[Evans, Marv]

In '69 a buddy in the geology dept. asked me to go down to Punta Banda south of Ensenada to help him with a research project. He needed to gather some gas samples for analysis from the floor of a bay on the south side using Nanson bottles. The gas bubbled up through places in the sand from cracks down below at a depth of about 70 ft. I had an old regulator I'd used for years & always had it serviced at the beginning of the season. This was early & I hadn't had it serviced. We went out on a boat and over the side and started down. At about 10 feet, my regulator siezed up & wouldn't let any air through. I sucked hard & it released and the air came through. I should have stopped right then but I didn't. When we were down at about 70 ft. and had gathered a few samples my regulator siezed up again. I tried sucking hard but couldn't get any air out of it. I tapped my buddy and signaled I had lost my air & was going up & for him to follow. I tried to do a blow & go to the top going no faster than my his bubbles, but couldn't quite make it & had to buddy breathe the rest of the way. I'm really glad I didn't panic when that happened. I didn't get scared until later when I thought about how stupid I was & what could have happened.