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Seduced by SoCal - May, 2007
One day this winter, we walked into one of our LDS's, and I saw a flyer promoting a weekend trip to the San Juan Islands. The date was in May, and I said to my husband, “Hey, maybe that would be a fun thing to do for my birthday.” It was a pretty expensive trip, though, and a day or two later, Peter came to me and said, “Look at this. For what that trip costs, we could go down and visit Claudette.” And the seed was sown.
There followed a flurry of e-mails, where I proposed a five day visit to SoCal, to hang with HBDiveGirl and her buddy Mo2vation, and to discover what the Los Angeles area had to offer in the way of diving. My responsibility was to book a motel room. Peter arranged for the car, and the dynamic duo did all of the rest of the planning. And here is the story of how it all worked out . . .
Having taken an extremely civilized 2 PM flight from Seattle, we arrived at LAX at five, picked up the car, and proceeded to get lost and confused trying to find a hotel which was no more than ten miles from the airport. Despite poor maps and a complete unfamiliarity with the area, we eventually got there, checked in, dragged tons of baggage up to the room (rather silly, actually, as it was almost all going back downstairs in the morning), and called Claudette. We had planned dinner, and after dinner a treat I had asked for but didn't expect to get: We were going to go meet Michael Kane, the LA resident GUE instructor, whose many posts had had a big influence on me when I was originally researching the DIR thing.
Dinner was fantastic Chinese food (crisp tangerine beef, and spicy eggplant which had retained some actual texture), and then we went to Mr. Kane's house, where he proved to be totally different from what I had envisioned. Instead of a rather reserved, quiet man, he proved to be a New Yorker with a strong accent, a warm smile and a gift for colorful description. We sat and talked for more than an hour, and then headed back to the hotel for the first of what was to be a series of 11 PM bedtimes.
Day One
The next morning, we got up late, had breakfast, and drove down to Cardiff to have lunch with a non-diving friend. There, I got my first look at what I hope remains a peculiar Southern California phenomenon: Valet parking in a near-empty lot. Hey, I can put my car in that parking space by myself - Why do I need to pay you $7 to do it? Anyway, we had a lovely meal, looking out over the grey water and watching the surfers . . . Yup, I said surfers. Surfers mean surf, which means the water is moving. Southern Californians dive in water that moves. They do it from the shore. They are very brave, or very crazy people.
After lunch, we drove back up to LA, and found Vet's Park without any difficulty. It had become a beautiful afternoon, with a little sun. Shortly after we arrived, Ken and Claudette joined us, and we walked over to have a look at the entry. I can't remember if it's two or three flights of stairs, and then a hundred yard walk to where you actually get in the moving water. There really was very little surf here, and the fact that I made it into the water without falling down is proof of it.
Vet's Park
Max depth 101
Time 73
Water temp 54
Teams: Claudette and Lynne; Peter and Ken
The dive here is a sand or muck dive, going down a slope with a scalloped contour. Our first encounter was with mole crabs, which look like enormous underwater fleas. When disturbed, they swim a short distance and then rapidly burrow back under the sand again. This site was also rich with tiny octopus, most of them walnut-sized, which could be found because their eyes stuck up out of the sand. We found the sarcastic fringehead I had asked for, and a lilac-bellied lizardfish. The black-bellied eelpouts which had been hanging out at the 100 foot mark were on break, but on the way back up, we found a purple striped jellyfish which was quite literally the size of a beachball. We have lovely jellyfish in Puget Sound, but not purple and white striped ones, and I've never seen one anywhere near this size. A little further upslope, we found a field of maroon sand dollars, all up on their sides. When I saw the first couple, I thought some divers had been playing jokes with them, but apparently this is what sand dollars do to filter feed.
A landmark from this dive was my first underwater hug, as Claudette was overwhelmed by the fact that I was actually THERE and we were diving TOGETHER!
After the dive, we repaired to a nearby coffee house for a salad, after which the waitstaff came out with brownies for all, and mine with candles! Claudette had arranged a birthday party for me, and I got to open my present from Peter, which was a Bonica Snapper underwater video camera and the housing for it. Back to the hotel about 11 again.
