One of the worst experiences of my life

It may even rival March 26, 2002, the day of the fateful blood test which led to my diagnosis of MCL.

Not only was it one of the hottest days of the year, maybe even one of the hottest since I've been in California, but my check out dive, for our upcoming trip to Grand Turk, went horribly.

This probably wasn't the best day to be donning a 7 mm wetsuit, strapping 60 pounds of weights and tank to my back and then traipsing 100 yards to the ocean, but I needed to check out my gear, to make sure everything was working properly, before going on vacation.

So my buddy drove down from Glendora to pick me up first thing in the morning, and we headed out to Corona Del Mar. We decided against Shaw's Cove in Laguna Beach, our first choice, because the thought of adding 100 stairs (50 down and 50 back up), was going to be more than we wanted to endure, considering the hot weather, simply to go for a check out dive.

Things didn't start out badly either. We didn't have to pay for parking, I remembered all my gear, and I was able to get my wet suit on with little effort, but after walking the hundred yards through the sand to the shore [with the 60 pounds of weight on my back], as I was putting on my fins, one of the buckles broke.

I just can't describe the feeling when that happened. It was utter disappointment. I was sure I had checked the fins before the dive, but some how, the buckle broke, and I didn't have an extra buckle with me.

But after all that effort, I was not about to abort the dive, so I decided I would try to dive with just one fin.

Well it turns out that wasn't the best idea. After all the extra effort I needed, to first walk back to the car to drop off the one fin, and then swim out to a point where it was deep enough to start the dive with only one fin, I was so worn out, I could not relax enough, and get enough air out of my lungs to submerge.

So after about 15 minutes of floundering around in the water, I decided it wasn't worth any more effort, and I called it a day. I'll just do my check out dive in Grand Turk. My regulator works fine, the BC holds air, and my mask didn't leak. So with the exception of the fins, which I do have an extra buckle for, everything seems to be a go.

It's ironic too, that the last time I did a cold water dive with my buddy, about 6 years ago, he lost one of his fins (the same kind) in the surf, and we aborted the dive then. So I am taking that as a double omen, not to take those fins on vacation (I do have another set, which I have an extra buckle for), and don't do any more cold water dives.

It's easier riding with Group 1, on Saturdays Hammer Zone ride, than doing a beach dive in California.

My concerns reaffirmed today

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LIVING WITH MCL

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