Newbie diver in town for a visit

[Turbo][]

Jan, Is it still at the King's Fish rest at 7:30am on Sat? If so, I am inviting myself. I need to test out my $450 EWA-Marine "bag" in my $4500+ camera. LOL God I hope it doesn't flood.

Let me know if that is still the same spot for meet up.

 

[Willie]

I will be diving locally here in Laguna on Saturday if you want to join us. http://www.southcoastdivers.com

Thanks for the info. I believe I will join you instead of doing a boat dive. Looking forward to it. I think I will have to rent a car, but shouldnt be a problem. I am going to try and get one dive in there with the group Friday morning as well. If I can find some tanks/weights before everyone else finishes.

Willie

 

[Narcd_dvr]

Hey willie,
South Coast divers group goes diving twice on weekdays and every weekend, weather permitting and they welcome newbies and out-of-towners. On weekends, the group usually meets every 7:15am at a restaurant somewhere in Laguna beach. If I get this wrong, I'm sure someone on this board will correct me Another website worth looking into is http://www.divebums.com/main.html. If you need a dive buddy, just post a message there.
Enjoy your stay in California.

 

[Willie]

I will be diving locally here in Laguna on Saturday if you want to join us. http://www.southcoastdivers.com

I tried to rendevous with these guys this morning. Finally got there at 7:45 and all I found was a white suburban with a www.southcoastdivers.com decal. Waited for awhile and decided I had missed them.

So I drove over to Crescent Cove N and hung around until some divers arrived. It turned out to be an instructor, a DM, AOW and rescue students. The instructor, Wayne, said it was fine to tag along, so I did.

The dive today wasnt as good as yesterday, stayed on the sand a lot due to class stuff. Still good to get the dive in and I managed entry and exit without falling.

I only took 5 picts today, but I added them to the ones from yesterday.

Congratulations to Carlos who got OW certified today. I believe 2 or 3 also finished rescue. Thanks to Wayne for letting me tag along.

Willie

 

[Narcd_dvr]

Congrats on your first pacific dive. BTW, SCD group normally meets around 7:15 and by 7:30 they head out.

 

[Willie]

I did two dives today at La Jolla Shores, with a brief time in the canyon on each dive. It was quite nice.

On the first dive I went out with Greg who was suiting up a couple of cars from me. We did a lengthy (for me anyway) surface swim out right in front of the main lifeguard tower. We dropped down just short of the canyon at 9:51 am. We continued down the canyon wall to 91' and then began making our way north and slowly making our way up. Then headed back due east and continued to around 20' before coming up for the swim in.

Vis on this dive was 5' for the first 10' and then less for about another 10' and then around 25' we dropped into much better vis -- 25-30' I would estimate. Temp was 59f shallow and 53f at 80'. Max depth was 90', divetime was :42.

Picked up a new buddy and we did an even longer surface swim further south and at 3:22 pm we dropped down to 88' right into the canyon and swam over to the wall.

Once again vis was about 5' for the first 10' and then it was very murky with 2' vis until we dropped into a beautiful layer. You could feel a definite thermocline and vis was 35' I estimate. I didnt look at my gauge right at the the time, but I estimate the thermocline to be at around 50-60'. Max depth was 88' and divetime was :43.

Loved the dives, but the surf was higher than the previous dives and in the afternoon it was quite choppy. I lost a fin in the surf coming out, but was able to find it. The surface swims were really tough for a fat old man like me. Maybe next time I will do some boat diving.

That will be my last SoCal dive for awhile, but I am looking forward to coming back. Hopefully my son will be certified by then.

Willie

 

[L.A.Dave]

Pasley,

I heard your unit is getting called up. I as just a regular American Citizen and Patriot want to say thank you for your service to our Country.

If I ever meet up with you on a dive boat, I will shake your hand, say thanks again, and buy lunch.

 

[Willie]

I finally got the picts and video posted from the La Jolla shores dives. You will find them here

http://ez.com/diving/SoCal​

Nothing all that spectacular. But it was fun. Looking forward to the next time.

And I am thinking how I can get out to the canyon without exerting so much energy. My SAC on these dives was much higher than normal.

Willie