{"id":2566,"date":"2013-05-08T23:31:41","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T06:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=2566"},"modified":"2013-05-09T00:44:22","modified_gmt":"2013-05-09T07:44:22","slug":"the-divevets-9th-anniversary-dive-and-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=2566","title":{"rendered":"The Divevets 9th Anniversary Dive and Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

80-85% of all new divers quit diving shortly after their Open Water Certification (according to dive shops I frequent), and the number one complaint is, that they can’t find a diving buddy.<\/p>\n

Nine years ago today, May 8, 2004, Dan, Roland, Terry A. and others were debriefing in the Veterans Park parking lot and came up with the idea of forming a free local diving organization that would take any diver, regardless of experience, and keep them diving – thus continually making them better divers.<\/p>\n

Thus, The Divevets<\/a> were born.<\/p>\n

Over the last nine years, many divers have come and gone – some have moved, some have died, some got pissed off and left.<\/p>\n

To this day, their motto still holds true – “You might get hurt, but we won’t let you drown.”<\/p>\n

I was to bring the ghetto grill and Budweiser, the King of Beers; others were to bring meat or some kind of side dish or beverage.<\/p>\n

I found out today, not only that Sea D Sea Dive Shop<\/a> will not fill my tanks, but that they are also closing July 1, 2013.<\/p>\n

Wow, another era in diving is coming to an end.<\/p>\n

As far as my tank being refused a fill?<\/p>\n

Dive N Surf<\/a> sent one old Aluminum tank out for a hydro test; it passed the electro-static test and then blew up under the hydro test.<\/p>\n

Now, pretty much all the local dive shops won’t fill any Aluminum tank that was made before 1989, when they changed the metal formulation – with Sea D Sea recently jumping on the band wagon.<\/p>\n

So, one tank – out of the millions that were made – blows up, and now all <\/strong>of them are bad?!<\/p>\n

I arrived around 6:30 PM, after buying a discount light at Sea D Sea.<\/p>\n

flagwave3673.jpg
\nThe wind was blowing, the sea was choppy, but there weren’t very many big waves.<\/em><\/p>\n

divevets9a75.jpg
\nSome called the dive, some just showed up to debrief.<\/em><\/p>\n

diveremerges8912.jpg<\/p>\n

A diver emerged and gave a good dive report – 10 feet in the shallows, opening to 20 feet at depth.<\/p>\n

I decided diving was the best thing to do, instead of immediate debriefing.<\/p>\n

machodiversk677.jpg
\nChipper, Me and George geared up for another macho dive.<\/em><\/p>\n

Carl and Chris from Detroit joined us.<\/p>\n

The sun was setting; we all had lights.<\/p>\n

Logged SCUBA Dive #435<\/p>\n

Dove with Chipper, George, Chris from Detroit and Carl
\nVeterans Park, Redondo Beach, California, USA<\/p>\n

In With: 2500 psi
\nOut With: 600 psi
\nMax depth: 60 feet
\nWaves: Manageable chop
\nVisibility: 10-20 feet
\nWater Temperature: 52 degrees
\nAir Temperature: 63 degrees
\nTotal Bottom Time: 30 minutes or so<\/p>\n

We all made it out, and descended in 25 feet of water, as we were tired of fighting the chop.<\/p>\n

I believe Carl lead the dive – we went to the new “Monument” which is a collection of stacked cinder blocks.<\/p>\n

I did not bring my camera, but trust me, I didn’t miss anything.<\/p>\n

We saw crabs, small octopi, sardines, baby electric rays and lots of sand.<\/p>\n

We all stayed together, and stopped in 20 feet of water for several minutes.<\/p>\n

I thought, “Is this some test to see who floats to the surface first?”<\/p>\n

With my tank getting buoyant, I had a hard time staying down at that depth; I found out later that that was our safety stop.<\/p>\n

Chipper later said to the leader, “You know, you can still move on a safety stop?”<\/p>\n

It was dark when we surfaced; we all made an easy exit – well, of course, we are all macho.<\/p>\n

debriefsd3686.jpg
\nMaking it back to my truck, I found that its bed had been converted into a barbecue and buffet table.<\/em><\/p>\n

debrief3681.jpg
\nMany people joined in the debriefing activities – beverages of their choice, hamburgers, hotdogs, macaroni and potato salad; I ate quite well.<\/em><\/p>\n

George was brave enough to admit that he reads this blog – I now officially have four readers!<\/p>\n

divevets9s688.jpg
\nThe debriefing and celebration started to wind down around 9:30 PM.<\/em><\/p>\n

blackweinies691.jpg
\nNobody wanted the last two hotdogs.<\/em><\/p>\n

Someone said, “I don’t like black weenies.”<\/p>\n

divevetssn689.jpg
\nHappy anniversary Divevets!<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m not sure why the stealth bomber is in the logo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

80-85% of all new divers quit diving shortly after their Open Water Certification (according to dive shops I frequent), and the number one complaint is, that they can’t find a diving buddy. Nine years ago today, May 8, 2004, Dan, Roland, Terry A. and others were debriefing in the Veterans Park parking lot and came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7,23,3,27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2566"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}