 2000 psi
Max depth: 45 feet
Waves: 1 foot at most, insignificant
Visibility: 20 feet plus
Water Temperature: 57 degrees Fahrenheit
Total Bottom Time: 29 minutes
*Student names have been changed.

We did the usual pre-SCUBA skin dive with all four students.

His ex-private student also came to watch.

The women found free diving a lot easier when they deflated their BCD jackets.

On the SCUBA dive, I submerged first and waited at the bottom for the others to follow.

Paris and General Custer had a hard time getting down, but eventually everyone did!

Kathy and Paris did their basic skills checkout dive.

John fed the fish frozen peas and then we followed him down to the casino point, catalina.

Dr. Smith pointed out that he had only 500 psi – John had me take him in.

He unnecessarily apologized to me for running low on air.

“Don’t worry,” I said.

This was a perfect student dive.

Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Solo Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 900 psi
Max depth: 90 feet
Waves: 4-5 feet
Visibility: 5-8 feet
Water Temperature: 50 degrees Fahrenheit, cold
Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes

I just got back from a trip to Iowa.

There’s diving in Iowa, believe it or not – I’ll have to go back and dive one day.

I learned about a sewage spill from Nick and on divevets.com.

The beaches are now open, but the surf is still up slightly.

I’ve called off several dives since I last got in to the water.

Four to five foot waves were breaking off shore, the air was pretty damn cold, too.

I entered the water around 7:20 AM; the water temperature was 50 degrees Fahrenheit according to a diver with a thermometer.

I submerged in 20 feet of water and went down the shelf to 90 feet.

I did not come across the cinder blocks and SCUBA tank from my last dive.

This was sort of a cold and boring dive actually.

I went in after just 35 minutes – I was too cold and I was getting lonely.

I got pounded by a few waves coming ashore; there’s a steep sand step that I tripped over.

It was hard for me to get up, so I started crawling – someone ran over to help – an instructor maybe?

I thanked him, but I thought my physical condition has declined somewhat.

I met Bob from the Divevets; we’ve seen each other around the diving scene.