Day Two
The following morning was an early one . . . up at 4:30, to be picked up by Ken about 5:30 and head for the dock to board the Peace dive boat and go out to Anacapa. Now, I need to say a great deal about the Peace, because this was a dive boat unlike any other dive boat I've been on. To give you an idea, it has a HOT TUB on the aft deck. It's actually a liveaboard that does day trips, and doing a day trip on a liveaboard is a way to be pampered to a ridiculous degree. We get on the boat, where they had fantastic coffee and a very nice breakfast spread, including freshly fried ham. Then I went below and went to SLEEP! The bunks were comfortable, and a crewman brought me a soft, furry, very warm blanket. I got 45 minutes more shuteye, which made all the difference in my attitude for the rest of the day.
Dive 1: Landing Cove
Max depth 57
Time 66 min
Water temp 54 degree
Teams: Claudette, Ray, Lynne; Ken and Peter
Landing Cove has been a no-take zone for 25 years or so, and it shows. It's an absolutely lush underwater landscape. Shortly after descending, we encountered the first of my “must-see” requests to Claudette - a group of “Fed Ex” nudibranchs, or Spanish shawls. Next to them were several small shells. Claudette whipped out the wetnotes and wrote, “Coffee bean shells - RARE!” I marveled respectfully at them, and less so as we found more at several later sites. We worked our way along the edge of the rocks and found the huge arch swim-through. Here, we found the father of all lobsters (he must have been almost three feet long) and watched him clamber up the side of the rock. Inside the swim-through, the surge would push us back and forth six or eight feet. It was like being rocked in a huge porch swing.
Further on, we found giant kelp with schools of senoritas, which are long, slender orange-brown fish with black spots, who blend beautifully with the color of the algae. The shallower water was full of blacksmiths, and you could roll over and look at the sun coming down through the schools of fish. Near the end of the dive, we got a drive-by viewing of a pair of sea lions, although they did not come to play with us.
Out of the water, and onto the boat, where two kinds of homemade soup, chips and salsa and guacamole were waiting. In less time than it takes to write about it, the tanks were refilled with 32%, and we were off to the next site.
Dive 2: Cat Rock
Max depth 33 feet
Time 75 min
Water temp 57
Teams: Lynne, Ray and Peter; Ken and Claudette
This was a painful contrast to the first dive. This part of Anacapa is open for both recreational and commercial fishing and lobstering. As a result, there are too few predators to keep the sea urchin population in check, and they have eaten the kelp. The undersea landscape is totally different, more of a rock desert with urchins. We did find many turban shells, a cave full of brittle stars, and a variety of nudibranchs, including a large lemon peel. It was a very pleasant dive full of ambient light, but sad in comparison with the first.
Back on the boat to LUNCH - Herbed pork roast, penne with pesto, and Portobello mushrooms stuffed with pine nuts and feta cheese and broiled. Yum! Another rapid-fire set of fills, and we began steaming about in search of a third dive site. There wasn't a lot of swell, but some stiff currents were running, and it took a little time to settle on a third site at Coral Reef.
Dive 3: Coral Reef
Max depth 75
Dive time 39 min
Water temp 55
Team: Ray, Lynne, Peter; Ken and Claudette
This site was utterly amazing. The rocks were covered with a living carpet of brittle stars. I thought at first it was some kind of very delicate hydroid of some kind, but it was in fact brittle stars, piled up one on top of another. There were also, of course, sea fans, gorgonians, corynactis, and encrusting sponges in brilliant and contrasting colors. There were numerous nudibranchs, and I found a Navanax, which looks like a nudibranch but apparently isn't. We found the “wall o' lobsters” - I find one and signal the team, which signals me to look at the two in the niche above mine, who are hiding from the three in the niche above that . . . Here there was more kelp, and schools of kelpfish and blacksmiths and senoritas again. The dive was absolutely beautiful, and it was terribly frustrating to have to head up because of decompression considerations. We did our deco in a thin stand of kelp to stay out of the current, admiring the blacksmiths and the sunlight as we ascended. A short surface swim had us back at the boat for homemade chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, and strawberry shortcake.
