Diving San Diego, The Marine Room.

The Marine Room.

Diving San Diego is one of the most premier dive areas in the nation.  Off the shore or off the boat, there is something here for everyone and anyone.

One of these sites is the Marine Room. taken from the restaurant with the same name diners from inside the restaurant can watch the divers as they enter and exit the water, this dive site is a adventure for the novice diver on a dive tour as well as a test  as well as a test of navigational  skills for the advanced divers who venture in to the La Jolla Bay area from the steps at the edge of the Marine room .

getting into the Marine room dive site can be a little tricky some times. during high tide, the access path that splits a residence from the restaurant wide enough for one person at a time to walk down, during high tide the wave crash against the retaining wall at the base of the at the houses and because of  how the wave recoil of the wall back into the on coming waves it is lovingly  referred to as the washing machine.  On other days ,when the tide is out and water  is calmer. it is a easy walk out to the ocean and into the ocean. The sites of the Marine Room depending on the time of year would be Leapord sharks anywhere form five to six feet long , shovel nosed guitar fish, bat rays , sting rays, and other creatures that call the waters off our California coast home.

Setting your compass prior to getting into the water, you strike out on a heading off about 240. will take you to the area of structure eel grass and things that hide there. Sheep Crab. Lobster and Sea lions.

getting to the eel grasses you will find many nooks and crevasses with something hiding in them , bigger fish use the eel grasses to hide in .

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Diving San Diego-Underwater Photography

Diving San Diego

While alway a great dive. destination people come to San Diego to experience diving on the Yukon, in wreck alley or diving the kelp beds of f Point Loma, looking for Photo ops off of La Jolla Cove, for what ever reason its where people come to dive.  When they come to San Diego they bring dive equipment and if nothing else they bring Photo equipment, from the dive shop  instant digital camera to some of the most of the expensive equipment around costing thousands of dollars. for my money I like the Equinox housings


Equinox is an underwater video housing manufacturer that specializes in building safe, durable and affordable underwater video housings dedicated to providing excellent customer service and innovative, quality products for the professional, leisure and sport divers trying to capture the next great shot!

Les Stroud , the Survivor Man, best known as star of the six-time Gemini nominated hit TV series Survivorman (OLN Canada, The Science Channel US, Discovery Channel International, City TV (Rogers) Canada), Les Stroud continues to forge new pathways as a prolific, creative force. He single-handedly created, produced, wrote, filmed, hosted, edited and composed the theme music for the first two original, one-hour pilots that would eventually become the hit Survivorman TV series. The only producer in the history of television to produce an internationally broadcast series entirely written, videotaped and hosted alone, Stroud is credited with starting a new genre of television known as ‘Survival TV’. Survivorman became the highest rated show in the history of both OLN Canada and the Science Channel US and among the most popular and highest rated shows on Discovery Channel US.

Stroud has appeared on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (3 times), The Ellen DeGeneres Show, MTV Live (2 times), The View, The Hour, and Larry King Live (4 times). In July 2010, Les was invited by the Prime Minister of Canada (The Honourable Stephen Harper) to meet the Queen of England and the Duke of Edinborough during their 2010 Royal Tour of Canada. Stroud’s commercial with famous Geico Gecko was referenced by David Letterman, Howard Stern and numerous other media personalities and he has been parodied on the hit TV sitcoms ‘The Office’ and ‘King of the Hill’.

Stroud has appeared in and/or produced numerous television specials including hosting the 20th Anniversary of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week (2007); I Shouldn’t Be Alive: the Science of Survival (2008), Surviving Sharks (Shark Week 2008), Expedition Everest, Surviving Urban Disasters, After the Experiment (Discovery), Deadly Waters (Shark Week 2009), and “Off the Grid with Les Stroud”. In 2010, he earned his seventh Gemini nomination as Executive Producer/Host of the hit kids TV series ‘Survive This’ and ‘Survive This 2’ (YTV, Cartoon Network). He is also Executive Producer/Host of NHL celebrity survival series “Survival Challenge” (OLN). “Les Stroud Beyond Survival” (2010) earns Les another certifiable hit with ratings surpassing all movies and even sports TV on a couple of US airings, and becoming one of the highest rated programs on Canada’s OLN.

