{"id":1444,"date":"2008-11-01T23:45:33","date_gmt":"2008-11-02T06:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=1444"},"modified":"2008-11-02T21:52:55","modified_gmt":"2008-11-03T04:52:55","slug":"the-divevets-5th-annual-underwater-pumpkin-carving-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=1444","title":{"rendered":"The Divevets’ 5th Annual Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Logged Dive #315<\/p>\n

Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA<\/p>\n

Solo Diving\/SoCal Buddy Diving<\/p>\n

In With: 2900 psi
\nOut With: 1300 psi
\nMax depth: 68 feet
\nWaves: Pretty flat
\nVisibility: 15 feet
\nWater Temperature: About 58 degrees, colder at depth
\nTotal Bottom Time: About 40 minutes<\/p>\n

Having gotten burned by the judges at the last underwater pumpkin carving contest<\/a>, I decided that I would try for the “worst pumpkin” prize.<\/p>\n

Nobody needed a buddy, so I planned to just carve my pumpkin really quick, return to shore and go back out again for a leisurely dive.<\/p>\n

\"Me<\/p>\n

It rained for a short period of time, getting my pumpkin and SCUBA gear wet – I was so pissed!<\/p>\n

I entered the water with the help of a Pacific Wilderness Divemaster, who held my pumpkin as I entered – the swells were so flat.<\/p>\n

I submerged in 15 feet of water and started carving; not even two minutes later, I had the winner!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

I returned to shore to drop off my entry and reentered the water to do some photography.<\/p>\n

Heading to the shelf, I ran across two divers working on a pumpkin…<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

A couple pictures later, and I was on my way to hopefully find TwinDuct and a few more carvers – unfortunately, it’s hard to find people underwater sometimes.<\/p>\n

\"Underwater<\/p>\n

I found another dive team working on their creation.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

I came across an orange traffic cone!<\/p>\n

I was so excited!<\/p>\n

I swam down the canyon and ran across “The Monument…”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The newest addition to the cinder blocks and miscellaneous trash is a toilet.<\/p>\n

Realizing that I never refilled my Spare Air because of a slow leak (sort of like not wearing your seat belt on the freeway), I headed up to shallower water.<\/p>\n

At the lip of the shelf, visibility got really bad…<\/p>\n

\"Carving<\/p>\n

Through the silt, emerged three divers’ silhouettes.<\/p>\n

\"More<\/p>\n

…Ah, Ha! Three more underwater pumpkin artists!<\/p>\n

I made it back to shore without incident when I got discouraged that I couldn’t locate my friends.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

We shared the ocean and park with the Pacific Wilderness Underwater pumpkin carving contest; I think we had more chicks at our event.<\/p>\n

Who I took pictures of, I really don’t know – they could be from Divevets or Pacific Wilderness; everyone looks the same underwater.<\/p>\n

Dan from Divevets put a hot dog that fell on the ground in the mouth of my pumpkin.<\/p>\n

He said, “That will make it either the best or the worst… you’ll get something.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The judges judge the pumpkins.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

From left to right, a traditionally carved pumpkin, my pumpkin and TwinDuct’s ‘drowned pumpkin.’<\/p>\n

My brother showed up to cheer me on and help us debrief.<\/p>\n

It came time for the awards!<\/p>\n

The winner for the worst pumpkin…. was Me!<\/p>\n

\"Montana<\/p>\n

Montana bestows my prize for worst pumpkin – a crab hat and the book “Fitness For Divers.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"First<\/p>\n

Good2BFit won first place.<\/p>\n

\"Second<\/p>\n

A couple coincidentally wins second and third place.<\/p>\n

\"Fourth<\/p>\n

The fourth place winner.<\/p>\n

\"Fifth<\/p>\n

Good2BFit takes fifth… wait!<\/p>\n

A double entry?<\/p>\n

I’ll have to remember that strategy next year!<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The event included a gourmet meal cooked on an outdoor stove.<\/p>\n

\"Debriefing<\/p>\n

Another great debriefing with a lot of non-divers and family members.<\/p>\n

Someone yelled, “Beer down! Beer Down! I smell bacon!”<\/p>\n

A cop rolled up and hassled us…<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Someone had a dog and the cop told her to get the dog out of the park.<\/p>\n

Wow! Dog Police?<\/p>\n

The festivities wrapped up by 2 PM; I left the grounds triumphantly with my worst prize prizes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logged Dive #315 Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA Solo Diving\/SoCal Buddy Diving In With: 2900 psi Out With: 1300 psi Max depth: 68 feet Waves: Pretty flat Visibility: 15 feet Water Temperature: About 58 degrees, colder at depth Total Bottom Time: About 40 minutes Having gotten burned by the judges at the last underwater pumpkin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,3,27,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}