Down Memory Lane!

[Papa Bear]

Memory Lane isn't so bad, I now wish I would have taken more pictures through the years! Now that we have gone digital there is no excuse for you guys not to have cool pictures 30 years from today!

Divers Cove in the Summer of 1973!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_2_Divers_Cove_1974.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Glen Millers Dog Max on the Bow of the Emerald out of Santa Barbra California in 1973!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/480_2_Max_on_the_Bow_of_the_Emerald_1973.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Glen went on to build a Dive boat "The Coral Sea" from the keel up. A dive boat designed by a diver for divers. He was inspired by hes good friend and fellow treasures hunter Mel Fisher. He and Mel had found a wreck from the 1849 era that had wrecked on Anacapa island during a storm. Glen, who's Son married Hal Roach's grand Daughter, did some early underwater filming of the salvage of the treasure from the wreck and was one of the reasons Mel Fisher got the treasure bug.

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/432_Coral_Sea_75.jpg

[Sarah]

So where is the Coral Sea now?

[Papa Bear]

It is the Santa Barbra maritime museum whale watching boat! Glen flew his helicopter into the steel cable that goes across the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry! The passengers family sued and the estate had to sell it at auction to satisfy the judgment! The dive community lost not only a great guy, but a wonderful dive boat! It was decorated by the Navy for helping a Navy Sub in the open sea!

[acelockco]

Unfortunately in America the entire country wants to take everyone else to court.

Anyway, keep posting the pics, I love them.

And you are 100% on the money with no excuse to take more photos. The funny thing is I always have the camera with me but I don't actually take many photos. I will make an effort to snap more photos, thanks for the inspiration.

[Papa Bear]

This was Glen Millers first boat the Emerald out of Santa Barbra California! On this boat I stepped of the back at Santa Cruz Island to become a Diver!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_3_Emerald_at_the_dock_1973.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Unfortunately in America the entire country wants to take everyone else to court.

Anyway, keep posting the pics, I love them.

And you are 100% on the money with no excuse to take more photos. The funny thing is I always have the camera with me but I don't actually take many photos. I will make an effort to snap more photos, thanks for the inspiration.

Ace, it was said that they found TCP in his system!:eek: So although I doubt he was doing it and flying it was in his system!

[thalassamania]

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57132&size=large
Ron Roth and Lloyd Austin at Pt.Lobos cr. 1968

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57133&size=large
Pt. Lobos cr. 1968

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57145&size=large
Jim Davis, early 1970s

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57172&size=large
Lloyd Austin 1975

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57169&size=large
Hank Hicks 1975

[Papa Bear]

Santa Cruz Island maybe the best all around diving in Southern California! It is pristine and wild.... It is the where you can see a Mako and a Great White on the same day! The Sea Lions are plentiful and friendly and the bottom can be a carpet of Starfish! This place even on the old Emerald hooked me on diving!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_3_back_deck_of_the_Emerald_Santa_Cruz_1973.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Painted Cave is the second largest Sea Cave on the west coast! It is big enough to pull the boat into it completely, which was done anytime we were close to it! But then again Glen was a risk taker!
http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/456_2_painted_cave_santa_cruz_1973.jpg

At one point in my diving history I was going out on the Emerald at least once a month! But then Gas was 33.9 per gallon!:eek:

[Papa Bear]

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57132&size=large
Ron Roth and Lloyd Austin at Pt.Lobos cr. 1968

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57133&size=large
Pt. Lobos cr. 1968

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57145&size=large
Jim Davis, early 1970s

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57172&size=large
Lloyd Austin 1975

http://sites.petenmark.com/packages/photogalleries/getphoto.cfm?photoid=57169&size=large
Hank Hicks 1975

And the Flashes used real flash bulbs!

