Blog for Nayan

I knew what my plans for the night of Saturday 19th Dec plans were going to be about two months in advance or so but then all of sudden lot of things happened around it and this week/weekend turned out to be really fun/crazy.

Thursday 17th Dec 2009, Downtown Walk and Avatar:

It all started out with thursday evening where first i went to a meetup with Downtown Indian Social club. We met at union station and then walked around in downtown, looking at the various decorations and catching up a small show at LA Live. We tried to go different restaurants for dinner but both had private parties so finally decided on this thai restaurant Soi 7. Its a fairly new restaurant and the yellow curry was good.

I had to rush out of that place because i didn’t want to be late for Avatar. I wasn’t planning on catching it first day first show but then the tickets were available and so i went for it. Wanted to see it in IMAX but in my excitement i got fooled and didn’t get IMAX but it was 3D so i was happy about it. I was there late but then i got a very nice seat so didn’t have much to complain about.

The movie story is pretty predictable but the visuals are absolutely stunning, I am fan of CG so i have a bias but then still this is something that has never been done before. I am sure you have read other reviews of the movie so won’t be going too much into it.

Friday Office Party and Saturday Dry Suit Class:

Come Friday evening, there was office Christmas party to attend. I had my dry suit class on saturday so wasn’t planning on drinking too much but still ended up having a shot and couple of beers. I did make sure to drink lots of water to go along with it so i that i didn’t dehydrate myself too much.

Came home at 1 and woke up at 4 to catch the 6.15 am Catalina Express. Met Lars who was also doing the dry suit course and we took a cab to Casino point. I was worried that i had forgotten my rain jacket but then it was going to be a clear beautiful clear day with temperature in 70’s. It was surprising that i didn’t see any kelp at the park and later on as we dove saw tons of eel grass which has grown there.

We got suited up for the first dive and it was going to be the wreck of Sue Jack. At the end of the dive we were going to do skills of forward and backward rolls, i found that to be little odd since if anyone had uncontrolled ascent it would be lot less harmful at beginning of dive rather than end of dive. But i am sure Nikki knew what she was doing and all of us were experienced divers.

We got into the water and it was a different feeling to get used to, during the pool session i thought that it felt as if i was learning diving all over again with the dry suit and i wasn’t wrong. We dropped down and started swimming towards the wreck, the viz was amazing about 20-30 ft and suddenly i got the feeling that my suit had developed a leak or something. I wasn’t exactly toasty but then i didn’t feel that cold either, i was having mixed feelings about the suit.

I was doing great in terms of my buoyancy and air consumption, didn’t see anything too exciting but there were schools of fishes and saw a huge china or yellow rockfish. We got to the wreck and then it was time to turn around and then things started to go all downhill for me.

There was a little bit of current against us while coming back so it wasn’t fun and then my new fins aren’t exactly snug so i was having trouble with that. I have XL and i think i will go back to the shop and see if the large ones fit me. With my socks and everything getting compressed little bit the fins flap around and its not fun.

As we were almost back to the buoy, i was really having a hard time staying down and prevent myself from ascending, the dry suit valve was fully open and all the air from my BC was dumped too but to no avail. I tried to fight it but with little success and soon had no choice but to pop up. I was in control all the time and it wasn’t a rapid ascend and was from about 25-30 ft so i wasn’t too worried about DCS.

Nikki came over to see if i was doing ok, she asked me to take my time and join others to do the rolls. I waited on the surface to catch my breath and after few mins descended again to join others and finish doing the rolls. After doing those, again i just couldn’t stay down and slowly ascended. This time i decided to call it a dive and didn’t go down again.

When we got out, my fears about the leak were not true and it was just the sweat condensation in the undergarment which i was feeling. If it was a flood or a tear, i was assured that it would be very different and i got to experience it in the next dive.

For the second dive, i decided to add couple of pounds of weight and see how it went. So after a couple of hours of surface interval we started out second dive. This time we were going to swim in opposite direction and try to find the dive platforms. At the end of the dive we would practice removing the dry suit inflator hose and connecting it again and then try to vent through the seals. We would also be doing the one minute timed hover and supposed to stay in one position for that minute.

We dropped down and soon a cormorant also dropped down to go after the school of fishes, it was nice to watch it. This dive was way better and in terms of having that feeling of leak totally went away for me, i was getting more comfortable and used to the dry suit. But still i wasn’t too happy with how my fins fitted and am going to change them for sure.

After few minutes, we found the swim platforms and it was nice to see them for the first time, i might have encountered them previously but don’t remember them as such. We then swam around and did the hover in the sandy area, i didn’t have any problems with that.

I had some problem with air getting into my feet and having a slow ascend, so when nikki asked me to disconnect the hose and put it back, i had to take my time to relax and maintain my trim. It will take few more dives for sure to be totally comfortable with the suit. Now it was time for us to practice venting air out of the seals, it was easy to do so in the pool without the gloves and hood but then with gloves and hood on it wasn’t going to be easy.

I barely had any air in my suit so when i was asked to vent it, i first had to add some air to it and it also mean’t that i was ascending slowly but i did manage to get air out of my wrists and get myself back, there was no ascent to the surface like the first dive. Venting air out of my neck seal was another adventure, i added some air to the suit to get it out. I am not sure if i managed to let some air or not but some water did enter through the seal. Now i knew the feeling of leak and how different it was from the first time i thought it happened.

We ended the dive soon and this time i was able to easily make the safety stop at 15 feet so that extra couple of pounds really helped though next time i am going to add another two pounds to see how it goes. Before heading out to the island i had thought about doing one or two more dives after the required dives but i wasn’t in the mood now. I want to change my fins before i get into the water with my suit again. It will lot more comfortable for me, i am sure.

The best part about drysuit is that you don’t get wet :D, i know its ironic but you don’t have to worry about the cold and all the wetness, i just love it. We decided to have lunch at Antonio’s and the veggie calzone was really good.




Dinner and Infected Mushroom Saturday Night:

I had to meet a client in west la to discuss about a possible project so i decided to head out directly there after landing in long beach at about 5pm, i was planning on meeting with them on friday but then didn’t want to drive in traffic to west la. So after finalizing about the project, i went directly to Chakra Cuisine of India in Beverly Hills for another dinner meetup with Indian/Bollywood Social group.

Google has wrong location of this place in their database but still i managed to reach on time at around 7. The restaurant is supposed to be upscale and the ambience definitely suggested so. We were 15 in all attending the meetup and it was a nice group of people. The appetizers at this place made me look forward to the food but the entrees were disappointing. I wasn’t impressed at all by the main course and i don’t think i would be visiting this place again.


I choose to bid early goodbye to the group since i had to get to avalon early to see Infected Mushroom, i had got tickets like 2 months in advance for this and didn’t want to be late and stand in the line for too long. I got home and then left as soon as i could. I had never been to avalon before but then i managed to find it without any problems.

When i got there, i had to look around to find the right line because there were few of them. I managed to find the right one and got in after like 15 mins of waiting so it wasn’t that bad. Duddev started DJ’ing at about 11.15 and then around mid night the whole band came to the stage to rock us for over 3 hours. It was simply mind blowing, the speakers were little loud but i didn’t mind it.

I wasn’t too pleased with the crowd, quite a few people were just standing on the dance floor and it was little annoying but its ok, i just had to be little restrained ;-). The party would have continued on till 8 in the morning but i had enough and decided to head back at around 3.15. I was seriously considering going hiking on sunday but the hike was a 10 mile one and i didn’t want to push myself too far.

By the time i went back to bed it was almost 4 and my saturday finally came to an end. Sunday was spend watching movies on TV and relaxing