My Foray into SoCal - Oct 15th - 22nd, 2011

Sorry for the delay in the trip report – ought to be a law against an all-day VTC on the first day back from vacation. :yuck:

I signed up and headed out for the USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber Emergency Response Diver Course which was held 16 – 21 Oct, 2011. This is a wonderful class folks, and very inexpensive. I strongly recommend it even if you have had Rescue Diver, as I have.

SoCal has an amazing diver support system – I hope you all are justifiably proud of it.

Given that I was headed that direction, I cajoled some SoCal divers to dive with me the Saturdays before and after the class.

Saturday, Oct 15

This is from my MOF/NMOF posting – quoting here because I figure some of you might not see it.

Jax:

Hiya, MOF! :wavey:

Awww, DB beat me to it! By golly, those waves were 20' if they were an inch!!!

It's my story and I'm stickin' to it!


Seriously, it was a good experience all around. I learned something, it was an adventure, and I had a splendid morning with MOF/NMOFs!! AND they were GUE folks and quite lovely to talk to and dive with. Rig gave us a super briefing, and what I saw was exactly that.

I was watching Rig and L as they walked out arm in arm, and I thought it was a good idea. I walked over to DB, and (I think!, as I was moving or had just put the fin from the right hand to both in left hand) the wave snatched my fin right out of my hand. I realized immediately, without a fin, this dive was off, so I kind of leaped for it. About that time, the reflected wave that worked DB over hit me from behind. (Yes, I was told, don't turn your back on the waves . . . )

So I am chasing, kicking (sans fins!) crawling after the blanking fin, when a south wave came in --- spun me over and grabbed my mask! (I immediately thought, yes, Lord, you don't want me to dive today! Got it!)

I commenced crawling toward the beach, because all attempts to stand up were immediately squashed. Mind you, rig and all, I weighed about 160lbs. Every time it knocked me over, it seems like it would suck the sand right around my tank . . . my obliques are sore from the rolling over. Finally, I was in the shallower part, and spotted one of the divers that just finished walking by, and I hollered, "Help, please!"

Y'know, to talk, you have to take your reg out. Of course, that was when a wave came up and I got the most unpleasant mouthful of sandy water! The other divers helped me up, then I'd get tossed again, and the lovely you man just drug my lame butt to shore!!! Like DB, I was thoroughly winded and my whole body seemed one big muscle burn!

Hey -- I stayed dry!!! Whoot!!!! but I had sand in every nook and crevice you could come up with! And was chewing sand . . . ugh.

I would do it again, just because it is something to broaden my experience. I wish I could have seen the reef, but oh, well, gives me an excuse to come back! I guess God just wanted me to have the white SP Seawing Nova fins I've been lusting after. The young gentlemen at Leguna Seas of Beach Cities scuba shots took the time to call around to all the other scuba shops . . . figure the odds that if they did have them, they would be white, and in my size medium!

I'll miss my 12-y/o Tusa Liberator mask, though. Nothing else seems to fit as well as that mask. (Sigh)

I apologize to all of you that had a moment of anxiety. I was completely in control of me, and I knew that the waves would push me toward some low rocks were I could get some purchase -- the freakin' sand would ebb away from under my knees, feet, and hands . . . Worse than any dunes I've run up! :shocked2:

Now, how about the rest of the story, DB?? The part where you had all the women's underwear???? What a great day!!!

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After all this, we had a lovely lunch together. These GUE practitioners were gracious in their understanding, and we had a good laugh over Neptune’s intro to surf diving. They are even <gasp> willing to dive with me again. :shocked2:

Trip report for ERD Class is here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/socal/389648-catalina-emergency-response-diver.html

First of all, I cannot tell you where we dived because of an incident that happened on the second dive . . . If I told you, I think I might get beat to death! T invited me to dive with him and friends, C, Cl, and K . . . Cpt M ran the boat.

How small is the world – as I was electrical-taping my wrist seals, Cl mentioned I should talk to [TSandM] . . . They had just come back from a week of diving with her! TSandM and I have been lamenting our wrist seals for a while.

We dived from the Westbound, westbounddiving.com - westbounddiving.com, out of Marian Del Ray:

Westbound is proud to be the only Coast Guard certified SCUBA dive charter boat that is located in Marina Del Rey. We service West Los Angeles with trips to local wrecks, reefs, oil rigs as well as Catalina and Santa Barbara Islands, Farnsworth Banks and Whale watching trips.

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Wonderful boat, with lots of room and warm drinks and a chicken soup that was more of a stew than anything – Delicious! This boat is perfectly set up for divers, and the Cap'ns are skilled in Technical diving / charters, so check these guys out if you get to Marina Del Ray.