Back to land, and off to the California Pizza Kitchen. Ray was unfortunately unable to join us for dinner, but Peter and Claudette and Ken and I enjoyed a great meal and laughed ourselves silly. Ken, fueled by a glass of good red wine (and sometime even without) can get on a roll of improvisational humor that renders you completely breathless. His recitation of a clueless waiter at a wine tasting bar was hysterical, and led to us doing all the toasts for the rest of the trip with our fingers curled into our glasses.
Back to the hotel and in bed about 11 . . . Do you see a pattern developing here?
Day Three
The plan for this day was to drive down to OCal (see me mastering the lingo?) and dive in Laguna Beach with a bunch of the LA DIR folks. Because this was a “before work” dive for some of them, we needed to get to the site by 7:30 or so, which involved another 5 am start. This morning was a bit better, though, because Claudette is also a caffeine addict, so we made the obligatory coffee stop which helps me cope with being awake before my central nervous system begins firing at all.
We arrived at the site on time. Dead Man's Reef is apparently one of the few places where you have both structure and deeper water in the Orange County area. This is nice. Parking three stories above the beach is not. By the time we were geared up, I had made three trips down the hill to the restroom and I was beginning to feel like I'd been sentenced to an eternal stairmaster. (This is the downside of using caffeine as a coping mechanism.) Down the stairs AGAIN to the beach, and then a hike along the beach, but not a long enough hike, as it turned out. We tried to enter where the slope of the sand almost ensures you'll have bigger waves, and predictably, I got rolled. Claudette got me to my feet, but I'd lost my mask. It was not to be seen, so I was very glad I had my backup in my pocket and the dive could go on. Unfortunately, the backup mask is the one where they covered two thirds of the glass with the bifocal lenses, so I can only see things at a distance if I duck my head. The majority of this dive, therefore, was a bit blurry.
Dead Man's Reef
Max depth 62 fsw
Time 72 min
Water temp 52
Team: Claudette, Lynne, Peter
We joined ScubaMilo, Robert Phillips, David Watson, riguerin, and two fellows named Brian and Phil for this dive. They were all in doubles, and came assembled and ready to dive, which we could not, given the logistics of moving gear and tanks from car to car each day. So they had gone down and gotten in the water before we did, and in fact, Claudette and I got applause (and catcalls) as we came down the stairs. After the delay for me to be humbled, and for the ocean's tribute to be exacted, we began the most absurd surface swim I have ever done. I think we swam for a half hour. By the time we were done, one could only see people on the beach as dots. I would have taken a picture, but it would simply have looked like a snapshot taken by a bad disposable point-and-shoot. Peter was chanting, “Scoo-ters! Scoo-ters!” I wasn't chanting anything, but I was seriously wondering about people who dive in moving water and think nothing of such swims.
We dropped through the red tide - Two or three feet of viz at the outside. Claudette was very impressed with our ability to keep the team together on descent in such conditions, but we do this all the time at home. We broke out of the crud at about 30 feet, and visibility was excellent from then on - probably 40 feet or more - but very dark.
This is a lovely dive, full of structure. The rocks are thickly coated with cup coral, sponges, and an occasional small metridium. We found lobsters, sheep crabs, scorpionfish, and wall to wall Kettel's whelks laying eggs. No octopus, although one of the other teams found one. It was really great fun to be in the water with all the other divers and all the HID lights. It always looks like a science fiction movie set.
The distance back to shore went much faster and more pleasantly underwater, and our guides put us on the beach precisely where THEY had entered, which made for a simple exit, where I didn't fall down at all. Then there was the hike back across the beach, and the three or four flights of stairs and the hike to the car, all the while wondering if I was going to survive to get out of the gear and the drysuit and make the hike back DOWN the hill to the restroom . . . Man, the guys are lucky.
We packed up, changed clothes, and went to the Greetings Café in Laguna Beach for lunch. We sat under propane heaters outside and enjoyed a very nice meal (burger with Ortega chiles) and talked about GUE classes we had done or were going to do, and told stories on ourselves. It was a very warm and delightful time, and I really enjoyed getting to meet some of the ScubaBoard people I've talked to on line.
