Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Dove as a safety diver with Instructor John and his Open Water students Stan The Macho Man, Tuasopo, and a married couple Franklin and Eleanor.*

In With: 3200 psi
Out With: 2400 psi
Max depth: 55 feet
Waves: 1-4 feet
Visibility: 5-10 feet
Water Temperature: About 56 degrees Fahrenheit
Total Bottom Time: 20 minutes or so.
*Note: Student names have been changed.*

This was the first time Franklin and Eleanor had been underwater.

We did the traditional “skin dive” to get them accustomed to the waves before dawning our SCUBA gear to go out again.

The surf pounded, but everyone made it out; I was the last one.

Stan The Macho Man and Tuasopo went under for their checkout dive with John.

Franklin and Eleanor were with me attempting to submerge.

Eleanor had some last minute questions on how some of the equipment worked.

John came up to help Franklin down; Eleanor had problems sinking.

I think John put more weight on Franklin.

Once we were all down, we did the traditional “follow John” routine.

I was the first one ashore and helped the couple out of the water; they were amazed at how difficult beach diving can be.

They were exhausted.

Veterans Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Dove as a safety diver with Instructor John and two of his students Bonnie and Clyde.*

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 2100 psi
Max depth: 50 feet
Waves: 1-3 feet
Visibility: 5 feet, shitty
Water Temperature: 60 degrees Fahrenheit or so
Total Bottom Time: 31 minutes
*Note: Student names have been changed.*

This was their “check out” dive, which was suppose to be the second dive last Sunday.

The surf was a little rough; we entered the water around 6 PM.

John checked Clyde’s air before we were about to venture over the shelf; Clyde was running out of air.

We immediately came up.

Bonnie had trouble inflating her BC.

She was bobbing up and down.

I asked, “Are you OK?”

She nodded.

John asked me to help her put air in her BC jacket.

I fumbled with her inflater hose, but it wasn’t working; Clyde grabbed the hose and inflated it manually.

Coming ashore, I helped Bonnie off with her fins; I didn’t quite throw them clear of the wet sand and ended up retrieving them from a receding wave.

This dive sort of sucked for me.

I really need to pay more attention and realize that these students don’t know how to dive.