Lobster hunting off the “Island Diver” boat with the Divevets Group

Secret Location: 4a 75 73 74 20 6f 66 66 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 53 70 61 6e 69 73 68 20 52 6f 75 6e 64 20 42 65 61 63 68 2c 20 74 68 65 72 65 20 69 73 20 61 20 66 61 72 6d 20 74 68 61 74 20 67 72 6f 77 73 20 6f 6e 6c 79 20 70 69 70 65 73 2e

So Cal Buddy diving with Roland B./night diving

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 300 psi
Max depth: 100 feet (briefly)
Waves: Light chop
Visibility: 15 feet
Water Temperature: About 55 degrees Fahrenheit I would say
Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes

It was raining slightly.

I finally met Roland B., one of the founders of Divevets.

“Ax” and “Steph” were there, so were Dominic, Tony, Jimmy The Bags Man and someone else.

Dominic caught me putting my BC on the tank upside down.

Ooops!

Some of these divers had never seen me before.

The boat left at 8 PM or so.

I explained to Roland how crappy of a buddy I am when it comes to lobster hunting.

Roland said, “Me too” and buddied with me as “same day, same ocean.”

I was the first off the boat, maybe second.

I went down the anchor line and to the South East – and trolled and trolled.

At about 95 feet, I spotted what was left of some metal pill box with part of the lid collapsed.

Under it was two hopefully legal lobsters.

I lifted the lid, up came silt and a crab that jumped on the lobster – for whatever reason.

How heroic!

They retreated.

I couldn’t grab them; I have a phobia of grabbing for things in confined places because of eels and such.

I kept trolling, but was running low on air after 30 minutes.

A seal or sea lion buzzed me for a few minutes.

I surfaced very slowly doing a safety stop for about a minute at 20 feet or so.

I surfaced about 70 yards from the boat and swam back without incident.

Out of eight divers, two legal lobsters were caught.

Bird Rock, Catalina Island
Diving Off The Mr. C with the Divevets

Solo diving

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 700psi
Max depth: 80 feet
Waves: Insignificant, some boat wake
Visibility: 25 feet
Water Temperature: Probably mid-50’s. The air temperature was 38 degrees Fahrenheit when the boat left the dock.
Total Bottom Time: 40 minutes

I’ve been sick for the last three weeks with a cold.

I was very congested and took about three or four Sudafeds before getting on the boat.

The stupid California Fascist government makes you sign a book when you buy Sudafed now; “Harry Potter” purchased my stash.

The boat left a few minutes after 7 AM.

The Divevets that I recognized – Bob, Shanon. Mirek (first time meeting him in person) and Joe (aka “Cabin Boy”).

Others on the boat claimed to be Divevets.

Apparently the Mr. C was leaking slightly and one of the bilge pumps didn’t work, so the Captain had to slow the boat down.

It took two and a half hours to get to our first destination.

So Bird Rock…

I was the first one overboard; I had to call the Divemaster over and let him know that “number seven is going over.”

I swam to the anchor line and planned a very painful submersion.

The Sudafed did the trick; in no time I was down with little discomfort.

I went away from the shoreline (I forget the compass direction), through a nice kelp bed and down a steep cliff of rocks.

I saw many lobsters hiding in the rocks at 80 feet.

I saw two antennas sticking out between two rocks; I got closer and looked down.

The bug that I was looking at was about the size of a small dog!

I came across and collected some nice, shiny abalone shells.

I started back to the boat.

I heard the engine, but couldn’t quite spot it.

I had reverse blockage coming back up and got very dizzy.

When I broke surface, I was about 20 yards away from the boat.

I submerged again for the short swim to the back of the boat.

Taking my fins off, my left boot ripped.