I guess I'm a strange guy, I'm have the biggest lack of confidence at the time of buying gear. For me is a life or dead decision.... so, after 3 years... I bought my first camera with housing.

I was so happy.... (well, I'm still happy)... but then I found out how DIFFICULT is to take a good photo.

So last night I came back to MyDivingLife and read all the blogs with such amazing photos....

God, that was even more depressive.... so many fantastic photographers... compared to my lack of underwater photography talent.

So I guess, it is time to study more, learn more, practice more, take more photos... and off course, invest in more gadgets to get that ideal perfect diving photo.

After transitioning from Hi-8 to digital-8 to mini-DV, I'm now looking at one more step "up..." to HDV! Astoundingly I discovered from my contacts at Light & Motion that the video housing I've used for all three prior formats will also house the new Sony HC-3 HD camcorder. Now that's what I call a GREAT product... no dedicated housings for me!

Now to acquire my new Sony HC-3, I'm offering (for a limited time) ALL SIX of my educational underwater DVD's for $100 US plus $10 shipping (Priority Mail in the US only) and California state sales tax  ($8.75) if sent within the state. That's a $45 savings off the normal retail price.

For further details, see the following web page on my site:

http://www.starthrower.org/products/dvd/DVD_special.htm

As for time,. I haven't had much lately so my blogs are few and far between... still diving "too" frequently, editing the footage, and creating new episodes for my cable TV show to have much time to blog. That bwill change as "winter" (in SoCal?) approaches.

Had an interesting day yesterday. It was a three tank dive on my fave, Scuba Luv's King Neptune. I've been doing a lot of deep (> 130 ft) diving to film the critters there in anticipation of a new episode of my TV show on "Deep" Ecology.

First two dives were to 180 feet for a total dive time each of 50 min. I issentially follow a transect line straight down from the anchor line to max depth, move about 15 ft up current (to get out of the resuspended silt cloud) and swim an up transect to the shallows.

Both dives were uneventful with no problems. Plenty to film given my limited bottom times (I only stay below 100 ft for 10-15 min), and quite different life at the two dive sites.

I planned to only go to 140 ft on my third dive and as I approached that max depth, I looked up to see a torpedo (Pacific electric) ray about 7 ft above me! I started filming it and it stayed with me for quite a long time. I kept an eye on my deco obligation as I filmed and as I neared 30 min, I started heading back to the shallows making several deep stops along the way.

I've gotten pretty good at judging my air consumption and managing my gas (straight air). I figured I would complete the full 31 min deco obligation using my primary tank. I always keep the pony mounted, but have never had to use it for deco.

I completed the obligatory deco as my SPG hit 600 psi. I practiced gas management for years when I was doing non-deco dives so I'd be ready for these type dives. Since I'd been on two very deep dives, I decided to do an extra 10 min of deco using my pony which gave me a good safety margin (all other obligatory deco stops were similar over-extended for safety).

The take home message? The years I spent practicing gas management during my non-deco dives really has paid off now that I do frequent deco dives. I used to set goals for my diving... for example, one dive to 100 ft for 45 min and a second one with the "same" profile from the second half of my HP120 tank. I'd have to adjust my depths through the two dives to make sure I had enough gas to complete my goal and surface with ~500 psi. It has given me a good knowledge base on my air consumption rates at different depths... pretty handy skill now!

Ok, I am in my complaing mood.....

I love diving, so much that I created this website and so many others...

and more than diving I love teaching. I'm not a great swimmer but I became a swimming teacher after becoming a diving instructor. The reason? I love to teach, te share with people...

but today, I had one of that days that you may wonder: who came with the idea that diving is for EVERY SINGLE PERSON.

So this is the story: I get 2 customers for Discover Scuba Diving - a "course" that I hate because it is 100% unsafe, with no clear theory, skills, etc...

anyway. the problem: (gosh, this is going to sad like if I am a b**tard, but I'm not....) the 2 female divers a HUGE. By all means HUGE. So I decide to provide them with the largest wetsuit we have in the house. A XXXLLLLLLLLXXXXLXXLXLXLX MEN size.

Surprise, surprise, the thing doesn't fit.

So thinking that the water is 15 degrees, i can go with these ladies diving naked, so I have to put them with a 1 mil rash-wetsuite that we have for surfing...

the picture is bad, they are going to freeze.... and not only that after a quick session in the pool they have so much weight in the BCD that they can't walk.

Why in their BCD and not in their Belt? Well... we don't have any belt long enough.

The whole dive was horrible.

I have done over 100 of this "resort dives" but this wins the OSCAR.

