In talking with Juan Twenty at the SCUBA Show, I received reports of five foot vis and crappy conditions at Old Marineland on Saturday.

We were planning another barbecue today, but I ran a little late and just brought my outdoor stove and hot dogs.

My brother was waiting for me when I arrived; he’s not certified, but fits in with the dive groupies and is looking for subject matter that he can use for a commercial contest.

Conditions looked crappy – “green” as we call it; it looked like it went all the way to The Point…

Even though three divers (including a really hot chick!) geared up for a SCUBA dive, most of the regulars stayed dry and called the dive; I took the hint.

We grabbed some beers and headed down to sit at the beach.

No diving for me, but another perfect day!

Fog rolled in for a bit and the conditions looked like they were getting worse.

The abandoned and loose fishing net that’s been trying to wash itself back out to sea to once again become a marine hazard, was secured with rope by Dive Bum Don and Max Bottomtime.

These nets are lost by commercial fishermen and they end up floating around the ocean, endlessly trapping and drowning seals, sea lions, dolphins and other marine life.

My brother and I hadn’t been in Pigeon Shit cave together since our teenage years of sneaking in to Marineland.

We call it Pigeon Shit cave because that’s what we would be covered with after leaving the cave back in the day.

The entrance to Pigeon Shit cave.

The cave goes several dozen yards back; but all the debris that’s washed in from storms forces you to crawl after a certain point.

The cave was damp with water drops falling from the ceiling.

The divers returned; one sacrificed a fin to the ocean gods.

Reports were “about eight feet vis” with water temperature around 60 degrees.

Maybe I should have gone diving – but too many times I’ve gone in, only to wonder later why I didn’t call the dive.

We cooked hot dogs in the parking lot – only a few stayed for the hot dogs (aka “Death Sticks”); I’ve gotten them too used to Korean ribs, rice and kim chi.

A new diver to Divevets introduced himself – Drew.

The parking lot “party” fizzled out fairly early, leaving me and my brother to reminisce about growing up in the poor part of Palos Verdes and working at Old Marineland more than 20 years ago.

I finally went to the SCUBA show after many years of assuming it was going to be a bunch of vendors pushing travel packages.

I took the bus down to the Convention Center to avoid the parking situation and to mingle with the common folk.

It was $12 admission into the hall and an additional $25 for unlimited Seminars – the beers were $5.50 for a Budweiser bottle.

The first Seminer that I attended was “A Divemaster Shares His Secrets” by Ken Knezick of Island Dreams.

Unfortunately, the title was all that persuaded me to attend.

He briefly talked about reading other divers and safety issues, but by in large it was how to travel with gear, which gear to bring and how to chose a dive charter.

As he said, “99% of the time, nothing goes wrong on a dive, but you want to chose a dive charter that can deal with the other 1%.”

A good seminar, but I think the title should have been changed to “How Not To Have A Bad Diving Vacation.”

The second seminar was put on by the publisher of California Diving News and author of The Best Southern California Beach Dives.

He basically went over his favorite beach dives – some place in Ventura, Leo Carrillo, Old Pier number three in Redondo Beach, Malaga Cove and White Point.

He ran out of time before he got to Orange County.

I was going to go to “Why Divers Die,” but the lack of earth shattering news at these seminars made me just want to cruise the hall.

In the back of the hall was the movie festival.

Some travel booths even brought some native entertainment.

Ancient SCUBA equipment is displayed by the Historical Diving Association.

Let’s not forget ancient instructor training, too!

The hall was fairly crowded; but during the course of the show, I ran accross many dive friends – Divevets, Pacific Wilderness, Dive and Surf.

The California Wreck Diving Club displays recovered artifacts.

Even at $5.50 a beer, some just drank too much.

All in all a great SCUBA Show – I will go again next year, but I think I’ll skip the seminars.