The sky was overcast when we headed out of Long Beach and only broke up when we arrived back to the mainland. Mike and I were worried that the predicted large swell would make us sick. Lucky for us, conditions seemed less bad than the week before and the Island Time powered through no problem. On the way through the channel we saw a pod of porpoises and two whales breaching!

Dive No: 30
Location: Catalina
Conditions: 6-8 ft swell
Vis: 25-30
Surface Temp: 66
Temp:
Depth: 60 ft
Gear: My own - 7x7 wetsuit with hood, Tusa X-treme split fins, gloves, booties.
Rented from Sports Chalet in Arcadia - BC, Regulator
Weight: Lead 4x2, 2x2 = 8
Tank: AL 80
Starting PSI: 3000
Ending PSI: 1200
Bottom Time:
Total Bottom Time:
Creatures: Arrow Crab, Lobster, Banded Goby, Black Eyed Goby, Garibaldi, Senorita
Dive Buddy: Mike
Dive Group:

Seems like I'm not overweighted but I never can expell enough air to get down. Mike gave me some weights and then I pulled myself along the anchor line till I got to the bottom and we then headed straight out from the boat. Once we got going I realized my compass and computer were both malfunctioning. The compass had cracks and once we got to depth it promptly got stuck. Good thing, that Mike is great at navigation. The computer suddenly started flashing a low battery notice and zeroed out all my dive info. We continued the dive but I was frustrated since I was hoping to get some time in on my navigation and for once having my own dive info. I suppose we could have aborted but since we were only down really to about 30 feet we decided to continue. Every once in a while, Mike would flash me his instruments. However, 2/3 of the way through the dive I started having a lot of trouble staying down. We both tried to dump my valve but nothing was coming out. I ended the dive hugging kelp at 15 ft while Mike swam around for 15 minutes. We then ascended together.

Dive No: 31
Location: Catalina
Conditions: 6-8 ft swell
Vis: 25-30
Surface Temp: 66
Temp:
Depth: 60 ft
Gear: My own - 7x7 wetsuit with hood, Tusa X-treme split fins, gloves, booties, watch.
Rented from Sports Chalet in Arcadia - BC, Regulator
Weight: Lead 4x2, 3x2 = 14
Tank: AL 80
Starting PSI: 3000
Ending PSI: 600
Bottom Time:
Total Bottom Time:
Creatures: Giant Black Sea Bass, Opaleye
Dive Buddy: Mike
Dive Group:

I swim so slow so I kept trying to get my buddy to chill out on this dive. We almost lost each other at one point, but luckily were able to meet up underwater. We saw a giant black sea bass, but weren't fast enough to keep up with that ghost. I remembered seeing two little points at the far end of the cove and felt the current tugging around in a different direction. I was pretty sure we over shot the boat by quite a lot, so I grabbed his fin and asked him to turn around. As we were signaling each other we floated up to the surface, perfect for taking our bearings and going down again. My weight felt better but I still had some trouble at the last 10 feet or so on ascent with a near empty tank. I have discovered that I don't like aluminum tanks at all.

The Sports Chalet in Arcadia refunded money for the entire scuba rental after I told them about my gauge troubles, so that's a plus for their customer service. Since my buddy had a Hero camera, we were able to watch videos of our entire dives when we got home. He was surprised he touched the bottom with his hand so much and I looked like a total runaway hot air balloon as I was holding onto the kelp for dear life. We did get the tail of the bass though and a shot of the whale breaching! Unfortunately, I am off scuba till my doctor gives me the ok to dive. Hopefully that will be soon.