It was a typical Saturday for me. I was loading gear in my truck, checking my bag to make sure all my miscellaneous gear was accounted for, trying to decide which tanks, and how many to throw in. As excited as I get to head to the lake, it is not uncommon to forget things as I rush out the door. Usually it is about 5am in the morning when i am leaving the house to go diving but today was a little different. It was just past noon. Today was not gonna be a normal day of meeting up with the tribe and hitting one of our many favorite spots. This trip was a certification dive trip. I had recently purchased the deep diving, sport computers, night diving, and limited visibility diving books. These are just a few of the many specialty diving classes offered and taught by " the dog". I could hardly contain the excitement and anticipation of going deep into the lake and the possibility of diving at night.
My whole life I have thirsted for knowledge but not in the traditional way of most people. I am the type of person who learns better by hands on experience. I needed to see first hand and learn from my own experiences. There has always been very little that I take someone else's word on. Growing up I did fairly well in school but sitting in a classroom reading books was just to slow paced for me and my fast paced imagination and inability to sit still usually landed me with less than favorable results on the report cards. From the time I was four or five I could remember wanting to figure out how things worked and tearing everything I had apart. From bikes, toys, and even items that I could confiscate from my dads garage. Some of which never made it back to their original working order. Sorry dad lol. I have always had huge urge to explore everything outdoors. Luckily we were raised by small town country parents who gave us plenty of space to run and be boys outdoors. And I think it was my curiosity of finding new places and going somewhere new without supervision that had the potential of getting me in the stickiest of predicaments as a child. Some of the funnest times I can recall of growing up would be the summer days when school was out. Both of our parents worked. My dad worked long hours and was gone till late in the evenings. My mom worked at an elementary school close to home but still was gone long enough to give my brother and I just enough hours of daylight to go and see whatever peeked our interest. We would make plans to hop on our bikes and find new routes to get into sun city. We knew every storm drain culvert, sand wash, golf course crossing, and back alley to get us from home to mcdonalds or the thrifty's where we could get ice cream cones. As much as I can remember there was nothing as satisfying as exploring out into the desert and hills surrounding our rural community of meniffee. Exploring things we had not seen and planning new adventures and making it home before mom and dad, were the highlights of our summers.
Twenty some odd years later ( who's counting though right?) not much has changed. Aside from keeping a career going and maintaining some what of a "normal" adult existence, I am always looking for the next adventure. Always trying to find a new and exciting way to direct my energy. I think this is why diving has become such an obsession for me. The possibilities are virtually limitless. Every dive is a different adventure.
All our gear was loaded on the boat and we were pulling out of the marina headed for our dive spot. The spot Bill had chosen was "Kracken's cove". It is located in black canyon right next to hoover dam on the Nevada side. After we had anchored the boat, we got all our gear together and went over our dive plan, objectives, and skills to be practiced. I could not wait to hit the water. I got all geared up, did my ABC's and stepped off into the lake. Shortly after Bill followed. We gave each other the ok to go down signal and let the air out of our vests and started down into the canyon. As always we stopped at 20 feet and did a bubble and gear check and once again gave each other the ok sign and then continued down the line. I wish i could find the best way to explain the feelings of descending through the water. The weightlessness along with the slight falling sensation. Watching your depth gauge on your computer seeing the numbers go up, 20 feet then 30 then 40 then 70 as the bottom starts to come into view and we start to add just enough air in our vest to come to a slow motionless stop and hover over the bottom as if we were suspended in mid air. Our dive plan was to hit 100 feet and start our skills. We swam together just a few feet to where a ledge dropped off and descended down the face until hitting our planned depth of 100 feet. We began our skills. I would replicate everything Bill did. Taking off our masks and replacing it then clearing the water out, simulating out of air situations and sharing air. There are quite a few skills and communications that were practiced. When we had finished our skills I started to look around at our surroundings. People probably just don't understand how beautiful the lake is under water. So many rock formations and terrain changes. Its like a hikers paradise without the heat and exhausting exercise it takes to see it above the surface. A few feet from me was another sharp drop off I swam over to the edge and peered down It was a straight of a cliff as i have ever seen like it was man made. There is something so intriguing and somewhat menacing about staring off into this black abyss. I could feel the urge to plummet off the edge and see what was down there. I knew right then this was not deep enough for me. I was already trying to plan how I could get the training and the gear to go deeper. But it would have to wait. We had hit our planned bottom time and gave each other the signal to start our ascent. We swam over to the anchor line and started our slow rise towards the boat. I kept looking back down at the sights below. Not sure what it is but something is pulling me down and begging me to stay down there. We continued on up the line and completed our safety stops. When our computers told us we we ok to surface, we breached the surface and climbed up the ladder onto the boat. We sat across from each other taking our gear off I was so excited I could not stop my barrage of questions for Bill. I am surprised he has not found a way to put a muzzle on me yet. I am pretty lucky to have found an instructor and friend who has the same desire for adventure as me, and also can handle my nonstop questioning, and scenarios, and machine gun texting assault when we are not face to face. Each of these conversations ending with one of three words. Sweeeeeeeeeeettttttttttt, Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh, or my favorite desert dog comment Bad A$$$$$$$$$$$$$&&&&&&&&&.
The rest of the dives went pretty much the same as the first. One more deep dive and I was certified for deep dives to 130 feet. We had eaten dinner and did several night dives also on this trip. Night diving is without a doubt one of the coolest things I have ever done Its a whole different world. Colors look some much different under our lights we carry. Huge bass sleeping. Catfish all over the bottom feeding. To be surrounded by complete darkness in this moon like environment with only the area of our lights in view, is an amazing situation. You would think that with all this new knowledge and awesome situations my energy would be slightly subsided and I would be momentarily satisfied. That could not be further from the truth. As I stand in the back of the boat it just starts to set in that it is barely 60 degrees on this windy winter night. All of which, I was so excited I had not noticed. Pulling off my cold wetsuit and jumping into my warm dry clothes I was already making mental plans as to what I would have to do to continue my diving endeavours. Money budgeted, schedules cleared, books bought. As with every ending dive trip I could not wait to get back out there and do it again. I am very happy I have found this productive and adventurous outlet. I only hope that everyone else finds something like this in their life. I could not imagine living life any other way than to the end of your imagination and finding what you are capable when you are happy and truly apply yourself. I also cant wait to share my love of the water and its possibilities to anyone who wants to see it.
Until next time I promise you I will be going deeper and doing it in the dark ALOT.
Trav
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