The morning began really foggy . . . fog horns sounding through the gray curtain . . . A rare treat emerged from the fog – one of those old-time three-mast sailing ships that brought thoughts of pirate ships to mind . . . I owe pictures, I know. :tongue2: I didn’t get much for pictures because I was to learn to operate a scooter on this trip, and didn’t want the task load. I sure wished I’d asked my buddies to carry it, though, I’m sure my travels were hilarious! The sun broke through to a gorgeous day; T gave me a class on the scooter op, and C gave me some pointers on handling the kelp.

The first dive was in a benign area with a small kelp stand and not too deep. I was in my sidemount, so we dropped the line with my right tank, and T took my scooter so I wouldn’t have all that load. Love ya, T! I dropped into the water, right in the middle of a bunch of kelp. I could see nothing but leaves . . . my first thought was, “I guess this is how a tomato in a salad feels! I came up to “ok” and get my bearings on the tank line, then essentially dog-paddled the leafy kelp out of the way going over to my tank. I felt a little like a kid in the middle of a fall leaf pile. :snicker: I hooked up my tank and dropped into a clearing, where T met me with the scooter.

T had carefully explained that the scooter would suck the kelp, so I was to come off the trigger just before it did that. I promptly sucked up a frond of kelp. :blush: It wasn’t bad, though, and soon I was off following C in his Razor-type sidemount and T behind me. It was a lot like flying – C and T were very graceful and relaxed . . . I think I must have looked like I was riding a bucking bronco. I was laughing and grinning as I went along. Something about the torque kept me in a 45^o sideways tilt; I gave up fighting it because it was tiring my arm. I admit, I just grabbed the shroud with my left hand for comfortable control.

The scooter seems to follow your nose, so I really had to pay attention when I looked to the side. For example, I looked up at the sun streaming through the kelp, I put myself in a barrel roll. I don’t know what T, who was behind me, thought, but I was LMAO!!!!

All too soon, our shakeout dive was done, and we were back up on the boat. Nothing like chicken soup to warm you though – and it was Yummy!!!!

Cl and Ken came up – he is a photographer and Cl is his ‘spotter’ and light holder. They were going on and on about how warm the water was. As I was in 4th element xerotherms and arctics and finding the 62F water chilly, I’m looking at them in askance. They explained they had been diving in the Pacific North West in 42F water . . . OMG! :cold:

C brought out some sandwiches and more soup as we made our way to another place with a bit of a wall. Back in we went, and C & T were exploring the nooks and crannies for a place they had found before. This time we were a little deeper, we hit 96 but only for a minute, mostly 70-80. They stop to investigate a niche . . .

T saw something, and shoved his HID into a hole – It was as if he’d opened a window and someone was throwing big softballs at him! Absolutely pelting him . . . and then they were pelting ME! Lobsters – dozens and dozens of them! And not small ones, either. I picked one off me and my thumb and fingers barely touched the legs on either side. I was LMAO!!!

The guys were in a quandary – no bag, scooters, how to do this . . . I think T was trying to hogtie one, but it got away. :rofl4: They reluctantly backed off; you know they were making a mental note of this place.

We made our way back to the boat, and once aboard, they were excitedly exclaiming over their missed bounty. We awaited Cl and K, who had gone another way. K is an excellent photographer; you can see his work at About Slug Junkie :: SlugJunkie. He offers a couple of laminated cards with the pictures and names of the SoCal nudibranchs, gorgeous bright-color pics of these extraordinary animals. If you want to identify the nudibranchs you’ve seen, I recommend you get these two cards. He says he is working on a third, as well.

What was really heart-warming was that all the divers were so welcoming and considerate of this newb, answering my bazillions of questions and patiently explaining the wonderful underwater world of SoCal. All were GUE practitioners, and as many have told me, the So Cal folks do not dive with the tension and stress as permeated my one-and-only east coast experience. And yes, I pulled a couple of newbie boners. They were all so gracious.

I had such a splendid time with all of you – Thank you so much for making my foray into SoCal so terrific!!!

Oh, my goodness, Jax, how do you go to California and "just manage" to fall in with some of the best dive buddies anybody could possibly ask for?

(BTW, I have had dives where I've grabbed the scooter shroud for a while with my left hand, just because my wrist was getting tired of the torque, too.)

Truely Jax you met some of the best [-]divers[/-] people I've met through diving. If you aspire to dive well, you have taken a big step in having them as one of your mentors.

I feel truly Blessed to have met these folks . . . they certainly live lives full of fun and laughter!

Glad you had a great time plus the course at Catalina.
Come back again anytime.
Now I hope you will make it to Coz on FR. We just now had to cancel and are very

I see... you sneak over to "my" island while I'm in MI and FL. You must have good intel!

It wouldn't be California diving unless you gave something up to the ocean. A fin, a mask, your entire rig....

Just think of it as mandatory payment to the kelp gods.

Glad you had a great time!

Too bad I missed this! Glad you enjoyed it!

ScUbAoPoLiS:

Too bad I missed this! Glad you enjoyed it!

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Twas a year ago! heh