[Papa Bear]

We were young, oh so young, and we took on the underwater world without Computers, Backup Regulators, or even Air Gages! We went with unbalanced first stages and breathed the tank until it got hard to breath and then you headed up! It is so funny to listen to debts about bringing back 500psi to the boat! On a single 72cubic foot tank you got 45 to 55 minutes as long as you could suck those last couple breaths! Your dive plan was finish your dive shallow!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/456_2_Otto_Ed_and_friends_on_Emrald_1973.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Sorry dup!

[Papa Bear]

We went for the bounty of the sea! We hunted for the biggest and the limit was always expected! It was all there for the taking and we did! We were young and we eat well and so did our buddies and our families!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_2_Monster_lobster_SC_1974.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_2_Monster_lobster_SC_1974.jpg

[Papa Bear]

A 80lb Halibut was not uncommon in the sand at 100ft! Hit it with your spear gun and hold on as it headed for deep water like a run-a-way kit in a hurricane! You held on to your gun and kicked for the surface as hard as you could! It was great eating and we had a rule that you always split your catch with your buddy! Witch set of steaks they got was a hole different story!:rolleyes:

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/339_2_Rick_with_80lb_Halibut_Emerald_SB_1974.jpg

[Papa Bear]

We spent time on the dive deck with the "Modern Compressor" roaring to fill a couple tanks at a time! We brought two so one could be filled while you dived the other an hour or two later you had another full tank! Life was great and we were the only dive boat on the entire island! My buddy lost his dive knife on one trip and we found it a year later in the same spot! Who was going to recover it?


http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/432_Otto_in_wet_suit_Emerald_74.jpg

[acelockco]

Sounds like a dream......


And fuel was only $.89 per gallon so you could spend all day out in the boat.

[Papa Bear]

When Glen launched the new boat the Coral Sea they closed down the streets to the harbor and the High School band marched it to the waters edge in a well planned parade of Santa Barbra's new harbor pride! For us it was like having a new luxury ride to our favorite places! In addition it opened up new areas that we didn't go in the "Old boat" for fear of late returns or worse problems! On one of those trips we did some banks of Santa Rosa Island and brought up huge lobster! This area is considered storm central with average winds at 28mph and you have to be ready to get out of Dodge in quick time in a sturdy boat!

Here we not only found huge lobster, but a 16 foot Great White who swam around us trying to figure out what we were! What we were was willing to risk a lot for hug bugs! The guy behind me in the shot was named Tinny and was 6'-8" tall and the smallest of two other brothers and a sister who was close to his hight! He was from El Central area of California and was going to Cal-Poly under the GI bill...... Tinny was a deputy sheriff in Imperial County until he went into the Army where he became a Nuclear Warhead specialist and was sent to Vietnam to retrieve two warheads that had been shipped to theater by mistake!!!! I am 6'-3" tall and he made me look small, but his heart and spirit were as big as he was!

We spend so little time under the water that our adventures and the people we choice to dive with are among the best treasures of our sport!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/319_Me_Tinny_on_Coral_Sea_75_with_14-5_lobster.jpg

[seasnake]

The hair is awesome .... :)

[Papa Bear]

Good god man it was the 70's! ;) :eek:

[Papa Bear]

Here is a picture from a world famous surf spot called County Line! It is on Pacific coast Hwy on the Venture & L.A. County line...... Out about 3/4 to 1 mile is a reef the shape of a circle and yes we would kick out to it! On the dive on this day we ran into Grey Whales on the way down on the reef! I saw movement in the 30ft viz and it got dark, I looked over and saw something, but couldn't tell my mind to compute what I was seeing! Until I saw the giant bright eye looking at my buddy and me blowing bubbles! She slowed to a stop and eyeballed us to her satisfaction before moving on South! It was a humbling experience that I still describe as wow!

On the way back in from this eventful dive I shot a halibut while we drifted south with the current! I bagged the fish and noticed movement off in the distance, I thought the whale was back, but it was a shark who wanted my fish! And was getting progressively closer to us! I got my buddies attention and we went back to back and pocked at the shark while we worked our way back to shore! We were now in the Kelp bed and it was getting shallower and we were feeling the surge from the surf!