Back to Venice, where the Marina del Rey Sports Chalet allowed me to replace my mask and buy some Dive Optix, so I could see my gauges. Claudette then dropped us at the motel and ran off to fill tanks. Peter and I took a short walk along the beach and came back to check e-mail and, in my case at least, to catch up on some much-needed sleep. About six, we headed for Ken's house, where he and his wife had prepared a sumptuous feast for us all. We were joined by Claudette and her husband, Ted, and to my pleasure, by Tobin George. I was delighted to meet Tobin and get to hear the story of how he came to be a dive gear manufacturer. He is also a lovely, warm person with a great sense of humor, and very generous. He came to dinner with stencils he had cut for each of us with our initials in them, for marking stage bottles. It must be handy, having your own machine shop to play with!
We were supposed to be on a 9 pm curfew, but it was almost quarter to ten before we actually got in the car, leaving poor Ken and Jaye with all the dishes. And the morning was, once again, to be an early one.
Day Four
Up at 5:30 again. The plan for the day was to go out and dive the oil rigs off the Sea Bass. This was something neither Ken nor Claudette had done before, but they had heard good things about the dives. The boat is a pleasant one, but much more what I'm used to as a day charter boat. Plenty of room on the aft deck for divers and gear (but no hot tub!) and a dry cabin. Snacks, fresh fruit and sandwiches, but no Portobello mushrooms . . . See how quickly I get spoiled?
We had met Ken in the parking lot in San Pedro, where he had quickly realized he had forgotten something important . . . His tank! He looked at his watch and decided he could run home for it, and just make the departure time for the boat. Instead, he called Jaye and asked her to get in the car and head south (shades of that old algebra problem). Using cell phones, which as far as I can tell are surgically implanted in all Southern Californians at birth, they rendezvoused in a parking lot, took thirty seconds to transfer the tank, and Ken was off in a squeal of tires, headed south once again. He said it was so clearly a drug deal that he was expecting dogs sniffing his tires when we returned from the day's diving.
As we were getting sorted out and awaiting Ken's return, a somewhat humorous situation developed on the boat. We had three dives planned, the first on a wreck, and the other two on the oil rigs. The problem was that the other divers on the boat wanted to do a particular wreck which lay at about 130 to 140 feet. We, of course, were diving 32%, so that wasn't an option. We actually had one of the other divers come to us and propose that we sit OUT the first dive, so they could do the wreck they wanted! We politely refused. Instead, we dove the Olympic, which lay at about 85 fsw, and was a very nice dive.
Dive one: The Olympic
Max depth 92fsw
Time 43 min
Water temp 54
Teams: Lynne and Peter; Ken and Claudette
Originally a freighter built in 1877, and later a fishing barge, this ship was sunk in a collision. A lot of it has decomposed, but the bow is still intact, rising about 30 feet above the sea bed. We descended the anchor line and set out for the ship, which was a little ways away. The bow appeared in the murk, a large, dark, towering structure. We spent almost a half hour exploring just this part of the wreck, admiring numerous nudibranchs and rockfish. Visibility was a little more limited than we'd had before, but was still probably 20 to 30 feet. At our agreed upon turn time, we headed back for the anchor line, and just as I was beginning to get a little nervous about finding it, we saw the chain appear. We did a nice minimum deco ascent in mild current, and climbed back on the boat, where they once again did quick Nitrox fills for us.
Surface interval was spent patching my neck seal, which had been trying to fail on me for two days. Bicycle tire patches and duct tape seemed to do the trick, and we started gearing up for the first oil rig dive.
Dive two: Ellen
Max depth 83 fsw
Time 51 min
Water temp 52
Teams: Peter and Lynne; Ken and Claudette
This oil platform sits in something around 250 feet of water. It is (as they all are) a working oil rig, and there are guidelines for where you can go and where you can surface, and this was all carefully covered in the briefing. These are live boat drops and pickups, which we are accustomed to in the Sound, but which are apparently quite unusual for SoCal boats. They back the boat in close to the rig, get all the divers off as fast as they can, and pull away. Divers then swim quickly under the rig, where they are out of the way of the tending boats. The upper structure of the rigs is literally carpeted in sea lions, including some pups, which made the swims quite entertaining. Peter was worried that one of these animals, which weigh several hundred pounds, would choose to jump in the water on top of him, but luckily none did.