Crap. Really crap.

The oldest lady with 30 pounds of weight (yep 30) didn't go down... while the other diver in an amazing action managed to brake her 2 fins straps in less that 1 minute.

At the end of the day my mood coudn't be better....

So I wonder if sometimes is better to say people: Sorry but I don't think diving is for you????

Sometimes fitness should be first. But may be I'm wrong....

** By the way, don't you love when they tell you: yes I know to swim but the last time I swam was when I was 8 years old in the pool of my dad? - I heard that today from my 56 year old customer.

Anyway, tomorrow a new day.

On 14 Sept 06  Sean B. and I tossed our dive gear and drysuits into his boat and headed out to sea.... destination: the P38  (http://www.cawreckdivers.org/Wrecks/P38.htm ). The coordinates of this wreck, which crashed in 1943, are pretty elusive but we got em

We made it to the wreck in good time and made sure to anchor slightly away from the dive site so as not to damage anything.. After gearing up and heaving the steel 108's (with my 19 cuft pony bottle and his 30 cu ft pony respectively) onto out backs, we splashed into the ocean... unsure of what was below us.. Before moving the boat away from the site, we had dropped a weighted line attached to a float so we'd know where to descend... We gave each other the "ok, lets go" sign and started down the line together, with Sean beneath me.. Vis was nice on the way down, but I wasn't expecting it to be the 40ft that it was at the bottom!  We both saw the silhouette of the plane long before we hit the bottom~ we had descended & landed 10 ft from the P38's wing- perfect! I was worried about getting narced since the P38 is a little deeper than my usual dives (134fsw) so I asked Sean to keep a close eye on me, but by the time I hit the bottom I was off and swimming, camera in hand and no obvious narcosis  :-D    The plane is remarkably intact for sitting on the bottom of the ocean since 1943...  It is in several pieces, all of which are clearly identifiable... The gun still has the ammo cases (still with ammo in them) laying beneath it! There were fish everywhere, and a wolf eel ! I've only seen one other wolf eel in all of my dives, so I was pretty excited !!  Sean and I managed to stick to our dive plan, even though neither of us wanted to end that dive... so we begrudgingly looked at our computers, then each other, then gave the thumbs up when it was time...  Nice easy ascent since we both had quite a bit of air left..  so we did our .. um... extended safety stop.... and then finally headed to the surface, with a total dive time of 41 min. I don't think I've ever been that amazed on any other dive I've done before..  It went perfectly..   :o)     But we didn't stop there... we moved over to the outskirts of La Jolla Cove for a 2nd (and much shallower) dive..  I'd given up on ever seeing these "giant sea bass" that everyone had been talking about, so this was just a sightseeing dive since Sean had never dived in the cove area... Well.. halfway into the dive, I looked up...and saw 2 large figures in the kelp~ my sea bass !!!!!!  Yay!!!  I was able to snap several pics before they moved away... but within seconds after the 2 swam off, I saw about 10- 12 hanging out in a nearly cluster of kelp..  More pics  :-)

So all in all, that day could not have been any better... Excellent conditions all around, seeing the P38 & the giant bass, good dive buddy, and a warm sunny day...

Pics below:

I mentioned that I've been doing a lot of deep diving on air lately. I want to again emphasize that I do NOT recommend this to anyone else. It is not a decision I can make for anyone but me.

With that said, it has been interesting to watch the changes at these depths over the last few weeks. Our summer surface temperatures were incredibly warm this year, especially in late July and early August. Surface temps of 79 F were recorded on several days. However temps at the depths I was diving were as low as 50 F (even colder than they were during the winter).

In the past few weeks surface temps have dropped back to the low 70's. However temps at depth have risen significantly. At one site temps at 160 ft were 50-53 degrees 2-3 weeks ago. Last weekend it was a balmy 63 F!

Unfortunately this has affected the critters that I descend to film. Many of the species appear to have gone deeper in search of colder water... apparently to depths where I won't follow. Since they are not there, my profiles at these sites will return to normal rec diving limits. My only interest in the deep diving is to film the critters that are there.

Have a group of divers from another board in today thru Sunday, so it is time to get wet (or at least prepare the gear).

( don't you love those random 7am pictures that someone snaps of you when you're sitting on a cooler getting your gear set up? heh)

Finally! Something to blog about   It's been a while since my last entry, but I can't really say that anything exciting has been going on. Did some boat diving as a DM (heh, and I had to work my tail off too)~ went to "Checkout Pt", somewhere out in Pt Loma... and it was an awesome dive site. Unfortunately for about 13 of the 18 people on board the boat, the trip wasn't so pleasant... they were puking their guts out from the rough seas..  Oh, as for me~ well, I felt great!  I looooove the Scop. patch :-)   Seasickness is a thing of the past, so I'm looking forward to lots more boat diving...

