Drysuit Certification Dive

Dive Site: Big Geiger Catalina

Dive Date: 2009-01-24

Dive Number: 90

Start Time: 12:47

Dive Buddy: Julia (Instructor)

Bottom Time: :42

Max Depth: 62 ft

Water Temperature: 57 F

Water Visibility: 20-25 ft

Dive Type: Boat-Express Divers

Difficulty Level: Easy

This was my third dive of the day after my two drysuit certification dives. It was much nicer diving a drysuit than diving a wetsuit since the water was very cold. The first two dives, my buoyancy wasn't that great since I was learning how to control it in a drysuit. This dive was a lot better than the first two. I kept my feet low so I did not get any air in my feet and I was able to correct with the exaust valve which was tricky at first.

During the dive, we saw a school of Blacksmith and two birds swooping down as deep as 30 feet to catch some of them. I didn't know they could go that deep. At first I was thinking, what kind of fish looks like a bird? We also saw sheephead, typical girabaldi, and opali.




Near the end of the dive, I was starting to get cold since my insulation wasn't that great and I was wearing cotton sweats which were ok for no more than two instructional dives in 25 feet of water for 25 minutes not for 3 dives in 40-60 feet of water for 40 minutes each. We did our safty stop and ascended. There was a lot of kelp separating us and the boat. It was a little difficult swimming back to the boat.

The boat that we went on to Catalina was the Sun Diver Express in Long Beach. The boat left to go to Catalina at 7am. We did 3 Dives and returned at around 3pm, which is much better than going on the slower boats.

Mala Pier Lahaina Maui

Back in 2006 I went on a 7 day cruise around the Islands of Hawaii. I dove in Kauai, Kona, and Lahaina on Maui. One of my favorite sites on the trip was Mala Pier, which is an old sugar cane peir which collapsed in a hurricaine 50 years ago. It was a beautiful dive as we swam through the wreckage. We saw tons of sea turtles about 6 feet in length. I regret not bringing my camera with me on those dives in Lahaina since I missed a lot of good pictures. Here are some videos that I found off of Youtube of the dive site. I thank the owners of those videos for uploading for me to share with you what my dive was like.

Catalina 1-17-2009

Dive Site: Land's End Catalina Island
Dive Date: 2009-01-17
Dive Number: 85
Start Time: 10:35
Dive Buddy: Alberto
Bottom Time: :35
Max Depth: 70 ft
Water Temperature: 55 F
Water Visibility: 15-20 ft
Dive Type: Boat
Difficulty Level: Advanced

Our first dive of the day was on the west end of Catalina Island. There was a slight current so we headed towards the front of the boat to descend to around 70 Feet and went in that direction. The water was cold for me at that dept since I had a 7 mil wetsuit. Alberto was wearing a drysuit so he was more comfortable. I will be getting my drysuit cert next week and am looking forward to it. It got warmer as we ascended to a shallower dept. I took several pictures while diving. Alberto spotted a 6 foot Blue Shark, but when he gave me the signal, it was already long gone. Here is what a Blue Shark looks like.

There was also a lot of surge when we did our 15 foot 3 min safty stop that we could not stay at 15 feet. The surge rolled me over to the other side of a rock so I swam to the other side and grabbed hold to some kelp maintain my dept. We ascended near bow side of the boat and swam back to the ladder. A lot of divers on the boat ascended behind the boat because of the current. Towards the end of the dive my camera did not seem to be functioning correctly. When I got on the boat, I discovered that the housing had water in it and the camera was not working properly. I was able to upload them to my computer when I got home and the camera seemed to be working fine then.