1st Ocean Dives - WOW

Vegas · 06-04-2007, 07:56 PM

I don't even know where to start! and I am REALLY going to try to Not write a breath by breath novel!

We went out to the Santa Barbara Islands on the Sundiver. WOW.
1st dive was at a site called Black Caverns. dove to about 100', about 56 degrees, over 30' vis, and so much to see I was SPEACHLESS when I got back on the boat. All the fish! more brittle-stars before me than in the night sky...and all the, all the, ....oh my gosh...all the EVERYTHING! WOW.

Second dive was near the kelp forest. AMAZING. A couple of curious see lions hung around us the whole time, My instructor brought his (DPV) scooter, too (now That's FUN!). One Sea Lion seemed determined to stay the focus of my attention - when I would look at my compass he would come and blow bubbles in my face til I was paying attention to him again! -- and the Bat Rays! Wow! I really didn't realize they could be so BIG! The first one I saw was HUGE, and rose up out of the sand like a phoenix from the ashes! I got to study a Horned shark up close too, he just sat there and let me look him over for several minutes before he decided he'd had enough and swam away. WOW.

Dives 3 and 4 were at the Sea Lion Rookery. HUNDREDS of Sea Lions! More bat rays and horned sharks, and this time we swam through the Kelp forests. Unbelievable! I look at that stuff from the surface and just think "yuck", but down in it? I could not believe how many kinds of fish and things were in there!

...and the Sea Lions! What comedians! Like Giant underwater Ferrets only smarter! blowing bubbles at us, imitating us, dancing and playing! I have several funny stories of all their antics - but Like I said, I am trying not to write a novel - LOL!

there was very little to complain about - big swells on the way out and at our first location had a couple folks heaving over the side (thank God for creating Dramamine!!) and I chucked-up about one saltine cracker through my reg after descending at our second site (a very unremarkable experience, considering I had been so afraid of it!), but the sea got calmer and so did my stomache as the day went on.

by our last dive there was a pretty tough surge that came up, but other than having a bit of fear that I might get swept into a rock covered with urchins and become a human pin-cushion, it really wasn't a big deal either.

I have to say that the boat was great and the Crew was FANTASTIC!
...my only disappointments?

1. That today i have to be back at work instead of back in the ocean...and

2. That words cannot even begin to do justice to the experience.

MgicTwnger · 06-04-2007, 08:02 PM

That did it, you're hooked.
Glad you had a good & safe time.

Scuba Mama · 06-04-2007, 08:23 PM

The big blue is cool, I have loved each of my trips out. You are hooked. Are you going to work on becoming a MasterDiver?

Vegas · 06-04-2007, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba Mama

The big blue is cool, I have loved each of my trips out. You are hooked. Are you going to work on becoming a MasterDiver?

Yes....completely hooked!

MasterDiver? oh, yes......

Definitely going to work on that.

Dragon · 06-05-2007, 01:55 AM

Yep, sounds like you have it bad.................but that's a good thing right?

MgicTwnger · 06-05-2007, 02:46 AM

Don't rush things. C-cards do not make a good diver, Training + experience + attitude do.

ilovefood · 07-22-2007, 02:29 AM

Wow that sounded like a really fun dive you did.
I guess it was a sunny day when you did that?
I'd like to share a bit of my 1st ocean dive which I just finished three hours ago in BC, Canada.
Man, it was a rainy and cloudy day, and the water was cold.
The visibility was really poor as well, we couldn't see further than approx. 2 metres (about 6 ft).
I was also not comfortable with my contact lenses.
I'm exhausted now, and I'm going for my third and fourth dives tomorrow.
Anyhow, that wasn't a really encouraging experience for me, and to be honest, I'm not too excited for tomorrow's dives.
It most likely to rain as well tomorrow, with 90% of POP... .

Hope I'll find it more exciting.

MgicTwnger · 07-22-2007, 09:14 PM

C'mon down here, it sounds like you're already trained for lake Michigan.

ilovefood · 07-23-2007, 05:46 AM

Haha, so does Lake Michigan have very poor visibility, too?
So I guess people go there just for the sake of practising or getting used to scuba diving?

I went for my 3rd and 4th dives today, they were slightly better than my 1st and 2nd ones, cus it wasn't raining today.
We were having a hard time just to meet up on the bottom on the lake because of the poor visibility, and mostly because most of us were beginner, it was hard for us to go down altogether at the same place.

We saw some starfish (sea stars) down at the bottom, however some of them had more than five arms, what are they?

MgicTwnger · 07-23-2007, 09:53 AM

Yep, lake M often has poor viz, but we dive there for some of the best wreck diving in the world.