I am sure there is a surfer out there with the reciprocal story about the "Diver who popped up next to him sitting on his board" and said "I don't think this is a good place to dangle your legs"! Well I also scared the crap out of the poor guy coming up right next to him! I saw him jump and explained there was a shark following us! He caught the next wave in and we exited with a nice sized Halibut! Good day after all!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/456_2_Ven_County_line_dive_1973.jpg

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_2_Otto_Me_Malibu_1974.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Look close those are scallops, Abalone, Fish, and whatever we could fined in a can cooked on an open fire! Who says SCUBA is expensive? We eat well and made a number of weekends into inexpensive fun for the whole family! Still as I have said we spend precious little time under and the rest should be a good surface interval with good friends and good company! We camped all along the three California Coasts diving and having a great time on a small budget! We were Collage Students with no budget! :eek: But we never lacked for adventure or the spirit of adventure that is the heart of all divers, just don't let life get in the way of living it!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_3_Cooking_dinner_at_camp_1975.jpg

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_2_Around_the_campfire_Jade_Cove_1973.jpg

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_2_at_the_camp_fire_Jade_Cove_1974.jpg

[Papa Bear]

We not only had the basic gear for SCUBA, but camping as well! I was in the upper crust because I had a camper! A 1965 camper on my 1955 Chevy Pickup! I had bought the camper so I could study between classes while at Cal-Poly so I wouldn't have to commute carrying 22 semester units didn't give me much time between classes and when I did the Student Union was never good for getting work done and you can only spend so much time in the library! So it was the Camper when we could get the gas and the tent when it was tight!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_2_Me_and_my_Chevy_Jade_Cove_1973.jpg

[acelockco]

That is some great stuff!

Really Impressive!

[Papa Bear]

We were never too pinched to have a gather for a dive story our plan the next outing! Many of Otto Gassers students went on to become part of Inland Valley SCUBA Club in Pomona California where non-Cal-Poly divers would join us! Diving was the hub of so many of our lives!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/432_At_Ottos_house_74.jpg

For few dollars for cake mix and My Mother would whip us up one of her famous cakes for all occasions! :D

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/339_2_Otto_and_His_Cake_1973.jpg

[Papa Bear]

This was the Inland Valley SCUBA Clubs president getting a ticket for a short Abalone it clicked on his gage but not on the FG guys gage! Big ticket for a small difference! Busted!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_3_Club_president_gets_ticket_1975.jpg

[Papa Bear]

What a tough life for a University Professor! Dive all morning then have to lecture all afternoon! All on the taxpayers dime:eek: :rolleyes: :p I will say we learned many skills that have stood the test of time!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/320_2_Otto_at_Zuma_Beach_1973.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Before I saved up for my Spear Gun I used an Hawaiian sling and as long as it wasn't too big a fish it worked just fine! You have to watch out for rocks in the back ground if you miss it is hard on the head! We dived the entire length of the coast from Santa Barbra to the Mexican Boarder with Otto honing our skills at diving and hunting! Looking for that surprise Reef, Wreck, or Glory Hole! We were explorers and hunters with the attitude that most people stop short or don't put out the extra effort! So we were taught to be stronger, kick further, dive harder for the extra rewards! Our competition was who could get the most bottom time from a single 72cft Steel tank and scoff at anyone who bought a US Divers Al80! It practically floated when empty and remember we sucked our tanks dry and only had horse collars! So trim was everything and no one liked those new fanged HP Aluminum tanks! We were still debating if "Sea View" gages were safe????? "They could be another possible failure point" I got mine in 1975!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/456_2_Me_wiyh_Hawian_sling_1973.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_2_Divers_Cove_1974.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/360_Me_with_Spear_gun_and_Buddy_Zuma_74.jpg

[Papa Bear]

We all thought Gasser could walk on Fire! He had incredible bottom times on a single 72 and always brought back the limit and owned a Nikonus Camera! It was the first underwater camera built for underwater that I had ever seen and it was way cool! Cool as it was it was way out of a students budget!

