Fundies Tech Pass + Scooter Dives

[Rainer]

This past Sunday, Jen and I hopped aboard the Sundiver Express out to Catalina Island for a day of diving. First dive would be a checkout for Jen's Fundamentals tech pass (she'd originally done the class in a single). GUE instructor Steve Millington would be doing the assessment and I'd be playing teammate. Happy to say everything went well and Jen passed. Congrats!!!

After that, we were free to go play. Steve teamed up with Karen, while Jen and I grabbed scooters. At Fish Count, we spent the start of the dive scootering with several *dozen* bat rays. I'd never seen so many in all my previous dives combined; what a blast. We then made our way closer in to the island, where a dense kelp forest sprang from the shallow reef. This area, similar to the third dive at Fraggle Rock, is just gorgeous. While there wasn't much sun out, what little there was came streaming through the kelp. Lobsters, garibaldis, sheephead, octos, and even a few abalone dotted these shallow kelp reefs. A wonderful day to be out on the water. Thanks Steve and Karen for sharing in the fun! Some video combined from the second two dives:

[vimeo]25109571[/vimeo]

 

[ScubaSam]

Congrats, Jen!!!!!!!!!!

Chris - I enjoy your videos cause I can dive vicariously through your videos. Thanks for posting!!

Was that a sea hare in the beginning of the video?

 

[ligersandtions]

Thanks for posting the video, Chris! The bat rays were way cool! And the vis looked pretty awesome! Wish I could have joined you guys.

And again, HUGE congrats to Jen! Not that it's at all surprising given the amount of time and effort she's put into becoming a very polished diver. Now for some reward dives (in singles ).

 

[Rainer]

Congrats, Jen!!!!!!!!!!

Chris - I enjoy your videos cause I can dive vicariously through your videos. Thanks for posting!!

Was that a sea hare in the beginning of the video?

Yup, a big fat sea hare!

Glad you enjoyed it! Was a fun day indeed.

Thanks for posting the video, Chris! The bat rays were way cool! And the vis looked pretty awesome! Wish I could have joined you guys.

And again, HUGE congrats to Jen! Not that it's at all surprising given the amount of time and effort she's put into becoming a very polished diver. Now for some reward dives (in singles ).

Wish you could have made it, too! We'll just have to settle for getting in a dive together this weekend.

Vis was pretty good...as long as the bat rays weren't messing around in the sand.

 

[ScubaSam]

Yup, a big fat sea hare!

I thought they were nocturnal. The only sea hare I ever saw was during a night dive in Costa Rica and it squirted ink at us. Good stuff!

 

[Rainer]

Sam, are you sure you didn't just try hugging an octopus?

 

[jenth]

It was a GREAT day on the water. Found 5 abalones on the last two dives. I really get excited when I find them.

I had never really worked with Steve as an instructor beforehand (took Fundies recreationally with a different GUE instructor) and I highly recommend him. Everything everyone says about him is true! He really only had to do the one check out dive with me, but I got way more than I expected. It was like another mini class...and while I had already taken Fundies a year and a half ago, I learned a great deal from Steve. He was always very patient and did everything he could to accommodate me and make sure I had the optimal conditions for my checkout dive.

I'll also add that I would highly recommend my path to the Fundies Tech pass. I took Fundies in a single in January 2010, started diving doubles in September...when I did this Tech checkout dive, I had 44 dives in doubles (only the last few were really training/skills dives in the doubles). Way too often, I hear about people jumping into doubles right before taking Fundies (against the advice of other, more seasoned divers)...while I'm sure it isn't impossible to get a Tech pass right off the bat, I doubt it's easy. I think having a solid foundations in singles first is the way to go!

Sam, are you sure you didn't just try hugging an octopus?

I'm with Chris on this one. Do sea hares squirt ink?

 

[TSandM]

Hooray, Jen -- both for your tech pass, AND for what you just said! I spent a bit of time talking to Beto Nava, Susan Bird, and Rob Lee when I was down in Mexico last month. All three were bemoaning the tendency of people to rush into doubles. Get your platform solid in a single tank first, and it makes everything that comes after SO much easier!

 

[gsk3]

Yay! Congrats Jen!! Having seen you dive, however, I'm not in the least surprised :-D

Did you get the tech pass to enable you to take Tech 1, or was it just a goal?

 

[jenth]

Yay! Congrats Jen!! Having seen you dive, however, I'm not in the least surprised :-D

Did you get the tech pass to enable you to take Tech 1, or was it just a goal?

No plans to take Tech 1. I was actually a little reluctant to get into doubles to begin with. For all the local diving we were doing here in SoCal, a single 130 was always plenty of gas. It wasn't until my dive buddies and I were thinking of going to Lobos for some fun scooter dives that I realized I needed more gas (deep, multi-level dives). Once I was stable and competent in doubles, I figured I might as well get the tech endorsement in case I ever want to take Tech 1. Though, honestly, there's so much great recreational diving here that I don't anticipate taking Tech 1 any time soon.