Celebrated keynote speaker, musician and author, his debut book: “Survive! – Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere–Alive!” (Harper Collins) made the bestseller list for 20 weeks and broke the top 100 on Amazon.com. His latest book “Will to Live” (Harper Collins) had already sold 20,000 pre-ordered copies before hitting bookshelves across Canada November 6th.

Musically, Stroud has worked with the top in the business, including Alice Cooper, Robby Krieger, Tommy Shaw, Steven Stills, Canadian’s The Northern Pikes, and renowned producer Terry Brown. Continuing through winter 2011, Les will be back in the studio and focused on music. Working with the management team at SRO Anthem (best known as Rush and Steven Page’s management), Stroud’s next challenge is an exciting new album and multi-media tour, heavily influenced by indigenous sounds and images collected from his Beyond Survival travels around the globe.

A proud member of the Explorers Club, Les contributes to dozens of charities and benefits, and is a Survival Specialist Instructor for the Canadian Armed Forces. writes that “I have had the chance, while filming underwater around the world, to work with many brands of housings. When it came time to owning my own, I went with Equinox. They simply gave me the durability, quality and security I needed for some pretty intense work. It’s simple” a wet camera is a ruined shoot and possibly a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Equinox Housings protect me from that.”

Once you decide on a becoming a proud user of the Equinox Housing They have a unique retrofit program, that is offered on all PRO and HD 6 housings. With camcorders being updated and new releases hitting the market almost monthly, customers want to be able to update their gear without having to take a significant financial hit. With the Retrofit Program you can update your housing for approximately half the cost of a new housing

I have seen Many Underwater videos through many housings the clarity and lack of corner shake that you find in some housings mean the monitor does not fit perfectly into the housing a problem you won’t have with Equinox Housings, you will produce Videos such as this one

Camera & Housing packages are available from Equinox Housings They will fit a camera and housing to fit your needs  no matter if you a professional trying to capture shots for a article in a magazine or just some one trying to capture a moment in time, on the perfect vacation making a lasting memory Equinox Housing will be the right choice for you.

 

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Diving San Diego – San Diego Adaptive Scuba Diving

What is Adaptive SCUBA Diving?

Adaptive SCUBA diving is making the sport accessible to anyone that wants to try it and become certified.

When I tell someone that I teach people with mobility issues or divers who are blind  how to scuba dive, they look at me like I have two heads. ultimately the first question is why would someone blind want to Scuba dive, what can they see. “why would someone that can’t walk want to go scuba diving”, “How do you get them  to the water?” what if they need “something how do they tell you?”. We do it by Adapting to our student.

There are so many ways to take people underwater, The Scuba industries have invented so many ways to go beneath the sea. Sub Marines , Diving Bells, SCUBA (self contained underwater breathing apparatus) equipment what they haven’t invented because it has always been there is the will of people to do things others have told them they can’t do.

Our minds limit our bodies

How many times have you heard some one say I can’t do that , ever ask them why? some will tell you they were TOLD they couldn’t by someone, because of their size or strength  or some other BS reason, and they believed them so they never tried, kind of like a computer,  Garbage in Garbage out, not much to them if you put the right information in  you get the right information out. People are the same way you tell them they can’t and they will believe you enough people tell them they can’t they will never try.

This guy was never told he couldn’t dive, he said he wanted to and his Father said okay lets see if we can make this happen not to big of a deal unless you know the guy in the picture this is Matt diving to a depth of 16 feet with his dive buddies. right there with him doing what good dive buddies do, staying close. there if he needs something and pointing out interesting stuff, to see.  He has Duchenne muscular dystrophy This is also Matt when he is not diving he is helping put out the word that because you have a mobility issue you can do what your mind tells you that you can do what ever you want to do, it just may take a bit of adaptation to get it done.  Matt has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and is respirator dependent , he is currently the first and only respirator dependent HSA(handicapped Scuba Association) Certified diver in the world (that I know of to date), no one told him he couldn’t

Mountains I can move those

Climbers with disabilities do some amazing things because some one believed in them and didn’t say you can’t, of if they did he found some else that asked why.  Darol Kubacz was one of those that figured he could he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

Chad Jukes and his partner Chad Butrick “Two Climbers, Two Feet and Two Mountains” climb at Ouray Ice Park on Feb. 17, 2010. ” disabled people are doing things that a lot of abled bodied people would do, they have the can do attitude instead of I can’t because for what ever reason some one has given them,

Skiing, Point me down the hill

Blind Skiers take to the slopes every year as shown here in this video

It really makes no difference weather you are a abled bodied  or have some kind of injury, amputee , Spinal cord or brain injury if you want to do something try you will amazed at what you can do.

