17 years sounds like a long time ago – and then I realize that was only 1994; my diving gear is older than that.

The victim was a technical diver, certified and prepared to go to the depths described in this article:

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SOURCE: The Widsor Star

The body of a diver who disappeared 17 years ago in Lake Tahoe’s deep, frigid waters has been found, authorities in El Dorado County, Calif., confirmed Monday.

The well-preserved body of Donald Christopher Windecker was discovered July 23 on an underwater shelf 80 metres below the surface. A remotecontrolled mini-submarine equipped with a robotic claw raised the remains on July 27.

Windecker’s body was clad in a wetsuit and buckled into a weight belt and air tank. The scuba gear bore a certification from 1994, officials of the El Dorado County Sheriff ‘s Department said. Just beyond the ledge where Windecker’s body was discovered, the lake plunges to a depth of 500 metres.

News reports at the time of his disappearance described Windecker as a 44-year-old former city planner from Reno, Nev., who set out for a dive on July 10, 1994. Accompanied by a friend, Windecker planned to swim to a depth of about 30 metres.

Trouble occurred toward the end of the dive, however, when the pair began to ascend.

The complete article can be found here, at The Windsor Star.

Another, more in depth article, can be found here.

I was called into work last Sunday morning and was unable to attend Sunday Services.

I’m trying to dive at least once a week now that Psycho Bitch is gone, so this is my weekly dive.

There were a lot of Divers here, most of them students.

I was determined to find this so called “Monument,” also known as, “a pile of cinder blocks;” I was told to go off the stairs, dive to 50 feet and go South.

Logged SCUBA Dive #386

Solo Diving
Veterans Park, Redondo Beach, CA

In With: 2700 psi
Out With: 1100 psi
Max depth: 70 feet
Waves: Pretty flat
Visibility: 15 feet plus
Water Temperature: 59 degrees, colder at depth
Total Bottom Time: About 40 minutes

Entrance was easy – it was harder to avoid the students thrashing around in the surf zone than the actual waves.

I descended in 20 feet of water and swam West.

At 40 feet, the edge of the canyon appears – you just see black as it falls to 85 feet, really quickly.

Attack crabs lie in wait…

I didn’t find the blocks, and the visibility was pretty good.

Scuba divers practice their skills.

I don’t leave my camera on all the time while I dive, so I didn’t get a picture of the nurse shark that swam past me as I was coming back up the canyon.

It scared the shit out of me – the shark probably was only four feet long, but water magnifies things by 25 percent, and my imagination magnifies sharks by 300 percent.

Well, Veterans Park is really not a very exciting place to dive, scenery wise, so I headed in after 30 minutes.