Anyways, been diving quite a bit thes days... the shores, the cove, even Lake Mead (84F temps, even at depth-- woohoooo!!).  But again, it's time for some boat dives...  ;-)

Got a pink set of UK lights thanks to my dive shop, lol...  yes, pink. C4, sl4, and the size below sl4, which I can't remember offhand...   Gee.. gotta love a dive shop who finds and orders pink gear for you..  *grin*

As for my "boys" that are back~~  the fried egg jellies are finally back in town ! I've been waiting ALL summer for these guys to get here~  I love watching them... We must've seen at least 50 of them today at the shores... I'm assuming they're juveniles because they seem smaller than last year.... (but that's just a guess). Anyway, I'm still having some camera issues even though I got a strobe..  Just can't figure out how to get the green out of pics when I'm underwater...  Grrrrrr.....      The pic that I posted was PS'd, but by getting the green out, I also lost a lot of background color..  (ok and it's not the most focused, but it's the first one I was playing with on PS). Shoot, I'll get it right one of these days

What a summer... and it ain't over yet! I've been doing so much diving, video editing and creation of my products that I haven't had much time to blog. Then my old log-on wouldn't work, but fortunately Gabriel fixed that so I'm back on MDL, although I won't be blogging as frequently as before until the dive boat settles back to 2-3 trips a week.

Diving 4-6 times a week, then editing the footage acquired and creating new episodes of my cable TV show has certainly kept me out of "trouble" this summer. I've added some new dimensions to my diving as well.

First, we all know that there are two types of divers: those who pee in their wetsuits, and those who lie about it. Well, now there is a third type: me! I just completed my 61st consecutive dive without peeing. In the last 86 dives I've only pee'd once. These are world class records for me.

Second, I've continued a practice I began about a year ago... deep diving on air (the gas the Creator gave us and the only one I trust.. until I learn tri-mix). I regularly dive in the 160-180 ft range with my deepest dive being to 200 ft (my absolute basement depth on air). NOTE: I DO NOT ADVOCATE THIS OR RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE ELSE. The only reason I've been doing it is to film the often unique creatures one sees at such depths in our waters. I now know why there are so few nudies in Catalina waters... they are mostly below recreational depths.

I continue to dive off the King Neptune as often as they go out. My last dive in our great dive park was in early June when a lovely mermaid came out to visit... and finally dive as my buddy!

I have also decided to finally upgrade to an HD camcorder. I discovered that my housing (which has accomodated Sony Hi-8, digital-8 and now mini-DV camcorders) can be used to house the Sony HC-3! No need for a new housing.

To achieve this purchase, I am now offering a special sale of all six (6) of my current DVD's for $100 plus $10 shipping and California state sales tax (8.75%) if applicable. That's a savings of $45 on the package. Check out the following web page for more information: Dr. Bill's DVD Special.

Quick news from the busy MyDivingLife admin....

1. I love the new blogs! I spend more time reading that actually working towards improving the website.... mmm may be we should make a new contest. New suggestions ?

2. At the moment, I'm still working as a diving instructor but not a lot of diving at the moment, quiet season, cold water....

3. Thinking of buying my first tech. gear.... starting with the wings and then moving to the tanks. Scared of buying something too expensive and not ending diving enough with the new gear. (Sold all my old gear using Ebay ... great stuff!)

4. My amazing little boy is already 9 months and he still in love with the water. Not diving yet... but trying hard to move his legs in his fantastic mini-bath.

As alwasy... thanks to all of you...

to the new bloggers... welcome to MyDivingLife...

to the old crew: You guys make this web sooooo special....

I forgot to update my blog when I finished up my Divemaster class! Anyways, we wrapped up the last 4 tests in one day and I redrew my map, polished it off, and badda bing~ I was done with my DM class! This was last Tuesday, July 25th... It took several days to get my DM # from Padi, but I finally received it this past Friday (8/4)~ yay! 

