Cordova Dive Blog

Friday, 25 January 2019

Megan Gauthier's First Dive on the Swiss Cheese Reef


Megan started her Open Water class on 1/12/2019 and completed her academic work and her pool session on1/1/2019. This would be her first dive in the ocean and she was at the apartment precisely at 8:00 am. We loaded up the truck and headed for the beach. Took a little while to gear up and get into the neoprene. Put 8 pounds on Megan, which was enough to sink her in waist deep water.

We swam out to the buoy off Tower 4 to descend. Visibility was poor, but we decided to dive anyway. Megan had trouble descending. I think she was holding her breath. I got her to exhale and helped her descend.


We swam East to the Wrap Around Ledge, then out to the Rock Line. We swam North along the Rock line to the Tire Rock, where we turned East. Somehow we missed the Crescent Moon Rock and the Staghorn Coral. It took me several minutes to recognize any landmarks in the poor visibility, but I finally spotted the Sectioned Rock. We swam North along the reef until Megan signaled she was at 1500 psi.

We turned the dive and swam to the tall coral head from the North. Found the Sectioned Rock again and went West over the Staghorn coral and towards the beach. By this time, Megan was vertical in the water with her head down and swimming to stay down. Could be her breathing made her light, but at this point, it was more likely that she needed more weight. Made a mental note to try 10 pounds on her next dive.

Spotted the wooden block just East of the Large Rock past the Wrap Around Ledge. Corrected our bearing and hit the blocks just East of the buoy. Surfaced with Megan down to 350 psi but also with a big smile.

The Maximum depth was 19.8 feet, bottom temperature was 73.4 degrees, and the dive time was 67 minutes. My RMV was 0.50 cubic feet per minute. Check out all of my pictures from this dive by clicking the following link: 25 January 2019_Swiss Cheese Reef