Dive Blog May 4, 2014 Anacapa Island
Explorer Cabin Sketch by Erica Yeung
Dive Blog May 4, 2014 Anacapa Island
Today’s dive trip to Anacapa Island on the Explorer included new personal records, challenging sites, rescue practice, and as usual, a wonderful experience with divers, crew, and dive-sites alike!
The first dive of the day holds my current deepest dive! 115 feet! At first, I was nervous about the depth, on top of the low visibility and current. But when I found myself comfortable at 85 feet, my anxiety subsided. I was excited to see the plane wreck; unfortunately, the anchor was placed too far to safely reach the wreck. Even though I was a little disappointed, I was still thrilled to have dove so deep without any complications. The excitement didn’t end there; I practiced important rescue skills after.
When we got to the next site, Fish Camp, Luis helped refine our rescue towing skills. It was a nice chance to do some surface swimming and practice my kicks. I noticed that my kicks were too small and frequent, so I ended up wasting energy that I could have used to tow my buddy back to the boat. After successfully saving our victims, we had time to practice our pike dives.
The group didn’t seem to have a problem going under. One person (Ian) was even able to get sand from 25 feet deep. I on the other hand, could barely break the surface. I felt like a Margikarp helplessly splashing around. Thankfully, Luis told me that I needed to bend my top half of my body straight down , lift my legs, then kick. I was able to go down, but still had trouble going deeper than 5 feet. Again, Luis helped my techniques. Since we had to return to the boat after, I didn’t get the chance to practice again. However, I was able to practice another skill during the next dive.
At the same site, we enjoyed the vibrant environment while looking for a shallow area to practice our E.S.A. (Emergency Swimming Ascent). This skill was rather easy to carry out; however, I was shocked to have forgotten how to put on my weight belt while in the water! A basic skill that I seldom used needed to be refreshed.
For our last dive, our group faced the most challenging conditions of the day: surge, current, and low visibility. Also, we briefly discussed how to pull unconscious people out of the water. I need to work on my control because I kept hitting/crashing into other divers or rock formations. I also need to build up my stamina because the current pushed us back and our group had to swim for a long time until we returned to the boat.
Overall, this trip showed me that even though I felt okay with my diving, I have lots of room for improvement. I had lots of fun talking, eating, diving, and sleeping. I am looking forward to more fun diving and skill refining in the near future! Happy diving!
Written by Kristiana Rendon
Illustration by Erica Yeung