In other news... I finally did the unthinkable..  I traded in my beloved Mustang on a new car.. *sigh* As much as I adored the 'stang, it just wasn't cutting it as a dive-mobile..  :(    I decided to go with the Nissan Xterra, which is a pretty awesome SUV, but it's just not the same..  Of course there's a lot of room for dive gear and it's actually a very comfortable vehicle.. I miss the V8 of the Mustang though (Xterras have a 6 cyl). But all in all, it's a cute car- "Solar Yellow" colored, which I like... gray interior.... and it doesn't get sweltering hot like the black mustang did.. heh...  Naturally, the first thing I did was stick 2 dive stickers on it... ;-)

Oh, I got all of my seals replaced on my purple TLS drysuit so I can start using it again.. I love my pink Flx 50/50 suit but dang, that's a heavy (and hot) drysuit to be using in summer, so I think I'll use it primarily in winter and use the TLS in summer.  I used a wetsuit last weekend on 3 dives and I quickly remembered how much I hated wetsuits.. hehe... NO MORE WETSUITS, EVERRRRRRRRRR! (that was said to the tone of "no wire hangers, everrrrrr)...  *rofl*      Ok, I'm outta here, see ya in the water!

Seems like it was ages ago when I wrote: "DM is the one worrying me... The physical stuff seems very demanding, which is stressing me out a little (ok a lot)... The book work seems tough but doable...  *sigh*   Good thing there's no time limit.." (in the June 1st blog). June 14th was when I began the DM class "officially".. It's now July 21st and I'm just days away from finishing up DM- we have 4 of the tests left and will probably do 2 per night next week, meaning I'll be DONE with the course next week once and for all...  I expected it to take at least 2 months, so I'm pleasantly surprised at the shorter time frame for completion..

Here's the breakdown of how it went for anyone considering taking the Divemaster course:

In late May I picked up all of my books, etc (Padi Divemaster book- in the "boxed" crew pack, Diving & The Law, The Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving, Divemaster Workbook, E-RDP, the DM video, and the Instructor Manual... totaling about $750, including the class itself). Ouch..

Week of June 1st~ 15 min tread (scored a 5), sat in an OW class, did some confined OW stuff with students in the pool..

On the weekend, I was in the ocean for the OW dives with students, which was pretty awesome.. By the end of the weekend, I was finished with my OW "internship" dives..

Went a couple of weeks with nothing to do~ no classes or dives, which was frustrating... Then came a couple of the classes (the DM section in the Instructor manual), and once July rolled around we hit the books a little harder and the pressure to complete the swims was on..  I spent every night at 24 hr Fitness working on my timed swims for nearly 2 weeks until Bob said "get in the pool for your 400 yard swim"...  But I was semi-ready and made the swim in 10:15 min, which scored a 3. Between the tread for 5 pts and the 400 yd swim with 3 pts, I was up to 8 pts... still short of 4 pts needed to hit 12...  I knew I'd have problems with the diver tow, but hoped to get a 2 on it, and on the 800 yard swim....Last week, Bob said "get your mask, snorkel, & fins and hop in the pool".. omg I was SO not ready for the 800!!  By the 200th yard lap I was almost in tears from my ankles hurting so much, but kept going..... by the 600th yard, your ankles kind of go numb lol...Anyways, after the 800, Bob said that my score was a 4 and I was done with the 12 pts, and I just needed to complete the 100 yd tow.. the time was irrelevant now since I was done with the "passing" score of points..

Two days ago, we did the 20 basic OW skills (mask removal & replacement, cesa, gear removal underwater, etc) and the 100 yd tow...

For those who aren't familiar with the DM course, you are required to do a gear swap underwater, while swimming and buddy breathing using only 1 regulator between you and your buddy.. Sounds easy huh?  NOT!   I knew it would be a little tough but I figured that Jake (the other DMC) and I could handle it, since we're both pretty level headed in the water.. Well, we talked through our plan and agreed that the best plan of action was to start off wearing each others gear, that way we'd be more familiar with getting it back on in the water.. We decided to swap masks first, then both right fins, then left fins...and lastly the bc's..

Well, in theory it sounded easy enough... We muddled through it somehow and Bob said we did a kickass job on it.. It would've been MUCH easier if Jake would've slowed down and taken his time, but he was rushing even though there's no time limit.. Bob later said that a lot of people freak out during that exercise and Jake was no exception.. He said I was the calm one and balanced the 2 of us out during the gear exchange..  ;-) 

All we have left is the map and 4 tests, which equals about 2 nights of class work... The hard part is all over with... the swims are done...the gear swap is done... And all I can say is WHEW, this class was not easy!!  It is a lot more involved than the other Padi courses I've taken so for those considering taking DM, expect to be putting a lot of time into it!

How Fast Can a Shark Swim?

