Recently, I had the great oportunity to dive in Monterey Bay with a dive buddy I have met here on this site. It dosn’t seem right to refer to him as just a dive buddy, because the man was an exceptional host and went above and beyond being just a dive buddy. His name is Cecil Claspell, and he is the safty director for the Monterey Bay Sea Otters dive club, and is an IDC instructor as well.
My first day in Monterey was spent getting settled into my hotel room after the 650 mile drive, and then meeting up with Cecil and his wonderful wife Patty. They are both very gracious people and very patient! My second day there, Cecil took me to Break Water Cove for my first dive in Monterey Bay. That first dive was anything but stellar on my part. It was to be my first dive with all my own gear, ALL of it was brand new, and had never been in the water, it was all top of the line stuff, but I was unfamiliar with it. On top of that, I was having issues with bouyancy, I was nervous, and was a bit winded from the walk from the parking lot with all my gear on and the surface swim. After that first day, we had two very short dives, no more than 20 minutes each at no deeper than 35 feet. I was geting pretty frustrated and mad at myself, not to mention embarrassed at my lack luster performance. However, Cecil didn’t give up on me. Due to his patience and instruction, he helped me through it, and the second days dive started out much better, I had improved from my first days performance, bouyancy had improved, I wasn’t so nervous, and the dive started out much better than day one did. We got down to about 35 feet, I was having much more fun, got the chance to use my camera, got to see some really cool sea life, I was having FUN! However, about 20 minutes into the dive my computer suddenly decided that I had 5000psi in my tank, which obviously wasn’t the case. I showed Cecil what was going on, and needless to say we ended that dive early. The third days diving was GREAT!!! We got to do two dives that day, max depth was about 40 feet, stayed down for 47 minutes the first dive and 49 on the second. I really and truley enjoyed myself emensley!!! Got loads of good photos, saw a bunch of beautiful and facinating sea life, and was having the time of my life! I only wish I had more time to stay in Monterey and dive some more! Sad to say tho that I had to return home to Ruth, NV that next day, and get back to the grind of working to support my habit.
I definately plan a return trip to Monterey just as soon as I can, God was it FUN!!! I have to again give thanks to Cecil for all his help and patience. I would definately recomend to anyone to hook up with Cecil (
www.divewithcecil.com) and get certified with his instruction. And, if you are already certified, get together with him to further your knowledge and skills, I know I plan too, the man is a fantastic instructor!!!