Scuba Diving

Lynn decided that scuba diving was for her at the moment her face broke through the glassy surface of the water to experience submarine freedom for the very first time. Eyes big, she stared into the aqua space--first left, then right--breathing hard from her regulator as if her future depended on it. It didn't matter that she was standing in the shallow end of a swimming pool with her face in the water.

It was supposed to be a fun-filled diving excursion, but it ended up becoming much more. Stan Levey, who has been legally blind since childhood, hadn't planned on getting caught up in Hurricane Mitch when he and 28 members of his dive club left the San Fernando Valley for Honduras on Oct. 24.

A San Diego company is recalling 3,500 of its overpressure valves that are used with scuba diving equipment sold nationwide because the valve can stick open, creating a potential drowning hazard. Diving Unlimited International Inc. has received two reports of the valves sticking open, although no injuries have been reported, according to an announcement Wednesday by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The valves are used with a buoyancy control system, which comes in jacket and wing models.

Albert A. Tillman, 75, a pioneer in teaching and certifying scuba diving, died Friday in Seattle of unspecified causes. A native of Los Angeles, Tillman started diving at age 10 and later took diving classes at the University of Hawaii while serving in the Army during World War II.

Exactly three weeks after Edward Lee Skidmore disappeared while scuba diving off Ventura Harbor, his body was found Saturday. A fisherman spotted the body in rocks off a jetty near the harbor sometime before 9 a.m., said Lt. Paul Anderson of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. He said the body appeared to be intact and that some scuba-diving equipment was still attached. Deputy Coroner Zelmira Isaac said the body had been identified as Skidmore's.

For scuba divers, one of the world's great cold-water destinations is the kelp forest of Monterey Bay, with its rich sea life, which includes everything from starfish to sea otters. As many as 1,000 divers walk in or drop off boats into the bay on busy weekends. Lately, though, the bay has been unusually treacherous.

A Huntington Beach woman died early Sunday in a scuba diving accident in 120 feet of water off Santa Catalina Island, authorities said. Debra Cassel, 26, died of cardiac arrest at Memorial Medical Center of Long Beach at 3:45 a.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Drew Basey said. Cassel and Markley Gordon of Fullerton were scuba diving off his sailboat, "Flash," anchored near Casino Point, Basey said. The two had descended into the water to check whether the anchor was secure, Basey said.

A 22-year-old Chatsworth woman died Friday in a scuba-diving accident off Santa Catalina Island, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. The woman, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, was a student diver on a boat operated by a Ventura diving school, deputies said. She was diving in 100 feet of water about 10 a.m. when other divers found her unconscious on the ocean floor, Sgt. Bob Wachsmuth said.

Coastal Development hopes to raise $1.5 million through an initial public offering to finance construction of a scuba-diving resort in Belize, Central America, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Organized last December in Phoenix by Mark Nielson, Coastal Development said it plans to build the resort on 100 acres of land along the coast of Ambergris Caye, the largest of Belize's offshore islands.