We descended through a murky top layer, but came out about 40 fsw into very clear water. There was a fair bit of current, and no matter how careful you were, you did some caroming off the scallops. We had been instructed to remain within the rig structure, which is wise, as the current could drift one away very quickly.
The pilings that anchor the rigs are covered in an incredibly thick layer of coral and anemones and sponges and thousands of brittle stars. In fact, the rig rains brittle stars. At one point, Peter pointed down at Claudette, whose back was covered with them.
This was not my favorite dive of the trip. It was one of those where you get in the water and nothing is quite right. Ken calls them “combative” dives, where you are fighting with your gear, fighting with the water (and in this case, fighting with your buddy), and you can never relax and really enjoy being where you are. But we did enjoy cruising around and seeing the sheepheads and rockfish, and the structure lends itself to a very nice profile, spiraling upward and always with something to see.
Back on the boat, I had to get out of the drysuit to use the head, and despite the most delicate care, managed to tear my neck seal almost to the suit material. I was going to sit out the third dive, but Claudette convinced me we could cobble it together with duct tape and patches, so we did our best. Plan was to descend to 20 feet and do a neck seal leak check - if it was awful, we'd go up and I'd get back on the boat, and Peter would dive with the other pair. At this point, given the prior dive, I really didn't care that much if I got back in the water, but it seemed a shame to come all that way and not at least give it a go.
Dive 3: Eureka
Max depth 84 fsw
Time 34 min
Water temp 52
Teams: Lynne and Peter; Ken and Claudette
Once again, a quick drop and swim under the rig, and a descent through surface murk. This time, though, we broke out into viz which looked like something from a magazine photo shoot. All of us estimated it at over 100 feet. You could hover and look down through several layers of cross-bracing. Ken said it reminded him of “Rendezvous with Rama”. The water was a stunning deep cobalt blue, and the rig structure was covered with pink and white and yellow. There were nudibranchs and various mollusks, sheepheads and rockfish, and scallops galore. In one area, the pilings were vertical and closely spaced, and it was like swimming down a corridor with narrow, vertical windows. In others, you were in open space, hovering and enjoying the incredible geometry of the rig itself. Eureka sits in over 600 feet of water, which may explain why the visibility was so much better, and here, there was no current at all, so the dive was completely relaxed. Unfortunately, the repaired seal was leaking, so about 30 minutes into the dive, I wrote to Peter that we needed to start up. Again, a leisurely progress upward along the pilings, finishing with several minutes at ten feet and a slow ascent to the surface and the sea lions.
Back on the boat, we waited another twenty minutes or so for Ken and Claudette to come up, and then we all rhapsodized about the incredible dive we had just finished, almost all the way back to the dock. Three good dives, and we were back on shore just after two, which was a good thing, because we were going to have to go in search of a rental dry suit for me to make the proposed Catalina dives the following day.
Claudette and Ken made a number of phone calls, and finally located a suit at Ocean Adventures, actually not at all far from our hotel. So they dropped us off there, and we planned to head for the shop, and then to dinner. When we arrived, we were surprised and pleased to discover a friend there . . . Christian, who is headhunter on ScubaBoard! I knew he was going to join us for dinner, but didn't expect him at the shop, and as it turns out, his presence was probably necessary. You see, I got certified in a dry suit, and I have always dived a dry suit, but I do not have a dry suit CARD because I never took the dry suit SPECIALTY. And they won't rent dry suits to people without dry suit CARDS. The shop proprietor was very sorry, but his insurance was not going to allow him to rent me a suit. There went my Catalina diving . . . until Christian suggested that Steve look up PETER's dry suit card, which he has, and rent HIM the dry suit. Which he did. Hooray for Christian's powers of diplomacy!