When I am finished telling my inquisitive onlookers what we at San Diego Adaptive Scuba do the look is now changed from one of disbelief to one of awe.

People are limited not by their surroundings or by their physical prowess or strength they are only limited by their will and imaginations.

Don’t let the people you know decide what you can and can’t do let the person inside you free to challenge the world to make a difference you can’t sore with the eagles if you walking with the chickens.

Believe with your hearts you mind your body will follow, ADAPT

Happy Blogging dive safe , have fun

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Diving San Diego – Diving with Asperger Syndrome

My New Student Louis

I had a 14  year a few  weeks ago, that did his Scuba diving class with me his open water dives. This kid I will call Louis was awesome, he taught me some new ways to teach, Yea he did, you see Louis has Asperger Syndrome which is a form of Autism, I found that telling him how to do a skill  and showing him how to do the skill  and the letting him do the skill didn’t work all of the time, However, If I showed him a skill , and he showed me then told me how to do the skill then taught me how to do the skill retention was more likely for that skill to stay with him. It takes a little patients but the out come was so worth it. A smile that big on the face of a child is something that I will never ever forget. I look forward to diving with him again in the future.

Focusing on the big picture and missing the main point is one side of Asperger’s or grasping the main point and not seeing the whole story is the other side of the coin,  Aspergers is considered by some as a higher functioning  form of Autism, often having a hard time with social interactions with people.

The thing is that even though it is a challenge Kids with this particular form of Autism can still enjoy all the things any other kids can enjoy it takes a strong parent to let them try, and of course patients.

Some things you may look for

Symptoms during childhood

Parents often first notice the symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome when their child starts preschool and begins to interact with other children. Children with Asperger’s syndrome may:

  • Not pick up on social cues and may lack inborn social skills, such as being able to read others’ body language, start or maintain a conversation, and take turns talking.
  • Dislike any changes in routines.
  • Appear to lack empathy.
  • Be unable to recognize subtle differences in speech tone, pitch, and accent that alter the meaning of others’ speech. Thus, your child may not understand a joke or may take a sarcastic comment literally. Likewise, his or her speech may be flat and difficult to understand because it lacks tone, pitch, and accent.
  • Have a formal style of speaking that is advanced for his or her age. For example, the child may use the word “beckon” instead of “call” or the word “return” instead of “come back.”
  • Avoid eye  contact or stare at others.
  • Have unusual facial expressions or postures.
  • Be preoccupied with only one or few interests, which he or she may be very knowledgeable about. Many children with Asperger’s syndrome are overly interested in parts of a whole or in unusual activities, such as designing houses, drawing highly detailed scenes, or studying astronomy. They may show an unusual interest in certain topics such as snakes, names of stars, or dinosaurs or fish anything that is associated with their interests.
  • Talk a lot, usually about a favorite subject. One-sided conversations are common. Internal thoughts are often verbalized.
  • Have delayed motor development. Your child may be late in learning to use a fork or spoon, ride a bike, or catch a ball. He or she may have an awkward walk. Handwriting is often poor.
  • Have heightened sensitivity and become overstimulated by loud noises, lights, or strong tastes or textures. sensory integration dysfunction.

To learn more about Asperger Syndrome. signs symptoms and support for this use the hyper link that will take you to Kids Health and don’t forget that part of what holds someone back is the one wanting him to succeed.

Happy Diving Happy Blogging
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Diving San Diego – Los Coronados

A Day in the  Los Coronados

Horn shark,

Just 15 miles south of San Diego, this is the best half-day trip for scuba diving in San Diego.  A small conglomerate of uninhabited islands just off the coast of Rosarito, Mexico (just South of the border), the most popular dive spots are at ‘North Island’, including ‘Keyhole’ and ‘Lobster Shack’. With depths ranging 15 – 100 feet, and even an old small wreck near ‘Lobster Shack’, the Coronados are a great dive for all skill levels and a “must see” dive site.  With visibility between 50′- 150′ on average, it’s not uncommon to see lots of purple coral, octopus, Moray Eels, Horn Sharks, Harbor Seals, Sea Lions, and Garibaldi.  Making the Coronados Islands a dive you’ll always remember of San Diego dive site

Once the trip is complete, You arrive at the dive site Lobster Shack a few moments later your boat is anchored, and the dive brief is over and your ready to dive. Several dive boats will take you there, The Marissa, the Water horse Charter , and the Lois Ann.