Speaking of budgets I have mentioned that Mel Fisher was friends with Glen Miller and that is how I met him in 1973. He was forming his first treasure company and I, our may money I should say, was invited to invest in the hunt for the Attocha! Mel had maps and a great presentation besides his history with Glen and the Anacapa Wreck they had found! So I went to one of my uncles and asked to barrow $5000.00 for a 1% full share! He asked me is it was for school and of course I had to tell the truth and that was the end of that! :eek:

We found out that Otto could walk on fire and many years later Mel found his treasure! The year he died he said to me "If I would have know what it was going to cost me, I would still be in California"! He lost his Son, Daughter-in-law, and best friend when one of his boats anchored above the treasure rolled over in the night trapping and drowning them!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/306_Otto_walks_on_fire_jc_74.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Here was the best classroom at Cal-Poly chalkboard and all we were always ready to learn some dive physics or get the map to the next cool location! Otto's motto was "When you have a good thing going keep your mouth shut!"
What he meant by this was when you find the glory hole don't tell everyone otherwise the next time you go it will all be gone! If you buddied with someone and they took you to their spot you didn't tell anyone or take anyone there without asking the buddy who took you there in the first place!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/432_Ottos_lectues_Pool.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/336_3_Otto_up_from_Divers_Cove_1974.jpg

Divers Cove Laguna California 1974

[PinayDiver]

On the dive on this day we ran into Grey Whales on the way down on the reef! I saw movement in the 30ft viz and it got dark, I looked over and saw something, but couldn't tell my mind to compute what I was seeing! Until I saw the giant bright eye looking at my buddy and me blowing bubbles! She slowed to a stop and eyeballed us to her satisfaction before moving on South! It was a humbling experience that I still describe as wow!

On the way back in from this eventful dive I shot a halibut while we drifted south with the current! I bagged the fish and noticed movement off in the distance, I thought the whale was back, but it was a shark who wanted my fish!


This is one instance where I wouldn't mind a "giant, bright eye looking at...me" :)
Exciting day, no wonder it stands out in your memory.
Scubamagazine has a new genre: flash memories, fleshed out a vignette at a time. Really nice.

[Papa Bear]

Thank you, I will post more if people are interested! Memory lane always brings a smile to my face:D Have a life time of them, and a few scary ones too!:eek:

[Papa Bear]

Next stop points further south and a different Sea! When student divers with no budget want warm water for a change where do you go if your in Southern California and don't have the price of a plane ticket? Baja California Mexico on the Sea of Cortez! Water temp 85* location just south of San Felipe Camping on the beach! You drive until your friend gets his car stuck, pay an old farmer $1.00 Dollar US to help you dig it out and that is your camp for the weekend! :D :rolleyes:

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_3_dirt_road_in_Baja_1975.jpg

[acelockco]

Thank you, I will post more if people are interested! Memory lane always brings a smile to my face:D Have a life time of them, and a few scary ones too!:eek:

Papa,

Of course we are interested! These recent post by you have been simply amazing. This is the kind of stuff we need more of around here. Honestly, I can imagine exactly what it must have been like from your stories and photos. I know how much the sport has changed in the 20 years I have been diving, I am sure the big changes were in the 20 years before that when it was all just begining.

[Papa Bear]

Baja in the mid 70's was pretty wild and not many divers had broken the surface of the warm sometimes hot gulf waters. The ones that did were treated to amazing sights that we may never see again. On our first trip down we found a dead beached whale, green turtle, and dolphin. We thought we had found the seas graveyard, but it was because there was so much life. What we did was to go alone the coast and look for rock structure that looked as though it went into the water and assumed there was the same kind of structure under the surface....It worked pretty well. On one occasion I followed a great structure out about 200 yards into about 25ft of water... The area is very shallow and the tied goes out over a half mile in some places. We learned that the hard way ending up walking back to camp after following the tide out. Anyway I came over the edge of the structure and noticed something in the sand that looked like a stingray except black. The viz in this area is far from the best with it being shallow and warm with the tied the viz doesn't get much beyond 30ft on a good day. I could see it was a wing and knew it was a manta resting in the sand behind the reef. Not many have been seen laying on the bottom, but here was a world that broke the mold of California Diving!. I was carrying my spear gun and I maneuvered over the fish until my fines were even with its wing on the left side and stretched out with my spear gun and couldn't reach the limit of the right wing. It had to be 12ft across minimum and over 2000lbs! Now I am thinking in my mind what else is "This big down here"???? Scared the dive right out of me!

