Kenneth Kopp

Gallery: Wet: ScooterMania!

Nothing feels more like flying than buzzing along on a Dive Propulson Vehicle (we call them scooters.)

Weighing less than 40 pounds on land, they are weightless in the water and pull us along at about 3-times as fast as a diver can kick.

The freedom, the acrobatics, the FUN. There is nothing quite like it.

At the end of the dive, I asked Claudette to improv a dance with her scooter.
   
"Monkey Diving" involves taking the large, heavy tank off your back and using a smaller, lighter one slung at your side.
   
Blasting along in the crystal-clear, warm water of a Bonaire Reef.
     
  
On the ascent, with everyone else below us, Claudette plays in their bubbles,
   
Scootering among the late season schools of Jack Mackerel in the clear waters of Catalina Island.
   
In about 8 feet of water, she drops in and zooms by me. That's the famous Casino building on the left.
     
  
During a shallow dive, a sea lion comes over to engage and play with a diver. The scooter makes the diver faster and more nimble in the water.
   
Jaye getting her scoot on over the white sand in the clear shallow water of Bonaire.
   
I handed my scooter to Claudette, then it just got silly...
     
  
Holding a stop in the clear water at Catalina on a warm fall day.
  
At about 90 feet, joy and skill meets a school of Blacksmith. Upside-down.
   
The sun lights up the green water below the rig at about 120 feet.
     
  
With a smaller tank slung at your side, you are more streamlined and less rigid in the water.
   
Claudette blasts over me as I look up the pillars from about 100 feet.
   
I buried myself in a sandy hole and had Jaye scooter inches over my head on this clear Bonaire reef.
     
  
Claudette on the ascent back to the boat.
   
Scootering in the dense SoCal kelp.
   
Claudette clowning around in mid-water.
     
  
A beautiful bright day, descending into a deep canyon on rugged San Clemente Island.