Doing a giant stride, into the cool waters, you descend the first thing to catch your eye is anchored in 40 feet of water you can see the bottom, obscured only by the thousand of fish that may get in your way, the water is a beautiful blue, the bottom has a great deal of structure bolders covered with grass. and soft growth, from the shore the bottom is rocky with eel grass as you move away from the shore, the bottom drops abruptly and becomes a rocky haven for eels lobster octopus and other ssorted fish, invertebrates.

Dropping further the bottom turns sandy with sparse plants and old wheels. and parts of a old cabin cruiser, that stories change with the amount of people that have been out to see whats left of this wreck, one story goes that two doctors went out on a fishing trip set the autopilot, fell asleep and ran aground. before it could be retrieved it was ran picked over by fishermen and left to sink off of lobster shack in about 65 feet of water. the ocean has taken it’s toll on this little boat and has been reduced to some boards and structural supports.

To dive this spot once is a great introduction to Diving San Diego, even though its really in Mexico, you start in San Diego. diving it again you find more and more things to look at. Sea Lions lay on the shore and the young pups come out to see what your doing. playing with your fins. you may surface with a group of young sea lions surrounding you wanting to be your friend.

Moray Eels hid in the rocks accompanied by cleaner shrimp, that craw in and out of the monster eel’s mouth, cleaning parasites form within and roaming over its body cleaning its skin as well. a strange partnership but it seems to work, for both the eel and the shrimp.

Moray Eel and cleaner shrimp

looking in the rocks you may see the Key hole limpet  Megathura Crenula the scientific name attaches itself to the rocks where it lives out its days eating algae, tunicates and sponges. related to Abalone. mussels, sea hares, and  Sea Snails.

key hole limpet

Diving San Diego boats out to the Coronado Islands can be one of the best vacation dives that people do when coming to California. Diving with a guide on the Island can also improve your diving experience by being shown the hiding places of some of the local sea life, with out worrying about navigating around the dive site.

Other dive sites on the Mexican Islands are key hole. Middle ground to name just a couple,  are also just as close as a few hundred yards to maybe a mile or two across  to the next Island. what ever your dive site on the Los Coronados you will have a great dive.

So come dive with us, enjoy what San Diego Diving has to offer you and your friends. Hope to see you soon happy Blogging

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Disability Doesn’t Mean Inability

Disability Doesn’t Mean Inability

Approximately three weeks ago Al’s Diving finished up the first of many classes for those divers that want to help persons with disabilities experience the world of Scuba Diving.

What we have experienced is that focusing on what a person can’t do just makes that part of their life more prominent. Here at San Diego Adaptive Scuba Diving we want to change that focus, a pyridine shift so to speak,  Jim Elliot Jim-Elliottfounder of Dive heart in Chicago has a daughter that was blind from birth.  She was the focus of her peers as the blind girl at one point she decided she was not going to use her cane because she could see (a 1 inch letter approximately 1 inch from her eye) just like anyone else. You can imagine, the stress it put on Mr. Elliott he heard of a program that took persons with sight impairments. Well to make a long story a little shorter she went to the ski school and learned to ski. when asked what she did over the weekend and with pictures of her skiing she became that girl that snow skis, it not only made her feel good about herself but everyone that knew her thought different about her, making the fact that she was blind no longer a point of focus.

