Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Dove With Instructor John and his Basic Open Water class.

In With: 1700 psi
Out With: 700 psi
Max depth: 60 feet
Waves: 1-4 feet (Red Tide)
Visibility: 5 feet – shitty! – It sucked because of Red Tide.
Water Temperature: 60 degrees or slightly colder
Total Bottom Time: 26 minutes

This is the second dive with Instructor John’s Basic Open Water class.

The guy that turned back last dive did the same thing on this one.

The guy that John rescued called it quits.

So it was me, John and his two other students.

The visibility was getting worse!

John did the check out dive:

The students cleared their masks, buddy breathed and did an emergency swimming ascent.

I then followed them down the shelf a ways and then back up.

The water seemed colder than last dive.

Everyone made it back with no problems.

I then took the SCUBA Rescue course – all surface work.

When it was my turn to be the victim, I did such a great job at pretending to be unconscious, that people actually thought something was wrong when I was dragged ashore.

At the end of the course I was given my SCUBA Rescue Card!

I feel so macho!

John is a great teacher.

Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Dove With Instructor John and his Basic Open Water class.

In With: 3100 psi
Out With: 1700 psi
Max depth: 70 feet
Waves: 1-4 feet (Red Tide)
Visibility: 5 feet at best – It sucked because of Red Tide.
Water Temperature: 60 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 24 minutes

It has been raining on and off for a solid month.

The whole Southern California has been drenched.

Landslides, floods, people dieing have all been in the news.

I have been taking a SCUBA Rescue Course through Instructor John; two weeks ago the ocean work was canceled due to the poor conditions.

The last leg of the Rescue Course is scheduled today at 10:30 AM; I showed up at 7:30 to watch John teach his class.

Jake from the Rescue Course was there, too.

John was teaching four students from “Pelican,” the flashlight company.

I made it out first in the 2-3 foot red tide surf; two students followed.

The third student turned back.

John rescued the fourth student who was hyperventilating.

John took him back through the surf and pulled him to shore with the help of the other student.

John made it back out with the rest of us.

We submerged to 20 feet and followed John down the shelf to 70 feet.

It was extremely dark; a student turned his flashlight on – a flashlight that I later recovered for him when he dropped it.

Then we headed back.

I was the first one on shore.

We helped one of the students back up.