Posted by Max Bottomtime on June 21, 2005 at 20:25:41:
In Reply to: How small is the sea to you? posted by kylecawaza on June 21, 2005 at 19:49:52:
Some sites are familiar enough that I know where I am in near zero vis. I have around 150 dives at Marineland and the reefs there feel like a personal garden sometimes. Last weekend I got to see a submerged dock I've heard about for a few years but never saw before and also got to see a Hopkin's Rose nudibranch there for the first time. I never get tired of diving there.
The wreck of the Olympic II is another site where I can't get lost. Occasionally I will be treated to a school of Yellowtail of several species of Jellies on the same dive.
Some sites without much in the way of landmarks such as Redondo Canyon are still familiar because I can usually judge the distance I've travelled by my bottom time and air consumption.
Sometimes I will dive a site that I haven't been to for awhile and it looks the same as it did before. I made a dive in Laguna Beach two weeks ago for the first time in years. We had 8 or 9 divers in our group. Before the dive we set up buddy teams. My buddy and I planned to go slow and look in the nooks and crannies. As it turned out, the rest of the teams were even slower and I ended up leading the way. We began in one cove, swam around an offshore reef and exited in the next cove. I surfaced in four feet of water right at the planned exit point because I knew the area so well. I made my initial Open Water dives there and dozens more after being certified.
I love diving the same sites many times. It feels like coming home.