Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Dove with John’s Basic Open Water Student Cheech as his last dive towards Certification.*

In With: 2000 psi
Out With: 800 psi
Max depth: 50 feet
Waves: 1-4 foot ankle breakers
Visibility: 0-10 feet Red Tide!
Water Temperature: Cool
Total Bottom Time: 20 minutes
*Students name has been changed.

Visibility was still shitty.

John had me take Cheech to the shelf and back for a 20 minute dive while he dealt with Bud and Lou.

Cheech is an older Bohemian-style hippie who lives on a boat in Redondo Beach.

We toured the top of the shelf after motioning to him not to get any deeper.

When we got to 50 feet, the visibility cleared up to 50 feet.

We turned to go back when Cheech was at 1500 psi.

We floated a little South.

I was following Cheech, well, most of the time chasing him.

When Cheech got to 1000 psi, he floated up and couldn’t get back down.

John explained that he was diving with an Aluminum 80, like mine, and they get buoyant as they empty.

Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Dove with Instructor John and his Basic Open Water Students Cheech, Lou (an older guy) and Bud (Lou’s nephew).*

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 2000 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: 1-4 foot ankle breakers
Visibility: 0-6 feet Red Tide!
Water Temperature: Cool
Total Bottom Time: 20 minutes
*Student names have been changed.

Lou and Bud did their skin dives.

It was hard to read how comfortable they were in the water; they both seemed really tired.

Visibility was shitty.

John had me dive with Cheech while he dealt with the other two.

Cheech and I went to the shelf, messed around slightly – Cheech picked up a spider crab.

We came across a GI Joe “action figure,” pants and shoe pile on the bottom.

When we surfaced, Bud flagged us down so he could come in; he had problems equalizing, so John had him wait on the surface for us.

We made it ashore with no problems.