Sharks typically swim with the even, liquid grace of a creature completely at home with its place in the Universe. Large sharks generally cruise at a leisurely 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) per hour. Because most species fare poorly in captivity, the maximum swimming speed of a shark has seldom been measured. The Blue Shark (Prionace glauca) is an open ocean glider, planing on wing-like pectoral fins and flattened belly. There exists a dubious record of a small Blue Shark about 2 feet (0.6 metres) in length which was found to swim steadily against a current at 17.7 miles (28.5 kilometres) per hour and was reported to achieve 43 miles (69 kilometres) per hour in short bursts. The most reliable record of a Blue Shark at speed is 24.5 miles (39.4 kilometres) per hour for a 6.5-foot- (2-metre-) long individual.

The Shortfin Mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) is probably the champion speedster among sharks. It is an open ocean sprinter, with a highly streamlined body, a lunate tail supported by keels, a sharply pointed snout, large eyes and some of the wickedest-looking teeth in sharkdom. Like the White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and a few of its lamnoid relatives, the Shortfin Mako has a jury-rigged circulatory system which enables this species to retain metabolic body heat, making it functionally warm-bodied. It is also a spectacular and much sought-after gamefish, often leaping repeatedly when hooked. Among sport anglers, this explosive activity combined with dazzling ultramarine flanks has earned the Shortfin Mako the dramatic honorific, "Blue Dynamite". Famed western author and big game angler Zane Grey held this species in particularly high regard, noting that hooked Shortfins typically leap in sets of three, with the third leap usually the highest - sometimes as much as 15 to 20 feet (5 to 6 metres) above the surface. Calculations show that for a mako to leap 20 feet (6 metres) into the air, a speed of 24.6 miles (39.6 kilometres) per hour is required - and this for a shark impeded by the drag of a fishing line trailing from its mouth.

Underwater and unimpeded by a fishing line, the Shortfin Mako has been reliably clocked at 31 miles (50 kilometres) per hour, and there is a claim that one individual of this species achieved a burst speed of 46 miles (74 kilometres) per hour. But it is extremely difficult to get a fish in the wild to swim in a straight line over a measured course. Laboratory measurements of numerous kinds of fishes - representing a wide range of body sizes - swimming against an artificial current have revealed a surprisingly uniform maximum burst speed of about 10 times the body length per second. Thus, for an average-sized, 6.5-foot (2-metre) Shortfin, its theoretical maximum speed might be something on the order of 45 miles (72 kilometres) per hour. Yet some estimates of the top-speed of a Shortfin Mako are considerably higher.

In an effort to determine the maximum swimming speed of the Shortfin Mako, two New Zealand researchers undertook a simple experiment which yielded astonishing results. Off the coast of Auckland, aquarist Craig Thorburn and film-maker Mike Bhana videotaped a 3-foot (1-metre) juvenile Shortfin Mako - estimated to be about one year of age - chasing a baited camera trolled behind their boat. The shark seemed to have no trouble keeping up with the towed array at medium speeds, so the researchers decided to accelerate to see just how fast the little Mako could go. From this experiment, Thorburne and Bhana estimate that the shark accelerated from a dead stop to cover a distance to the bait of more than 100 feet (30 metres) in just two seconds.

If, as Thorburn and Bhana attest, the shark did indeed start from a standstill - which seems behaviorally unlikely - to cover the stated distance in the stated time, the little Mako must have achieved an acceleration of at least 50 feet (15 metres) per second, per second. This acceleration rate rivals that of the very fastest sport cars and seems rather improbable. Nevertheless, using this figure as the constant rate of acceleration, calculations suggest that by the time this little Mako reached caught up with the bait, it reached a top speed of about 68 miles (110 kilometres) per hour! But it should be stressed that if any of Thorburn and Bhana's estimates (the shark's initial speed, the actual distance covered, the time required to reach the bait, etc.) is inaccurate, this startling figure could be 'off' by quite a bit.

Not surprisingly, Shortfin Makos are able to catch even the fastest of fishes - there is a record of a 750-pound (340-kilogram) Mako with a whole 120-pound (54.5-kilogram) Broadbill Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in its stomach; however, it is uncertain whether the shark out-sprinted or out-maneuvered the swordfish. The White Shark is one of the sea's paramount predators, able to catch and consume such speedy prey as tunas, sea lions, and dolphins. It is therefore natural to wonder about its top speed.

Unfortunately, no one has yet measured the swimming speed of a White Shark going flat-out. Analysis of White Sharks attacking a video camera-equipped surfboard off the South Farallon Islands, California, give some indication of this animal's attack speed. Current consensus among shark scientists is that the top swimming speed of the Great White is at least 25 miles (40 kilometres) per hour. My own rough, back-of-the-envelope-type calculations - using several methods - suggest that the White Shark may achieve burst speeds of 35 miles (56 kilometres) per hour or more. That may not seem very speedy, but it's seven times faster than the finest Olympic swimmer and probably at least ten times faster than you or I could manage.

