Scuba Page

©We at WarM FuZZieS love to Scuba!

Even though I haven't had the opportunity to go in a number of years, I love to go Blow Bubbles!

I enrolled in Basic Scuba classes and found immediately that I loved it! Eight months later I took the Advanced classes. The main drawback in my newfound hobby being expense and that Northwest LA doesn't have much to offer in the way of Scuba Diving sites. I haven't been to any exotic places yet, but I have done deep dives (over 70'); boy is it COLD down there! I have done night dives; boy is it DARK down there! And I have done some cavern dives; boy is it SCARY down there! Scuba Diving is a whole 'nother world, no matter how deep or what time you go. You see one world if you dive by day. And a different world if you dive the same place by night. It is so calm and peaceful; fantastic! I've seen catfish as big around as my upper thigh and a good 3 or 4' long. It is really something else to see the water creatures in their natural environment, undisturbed by us swimming around in their space! It usually doesn't bother them a bit. Fishbowl

I have had a variety of experiences at the various semi-local lakes in our area. Like night diving at Athens Scuba Park in Athens, Texas; the Easter Eggs hunts in Lake Pirkey in Marshal, Texas; the underwater pumpkin carving contest in Black Bayou in Benton, Louisiana; and the racoon attack at Lake Ouachita in Arkansas. I did get to make one trip to Florida awhile back where I made several dives in Vortex Springs (to many snakefish out at night!) and braved one ocean dive, which I will be living down the rest of my Scuba career!

I had a rough time my first time in the ocean. A hurricane had come through a few days before and the ocean was ROUGH. Once I finally managed to get down, I could hardly move with the undertow no matter how I kicked. Weighing 90 lbs. sure didn't help anything. But that's another story.. grin.. anyway, I did jump from the boat, which was awfully high up and I'm afraid of heights. I didn't drown hitting the water, although I thought I was going to! The heavy air tank pulled me over backwards on the long way down to the water. I lost my grip on my regulator and mask going in. But I eventually got it together and made it down the tag line, and discovered a whole nother world! I was fascinated! The fish have such beautiful colors! The huge Queen angelfish, the coral, the sponges, the sanddollars, all still their natural LIVING colors!

Well, Bobbie and Jim, my dive buddies, kept pointing to the bottom of the ocean. I looked and didn't see anything. Finally I saw a shell opening and closing. I went closer to try to see what lived in it when it opened. It looked empty, but kept opening and closing. I kept going closer; couldn't figure it out. Then I saw another shell about three inches away opening and closing. I couldn't see anything in that one either. I was about 6" away from them when it hit me... "those look like eyes!" Just then, it flapped it's wings in the sand. It was a large sand stringray laying on the bottom of the ocean! Talk about backing up QUICK! I was right on top of the thing staring into it's eyeballs! It didn't come after me or anything but it let me know it knew I was looking at it! Sure scared me half to death! Bobbie and Jim were laughing so hard that I could hear them, that far underwater, with their masks and regulators on!

Dolphin Snorkler Dolphin

A couple years later, John and I went to Panama City Beach in Florida. We didn't have room in the car for all the Scuba gear so we went snorkling on the reefs and snorkling with the dolphins. Although, I'm not fond of the word, I don't know how else to describe it; it was a really COOL experience! The dolphins look like they would feel soft and velvety, but actually their skin feels like hard rubber. I understand why dolphins are so popular; they were really friendly and came right up to the boat! What a great experience!

If you have a Scuba Diving experience, story,or great place to go you'd like to share with other readers of this web page, please click on the icon to send me a note. :)

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