Friday, January 21, 2011

Scuba Diving Catalina Island



     Back in October, before the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I, along with 3 of my good friends jumped on a boat and sailed 25 miles west off the California Coast to a little island called Santa Catalina. This was the place where we would complete our last two required dives under the supervision of our instructor before becoming certified open water divers.  Words alone cannot describe what that experience was like.  Luckily, one of the guys (who has been diving for many years) brought a camera along to document our adventure.  The visibility here was so much better than our first dive at Shaw's Cove, Laguna Beach.  Take a look and you'll see why this place is a diver's paradise.

The Garibaldi. Our very territorial State fish

A pic of me with our gracious hosts.

The sunlight shining throught the kelp looked really cool.

Just hangin' out 45' below the surface.


Everything is A-OK
Weightless. If only for a moment.
Going through some survival drills.
Greetings From The Pacific
Extreme Close-up

     As a new diver, these winter months seem endless.  The waters off of our coast are far too cold to dive comfortably this time of year leaving us only one option... Wait.  We have to wait for warmer weather and warmer waters. Until then, we talk about diving, we share pictures and stories with friends...........And we wait...............And wait... 

11 comments:

  1. Those are fantastic pictures. I've never had much interest in diving....now I'm beginning to wonder.

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  2. Awesome photos! I'd love to do some scuba diving but I'm afraid I am not a very good swimmer. I might try snorkelling one day.

    Glad to see you again in the blogosphere. Cheers! - G

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  3. Jerry, It is not at all how I expected it to be. Such an amazing experience. I was scared at first but the peaceful easy feeling quickly takes over.

    Rodney, Definitely to be continued. Thanks for being at the right place at the right time to catch such amazing images.

    G, as you can see from one of those pics, I was sitting there weightless without putting forth any effort. Let the equipment work for you. Being a strong swimmer is good but not entirely neccessary. If you want to try it don't let that be the reason you don't do it. Take the risk, it's well worth it.

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  4. Hey!! Welcome back!! Missed your posts. I think you would enjoy the book, SHADOW DIVERS by Robert Kurston. The movie is due out in 2012. Have you read it?

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  5. Donna B. I have not read the book. You mentioned it once before and it is on my list of books to read. It's good to hear from you.

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  6. What super cool pics!! Though I did hold my breath the entire time I was scrollin! I to do it again and go slower and breathe the second time! =0)

    These are just great! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Ditto, Welcome back!

    And I adore this post. I can no longer dive since an ear blew up. I remain on the top, imprisoned in my snorkling vest and longing to be on the bottom picking fossilized shark teeth out of the sand. Oh I am absolutely GREEN with envy. I'll be returning to keep going under again through your photos :}

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  8. Entre Nous,

    It's good to hear from you. I'm sorry you are unable to dive. I will continue to post pics for you as they come. Snorkling is not the same but amazing in its own right.

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  9. The pictures says it all ! If one wants some adventure to pour in their dull lives I would strongly recommend (only the swimmers!) to go for Scuba Diving! It's fun fun fun!
    Just a fun test would like to share with you -
    Indiana Jones Quiz
    Show us how much you know about the adventurous archaeologist.
    http://www.3smartcubes.com/pages/tests/indiana_jones/indiana_jones_instructions.asp

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  10. Hi there. I really appreciate the points you made. I don’t think I’ve actually thought about it in that way. I can really appreciate how you approached the subject matter and what you said really gave me a new perspective. Thanks for taking the time to write this all out.

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