Off to El Cholo's, where we once again ran into the valet empty parking lot phenomenon, and had a nice margarita before being called by Claudette and told that they were waiting for tank fills and could we please come back south to a restaurant closer to Sports Chalet? So, back in the car and off to Chin Chin again, the Chinese restaurant which had been so good before (and did not disappoint this time, either). Peter discovered that Christian is a magician, and a member of the Magic Castle, which turns out to one of Peter's dreams, so we agreed that next trip, that would be on the agenda.
Back to the hotel about 10:30, but the next morning was to begin at a very civilized 7:30 pickup. But I was so tired, I fell asleep sitting in the bathroom, and hooked two can light batteries together instead of hooking them up to the charger. Excessive fatigue . . . I woke up in the morning and one of the first things I said to Peter was, “Was your computer happy with the profiles yesterday?” Since I had been depth averaging and running MDLs in my head, I was worried I'd overdone things . . . But he said his Suunto had been happy, and I decided that, if you looked at the long days and the five hours of sleep I'd been averaging for the trip, I had plenty of reason to have been tired!
Day Five
What more could Southern California offer, now that we had been blown away by Anacapa and the oil rigs? And today's diving was planned at Casino Point, a tiny dive park used by probably a hundred open water divers for classes. Despite the pleasant setting and the convenient site we found for our gear (right at the head of the VERY nice stairs which constitute the entry), and the assurances of our hosts notwithstanding, I was sure we would be diving in a mob. And what could be of significant interest in the rocks off what was clearly a sea wall?
Hah!
Our first dive here was the Valiant, a wreck which lies outside the dive park proper, and for which one must get permits. Ken sweet-talked the harbormaster into approving our dive, and we geared up with enthusiasm.
Dive 1: The Valiant
Max depth 98 fsw
Time 50 min
Water temp 57 degrees
Teams: Claudette, Ray and Lynne; Peter, Ken and Jaye
This was a 162 foot luxury yacht that burned in the Catalina harbor a mere four years after it was built. They tried to tow it out of the harbor, so it lies with its stern toward the shore. Ray (radinator), who had joined us for the day's diving, told me a story on the ferry about a California Wreck Diver member who entered the ship and found the big compressed air bottles that are lined up against one wall of a hold. He grabbed them and shook them to see how tightly they were attached, and found out the three he had hold of weren't very tightly attached at all. They fell on him, pinning him to the hull. His buddy was outside and unaware of his plight, and it took him quite a while to worm his way out from under the tanks. Ray wanted to tell the story so that, when he pointed out the bottles that remain in the ship, I would understand their significance.
Reaching the Valiant involves a significant surface swim - Not the equal of the one to Dead Man's Reef, but still about a twenty minute swim. Luckily, the surface was quite calm, and the current (mild) was with us. We dropped into about 85 feet of water, which was incredibly clear, and the wreck was immediately visible. It's a fun wreck, with very easily recognized structure, and sure enough, Ray pointed out the compressed air tanks. We found tons of Catalina gobies (Claudette must have thought I was mental, pointing the first ones out and signing for her to remember them so she could later tell me what they were). Ray found a big moray, and we found several dorids in the sand.
There were many Fed Ex nudibranchs as well, and ghost gobies, and the usual blacksmiths and senoritas and sheepheads. We spent our allotted time on the wreck, and then headed back. Claudette kicked in the afterburners and left me in her dust. I was having some major problems with my fins - Because of the rental suit and rock boots, the fins were jammed onto the very ends of my feet, and flopped back and forth when I tried to put any force on them. I really can swim faster than that, Claudette!
Gas kept us from doing the entire return trip underwater, but we executed a nice, coordinated minimum deco ascent, and finished with a relaxed surface swim to the steps. The exit proved to be trivial once described, and we headed up the stairs to get out of the gear quickly and get the tanks to the fill station.
Dive 2: The Sue-Jack
Max depth 90
Time 68 min
Water temp 54 degrees
Teams: Lynne and Claudette; Peter, Jaye and Ken
This was the magic dive at Catalina. The plan was to go off the steps and down to about 50 feet, and make our way to our right to the Sue-Jack, a wreck within the park proper. We'd then do a quick bounce to the bottom of the ship at 90 feet, and come back up and work our way along the contours of the rocks and back to the stairs.
