John told me about this party as we were packing up from the last dive.

I stopped by Sea D Sea and saw Jake, who worked for American Diving until just recently.

Jake also told me about this party while filling my tank; he was planning on stopping by himself.

American Diving on Pacific Coast Hwy and Walnut in Lomita.

I arrived at the party fairly early.

There was plenty of beer, the barbecue was just getting started, and a volunteer DJ was setting up in the back to spin some disks.

This is a sad day for me as this is the shop that kept me diving during the time I didn’t have a domestically “officially recognized” C-card.

However, everyone who dealt with American Diving sort of knew that their days were numbered.

The manager Steve had been working as a safety diver for movie studios the last couple of years and his focus shifted away from running the shop full time.

The owner of the shop retired from her profession of nursing and needed to turn a profit with the shop or sell it – it was no longer a potential tax write-off.

The shop was almost sold until the new owners of the building raised their rent from $1100 a month to $4,000 a month – the shop was doomed from then on.

American Diving sort of had a later reputation for having no equipment and in some local diving circles “poor customer service.”

But this is where Instructor Ed brought me to buy my wetsuit and basic equipment.

I also took my Advanced, Rescue and Dive Master Course here and helped with many of their classes and events.

Me, Laurie and Steve.

My last walk through the shop.

This is the place I bought most of my initial equipment and took my continuing diver’s education – in evening classes in sweltering heat.

Tom from American Diving; Tom is an expert at SCUBA equipment repair.

The party is just getting started…

…unfortunately, I have to leave.

Good bye American Diving!

I will miss you!

Casino Point, Catalina, CA

Dove with Instructor John’s Open Water Students.*

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 2400 psi
Max depth: 50 feet
Waves: Insignificant
Visibility: 15-20 feet when not stirred
Water Temperature: Cool
Total Bottom Time: About 20 minutes
*Note: Student names have been changed.

After lunch and giving ex-student Jodi a hassle about the rip in the butt of her rental wetsuit, we prepared for the third and final dive.

The group leaders from the last dives were responsible for the same people on this dive.

We were to all submerge and follow John to the barge.

Upon John’s recommendation, Pancho didn’t even attempt this dive.

It took several minutes for everyone to submerge and meet on the bottom at 30 feet; one student turned back when he wasn’t able to equalize.

We then followed John who was off to the barge – we were a total of 12 to 13 divers.

We followed John down to 50 feet where he turned to take a head count.

Someone was missing.

John signaled that he was going up to look around.

We waited… and waited…and waited.

I kept checking air; we were at 50 feet.

The students stirred the bottom and vis was almost zero in some spots.

The vis was so bad that I had a hard time keeping count.

John swam down and motioned for me to swim to the surface and help someone back.

I surfaced and found Gomez floating on the surface.

Gomez was practically crying that he couldn’t stay down or keep up.

He was saying that he didn’t want John to yell at him.

We swam back to the stairs and exited with no problem.

The rest of the group came in only several minutes behind us.

Jim was REALLY PISSED at Arrogant Asshole.

He was pushing his wife Suzuki along at 50 feet – she was down to 400 psi.

Jim ordered her to surface; Arrogant Asshole was waving Jim off and giving him the OK sign.

Suzuki’s husband, Arrogant Asshole, is a real dumb-shit know-it-all.

He gave a speech on the history of Catalina in the taxi over to the point.

He also told everyone how he’s dove all over the world – but doesn’t seem to own any equipment, he was diving with rental gear.

This guy is going to end up killing his wife if he’s not careful.

The boat ride back was a joy.

John, Jody, Jim, girlfriend Jane and I sat at a table drinking beer and exchanging diving stories.