25 Dives since June certification

[stargost]

Dennis,
There are plenty of dive club in the Laguna area (SOCDC, Laguna sea dwellers, and others).
Most are meeting on Sat morning, or Sundays morning every week. You can ALWAYS find a buddy.
considering the number of divers in this area, you can't really do solo diving unless you really want to.
During the week-end, there are divers in the water all the time at all the coves in Laguna. And if there aren't .. .then don't go !
During the week, many are also meeting for evening and night dives. It is very common. I think you can almost always show up, look for a divers and ask to join. Of course that may not be as good as a agreed dive buddy, but still better than solo diving. Plus, some guys have been diving >30 years in there and they know all the good place to look.

This Sat, in addition to all the clubs going in the water, there is another event with plenty of divers (see the SoCal forum).

And just post, email people in this board to get buddy in this area in case you really want to get wet and find out you are alone.

 

[Freezerbrn]

Stargost, Thanks I will take advice. I just got on the mailing list of South coast divers so I at least know when they will be out there.

 

[Freezerbrn]

Anyone local, I would like to dive the other side of Shaw's Cove Crescent Bay this Friday Oct 8th. anytime. I'm gonna try SCD's night dive met on Sat.

If you can get to Laguna Bch and want to dive this Fri. PM me. Thanks

Dennis

 

[tflaris]

I just want to brag that I now have 25 dives since getting certified for OW in June. I completed my AOW and did a night dive. My new favorite place to dive is Crescent Cove in Laguna!

Congrats. Keep it going.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jashaw]

Sweet! I've only done 30 since getting certified in April. I'm going to be taking Advanced Nitrox this winter.

 

[DandH]

Hey NC Wreck Diver, Thanks for the info. I was on a dive boat opening night for lobster season at Catalina island. I did pair up with two other divers from the boat. There were 18 divers and 1 DM in the water that night. Anyway, myself and two other divers did our checks and dropped down to the bottom (50') on our way down it turned into a free for all lobster hunt. I saw 17 divers go in different directions with their faces buried in the sand looking for bugs. I did follow a diver for a bit but he gave me a "you're scaring all the fish away" look. So I went on my own. It was logged dive #13 and 2nd night dive. I carry a "Spare Air" tank. I was lit up like a Christmas tree and kept my bearing of where the boat was. I did a deep wreck dive (100') in my AOW class so I have an idea of what it's like at depth. I did get a lil Narc'd and I knew it when it occurred.

I caught a bug at 83' and that's when I got a lil worried. during the struggle and bagging my breathing rate went up a bit and I was not use to that feeling. My brain told me I my tank was about to be empty. You know that feeling from OW class when DI turns the air off during the pool dive so you know what it's like when tank is empty... yeah well I looked at my gauge and it read over 800 psi but it was hard to breathe. Skill, experience, and a dive buddy would have told my brain to stop, relax, and think. I started my slow ascent with my hand on my spare air. I made a noobie error going up. I forgot to vent my BC as I went up. When I hit 45' I rose like a Mylar balloon at a birthday party. The thinking I had little air cuz I was breathing heavy caused me to forget my training. i did a flare, slowed, hit the surface remembered why i could not stop and I purged my BC, Dropped to 20' for SS. then had a 2 hr SI. total dive time was 17 min. 2nd dive 40' 30 min.

I did have a lobster dinner that night. glad it was not the other way around

For The record, I will not night or deep dive without a buddy again. I shore dive no deeper then 40' in a cove solo and that's it. as far as LDS, I am 50 miles from the ocean and 30 miles from the nearest LDS.

I joined SB in the hopes to find a local dive buddy.

Thanks for your concern NC Wreck Diver, and everyone else.

I will be careful and dive safe.

Dennis

Is this a real post? You're kidding about your experience and carrying a spare air while solo with 14 dives under your belt, right? Did they know on the boat what happened on your first dive and they let you go down a second time?

 

[Freezerbrn]

DanDH, No I am not kidding. That was a real dive on Oct 2nd. I did tell the dive master. He said I should be ok.I got more questions from other divers as to why I was skipping my second dive then anything else.

 

[richdrogpa]

@Freezerbrn:

Dude, that's funny and scary at the same time... Glad you are OK. Lobster divers are "crazy" It seems like everybody is for himself...

As for myself, I just did my 30 dives since my cert. in September. Love it. Nothing really dramatic happened on my dives. But I'm proud to get my air consumption lot lower. When I started my SAC was hovering around and above 20l/min, now I got down to about 13-16l/min. I'm not the only one anymore to call the dive because I'm OOA

 

[JTinSD]

I just want to brag that I now have 25 dives since getting certified for OW in June. I completed my AOW and did a night dive. My new favorite place to dive is Crescent Cove in Laguna!

Nice! Keep it up.

I certified 20 Dec 09 and did not reach 25 dives until 18 Jun 10.

But I have picked up the pace, and it only took me until 9 Aug for 50 dives and 19 Sep for 75. I will be doing dives 90 and 91 today.

These are all local SoCal dives, no warm water vacation dives.

Yet.

 

[Selchie in LB]

Hey Everyone who posted great to hear all the progress! I love So Cal diving. You cannot beat Laguna shore diving. The cost is cheap - get there early for parking - and all you need is your gear and air. Even though these are relatively shallow dives, 40 feet max or so around the reefs, there is so much to see. I don't have any plans for warm water dives in the near future, but that's not to say I don't want to. But there sure is plenty to see here.

I went to the DIR event on Saturday and did two dives in addition to meeting some great people, eating great food and talking diving. I even got to try out a BP/W set up. I am really beginning to feel more comfortable each time I go out and notice better breathing being relaxed.