I will be done. The light at the end of the tunnel is finally here... What am I referring to? Well, finishing up my Divemaster (ok, Divemistress) course~ finally! Bob, my instructor, gave me & the 2 other DM candidates a finish date~ July 31... but I'm betting that we'll be done before that.. I did my 15 min tread (got a 5), did my 400 yd swim (got a 3- yay!), and the only other 2 timed tests are the 800 yd mask/snorkel/fins and the 100 yd diver tow, which we'll probably do this week~ along with the 20 basic skills & the gear swap. The bookwork is progressing nicely~ we're halfway done with the tests and should be finished with the others by the beginning of next week.

In the meantime, I'm on my 4th Discover Scuba class.. Good thing I'm patient with kids, heh.. We do week long courses with 30-40 kids per class (ouch). It's not the most exciting thing to do but hey, my store account is paid off and it can be fun sometimes working with the kids.. AND I've become extremely comfortable with all of the basic skills, lol.. Mask removal underwater used to bother me but now I can sit there through a whole dive with no mask thanks to the DSD classes.. Good thing too since I just got a new mask ( http://www.aqualung.com/products/quartz_2.html  in black) and the dang thing leaks & fogs up like crazy... That mask spends more time in my hand than it does on my face.. grrr... It's my first non-purge mask too... Oh well.. that's all for now

My life now is a collection of :

Waking up, checking email, having quick coffee... changing nappies (how do you write nappies in english?) .. going to the dive center... checking emails... fixing some websites... doing courses... cleaning equipment... dealing with clients ... going back home... feeding the dog... loving my wife and my amazing little boy.... and then trying to improve some of the websites: Like MyDiving Life.

That's why today, I want to thank you guys for your dedication to MyDivinglife.

Also I want to apologize if sometimes things seem delayed ... or the changes are 2 fast.....

Until 1 month ago, it was only me working on this, and now thanks to the help of an "amazing new mate" (in the aussie way) from Canada, I can improve the sites to give you guys a better service.

So thank you again, for sharing, for giving us the first year of MyDivinglife and for more than 1700 blogs and stories posted.

I Believe that life is short and sometimes simply impossible to understand, that's why we dive, to go back to the start... to the peace... to the silence... and to that huge need to share how much we love dreaming underwater.

No blogs from me. I've been high (no, not that kind of high) and dry since July 3rd thanks to a summer cold I caught, most likely imported by one of our many visitors. Guess you have to take the bad with the good. At least I was able to get a few more episodes of my "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill" cable TV show completed and write half a dozen of my weekly newspaper columns.

Had thought of going out on the King Neptune this AM, but I called the shop and it was just a group going out to play... no real customers. Gave me an unexpected "free" day, which I'm spending here and in my storage unit clearing out the accumulated crappola. The King Neptune is going out Thursday through at least Sunday so I'll have plenty of diving coming up to keep my gills moistened.

Day 3 rolled around and once again and it was simply a repeat of the 2 previous days~ breakfast, get your gear on, jump in the water... Unfortunately, the Captain informed us that we weren't diving the scheduled site at San Miguel because the swells and current were not suitable for diving, so he'd gotten up early and motored us back to Santa Cruz.. It was disappointing, but it was his judgement call and he made what he thought was the safest decision for everyone, so no problem..  The first dive was in the kelp- fortunately it wasn't one of the thicker kelp forests again- so it was a decent dive. It was here that I noticed the massive flat sheets of rock, broken and cracked like puzzle pieces.. The floor obviously was all rock at one time out there but I (assume) an earthquake or something caused the ground & shift broke the floor up.. It was actually fascinating because you could follow these sheets of rock all along and see how the edges fit against the edges of the next sheet of rock. When it was time to head up and back in, there were about 8 people hanging on the line... I guess after 3 days of diving and then being in 80something ft of water, we were all bound to incur a minute or 20 of deco.. *sigh*   NO, I didn't have the 20 min time-- I only had 1 min because I couldn't get past the other divers who were heading up the line ahead of me... Even Ray was hanging on the line:

So, I surfaced right before my buddy and then moved off to the side to get away from the kelp (as you can see in the pic..).. My buddy decided to not ascend all the way and swim under the kelp, without telling me (the jerk).. so I swam in behind Ray and we swam halfway to China to avoid the kelp.. Finally got back on the boat... whew, I was pooped.. Dive 2 was a little better- they moved us again to a reefier spot, which I liked.. I acquired 2 little buddies- a little bass and a Spanish Shawl... Silly little fish followed me everywhere and when I'd turn my head to look at it, we were eye to eye.. I couldn't help but laugh..