We had heard stories of monster Sea Bass, one that swallowed a diver and spit him out because of his tank! He was swimming alone looking down and his buddy said the fish swallowed him and the buddy headed for their boat thinking he was dead! The Buddy climbs in the boat shook up and going nuts and a minute later his buddy hits the surface pretty shook up! Now it was a story told to me by a "Friend of the Buddy" so who knows, but it was in the back of my head!:eek: :o

Well we did a dive in front of our fancy beach camp and noticed a number of sharks including Scalloped Hammerheads! We wondered why all the sharks until we walked to the point to find a fish camp that was cleaning fish on the shore and packing the catch into a refrigerated truck to send to market. We were "Oh crap no wonder there are so many sharks". The next dive ended with our long walk and my wife thinking we were eaten by the sharks because in the shallow warm water our tanks went well over an hour! My wife was thinking "How am I going to get the truck out of here". :eek: :D What else would you think? LOL

Our modern accommodation's:

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/432_Dave_Me_San_Felipe_Baja_75.jpg

San Felipe harbor before the deep harbor was built:

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/432_San_Felipe_Harbor_75.jpg

Typical road to the beach:

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_3_Baja_road_1975.jpg

[Papa Bear]

You could rent a fisherman and his panga for a few bucks, but it was a few more than we had! The fish camps were pretty cool operations and you could buy fresh fresh fish from the guys who were happy to see Gringos and were curious about our gear!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_fish_camp_Baja_1975.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_Fish_Camp_Baja_trip_1975.jpg

[Papa Bear]

One of the reasons we decided to go to San Felipe was a Cal-Poly student took SCUBA classes and I was his TA and certified him in First Aid and his uncle was Chief of Ploicia in San Felipe! So we figured we had an introduction letter just in case of who knew what? But it made us feel safer as explorers!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_Main_street_San_Felipe_Baja_1975.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_Intersection_in_San_Felipe_Baja_1975.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_Sitting_in_the_Shade_Baja_1975.jpg

[acelockco]

LOL, that is too funny just because there is a dune buggy driving down the street. You surely would not get away with that today.

[Papa Bear]

You can still drive a quad or dune buggy anywhere in San Felipe! With roads like this they are at home!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_Road_to_San_Felipe_Baja_1975.jpg

and views like this, it is too bad the drug war has ruined it for us!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_Sun_Rise_in_Baja_1975.jpg

The Tidal rise and fall in this area is amazing I have seen it out by a mile! I have seen people come down and set up camp thinking they were on dry ground only to scramble to get out before being flooded!

[Papa Bear]

Time to give up our Beach front accommodation's and head for home and the cold water and kelp of California! It was to turn out to be the first of many fun and exciting trip to the south!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/480_3_Laying_in_the_shade_baja_1975.jpg

[Tigerbeach]

This is very cool, Reed. Growing up in Laguna Beach, and having the same good fortune to camp in San Felipe a few dozen times gives me a similar perspective of how good we really had it.
Show us more pics!