The sun had come out, and was shining down through the giant kelp. The water was very clear, and our surroundings were simply beautiful. The wreck was rich with nudibranchs and I found a scorpionfish there, and I had found a giant kelp fish on the way out, and Claudette had found a lair of three sleeping horn sharks, guarded by a moray. We missed the rays that the first team had found (and spooked) and the sheephead crab they had also routed, but we found quite enough to delight ourselves.
We started back, and did several minutes at 40 feet, and several at 30 (because the views were fabulous no matter where we were). I practiced my upside-down buoyancy skills, drinking in the fabulous sight of the sunlight through the kelp, with the multitude of small fish, punctuated by brilliant orange Garibaldis. At about 20 feet, we encountered Peter, who signed he wanted to buddy up with us, which was fine. But then he explained that he had racked up a bunch of deco on his Mosquito, and needed to hang a while. He and Claudette sat at about 15 feet, while I hovered a bit above them, as my ears would no longer permit me to descend at all. They did S-drills, and Peter did mask skills, and then they played rock-paper-scissors, and eventually we all swam together to the steps.
This was a truly magical, beautiful, amazing dive, which I could do again and again. And through the whole thing, we saw only three divers who were not of our group. But that was amusing in the extreme, as the three divers consisted of two with a third above them, holding on to each of their first stages. This is apparently the “Discover Scuba” experience, where you get towed around like a dog on a leash. The two men who were the new divers seemed to have had a great time, as we listened to them debrief with their instructor guide in their golf cart right by us afterward.
Lunch was burgers off the tarmac, as we had no time for more. Tanks were filled, and we were off yet again.
Ken had ruined the zipper on his dry suit on the last dive, so he sat this one out, but Claudette and Ray and Peter and I hit the water to find the swim platform, and to moonwalk.
Dive 3: Moon walking
Max depth 64 fsw
Time 34 min
Teams: Claudette and Lynne, Ray and Peter
The current had come up while we were eating, and some divers were aborting and leaving the water. But we decided to give things a try, and if it was blowing too hard, we'd mosey around in the shallows and investigate the rock niches. We actually found a very gentle current, and were able to make quick time to the swim platform, where Claudette demonstrated the technique for moon walking, which consists of getting as negative as possible, doffing one's fins, and jumping from the swim platform, doing back flips and corkscrews. Apparently the current was more impressive from the top of the platform, and both Peter and Claudette said it was a little unnerving to be unsure if one was actually going to be able to sink back to the bottom after jumping. I didn't try this, as my fins had to be put on my rock boots by jackhammer, and I was worried that if we ever got them off me, we'd not get them back on.
A few minutes there, investigating the platform structure and admiring nudibranchs, and we set off to swim back and end the underwater portion of our wonderful California adventure.
We discovered we had closed out the dive park - There was no one else left at all! Two taxis later, we were back at the ferry, to discover that Ray, bless his heart, had booked the Captain's Cabin for us. This is a private room on the ferry that comes with a bottle of champagne, and room enough for people to stretch out on couches or lie on the floor. This was something we greatly appreciated, as we were all by this time aching and sore from five days of madcap diving, hiking, stair-climbing and surface swimming.
(What do DIR divers do when you point a camera at them? )
That night, dinner was Peter's requested Mexican food, and excellent. A margarita went down well, too. We were back at the hotel at the amazingly early hour of ten, and collapsed into bed.
I have got, at this point, to express my incredible gratitude to the many people who helped to make this trip so fantastic. To Michael Kane and Tobin, who made themselves available for me to meet, to the Ocal divers who joined us on Friday morning, to Ray, who was so reassuringly attentive and helpful, and such a delightful companion underwater. To Ken, who is almost painfully funny when he's on a roll, and Jaye, who is a wonderful cook and a warm and sunny companion. And most of all, to Claudette, who is simply a wonderful human being and a great friend. Thank you all for an amazing and memorable 53rd birthday trip, and may my return to SoCal be soon.
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