Mine was at Santa Cruz Island in the month of January! The water was cold and clear and standing on the back of the old dive boat the "Emerald" was like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon! I could look down and see the team that had gone in before me at 60ft plus! In those days you had to do your water skills and then "Blow and Go"! That was a controlled ascent from 60ft blowing bubbles all the way to the surface! You learned that you could make it on one breath in a practical demonstration of dive physics!

I stood there waiting for my turn telling myself that "I can do this" over and over as the anxiety built in my throat starring into the cold clear water. The surface was being broken by bubbles from the teams below me expelling twice as much air then any two seasoned teams! Then a team would break the surface with a gasp and then a smile!

I was shaken from my trans by Stan Jackson telling me and my buddy Dave Michalski "Your next, lets go"! I will tell you Dave went first and it was all I could muster to to step out of that plane at 15000ft and that is how it felt! The next is a blur and to this day I can't tell you how I stepped off the back of that boat, but the bubbles and cold engulfed me and my breathing was close to hyperventilation!

I gathered myself and tried to relax eying my buddy and wanting to keep up my end of the team! Dave's eyes were as wide as mine and we put the regs in our mouths and dropped below the surface fallowing Stan Jackson down to where Otto Gasser awaited on the bottom! We did our skills, putting the numbing cold out of our minds and taking off our simple gear and then dawning it with ease!

It was time to "Blow and Go" as a team under the eye of the third diver and instructor Mr. Jackson! You held your reg just outside your mouth and blew those bubbles and we pushed off the bottom looking up! We were committed and I will always remember the smile on Dave's face as we took our place as divers on the surface behind the Old Emerald in the cold clear water that didn't feel so cold anymore!

We were now divers free to explore our new world and use the 15 minutes of air we had left in our steel 72s! Get out of our way we had a new world to cover! I guess you never forget your checkout dive!