ASW

[Papa Bear]

I am still digitizing my old stuff so have patience I will cover most of the coast by the time I have exhausted my supply! LOL :D or :eek: :rolleyes:

This one was one of the many boat dives to the local islands! This was San Clemente island 60 miles of the Southern California coast and has a Navel Base and Seal training center on it! It also has some cool wrecks that were sunk by Demolition teams and target practice!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_San_Clamete_Island_1975.jpg

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_San_Clamente_island_trip_1975.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Okay TB here is one for you Divers Cove Laguna Beach California 1975!


http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_2_Divers_Cove_1974.jpg

[Papa Bear]

How about a dive at the old Marine Land of the Pacific where you have to walk up a Cardiac Hill to get back to the parking lot! And Torpedo Rays are known to cruse the water that can be less than perfect visibility! This is the palace where Otto Gasser ran head on into a Torpedo Ray knocking him out cold with a "Blue flash" as he described it! You knew you were in good shape when you could do this dive and get back to the parking lot! :eek:

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/348_3_coming_up_at_Marineland_hill_1975.jpg

[Papa Bear]

TB, I will be digitizing more Baja stuff some so here is one you might remember? Now there is block wall and deep water harbor dredged out and you can't drive onto the beach anymore! There are resorts all along the south side of the bay! The point in the distance is Punta Esttrallia where the light house is located! I have some of the old Ice House and Shrimp fleet as well! I also went to Porto Panasico (Choya Bay) a number of times and did 16 mile reef! :eek: Had the boat break and had to be rescued!!! :rolleyes:

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_Pongas_along_the_Beach_Baja_1975.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Okay, by request I will spend a little more time in Baja! As long as the Boone's Farm Strawberry wine holds out! LOL:rolleyes: ;) Sorry for the bad quality of some of these I would have lost them completely if it were not for computers! Now they will forever be enshrined in Cyberspace for all time!;) The First one is of use kicking back in from way out! In those days it was no big deal to kick a mile out since there was no surf and the water was in the mid 80's! We were used to 15ft of viz in California so 25 or 30 was way cool! We were seeing new stuff that we had never seen and their were no Fish ID books to speak of! It was all exploration into a new world that very few had seen or reported accurately!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/480_5_Dave_Me_paddling_back_Baja_1975.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/480_5_Kathy_on_the_Beach_1975_Baja.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/480_5_San_Felipe_looking_north_1975.jpg

We collected shells and soft corals that were unseen in the cold water of our coast!

[Papa Bear]

We were really into bug hunting for a number of years on one trip to Santa Cruz Island we did an area were there is a big cave that connects with a smaller one at the rear of the two Caverns.... They are more Cavern by definition than caves! Otto hated "Sea Caves" according to him "How do you thing they became caves?" But they were a great place to find bugs, many times clinging to the ceilings! I went in the smaller one on the right side and just after the two connected I ran into a pocket of a dozen or more nice sized lobsters! The Surge had picked up quite a bit and some big rollers were now hitting the cavern face! I was trying to hold my light, my game bag open, and snatch as many of the bugs as I could! No BC's in those days remember! SO here I am in shallow water in a cavern a number of hands short! So I grabbed one more big bug and was sinking toward the bottom in the dark as a huge wave hit the opening over pressurizing the cavern and pushing me further down by 20 to 25ft or more with no way to clear my ears the pain was horrible, but I got the bugs!

I swam out of the cavern and towards the boat where my buddy had headed a little earlier! I came back with a limit for both of us and climbed aboard the Coral Sea to divide up the bounty, get warm, fill our tanks, and relax! I could feel my head pounding from the squeeze in the Cavern and my ears were hurting, but you had to man up, even though I had my limit! The longer I sat out the more I was talking myself out of the last dive of the day! People had done well at this location so it would be another one here! One of the woman divers came over and said "She hadn't gotten any bugs with her buddy" and batted her eyes at me and with a melting smile said "Please";) So what is a guy supposed to do?

She weighed all of 110lbs soaking wet and I had been her TA a few semesters back! Otto used to say "Students will do whatever you do, so don't drowned!" Ear and all I suited up and we splashed in with the plan to go over on the surface and she would hold the light and help with the game bag as I caught the bugs and we would bag her a limit! Well I hadn't said a thing about my ear and thought I could grin and bear it for one more dive!

