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.

Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

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

In With: 2000 psi
Out With: 1200 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: 1-3 feet
Visibility: 5-10 feet at best
Water Temperature: Cold at 40 feet
Total Bottom Time: About 20 minutes
*The names of students have been changed.

This is the second dive of the day.

Pedro, Young Hottie, Green Horn and one of the new students made it out past the surf zone.

I submerged first; everyone else followed except Pedro and John.

We all waited for several minutes.

Finally I saw John dragging Pedro down; John motioned for everyone to follow.

John lead while dragging Pedro, the students followed while I took up the back.

We were 25 feet under.

John kept towing Pedro; some students crawled on the bottom.

John stopped to take a head count and let go of Pedro; Pedro started to swim to the surface.

John motioned to me to take the class while he chased Pedro.

Not knowing where we were, I took the class West and checked their air.

One student was down to 700 psi; Young Hottie was down to 2000 psi and breathing really hard – she later explained that she was trying to make her tank lighter by sucking the air out.

We turned East to head back and surfaced in 15 feet of water.

We all made it ashore; John helped Young Hottie ashore because she was exhausted.

John told me, “If Pedro pulls this shit in Catalina, I’m not certifying him.”