Never say never: a week of firsts in a year of many

[mselenaous]

Never say never because God has a sense of humor. I'd been a warm water diver since 1983, until God laughed :laughing: and I landed in SoCal in 2008. My first year, I took my classes out (with lots of help from the most awesome DM & Instructors I could ever work with), trudged long shore distances in heavy uncomfortable gear with layers of inflexible neoprene (still cold) just to get beat up by the surf all while forcing a smile for my students. After each dive I'd get in my car :crying2: and on the drive home I'd swear I was going to quit my job 'cause I'm too old/cold/tired/out-of-shape, etc. But these wonderful dive pals :cheerleader: kept me here, knowing that if they can do it, someday I could do it too. With my "I shall not be beat" persistence, I've spent most of the past two years tackling surf entries and learning exits. I've come to accept being rolled in sand as routine. I've reconfigured the heavy gear and exposure protection to improve mobility and comfort level, and I've been acclimatizing to the temps. The first year I only dove for "work". As an instructor, if this is all the diving you do, you will sour. So this year I starting doing more dives just for fun and to learn the beautiful sites of SoCal. In addition to the many "firsts" including drysuit, steel plate & steel tanks, Oil Rigs, Yukon, RubyE, Casino Point, Farnsworth Bank, OML in SoCal and Delray Ledge & BHB in SoFL. This year also included deepest (Oil Rigs), coldest (Yukon), and longest dives (BHB). I challenged myself to improve old and learn new skills. I know God is :ROFL: when he sees me in my drysuit.

After so many great reports about Old Marineland (OML/Terrenea resort) I FINALLY got out there (yep long overdue). The reports of the long goat trail hike and rocky entry had me leary. Due to my ancient spinal and ankle injuries, shore entries take their toll. So Wednesday morning the climate was perfect with high tide mid-morning. Kevin and I gear up, hiked down and hit the water at 10:37 am. Glad the former "goat trail" is now a very nice path (next time I'll consider a wheeled gear cart). My balance isn't the best for rock entries. Locals call this "pebble" beach but to me they are boulders. Once I was calf deep I dropped and crawled until I could just float out and round the rocks. The vis on the long swim out to Long Point was clear enough to read a newspaper from the surface. We chose to swim along the bottom rather than surface. Vis dropped to 15+ at the reef. Rocks were pretty with all the purple urchins. Kevin is my good luck charm for seeing batrays and sure enough I was touching distance from one that was my size in length and wingspan. I played with an octopus and had a great time watching the usual cast of local characters. Toward the end Kevin was having bouyancy issues (due to forgotten weight belt and make-shift weighting with my spares). The rock exit and steep incline were interesting making me wish I had some mountain climbing gear and training. Remember, I'm a Floridian where the shores are flat and the highest inland peeks are Mounts Crapatoa and Trashmore (landfills). Again, balance in heavy gear is required to scale this "mountain side" and I'm glad I have kevlar knee pads (God chuckles in the background). I eventually got to where I could stand with firm footing and Kevin's help. WOW as physically challenging as the site is, the diving itself was easy and beautiful. I finally was NOT COLD at 59 deg. in my new custom wetsuit and various neoprene layers. I DID IT! And am looking forward to going back when I find a dive sherpa/pack mule and a post-dive masseuse.

Yesterday, I went out on the Great Escape for a 4-tank trip around the Palos Verde Peninsula. The Great Escape lived up to it's reputation for a well run trip. Capt. Tim at the wheel, Kendall in the galley, Jerry DM'ing the platform, and Capt. Tom running the deck. The amount of personal attention from the perpetually smiling Capt. Tom was amazing, like having my own personal DM yet he was this helpful with every diver. Even after no sleep for 30+ hrs, he whistled while he worked filling tanks. We had boarded the night before while Capt. Tim slept, Capt. Tom greeted all and did his watch. He even geared up and jumped in to rescue the tangled anchor chain from the wreck when Jerry wasn't able to free it. I'm nominating Capt. Tom for 2010 DM of the Year! End Hijack.

