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From Cindy . . .
Ok, so I do not have any pictures to show what I saw on my dive....
Is there any surprise there? BUT, I can tell you that I will be going back to dive in California again. The people there are as friendly as helpful as they come. The water was a balmy 57 degrees and the viz ranged around 30 feet. I was scheduled to do a shore dive out of La Jolla cove but the surf was up and we were kept out of the water. I enjoyed breakfast on the beach with Jens Rubshlager, a friend of one of our representatives that was kind enough to drive 3 hours from LA to dive with little ole' me! Instead of diving that morning, I enjoyed his company, his hospitality, heard lots of dive stories and made a new friend!
On my second day in SD I was scheduled to dive Los Coronados Island. Again, lady luck was not working with me, the boat that the dive operation uses for this longer boat ride broke. ( I am just glad it broke before we left the dock) So, we re-scheduled to the Ruby E and the kelp beds. There were only four of us signed up. Another divemaster and two newer divers. Gary, my buddy, is from the DC area. He has only been diving for one month and only in Cozumel, Mexico. I was originally concerned about his comfort level in the colder, darker waters of California, however, he did great! I was a dork on the first dive, so what else is new, and forgot to weight myself for an aluminum tank. I had to pull myself down, did not put any air in my suit or BC at depth and had to hold the line going up. Gary said it was an interested kind of dance I was doing on the up line. PROPERLY weighted we ascended with ease to the kelp forest on our second dive of the day. This was COOL. Very relaxing. You simply drop down, go in a larger circular pattern until you are ready to come up. On the surface you take a heading to the boat, drop back down below the kelp canopy and make your way back to the boat. Now, IF you were low on air ( we were not) you have to do what they call the California kelp crawl. I think it is somewhat like what Paul and Ralph did in Vancouver, however, here you are expected to do it! I informed Gary of my navigation skills ( no comments) and that he should take a heading as well. Believe it or not, I nailed the down line to the foot! If you doubting Thomas' do not believe me, my buddy said he would be more than happy to back me up. On our dive we saw several lobsters and a large sheep? crab. It was fun kicking a few feet, just to have the swell pull you back a few feet in another direction. Overall, it was a good trip, we hit the dessert and Mexico, my navigation skills failed me coming back through Tijuana, my partner was more than a little nervous when he saw the exit I pulled onto. ( Chicken!) I included a few surface pictures since I failed to get underwater pics. The ocean shot is the cove on the day we were supposed to dive it.
From Dennie Leese . . .
Congratulations to Susie Friedman, Jim Zimmerman, John Ruble, Chris Mayo and Nate Brommer for completing the PADI Equipment Specialty Class on March 13th. They're now able to take care of all those minor annoyances that come up with gear on divesites. I'm sure they'd appreciate if it you would bring all your equipment problems to them while on a dive somewhere and ask them to fix it up for you. Better yet, why not sign up for the next class and learn how to fix it for yourself? Something to think about, huh? Dennie Leese would be glad to sit with you all day and tear gear apart and show you how to maintain these goodies after a dive, but more importantly, how to fix small problems right on a dive site instead of blowing off a dive due to something as simple as a leaky O-Ring or a stuck inflator hose on a BC. You'll learn alot about your equipment and maybe just have some fun doing it in the process. I think everybody got something out of this class. Call the shop if you're interested in learning how to maintain your gear and we'll set up a custom class schedule when we get enough interest.
From Uptown Jim Brown . . .
Had a blast on Sunday at BSC. Six goons showed up to descend again into the cold, clear vis. I led John Gross and Pete on the fun run: dozer, deep boat, step van/tanker, across the bottom to the south to the blossom tree, blast shack/turtle and up the south wall back into the bowl. We stayed above our NDL which I think was a first for me in a long time. No trouble though as Palm made up for it with 24 minutes of deco obligation. I had fun diving with John and Pete and witnessed Pete's angelic pose praying for warmth in his dry gloves. Too funny! A nice run to 94' for 38 minutes.
Palm, Caveman and the good Doctor went on their own tour, playing with toys such as a Sony UW with a wide angle lens and an eBay special video camera. We crossed paths at the step van before continuing on our dive plan (that's another first in a long time). The surface weather didn't please us as expected and the brisk temps and wind at Upper A made us call it a day after one dive.
I'll be out again this Sunday with Darth, about 9am. Anyone interested in going to see the bus in Access B? If the weather forecast is close, it may be a good weekend to venture forth in B. Saturday is still up in the air so stay tuned for diving plans this weekend. Hope you'll join us!
From Bryan Palmer . . .
Hmmm where to begin,
Well I promptly showed up at BSC a few minutes after 9 to find out that I really wasn't late. John Gross and Pete Bohling were down at access A already Jim Brown was in the of the shop relaxing the way a Sunday morning should be and Mike Nast and Kent "Dr Deco" showed up with time. We promptly headed down to start the gearing up process where we realized this was turning in to more then a dive but a photo/video Expedition. 3 underwater cameras and a video camera between 6 people are not bad odds! Brief description, John Gross was testing his new Sea & Sea AquaPix great digital camera from what I saw. I was testing a new lens adaptor for my camera allowing the use of a wide angle lens, JB well he was just shooting pictures with his ROCKING Ikelite DS125 Strobe, and there was Kent shooting video with his new/old video camera! They say 2 heads are better then one well in this case 6 heads, 4 cameras make for a much more amusing time. We had offers for a PADI underwater photo/video specialty which we promptly shot down for the time being.
We geared up and hit the water "fining". Kent, Mike and myself headed of with me leading, can you say pressure not to screw up!!! We headed down the road to the bulldozer taking a moment to pause and look around then on to the 90 foot boat. From there we took a stroll down the stairs to the deep boat and then a jaunt south along the hole up to the ridge where we headed to the step van & Tanker. That is where we met up with the other 3 musketeers JB, John and Pete. From there "my group headed along the ridge further coming upon the barn and taking a few minutes to inspect. From there I looked down and was a bit surprised where I motioned to mike I was "READY" to head back. we headed back with a heading of 125 degrees west of north bringing us up on the step van and then along the ridge and back to the platforms. Wow this is a long dive. We arrived back at out exit point and did some inspecting on the shallows for a while. I think I did a little more then the other since I had 49 minutes at approximately 100ft on 21% and then 23 minutes of deco = 72 minutes for one heck of a long dive. DUH anyone thinking of taking there Nitrox I would highly Suggest it (more time less deco ALL +'s to me) I really miss it so look for me to be out next time with my tanks filled with Nitrox!!!
Some one asked the temp and I heard a response from john "I put my face in and it was COLD that was all I needed to know" actually I heard 39-40were almost looking at a heat wave coming soon. Oh yeah after all that deco Kent and I exited over by the pavilions, and walked up the hill. What a great dive we all agreed!! As for the weatherman predication of hitting 50's I didn’t see that happening when will I learn not to trust the weather man, I could have down with some warmer clothes on the surface. One last tidbit Jb has a wonderful coffee thermos; you really have to ask to see it. It is from his "sweetheart" I just wasn't sure who I was thinking Vern, but he informed me other wise
Get out and dive we are out ever weekend. Look for Wednesday nights to start up in the beginning of May. So if you haven’t bought a membership you really should it will pay off quicker then you think!
From Darth Vern . .
First and foremost I want to apologize for being late. My week has been hectic! Also want to apologize to Jim and Bryan who sent me pics and I didn;t get time to put them up! Look for Bryans pic in the shop, he got some outstanding pics of BSC this weekend! The group will be out Sunday morning at 9am or 9:20 Vern Time!!!! Come out and join us - the viz is the best it will be all year!!!!!
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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