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Bwana and Neptune must have presented a joint petition to Zeus to achieve the superb weather conditions we enjoyed. The sky was clear, the sun was bright and warm and the seas were calm enough for Neptune to stroll across. Several divers took advantage of the 80-degree afternoon son to catch a few rays between dives. Average visibility was in the 55’ range and water temperature was about 60 degrees.

San Clemente and Santa Catalina Islands provide the dive sites visited by the Reliance charter February 3-4. Only ten divers were on board, so there was virtually no waiting for entry or exit space and as many as eight dives were logged by those on the trip.

With a wide variety of experience levels present, from divers with over 200 hours of bottom time to newly certified divers on their first trip, Captain Jerry managed to find sites pleasing to all. Mark Russo and Gary Coplea completed their Basic Scuba Diver certifications while Mike Harris completed his Advanced scuba class.

There was something to suit nearly every diving preference: deep dives, shallow dives, kelp, no kelp, caverns, walls, a reef, night diving. As usual, the garibaldi flitting among the kelp made a colorful picture. Other reported sightings included eels, an angel shark, a horn shark, a kelp crab, several colors of urchins, numerous sea cucumbers, navanax, torpedo ray, many lobster (some were caught but this group was more interested in looking than killing), in addition to many things we did not know the names of.

Although there was limited elbowroom in the bunk area, it was nice to have the head with hot shower a few steps from any bunk. Bunks were comfortable and there were two couches in the salon in addition to the wooden seats provided at the picnic – style dining tables. The entire crew was friendly as well as competent and co – captain Dorla was very helpful on the swim step. Judy devoted herself to keeping us well fed and being our friend and hostess in the salon. A refreshing change from some of the boat crews we have suffered in the past!

Another plus for the Reliance is the air fill system: there are fill hoses housed behind the tank racks on both sides of the deck, so after coming up from a dive the tank is placed in the tank rack and the first stage removed for an air fill right there. No manhandling heavy, slippery deck for fills and no necessity to remove the B.C, after each dive. We also receive full 3000 psi fills so diving was limited by time on the tables; not a less – than – full tank to start the dive.

A personal pleasure for me was that I witnessed the reunion of a father/son dive buddy pair whose lives had followed separate paths on the last few years. Both expressed pleasure from the reunion and the diving.

Aquastrophics Dive & Travel
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