There Was No Escaping, Or So I Thought

The 55-degree water began its assault on my booties, slowly creeping into the cavity around each foot. As I walked in further, the ocean continued pressing its way into my wetsuit. It started at the bottom, filling to the top as I got deeper. When my hands were in they too felt the cold sneak in around each finger. The water slinked in through the edges of my hood, trickling down my neck. Pretty soon I was surrounded, with my eyes behind my mask being the only dry portion of my body. My wetsuit, boots, and gloves fought a hard battle to keep the water out, and succeeded to a certain degree, but there was no escaping the water once I was submerged in it, or so I thought.

I descended into the chilly depths wondering why I purposefully plunge myself into this inhospitable environment, but then I remembered. The sun was shining down through the kelp bouncing light around like dancing water sprites. Rockfish were nestled in their crevices surrounded by strawberry anemone. Nudibranch with their vivid colors clung to the rocks. Every once in a while a ling cod with it’s prehistoric-looking fins would swim off and alight on a rock far enough away from me to feel safe. An adorable harbor seal darted around pretending he wasn’t interested in what I was doing in his habitat. Jellyfish swayed with the water and drifted off with the tides. Every time I brave the cold I am rewarded with a look into a world where I don’t biologically belong. I get to see creatures that are accessible to some people only through the glass of an aquarium. The cold is a lingering thought throughout every dive, but it is drowned by the excitement of getting to be a mermaid for an hour.

Last Saturday I went with Dan and Alison, who are both Training Assistants at Pro Scuba Dive Center, to the DUI Drysuit Demo at Breakwater. Imagine my surprise when I was waist- deep in the ocean and was toasty. Coddled in a fleece onesie and protected by a trilaminate outersuit I was completely dry and warm. It was a bit of a challenge to figure out my buoyancy, as I was now essentially one big air bubble, but, as it was at first with a BC, I’m sure with practice it would get easier. Drysuit diving was a completely new experience from what I associate with scuba diving in Monterey Bay.     

Most of my diving experiences in Monterey and Carmel have been similar to the one I described. The sights are stunning and the marine life is amazing so I deal with the cold. I have gotten used to that refreshing shock of 55-degree water seeping into my booties. The cold is a necessary evil to see the beauty that can be found diving on the central coast, or so I thought.

Diving in 1970

Can you imagine paying $44.95 for a custom made wetsuit? In the 1970 May issue of Skin Diver Magazine you could find an ad and order form to buy a custom wetsuit with a jacket and pants for $44.95 from Central Skindivers. Wetsuits 44 years ago were two pieces held together with a diaper-esque flap attaching the two pieces with rivets in the front. Underwater cameras were really booming and the majority of the new diving products for that year were camera-related. Products included the “Hydro-Blitz” underwater strobe system and an all- aluminum housing for the Kodak K-100 camera. As of February 1970, NAUI was just coming out with a “new plastic embossed certification card.” It was “blue and gold with a full color NAUI Qualified Scuba Diver crest and embossed with the diver’s name, total scuba course hours, date of certification, NAUI registration number and the instructor’s NAUI number.” The BCD as we know it did not exist. The popular buoyancy compensator also known as a “horse collar” resembled the life jackets on airplanes that slip over your head, only with these you did not “pull firmly on the tabs to inflate” because they had to be manually inflated. Tanks were fastened to a metal plate attached to your back similar, in some ways, to technical diving rigs now but with no padding or added floatation. The newest speargun, the S.M.G. Mark II, was just being released. The advertisement read “some people still think you need rubber bands for underwater power . . . some people still think Columbus was wrong!” This speargun used “sub-ammo” instead of rubber band power. All of the masks pictured in the magazine had a circular frame that covered most of your face, giving the fish a great view of your forehead. It was an interesting world of scuba diving in the 1970s . . .        

            Technology makes our diving experience much easier and, more importantly, safer than diving in the 1970s. Wetsuits are extremely comfortable and universal to the point most people do not need to order a custom suit. Plus, they are much more stylish with the removal of the diaper. Underwater cameras have evolved significantly. They are much smaller and more streamlined (you could fit five GoPros in the aluminum housing for the Kodak K-100) and offer more settings than you could possibly ever use. I do not know anyone who manually inflates his or her BC. That is a component reserved for if your gear malfunctions. We maintain our buoyancy with the push of a button, and the technology exists to make a BCD that inflates and deflates on its own, depending on your orientation in the water. Spear guns are still extremely popular but personally I never hear the word “sub-ammo” used to describe their power. Masks are fitted and cover the correct part of your face, leaving your eyes centered in the mask and your forehead off display. Feel lucky divers of the 21st century; diving these days, in the grand scheme of things, is pretty darn easy.