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Thread: Down Memory Lane!

  1. #31
    Photo & Videographer Papa Bear's Avatar
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    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/...ctues_Pool.jpg

    http://www.twotankedproductions.com/..._Cove_1974.jpg

    Divers Cove Laguna California 1974
    May all your dreams be wet ones! Visit us at Twotankedproductions.com
    Reed's Rod dive Tool Please help save the worlds Coral reefs! http://safemooringfoundation.org/

  2. #32
    Photographer PinayDiver's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Papa Bear View Post
    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.
    Lu-Ann G. Fuentes rambles on at http://layas.blogspot.com
    "Today isn't any other day, you know." - Lewis Carroll

  3. #33
    Photo & Videographer Papa Bear's Avatar
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    Thank you, I will post more if people are interested! Memory lane always brings a smile to my face Have a life time of them, and a few scary ones too!
    May all your dreams be wet ones! Visit us at Twotankedproductions.com
    Reed's Rod dive Tool Please help save the worlds Coral reefs! http://safemooringfoundation.org/

  4. #34
    Photo & Videographer Papa Bear's Avatar
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    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!

    http://www.twotankedproductions.com/..._Baja_1975.jpg
    May all your dreams be wet ones! Visit us at Twotankedproductions.com
    Reed's Rod dive Tool Please help save the worlds Coral reefs! http://safemooringfoundation.org/

  5. #35
    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Papa Bear View Post
    Thank you, I will post more if people are interested! Memory lane always brings a smile to my face Have a life time of them, and a few scary ones too!
    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.

  6. #36
    Photo & Videographer Papa Bear's Avatar
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    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!

    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". What else would you think? LOL

    Our modern accommodation's:

    http://www.twotankedproductions.com/...pe_Baja_75.jpg

    San Felipe harbor before the deep harbor was built:

    http://www.twotankedproductions.com/..._Harbor_75.jpg

    Typical road to the beach:

    http://www.twotankedproductions.com/..._road_1975.jpg
    Last edited by Papa Bear; 04-18-2008 at 03:44 AM.
    May all your dreams be wet ones! Visit us at Twotankedproductions.com
    Reed's Rod dive Tool Please help save the worlds Coral reefs! http://safemooringfoundation.org/

  7. #37
    Photo & Videographer Papa Bear's Avatar
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    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/..._Baja_1975.jpg

    http://www.twotankedproductions.com/..._trip_1975.jpg
    May all your dreams be wet ones! Visit us at Twotankedproductions.com
    Reed's Rod dive Tool Please help save the worlds Coral reefs! http://safemooringfoundation.org/

  8. #38
    Photo & Videographer Papa Bear's Avatar
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    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/..._Baja_1975.jpg

    http://www.twotankedproductions.com/..._Baja_1975.jpg

    http://www.twotankedproductions.com/..._Baja_1975.jpg
    May all your dreams be wet ones! Visit us at Twotankedproductions.com
    Reed's Rod dive Tool Please help save the worlds Coral reefs! http://safemooringfoundation.org/

  9. #39
    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    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.

  10. #40
    Photo & Videographer Papa Bear's Avatar
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    You can still drive a quad or dune buggy anywhere in San Felipe! With roads like this they are at home!

    http://twotankedproductions.com/imag..._Baja_1975.jpg

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

    http://twotankedproductions.com/imag..._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!
    May all your dreams be wet ones! Visit us at Twotankedproductions.com
    Reed's Rod dive Tool Please help save the worlds Coral reefs! http://safemooringfoundation.org/

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