About 4 years ago, Justin and I said to each other in perfect unison, “Hey cunt, wanna learn to scuba dive?” “Yes.”
I then almost immediately moved out to California, leaving Justin to get certified on his own a few months later. Jenny’s into scuba diving as well. She’s been certified since she was 13, and had her father as a diving buddy. With my inheriting Ray’s gear, and Justin coming out next September for a wedding, it seemed like the perfect time for me to get off my ass and into the ocean.
After some trouble with the first school I chose, I ended up going to Diver Dan’s in Santa Clara with Todd & Doug. If you’re in the South Peninsula and looking for a class or gear, go there. For reals. I still need to get my inherited gear, make sure it fits and functions properly, so I ended up only buying what I couldn’t rent.
Anyways, this isn’t meant to be a long post. I just wanted to have my dive logs posted here since I spent two hours trying to figure out this rental dive computer. Eventually, I’d like to find a better way of incorporating them into my blag than ugly posts like this. Dive logging WordPress plugins are depressingly sparse and outdated.
2011.10.22, 09:48 – Open Water Dive #1
Lover’s Point (Cove 3), Monterey, CA
- Buddy: Erin
- Computer: Oceanic Veo 100 Nx
- Weight: 36Lbs
- Water Temperature: 53°F
- Beginning Pressure Group: n/a
- Max Depth: 28′
- Bottom Time: 0:27
- Ending Pressure Group: D
- Bottom Time to Date: 0:27
Water was more bearable than I expected, but I ended up pretty damned cold towards the end. Doug toured us through a canal between kelp, grass and rocks. Tons of starfish, and some huge sunflower starfish, he stopped and pointed out several tiny flounder. We saw some harbor seals next to us while on the surface, but not underwater.
2011.10.22, 11:31 – Open Water Dive #2
Lover’s Point (Cove 3), Monterey, CA
- Surface Interval: 1:14
- Water Temperature: 55°F
- Beginning Pressure Group: B
- Max Depth: 23′
- Bottom Time: 0:32
- Ending Pressure Group: J
- Bottom Time to Date: 0:59
This time I was fucking cold. Fortunately, Todd’s drysuit had a leak and he wanted a short dive. Erin lost her mask while towing me and Todd managed to find it. After descending we started off with some skills like tired diver towing, mask clearing, fin pivots and regulator retrieval; then it was back to touring around.
2011.10.23, 10:24 – Open Water Dive #3
McCabe Beach, Monterey, CA
- Buddy: Erin
- Water Temperature: 50°F
- Beginning Pressure Group: n/a
- Max Depth: 29′
- Bottom Time: 0:29
- Ending Pressure Group: D
- Bottom Time to Date: 1:28
Practiced removing weights & BCD on the surface. A harbour seal swam underneath us and sat beneath a rock, watching us for a minute. As we started continuing on, it swam alongside us briefly.
2011.10.23, 12:00 – Open Water Dive #4
McCabe Beach, Monterey, CA
- Surface Interval: 1:00
- Water Temperature: 52°F
- Beginning Pressure Group: B
- Max Depth: 19′
- Bottom Time: 0:27
- Ending Pressure Group: I
- Bottom Time to Date: 1:55
Practiced compass navigation both on the surface and underwater, snorkel/regulator exchanges and Emergency Ascents. Short dive for Erin and I, on account of us both shivering uncontrollably. My wetsuit was crushing my balls, and I had to tug it down as I swam, causing me to kick poorly. My buoyancy was shit since I was too busy holding my balls and shivering. We did see a dead baby Mola mola, which might have been the highlight of the entire weekend for me.