I think I’m back online, at least for now, and should be making prompter posts; I just spent the last day turning four old broken PCs into one old working one.

With a day off with no pay, compliments of the stagnant crapola economy, I decided to head down to White Point for a long overdue dive there.

The trick to parking on the weekdays is to get there before 9 AM; after that, it shoots to $7.

TwinDuct and Debriefer Paul met me, along with a sort of new face – “Kevin.”

After TwinDuct discovered problems with the threading on his tank, Kevin saved our SCUBA dive by loaning him a tank.

Thanks Kevin!

Logged Dive #350 – White Point
San Pedro, CA

Dove With TwinDuct & Kevin

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 42 feet
Waves: Calm with a few sporadic heavy swells
Visibility: 10 to 15 feet, really silty is some areas
Water Temperature: 70 degrees on the surface, 60 at depth
Total Bottom Time: About 45 minutes

We entered off of a small rocky cul de sac – I think that’s what’s left of the old Japanese bathhouse.

We submerged in 20 feet of water and headed South; there are underwater hot springs here, but I’ve never been able to find them.

What’s left of an old commercial lobster trap.

TwinDuct follows.

A starfish orgy.

Kevin stayed with us almost until the end, before he went off solo to look for shells.

An underwater Uni store – shelves of sea urchins.

White Point is strange in that some reefs are 40 feet deep, but if you try and swim over them, sometimes you reach the surface.

We exited with no problems.

We fired up the ghetto grill and debriefed with hot dogs and the King Of Beers.

With lobster season fast approaching, I’m a little concerned… where are the lobsters?

You can view the exciting on scene video that Professional Debriefer Paul took…

To view this video on YouTube, click here.

Sorry again for the delay in this post, but my 486 at home crashed again and I’m trying to repair it – hopefully, without burning the valuable motherboard.

Yes, the headline is correct, so without going in to our boring dive at first, you can read about the skull and the event here, or you can watch the following, on scene coverage…

To watch this video on Youtube, click here.

Logged Dive #349 – Veterans’ Park
Redondo Beach, CA

The Annual Underwater Clean Up

Dove With TwinDuct

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 700 psi
Max depth: 84 feet
Waves: 2 to 5 feet, sporadic
Visibility: 10 to 14 feet, pretty clear
Water Temperature: 55 degrees at depth
Total Bottom Time: About 35 minutes

While volunteers cleaned the beach and surrounding areas, TwinDuct and I geared up and entered just off the pier…

The plan was to clean the trench that is a few dozen yards South of the pier.

That area is basically where all the half dead fish go to die – last year we found a lot of trash and fish skeletons.

If a piece of trash was something’s home, we left it alone.

TwinDuct patrols for trash.

We did such a good job cleaning last year that, aside from a hand full of plastic bags and a bucket, there wasn’t much trash this year.

This was just another typical, uneventful Redondo Beach dive, but looking for trash and not looking at trash.

We had no problem exiting with our heavy bags of debris.

The underwater trash pile was fairly small this year.

The trash was so exciting, some even video taped the collection heap.

During the debriefing, we were told that “Someone found a human skull.”

My brother promptly grabbed his video camera and shot the above footage.

The skull finding was the topic of conversation – “It still had hair and teeth…” “It was wrapped in linen and then in a bag…” “The Divemaster who found it is quite shaken…” “It was probably a mafia hit…”

To ease our trauma, one of the divers showed off her tattoo.

Around noon, the Redondo Beach Police showed up to talk to the Divemaster who found the skull; the Officer did his best to comfort the diver as he gently explained that the skull was made out of plastic!

Some say it may have been part of a ritual, I think it was a practical joke aimed at this event.

After all, all the voodoo rituals I have seen never used plastic props, and apparently the skull was without sea growth, so it had been tossed in the ocean within the last few days.