The shawl was larger than any of the ones I've seen locally, and I don't know if they can see or hear, but it was very aware of my presence..

Other pics of the Shawl, etc are on this page....

http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c283/SoCalDiveGirl/Channel%20Islands/

After that dive, it was lunch time (steak Caesar salad & some pasta)... but someone ran into the galley and whispered something to a couple of people-- those people jumped up and rushed out.. Ummm... We just went on eating, but we knew something was going on....People were getting glasses of water, towels, and running up to the upper deck and someone was hurriedly grabbing one of our diver's gear and getting it all together, packing it in the gear bag, telling people to not touch the rebreather equipment (we had 3 rebreather dives on board)...  We were told by the Captain to pack up all of our gear now to make some space for the Med-Evac unit..   uh oh...  Of course, one of the first things you learn in EFR, Rescue, etc is not to speculate on what happened... but people are people after all and will try to figure out what happened. I don't think anyone does that maliciously~ I believe they just want to try to help by adding some insight or knowledge on what they already know has happened.. The word going around was O2 Tox hit, from the alleged symptoms.. but people quietly packed their stuff up and we all knew the trip was over even though we had 2 more dives to do.. Nobody seemed to mind- both out of concern for the diver and from a tiring 3 day dive trip..  Med-Evac was called off but the Captain had that boat practically flying back to Santa Barbara, and the diver was taken to the hospital swiftly after arrival into SB harbor.

Well.. all in all, it was a good trip.. It had it's ups and downs, but I didn't get sick at all (not even a hint of seasickness.. I think I felt better than most other people, heh!).. no lost gear... Well, I take that back-- I DID rip my neck seal.. grrrrr!!!!  But I had a spare so no harm, no foul..  I did expect the Channel Islands to be nicer with bluer water, but apparently the current and swells were making the water a little messy...  The boat was nice, good food, good crew, clean bathrooms & showers that had hot water.. So, that's my first live-aboard in a nutshell.  Would I do it again?  You know it  ;-)

http://www.truthaquatics.com/aboutus.htm    

I've decided to break this entry into 3 parts since the dive trip consisted of diving at 2 separate islands (it would've been 3, however the ocean was not cooperative around San Miguel so we had to dive Santa Cruz again). My dive shop chartered the Conception (http://www.truthaquatics.com/conception_news.html ) and we had a full house, with the exception of one person who couldn't make the trip.. When I arrived (the evening prior to departure), I unhappily realized that my bunk was a LOWER bunk! Forget that, I'm not sleeping in a bottom bunk.. I saw the bunk sleeping assignments and noticed that 7U was empty so I asked Ray if I could swap~ he said ok, so 7U was mine... Unfortunately it was one of the few 3rd level bunks, so I had to climb up to it every time.. lol.. The boat was scheduled to depart at 4am (which is why everyone arrived the evening prior), so by 12-1am, everyone was in bed asleep... except for me. I couldn't sleep at all, so I listened to my Ipod for a while, got up to go to the bathroom (which sucks because the toilets are upstairs), then went back to bed.. I also decided to stick one of the Scopace patches on, just in case I felt queasy later on... Around 3-something am, the boat's engines roared to life and we were off~ first into the harbor, then out to sea... We hit some rough seas immediately after leaving the harbor (I was still awake of course), and things were falling onto the floor, people were nearly rolling out of their bunks (seriously), wood was creaking loudly, the engines sounded like they were straining to get through the water... We were doing some major rocking & rolling~ even though you know you're ok in that big boat, it's still a little scary at times.. People weren't feeling well, plus the hard jarring from the water wouldn't let others sleep, so everyone just started getting up and going to the galley or to get fresh air..    I, on the other hand, felt great ! No seasickness at ALL ~ YAY!! I just snuggled up under my covers, still listening to my Ipod, and dozed on and off until the bunkroom lights came on around 730am.. Scopace is fantastic-- I'd pretty much given up hope to ever be able to dive from a boat again..  And to not feel queasy in THOSE conditions~ woohoo!!  I was pretty much skipping around the boat, grinning like a fool.. then stuffing myself with scrambled eggs & bacon for breakfast.. The swells hadn't calmed down much by the time we got anchored at Santa Cruz, but I think everyone was anxious to get in the water anyway.. Well, thats when my first case of nerves hit me... the captain said it would be a bow entry (as such):

Ok.. that bow is pretty dang high in my opinion.. lol .. But I wasn't about to look like a weenie, so I just took a deep breath and jumped... And I survived... then wondered why I was ever worried in the 1st place.. Somewhere along the line (before entering the water), my camera's diffuser broke so don't be too harsh on my pics, lol..  Most of my pics came out lousy because of the flash/diffuser issue.. many of them have that hideous green tint to them.

