1/14/2006 - Successful test dive

I've been having a major leakage problem with my drysuit for a couple months. I have two small holes on my neck seal and patched those, but my left leg was always wet after each dive. I changed O-rings on the P-valve, but that didn't help, so I removed the hose and filled the plug with Aquaseal. I've never used the P-valve anyway, so no big loss. All I needed was to get in the water and test it. Then the rains came.

I've been out of the water for nearly three weeks, an eternity for me. Thursday, my buddy Jeff and I were going to look for squid in Redondo Canyon. As I geared up, my light wasn't working. The switch was fried. Another dive called. I replaced the switch with a slightly smaller one and rewired everything. When it comes to electrical and mechanical repair, I have the Midas touch. Everything I touch turns to mufflers.   I tested the light in the kitchen sink and it worked fine.

 Today I went with my friend Ross to some concrete pipes in 130 feet. They are covered in beautiful life and even had a large patch of squid eggs next to them. At that depth, my camera buttons sometimes stick. Today was no exception. No biggie, the vis was only 6-8 feet, so pictures were not likely to be good. The suit stayed relatively dry. A little dampness, but no drops of water in my socks. The light stayed dry as well, so I'll call it a successful dive. After surfacing, we were surrounded by dolphins, although they wouldn't let me get close enough to see them underwater. Now if we could only get those great dive conditions I'm used to in January in Socal. Two years in a row have brought us rain, and this year Mother Nature has thrown in weeks of large surf as well.