Redondo - with Vis!!

As is the case nearly every Tuesday night, I hooked up with a few of the A2Z social diving crew for a typical dive at a familiar haunt - tonight it's Redondo. Clear skies, and calm waters. After getting a zip up from a total stranger... being that my dive buddy deserted me (you know who you are... Dane! ;-), I made my way to the recently reopened staircase, leading down to our entry point, and donned the rest of my gear. A cursory glance under the waters indicated we were looking at some promising Vis. I didn't bother to look again until we had finished our short surface swim just beyond Salty's restaurant and came to our standard descent line. The shallows are one thing, but when you can clearly see the bottom here, and some distance deeper down the line, then you know you're in for a good day.

Some spittle in the mask and we make our descent. We met up briefly with another group of divers we knew (Mike H., Chip W., and another of their diving buddies) at depth, some 80-90fsw, and hung their for a short time before slowly ascending the slope towards the "bug". All the way enjoying clear waters and the assortment of artificial reef structures playing host to the typical assortment of marine life. The VW Bug was in a greater state of decay than the last I'd seen it some months ago, but at least I could see all of it from one vantage point. I've logged numerous dives here and can't recall having this pleasure before today.

From there we found ourselves testing out PPB skills through the PVC triangles, setup for this purpose. Had a pretty good laugh at Mike's expense on his attempt to float through the obstacle. It was going well until his feet started to catch some air and float on him about 3/4 of the way through. He then turned up, facing the surface, while his tank (unbeknownst to him) found itself against the seafloor as he worked to get the fins through. As you might have guessed, this wasn't much of a success. "A little help, please!"

With Vis like this, the inevitable moment was upon us... Air Rings!! Dane made the turn and tossed up a steady stream, all of which disbanded within a few feet from him. After a couple attempts he was finally able to put up a keeper - and for our pleasure, he captured it on camera. A thing of beauty, but it just lacked the will to break the surface. Looked good on film though.

Check out the video.





Dive Buddy Group: Dane C., Mike D., and Joe L. (87fsw for 59mins)