Scuba Fun

I have finally finished my dives to become an advanced open water diver! Our last two dives were a lot of fun and I'm glad to finally be finished with my advanced diving!

On December 21 - Nick, Jesse, and I traveled to Catalina Island with our instructors Karen and Donna for 2 great dives.
Here's a picture of long beach on our way out of the harbor while traveling to Catalina Island. It was such a clear and beautiful day, you can see the mountains in the background. I did not catch pictures, but there were a ton of dolphins out playing in the waves on both the trip there and back.
Casino point. This was a happening dance hall with huge parties during prohibition times because people could drink aboard the boat on the way over to Catalina and then party at Casino Point. They still have shows and concerts at here plus a big party for New Year's.
This is one of my favorite images of Avalon, the town we often go to for diving and where we spent our honeymoon.

This is the famous Garibaldi - a damselfish that populates the southern california waters and is quite tame to divers. It's a protected fish so they are in abundance and will come right up to you.
Some neat looking aquatic growth - not sure if it's a fern or coral-type creature, but I thought it was beautiful.
A young sheephead fish who hasn't quite developed all his adult color.
Can you spot the California kelp fish here among the kelp?
A sea cucumber, also known as a sea slug. They are one of my favorite underwater creatures. Not sure why I like them so much but they are neat looking. The picture does not do them justice.

Here's an octupus with a bunch of blue banded goby fish. They are very vibrant in the water - bright blue and orange.
Another picture of the octopus - they are really neat to see underwater and great to find hiding in various spots while diving.

In here there's another Octopus hiding.

In the middle is Nick and off to the side is Jesse.

Second, Jesse and I did our search and recovery dive to find the Jacques Costeau plaque underwater and practice bringing and item into shore with a lift bag. We did well and it was fun. During the first dive I got very cold, but luckily for me on the second dive I somehow stayed warmer.

My last advanced dive took place last Saturday morning (1/17/09) at Reef Point in Crystal Cove to do a fish ID dive. There were soooo many fish in the sandy, rocky reefs off the coast there and it was a fun dive just to look around and enjoy what I find underwater. Hopefully Nick and I will have many more dives ahead for me to blog about.