With the forming of organizations such as Diveheart and Wounded Warriors, and now here in San Diego area San Diego Adaptive Scuba Diving (in progress  of establishing its 501 (c) 3 Non-profit foundation we have started diver training already certifying 5 dive buddies to assist  divers that may struggle on land to experience the underwater environment where on land the effects of gravity make it a overwhelming struggle to move around. Providing perfect buoyancy  to someone that has that struggle to move about on land, underwater is a life changing  experience.

diving-spinal-cord-injuries Spinal Cord injuries, Amputations, MS, MD, Autism, Down Syndrome, all these conditions that can be devastating, to the individual as well as the family members.  What defines the Individual after the person becomes the disability. Think, about it do you know someone one that maybe was born with a disability or incurred a injury due to a accident, motor cycle , Car, maybe even falling off a horse?  How did you define that person after the accident?  Poor guy / girl, she is in a wheel chair now so tragic he or she won’t ever walk again, their poor family how are they going to deal with this? Wonder if they would like to learn to snow ski, or maybe scuba diving WHAT?  who ever said that?

Well a few have, or we wouldn’t have the programs that we have now. San Diego Adaptive Scuba, Diveheart, Wounded Warrior’s, Wheels to Water, and  Special Olympics, operate on the premise people with a can do spirit can accomplish just about anything. Possibility present themselves and opportunities be come possibilities from possibilities come reality, all it takes is the want, willingness, and action, and one of the most import thing is to stop listening to the people tell them they can’t do things.

San Diego Adaptive Scuba Diving

The Goal for San Diego Adaptive Scuba Diving is to train already certified scuba divers to assist divers with disabilities to Scuba. They  are driven to train, and Certify through H.S.A. (Handicapped  Scuba Association)divers with disabilities. Jacques Cousteau once thought that he would never use his arms again because of a automobile accident in his early years in a automobile accident. He never would fly with the French Air force  but he  would still fly through inner space. Although Jacques Cousteau regained use of his arms again he and Phillipe Cousteau Sr. supported the Handicapped diving program appearing in a short film called Freedom in Depth showing divers with disabilities diving with able bodied divers, entering and exiting the water is the most difficult portion of the dives. Once in the water all things being equal, the divers move through the water effortlessly using hand propulsion or the use of underwater scooters

scooterdiverthese machine’s level the playing field, the diver breaths and just hangs on, and can go almost anywhere a able bodied diver can go the freedom of movement now becomes hand controlled rather than mobility through the legs.  Special gloves made by black Lagoon Products Darkfin gloves are great for divers that have in-ability to move their legs allowing them to pull through the water with more efficiency. We at San Diego Adaptive Scuba used the Darkfin gloves in a recent class to see how they worked for ourselves,  awesome.

Disability Doesn’t Mean Inability

Weather or not you are able bodied or not the ocean is there for everyone to enjoy weather you fish or surf, scuba, swim, what ever your hobby may be it may be something that those with mobility issues can do along with you if trained, Disability  doesn’t have to mean can’t enjoy your sport enjoy your health and be thankful for all that you have next time you have the chance to make a dream come true for someone remember all it takes is,  Want Willingness and Action.

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Surfing in San Diego

Sometimes Diving, means surfing

Diving San Diego unfortunately conditions are not always the best, Ok I said it were not perfect.  However,

there is a alternative. Surfing San Diego is also one of our local past times, that when diving is less than perfect  for those that love the water surfing is a alternative.

What if you don’t know how to surf ?  Well there are several way’s to fix that,  Surf Diva is one way they are a small shop in the La Jolla Shores where the girls (all certified instructors) at the shop will give you one on one surf lessons or group lessons, great for a birthday party for the kids something to do with their friends that offers exercise and something different.  surf school Surf Diva hosts  other servicessdiva such as bachelorette   parties and Corporate team building, kids surf camp, overnight surf camps and others, Adult programs are also available .

There are a lot of water sports to be done and learned, like  Stand Up Paddle board Lessons. a repetitively new sport enjoyed by many people at are shore’s serves as a cross between surfing and kayaking.  Looks like a lot of

paddle board fun, It doesn’t take a lot of time the way the girl’s teach you they will take you out and have you up and having fun in no time. just give them some time. The store at La Jolla shores also offers the one stop shopping experience that lets you stop in sign up for a classes pick up a few things you may have forgot to pack or just to get some souvenirs or some gifts for your friends back home.

The Surf Diva Store

Diving San Diego doesn’t always mean Scuba diving some days it could mean Diving  into the Local life and see what else there is to do, in San Diego. Surfing in San Diego is just one more that you can do here. I put this post on my blog because of the weather, which has been less than perfect the past few days and people were asking what to do when the diving is not good well this is what I came up with enjoy San Diego and  enjoy your vacation.

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