This is not just about me.

This site is supposed to be about diving as a passion, a curiosity for the unknown, a desire to see another scene unfold below the reflection of the sun off the water. There are ship and plane wrecks, odd but beautifully colored marine creatures, strange coral reef formations with other-worldly looking plants like fans, human brains and elk horns. These blogs have talked a lot about me and what dives "I" have made, but my desire was to hear from you; to share your experiences and love of diving. I (?can't seem to get rid of that pronoun) have enjoyed chatting with divers from many different parts of the world and backgrounds. You all have stories and experiences and they are worthy of being shared.

On a dive off California (my wife was back in Arizona) I hooked up with another lone diver. He was a nice guy with a big bushy mustache that he struggled to tuck into his mask, and a little portly. However, he was well experienced and we jumped in for a swim. He took off in the lead like he was on a scooter and I have never had to fin so hard to keep up with anyone else in my life. He must have been doing 2 knots at least and I could barely keep up through a kelp forest we entered. I nearly lost him a few times and when I caught him once, I signaled to him to calm down, slow down and enjoy the trip. I like to take my time, look around, follow the terrain, explore, use all my time and air, and see what's down there. In twenty minutes, he was out of air and we surfaced quite a ways from the boat and paddled back on the surface having seen little of interest.

When we got back to the boat, he said, "Sorry. I'm just an air sucking dog." I told him, "If you'd slow down and not act like you're trying to outrun a shark, you might even enjoy it." The next dives were taken more leisurely; we watched for marine life, looked for coral and rock formations, explored the geology off the back side of Catalina Island and had a great time. I've never dived with him since, but hope he takes a little more time to see what's going on around him and appreciates the beauty of the world he enters by just jumping off a boat.