When they reached the water’s edge, Caddie ignored Ben’s instruction to keep her regulator in, standing in the water as she put her fins on. Ben remained quiet but kept an eye on her in case a wave of any size should approach. None did, but only by pure luck, and as Caddie followed Brian into the water, Ben saw her look at him in triumph, as if she’d caught him in a lie.

He followed quickly, grateful to be off the sand. Unlike at the Breakwater or Pt. Lobos, here they were almost immediately in water over their heads. Ben looked down and saw that the visibility was excellent. He could see the bottom easily. It was, he thought, going to be a wonderful dive.

Brian was already swimming along the outer edge of the kelp. At its summer peak, the kelp lay in a thick mat over the surface of the sea. Getting entangled in it was a definite hazard for those unfamiliar with the infamous Monterey “kelp crawl,” and Ben wanted to tell Caddie to stay far away from the forest. She, however, was swimming with her face in the water, following Brian’s fins as if he were the Pied Piper.

The swim took some time, and when they stopped on the far side of the kelp, it was a welcome rest. “The good news is, that was the hard part,” Ben joked as they paused to catch their breath. “Now you get to see the good stuff.”

“You can go right to the edge of the canyon,” Brian said. “It’s so cool.”

“Yeah, but don’t go too deep,” Ben reminded him. “Stay around a hundred feet, and watch your computers. You need to have enough air to get back.”

He saw Caddie roll her eyes at Brian. “Just stick with me,” Brian told her. “You’ll be fine.”

“What’s the plan?” Ben asked.

“Go down and have fun,” said Brian with a grin.

Before Ben could say that they needed something a little more concrete than that, Brian began to descend. Caddie, too, lifted her low-pressure inflator and released the air from her BC. Ben, annoyed, found his own inflator and went after them.

He watched Caddie carefully as they descended. She had good control, he noted. She moved slowly and without the jerkiness usually seen in divers before they’d logged fifty or so dives. Despite his anger, he was proud of her.

When they reached the bottom, Brian immediately began swimming in the direction of the canyon. Ben let him lead. He himself knew where they were going, and he knew how to get back. When Brian got lost, he would be able to put them back on track, hopefully teaching Caddie something about the need for a solid dive plan. Until then, he thought it best to stay back and enjoy the dive.