Final Tour of Duty

Well, that's it: my last dive tour here in Monterey. Although I'm leaving the area before the dive "season" (ie, summertime) is complete, I feel totally satisfied with what I've accomplished in the time I've spent here. I assumed responsibility for 34 divers (sometimes alone, sometimes in groups), and managed to safely return back to the beach with every one of them despite their best (and and often fascinating) efforts to prevent me from doing so. I'm quite proud of the progress I've made both as a diver and a dive guide, based largely on the overwhelmingly positive response I've received from the customers. Although there were a few dives that went less well than I would have liked (bashed knee, lost customer who I feared dead, etc.), overall I don't think that I could have hoped for much better. Furthermore, all of the so-called "problems" that arose during the few difficult dives could have been prevented had I done something differently. Thus, I have plenty of room to improve!
So now that I'm done with the diving, there are just a handful of things to take care of before moving on one week from today. I need to collect the remaining $3000 or so that I'm owed from three employers, figure out what to do with my scant possessions, and spend some time working out options for this winter.
Oh right, this winter! Next week, I head up to Oakland to go backpacking with good friends for several days. As soon as I get back, I board a plane for distant plains. More on that later, but for now let me quote Will Hunting by saying that I'm going "to see about a girl"...

Feeling good, and soggy

When I was 6 years old, I was introduced to soccer, the ocean, and a life of activity in general. In junior high school, I played basketball as often as six times per day. And as a 17 year old, I decided on a whim to try water polo, and discovered that physical exhaustion takes on a whole new intensity when you're in the deep end of the pool with 200lb guys trying their best to drown you.
I've been fortunate to have a healthy body that allows me to push myself the way I have and, although I've perhaps been fitter at some point in my young life, it's hard to imagine being much more active than I am right now!
I have been working 7 days a week for what seems like months now, mostly as a scuba divemaster. During the weeks, I guide customers on beach dives in Monterey an average of twice per day. The routine involves getting myself and my customers suited up with roughly 70lbs of dive gear, walking 300 metres to the beach, swimming on the surface another 200 metres, and then beginning the actual dive. Afterwards, we walk back to the shop, refill our tanks, and do the whole thing over again. Oh, and did I mention that my wetsuit is 12mm thick? It's not exactly the most forgiving piece of clothing to jostle about in. This month in particular has been quite intense physically. In the month of July, I dived 23 times (which includes the dives I did while cleaning boats in the harbor for up to 5 hours at a time). Last week alone however, I got in, through, and out of the water thirteen times in just six days! Not only is that a personal record for diving, I'm starting to notice a level of physical fitness the likes of which I haven't experienced since playing varsity soccer in high school. When I play pick up soccer on mondays and wednesdays (for fun, of course), I regularly discover that I'm able to run (and breathe) much more easily than I have in years. Not bad for a guy who had asthma as a kid, and was told that I'd never be able to dive because of problems with my ears.
It's a great feeling to be able to bike up a long hill on the way to work, complete several dives which may or may not involve towing an exhausted man 100lbs my superior, scrub boats in the harbor for 3 hours, bike home again, and then run around with friends for two hours on the soccer field.
But to be totally honest, it isn't too hard for me to fall asleep these days...