The conditions were disappointing on that dive- low vis, strong current, and it was coooold! Nobody else was impressed with that site, so the captain (I think his name was Braden or something like that.. it wasn't Jerry the old captain) moved us to a different site for the next dive... The next 2 dives were awesome!! I was SOOO excited to finally see Tritonia Festivas~ both the white AND the tan ones, woohoo!! They were everywhere~ along with Porters Chromodorids, the way too abundant yellow/orange nudis(3-4 types), Spanish Shawls, San Diego Dorids, Catalina Triophas, Dendronotus albus, Flabellina Pricei, Phidiana hiltoni, Hermissendas, Cadlina luteomarginata, Navanax, and hundreds of mating sea hares. Massive sunflower stars of many colors lined the walls and rocks, along with chestnut cowries, scallops, many varieties of sponges, Blue Ring topsnails, White Spotted Rose anemones (I love those!!!), cup coral everywhere, Cali & warty sea cucumbers, limpets, fish of all types, kelp~~ this site had it all  :-)   Blacksmith, senoritas, sheephead, bass, rockfish, jellies (from egg sized to cantalope sized), tons and tons of fish~ it would take me forever to identify them all..  :(    We stayed at that site for the 3rd & 4th dive of the day, and again, they were nothing short of spectacular- from the vis to the ocean life...

From rebreather divers (see bench on left) to hunters to an OW student, we had quite the mix of divers on board...but everyone seemed to get along pretty well. The hunters bothered me a lot though... so I avoided them as much as possible.. Everytime I'd see a lingcod (below) or some other "nice" game in the water, I'd scare it away and make sure it was out of the area.. lol..

We

headed off to another site for the night dive and to anchor in for the night.. I chose to skip the night dive so I just ate dinner (they served grilled steak & salad, yum!) and took a hot shower... and went to bed.

Morning 2 rolled around, the Captain greeted everyone over the PA system, &  *shrug* the bunkroom lights came on... it was breakfast time.. The aroma of bacon, eggs, & pancakes filled the air.. I decided to stay in bed. *lol* .  I eventually rappelled out of my 3rd level bunk and wandered into the galley for food.. We were now anchored at Santa Cruz for a morning kelp forest dive.. Now, kelp doesn't impress me much but from the surface it looked too pretty to pass up:

Ok, after diving it, I realized that it was only pretty at the surface..lol..  Once I was down there, I remembered how much I disliked kelp... But, besides tons of fish in the kelp there were jellies everywhere!! Tiny jellies- no bigger than one of those little bouncy balls you get for $.50 in a gumball machine, egg sized jellies, bell shaped jellies, and occasionally a bigger one (which was no bigger than a softball)..  It was so surreal, and of course I didn't have my camera (which wasn't working very well anyway since the diffuser was broken).. As much as I loved the jellies, I was cold and ended the dive a little early.. Ditched the drysuit and went to lay down in the area that became my "usual" spot for the rest of the trip-- the upper deck:

My drysuit is on the right (the pink one of course lol), and that's the Captain's sillouhette in the wheelhouse (through the open door).

Here is the interior of the wheelhouse:

My view from the upper deck:

I did 3 more dives that day.. We changed sites right after the (boring) kelp dive and we went to an area called the Eastern Pinnacles (I think), which turned out to be the best dives of the entire trip! I've never seen so much life in one area before~ I don't think anyone wanted to surface from that dive :)  Pinnacles- that's for sure! You'd be cruising along the reef and when you'd look down, there was no more bottom.. I think they said it went to 300 ft, but I didn't want to test it out to see if they were correct... The life on the walls was absolutely amazing~ it almost didn't look real because there was TOO much stuff ! Everybody was impatiently waiting for their SI to end so they could hop back in the water and go back to the Pinnacles... I think I could've stayed out there for a week and not gotten bored (or even seen 1/4 of the pinnacles!)...  After our 4th dive of the day, the Captain moved us to a new site for the night dive~ which turned out to be another kelp dive... so again, I skipped the night dive and just ate, showered, then went to bed.. Stay tuned for Day 3...  ;-)