We were kicking together and gave each other the okay sign to start to drop down! As soon as the water entered my hood, and the cold water hit what was a blistered ear drum, my world changed instantly! I got instant Vertigo and I couldn't tell up from down as my eyes rolled back in my head and the nausea was like a punch to the gut! I was so proud of my former student who recognized something was very wrong and came to me dragged me to the surface, a couple feet, rolled me on my back grabbed my tank valve and started kicking us both back! She yelled for help and was close to the boat in no time where everyone was now on the swim platform helping to lift me out of the water and onto the deck! Where I barfed my brains out as I was helped out of my gear!

The moral of the story is communicated if you think you've hurt yourself or done something stupid! Others will understand and there are more important things than a bag of Bugs! Not sure what, but there are! And the most important is Her training was so good she went into rescue mode without hesitation or concern and did exactly as she had been trained! I split my bugs with her BTW;) Otto and I were proud of her that she didn't flip over on her back and roll around like I was and imitate the "Pro" with all those dives! ;)

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/475_4_My_Eardrum_cave_Santa_Cruz_1975.jpg

[Papa Bear]

One of the things that Otto had us do was use our tables and do some altitude Diving! So he always liked Lake Tahoe and Emerald Cove as good place to experience the Cold Crystal clear waters of Lake Tahoe at 8000ft above sea level! Of course we were all told about the Lady of the Lake and to keep an eye out for her in her white wedding gown!

The story went like this: A bride on her way to her wedding in the late 1800's was late and in a hurry in her Buckboard and was running her horses full speed around the corner to Emerald Cove and her Groom waiting at the church! The Buckboard slipped around the corner and went over the edge and into the water 400ft below! The Bride being in her wedding dress could not swim and sunk into the clear abyss with her gown flowing behind her!

The rest of the story is that fisherman and divers have reported seeing her body in the water to this day! The theory is the cold oxygenless water has preserved her and her gown just as she was in 1889!

The visibility can reach 200ft plus and the temp temperature is in the mid 40's in summer!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/480_5_Emerald_Bay_1980.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/480_5_East_Side_Lake_Tahoe_1980.jpg

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/480_5_South_Shore_Tahoe_1980.jpg

[Papa Bear]

Here is a picture of Catalina Island in the distance and then Anacapa to the right with Santa Cruz island on the left! On a clear day you can see three islands that offer beautiful diving for all the lucky California divers that put up with the 54* water!

http://www.twotankedproductions.com/images/480_DSC01114_Catalina_Amacapa_Santa_Cruz_08.jpg

[shinek]

Haven't dived the channel islands there for some years, but I agree, there is some beautiful diving. Love to get in amongst the kelp, good viz and plenty of life, just need a few layers to keep the chill out. Even had the priviledge of sharing the water with the sea lions occasionally, great fun!

[Papa Bear]

I would like to hear more of your adventures in the CI's they help jog mine;) Here is a typical shot of the coast line of Santa Rosa that is always wind swept and had a huge cattle operation on it until the Parks system took it by use of the Coastal Commission from the family that owned it for over 140 years! It was the end of an area and now you can camp on it by permit and there is a huge Sea Lion colony thats makes it home! Great Whites are known in this area and used to take the occasional Abalone diver in the 70's!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/480_5_Santa_Rosa_Island_CS_1976.jpg

[shinek]

I'll dig through some of the old photos and see what I can come up with. I don't go as far back as you in that area, only about 6 or 8 years, but when my other half lived in the LA area, we had some great trips out to Catalina and Annacapa. I was living in Chicago at the time and found the Wrigley connection interesting aswell.

[Papa Bear]

They owned Santa Cruz and traded their interest in it for Catalina via the Grainy family.... The grainy's got Santa Cruz (3/4 of it) and the Wriggles got Catalina! A few years back it went to the state parks system and like Santa Rosa it is by permit only!

http://twotankedproductions.com/images/480_DSC01052_Santa_Cruz_on_the_Peace_08.jpg