October 2, 2013

If you didn’t read the last post of our first dive, it would pay off if you did before reading this.

We were debating on where to go.

The only thing that we agreed on is that the last spot was the shittiest lobster dive we had ever done – there was one lobster on the boat with eight divers.

Some wanted to go to some spots in Palos Verdes, others wanted to stalk the hoop netters (their spots, NOT raid their nets), some wanted to try the break wall.

Somewhere off of Hermosa, there is an artificial reef made up of construction pipes.

The final decision was to try there.

After a 15 minute ride, again, the boat was trolling, spinning, turning, speeding up, slowing down…

I remarked, “Why do I have a feeling that this dive is gonna be just like the last.”

Mirek high-fived me.

Again, the instructions were, “Go East to the structure.”

I was the first one off the boat and descended down the anchor line.

Logged SCUBA Dive #452

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

Secret Location: 54 68 65 20 72 65 65 66 20 6f 66 20 63 65 6d 65 6e 74 20 70 69 70 65 73 20 6f 66 66 20 6f 66 20 42 65 61 75 74 69 66 75 6c 20 42 65 61 63 68 2e
Hermosa Beach, CA, USA

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 400 psi
Max depth: 60 feet
Waves: Slightly choppy
Visibility: 10 feet to shit
Water Temperature: 62 degrees
Air Temperature: 73 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes or so

Once I hit bottom, the first thing I realized was that the visibility was sort of shitty – 10 feet at best.

I came across the “structure” – it looked like concrete sewer and drainage pipes that were dumped either as an artificial reef, or for a lazy contractor’s convenience.

Honestly, it was some interesting structure, but when you’re looking for lobster, it was like swimming through a ghost town.

Nobody was home.

All the little indentations, all the holes didn’t possess one lobster.

I continued swimming East and made it over sand and sea feathers.

Another diver, later identified as Mirek, was about 15 feet to my left.

I’m swimming over sand and sea feathers in 10 foot visibility at best; I was frustrated and about to turn around until my light shined on of the biggest lobster tails I had ever seen.

FUCK! A LOBSTER!

I didn’t want to hesitate, but I usually blow all the air out of my lungs while I’m going for a pin, however, I took a breathe right when my left hand pinned the carapace.

It was like putting my hand on a wall!

I tried using one of my Jiu Jitsu moves with my leg to pin the tail, but the breath I took made me too buoyant and the bug went backwards and escaped through my legs, slapping me in the nuts with it’s tail in the process.

I was in 60 feet of water, recovering from the monster lobster hitting me in the balls – his way of saying, “Fuck you bitch, I ain’t this big by being a pussy.”

Oh, man! I wanted to cry so bad.

The bragging rights, the lobster meat, the pictures … I fucked up – my chance was gone.

I should have taken just a few more seconds to plan the pin a little better.

Maybe I should go look for him in this great visibility?

Yeah, right.

I had 1,000 psi left, I turned around and headed back to the boat.

Upon hitting the structure again, I caught one bug – it was short, and therefore released unharmed.

Defeated, depressed, humiliated, bruised and sore I made my way slowly to the surface.

I had a short swim back to the boat; I was the first one back on.

I told the Captain, “There was one huge bug down there, but it got away.”

Now, I had a fear that since it was weakened by our confrontation, maybe someone else caught it?

Again, the divers slowly started coming back to the boat.

Chris G. caught one bug, fairly good sized.

Again, we were waiting on Mirek, who surfaced about 100 yards away.

Debriefing started…

Why we didn’t pull anchor and get him, I’m not sure.

Mirek caught another one – he had 66% of the bugs caught on this boat – eight divers, three lobsters total.

Dan, Mirek and me all have a lobster rivalry going…

Mirek has proven that he is the current Lobster King.

The thing that really sucks for me, is that Dan and I both got skunked – so we are equals.

On the ride back, Kathy M. (who apparently is not a hunter, just a “spotter”) remarked, “We saw this huge lobster just limping on the sand, but I couldn’t point it out to Chris because he was too far ahead of us.”

I’m taking a hunting break for a week while I put my balls on ice.

Traditional parking lot debriefing took place; all wrapped up by midnight.

October 2, 2013

After a successful morning on “Opening Night,” I was offered a spot on the Island Diver out of Rocky Point, in Redondo Beach.

Tonight’s participants were Kathy K, Kathy M, Claudette, the famous diver Bill Holzer, Divevet’s Dan, Chris G., Mirek and myself; in charge of the boat was Captain Taras.

I was begged to go; I think people were genuinely expecting me to show them some of my secret lobster hunting techniques.

The boat left around 7:30 PM, and after a short ride, we were in “the secret area.”

For the next 20 minutes, the boat slowly circled, stopped, spun around, sped up, circled… over and over.

I thought that they were being very careful about where they wanted to drop us.

This was a dive around 80 feet; this area, and how deep people were catching the big ones added up to a good possibility that this was going to be a great lobster spot tonight.

We were told, “Go down the anchor line and head East to the structure.”

I descended down the anchor line and headed East.

Logged SCUBA Dive #451

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

Secret Location: 57 65 20 77 65 72 65 20 73 75 70 70 6f 73 65 20 74 6f 20 62 65 20 61 74 20 74 68 65 20 66 61 72 6d 20 74 68 61 74 20 67 72 6f 77 73 20 70 69 70 65 73 2c 20 62 75 74 20 74 68 65 20 43 61 70 74 61 69 6e 20 66 75 63 6b 65 64 20 75 70 20 61 6e 64 20 64 72 6f 70 70 65 64 20 75 73 20 31 30 30 30 20 66 65 65 74 20 53 6f 75 74 68 2e
Redondo Beach, CA, USA

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 1000 psi
Max depth: 82 feet
Waves: Slightly choppy
Visibility: 15 feet
Water Temperature: 60 degrees
Air Temperature: 74 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 20 minutes or so

Hmmm… where is the structure?

There was nothing but sand.

I kept going until I found an old tire, just laying on the bottom.

OK, the structure must be around here; I kept going.

I saw some sea feathers, a yellow crab, a few shrimp and sand… a lot of sand.

And then… even more sand!

I headed North, then went South, and then I did a circle… where the fuck is this “structure” that is suppose to be here?

I came across some strange metal box with growth on it, and then more sand.

Wow, this sucked!

I’m at 80 feet and I thought “Fuck this, I’m getting back to the boat so I can start my surface interval; this dive is a waste of time!”

I slowly surfaced and came up about 50 yards from the boat; I swam back.

I was the first one over and the first one back.

The first thing I said to the Captain was, “If someone comes back with anything, I will be surprised.”

Chris made it back and then Dan.

Both had the same question – “Did anyone see any structure down there?”

“Nope.”

The girls made it back; Kathy M. said, “That was a great dive, it was such pretty sand – I really couldn’t get enough of that sand.”

Seven divers, all skunked, and all thinking, “How the fuck did we get here, and why are we diving here?”

We were waiting on Mirek.

Mirek usually doesn’t use quantity of air or bottom time to judge the length of his lobster dives – when his bag is full, he returns.

We were a little concerned, but several minutes later, Mirek surfaced about 50 yards away.

The first thing out of his mouth upon climing back on to the boat was, “Kurwa!” – The equivalent of “Fuck” or “Bitch” in Polish.

He found some boulders and one legal lobster – the only lobster on this boat.

Dan holds Mirek’s lobster to remind him of what one looks like.

We came to find out later, that the Captain had anchored about 1,000 feet away from the GPS coordinates that were given to him, and Chris G. didn’t check them when we arrived.

On to the next one…