In all my years of saying never , I thought I would never enjoy myself on what I previously would have call "crappy low-vis cold dark" dives. I had the priveledge once again of diving with one of my fav and most patient SoCal dive mentors, Greg Cooke. Greg has 1000+ all SoCal rec & tech dives and 14000+ hrs commercial diving (the boy just likes to be in the water ALL the time :diver. He has been along on all of my SoCal wreck dives, most of my 16 drysuit dives, and has helped drag my crawling carcass out thru surf plenty of times . Gearing up at 5am :shocked2God wonders and I am convinced I must be crazy), we jumped in for a 5:30am night dive on the wreck of the Avalon. It was like diving cold pea soup in a blender (dark, cold, silty, very surgy, very poor vis). I kept recalling all my night dives on the Benwood in Key Largo: warm calm and so clear you could still see the moon while 40ft deep. But yet what would have creeped me out enough to thumb a dive in the past, I now took as a learning opportunity to work on drysuit bouyancy and "Helen Keller" diving skills, etc. God are you listening? I was having FUN.

We completed 3 more dives along the PV peninsula in similar poor vis milky conditions where I worked on bouyancy and drysuit control, trim, kicks, and navigation. BTW, "Dry" suit is a misnomer. The final dive was the reef just a bit further offshore from the OML/Long Point site I had visited just 4 days earlier. On the ride back to the dock I could see a snow covered Mt. Baldy. It was a long exhausting oddly rewarding fun day. At every turn God snickers as he boggles my preconceived perspectives of life, love, people, places, diving, and fun.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Don't forget, Greg is from Buffalo, so this is tropical diving for him.

 

[mselenaous]

'Splains alot...

 

[FrankPro1]

You've accomplished quite a bit this year Elena! As with most challenging endeavors, persistence is key. Glad you stuck it out and are now enjoying yourself. What other sites did you dive on your PV boat trip? Once I get a boat, we will have to go out to Christmas Tree, Honeymoon and Neptune's cove. The hike/entry for these spots are extremely difficult when compared to Marineland, so I won't even try to talk you into shore diving them. But any SoCal diver needs to experience them at some point. I've been more diligent in keeping my eye on Craig's list and ebay for a cheap zodiac, so it might not be too much longer now.

 

[mselenaous]

Thanks for the offer Frank. I saw the goat trail for Cardiac Hill :dropmouth:from the GE . I won't say never but definitely unlikely.

If you thought you were spending $$ on scuba gear? Wait 'til you have a boat...$$$$$$$ :lol:

 

[HisLovelyBride]

I am so glad to hear that you are beginning to enjoy this underwater world of California. Sure warm water has its merits, but we have amazing dive sites right here in SoCal! When money allows, we are happy to don 3ml suits and dive warm, but I have come to love our kelp, garibaldi, and abundant life here in California. Power Rangers Rule!

 

[NETim]

If you want to hear God laugh, just tell him your plans.

 

[TSandM]

I really enjoyed reading this, for several reasons. One is to share your joyfulness in learning to see the good side of pea-soup Braille diving (which I had to learn early, since it was the diving I got certified in!) But another is to enjoy hearing that there are other people out there for whom entries and exits are major challenges, and who have had to be helped and/or rescued out of surf and rocks. I was enormously embarrassed to have to tell the woman (woman!) I dove with yesterday that I needed her to stay with me on exit, in case I needed balance help on exit. But breaking my face in April taught me that the price of pride is just too high.

Anyway, thank you for sharing that I'm not alone.

 

[NETim]

When I was young and still bulletproof, we'd hit the beach regardless of conditions. (Surf report? Tide phase? What's that?) By that time in my career I had pretty much acquired the attitude that nothing could harm me in my custom 3/8ths farmer john anyway. Youth!

We loved to dive Moss Point in Laguna Beach. One landing in particular stands apart from the rest.

Beautiful sunny day. Lots o' rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. Pounding surf. Kickin' in hard, trying to time the waves.

One second I was crushed down to within inches of the rocks and the next I was about 6' above them with nothing but clear air between us. Heavily encumbered body surfin' at its finest!

Then I was unceremoniously thrown onto the beach in soggy sand and kelp strands where the rocks were fortunately fewer in number.

It was so much fun.

 

[mselenaous]

Lynne, thank you for all your eduational, insightful and inspirational posts. You've been one of my inspirations to keep this soggy saggy old broad going. Lady Power Rangers unite!

One of my friends fell breaking her wrist at OML last year. I am no longer shy about telling all buddies I WILL need help (even the ladies) and I have learned sooo much from them. They are my fearless heros.

I tell (and sometimes show) my students that if you shore dive, some day sooner or later you will get washing machined, that sand in every possible orifice is a way of life - just accept it, don't hesistate to ask for help during an exit, and carefully watch & learn the techniques of divers that have similar body size/physical abilities.

Lynne, please let me know when you come down to SoCal.