No, the suit still fits...

Er, give me a hand, will ya?

Odd... Every time I'm ready to describe an action shot, I feel a crusty British accent rise up (right behind the phlegm as I describe my time with the Regiment in Tunisia). Okay, no time spent in Tunisia, but plenty of phlegm after a dive off San Miguel Island in the Channel Island chain.

Got there on the "Truth," the lead boat of the "Truth Aquatics" boats out of Santa Barbara harbor. The other boats are the "Vision" and "Conception."

The Truth Fleet

Picture courtesy Truth Aquatics

Hard to beat their own picture, so I'm borrowing it. Thanks, guys (and gals). The Santa Barbara Harbor is a beautiful place, complete with grunion invasions and a long pier for romantic walks in the moonlight.

Why We Do It

It's not just an icon, it's a philosophy...

Jenny and I have been diving for about five years. You'd figure after a while we'd get all wrinkly and come to the surface and dry out, but no. We got really, really big tanks and we've been diving the whole five years...

Right. So... We took a private class together and earned our PADI Open Water certification in the summer of 2000 (19 July). Shortly after, we pushed to get Advanced Open Water (05 August), then we got our butts kicked in our Rescue Diver class (22 Oct). Along with Rescue Diver, we made sure we knew PADI and DAN Oxygen First Aid, as well as Red Cross First Aid and CPR.

My interest went way back: diving was the closest I was ever going to get to space walking. With good buoyancy control, it's kinda like a zero-g environment and shared a certain vibe with astronauts. Heck, astronauts even train in a giant pool at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (part of the Johnson Space Center).
...My first steps toward being an aquanaut were way back in college - I took a NAUI class and passed the test... but scheduling messed up my chance to complete the qualifying dive. This left me high and dry until Jenny and I got together.

Jenny's approach was a little different. Her first experience was in her dad's backyard pool. Richard was a long-time diver and often used his tanks in the most glamorous fashion: cleaning his pool. One fateful summer, Jenny came for a visit and had a chance to scrub the bottom for a few hours. After the sound of the bubbles, the neutral buoyancy, the whole atmosphere of the experience, she was hooked. When she met me, she finally found somebody that was just as ready as she was to take the plunge.

The rest is history...

Me and my dive buddy

...Actually made the front of an anniversary card.

Jen and me. Pretty sure this was taken by Santa Rosa Island (and I wish I could remember who actually took the shot... but alas, the photographer credit has been carried away with the current). We're at about 30 feet in the pic, enough light to see, but not so much current that we're carried away.

It was THIS BIG!

Photo by Jenny

Size of a crab, including legs. No kidding. I think he still had parts of a hull stuck in his pincers. He requested no pictures so we're respecting his right to privacy (that... and we have an old, used and abused u/w camera and all the shots came out blurry).

In the background is one lonely stalk of kelp. I had to fit in at least one stalk - SoCal diving has world class kelp forests. Maybe not the color you'll find in Cays, and yes, we're wearing 7mm suits, but diving the kelp is like a trip to a fantasy world. No Disney here, though... if you don't pay attention, you pay dearly.