There have been a few stories going around about Roy losing some dive gear on a halibut dive in Monterey. I just wanted to set the story straight since I was the only true witness to the mishap.
On Saturday, April 21st Roy and I drove down to Monterey for one day of halibut diving on Del Monte beach. The weekend before, several divers speared halibut, two of which weighed in at 45 pounds. We arrived at 9 am to a nearly flat sea, little wind and a sunny warm day. The ocean was 49 degrees on the surface and it looked like it would be a great day for diving. We loaded up our boats with the big guns, two tanks each and the rest of our gear. We launched near the sewage plant where the new walkway goes down nearly to the water at high tide. The first dive was about 60 minutes in length at an average of about 30 feet. We were able to dive together since the visibility was about 10 feet. Both of our boats were tied together and I was towing them from underwater on a 100-foot line. It worked fairly well and was like being on a drift dive. We were able to cover a lot of bottom and when we were finished we could surface and our boats would be nearby.
Don't worry, Roy. I won't tell anyone!
We saw no halibut on the first dive so we decided to paddle closer to the piers near the Monterey Bay Kayak shop and work our way back down the beach on the second dive.
It was starting to get a little choppy and the wind was picking up so we went ashore near the piers to change our tanks. After about 15 minutes on the beach we paddled back out and started the second dive. About half way through the second dive it got very hard to tow the boats. My arm was about to rip out of its socket so I motioned to Roy, let's surface. Once on the surface we noticed the weather was now really rough and the wind was blowing very hard. We were out about a quarter mile from shore and the waves were breaking over our boats. We quickly and safely stowed our gear and headed for shore.
When we got near the breakers I told Roy make sure all your gear is tied down good because we will more than likely capsize in the surf. Roy said, "OK! Everything is tied down!" Roy went in first, when he reached the outer breakers I headed in behind him. I saw him capsize and get back up and was heading for shore. Soon after I also capsized and got up and headed for shore. I was almost ashore when I saw Roy walking back into the surf, I yelled where you going? He said, "I LOST MY RIG." He meant his tank, BC and regulator/computer. I looked on the beach and saw his boat with an empty tank-well. I got ashore and then followed him back into the surf. We searched the water for about an hour but could not find a trace of his rig. The waves were pretty big and his BC was integrated with 30 pounds of lead so it may have gotten buried in the sand quite quickly or rolled out into deeper water due to the surf action. Roy was not a happy camper the rest of the day and it was a long drive home. Later that day I told Roy, you may have lost some gear or (STUFF), but (STUFF) can be replaced and your life can't. He cheered up a little after that and I told him don't worry, I won't tell anybody what happened!