Sirvice sex is fun's blog: "My poor mistaken friend."

I dive the Pacific.  It’s unruly, untamed and often unfriendly.  It’s cold (between 50-65 degrees), it’s dark (murky and cloudy blue green), complete with low visibility (5-30 feet), strong currents, strong surges and thick wetsuits (7 mm which may not sound like much, but picture the Michelin Man and you get the idea, VERY restrictive) and hoods.  (Granted, there are parts of the vast Pacific Ocean that don’t come into contact with Southern California and provide phenomenal diving conditions.  I’m not talking about those parts.) 

For reasons that escape me, Southern California is the birthplace of recreational scuba diving (maybe because people in Malibu have way too much time on their hands).  It is some of the most difficult diving in the world and it’s all I know.  For most people, scuba diving is floating in a fishbowl.  For me, it’s as challenging as it is rewarding (then again most things rewarding are challenging).  Despite the work, diving here, like diving anywhere, is peaceful, tranquil, soothing and restorative.  It’s all together nourishing in providing a freedom I can’t quite put into words.  Under the water, life is simple.  Slow.  Manageable.  Magnificent.  .

At the end of the month, my dive buddy and I are going to Cozumel.  Little about it reminds me of the local conditions.  It’s warm (82 degrees), it’s clear (crystal), has high visibility (often 250 feet and beyond on a good day, 100 feet on a bad day), usually quite tame and requires either a skin suit (fabric) or, at most, 3 mm and no hood.  This is completely foreign to me.  In fact, I have no frame of reference (Australia was better than my backyard but similar nonetheless), only my imagination.

I’m fortunate for learning to dive where I did.  You should know why.  If you can dive Southern California you can dive almost anywhere.  Many divers move here and stop diving all together because of the conditions.  They don’t see splendor and they don’t feel relief.  I’m lucky because I, on the other hand, do.  (I seem to see beauty where most people don’t, yet I balk and complain like few people do).  I get to travel to far away oceans and seas and feel overwhelmed and quite comfortable by how easy and dramatic the difference can be.