WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES ARE CONTAINED IN THIS POST.

I have upgraded to a GoPro Hero – yes, a used original GoPro Hero.

I figure anything that can get flooded or lost shouldn’t cost more than $100; however, the guy I bought the camera from lost the English instructions, and my Spanish, French and Italian are about as good as my Polish skills.

I need to figure out how the camera works, and the best way is from experience.

I arrived a little after 8 AM; the regulars decided the Point was a no-go, but the Cove was doable.

With the “Chipper and PSD diving on the same day means horrible visibility” curse dis-proven recently, Chipper said, “I know visibility will be great.”

We geared up and made and easy walk down and entrance off the Cove.

On the swim out, someone noticed something floating in the water.

We swam over to it.

I was hoping it was a bundle of drugs that fell off of a panga boat – I could sell it wholesale to someone in the ghetto and get new SCUBA equipment and we could debrief for free for the next three years.

Unfortunately, the thing floating in the water turned out to be a dead sea lion.

It didn’t appear to be tangled in anything, and didn’t seem too old – well half it’s face was missing, so who knows?

I said, “It looks like the lobsters here are going to eat well.”

It was decided that this was going to be an “every man for himself” dive.

We descended.

Logged SCUBA Dive #482

SoCal Buddy Diving primarily with Reverend Al

120 Reef, Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, USA

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 700 psi
Max depth: 41 feet
Waves: Pretty flat, some small swells coming ashore
Visibility: 10-15 feet
Water Temperature: 58 degrees
Air Temperature: 72 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 52 minutes

I followed Reverend Al.

I turned on my GoPro and figured how to take picture bursts and video…

Visibility wasn’t that great, but it was a lot better than the swim out of The Cove.

Al bags a shell.

Al points out lobsters

Lobsters sunbathe in the open, knowing they are protected here.

We made an easy swim back and exit.

Upon coming to shore, we looked out to where we saw the dead sea lion.

The sun was warming it up and it looked twice the size as an hour earlier.

Reverend Al said, “Wouldn’t it be fun to shoot it and watch it explode?”

Ha!

That reminds me of when a town in Oregon blew up a dead whale in 1970 that ended in disaster – there’s a Youtube video on that here: Exploding Whale – Whale Of A Tale

At least the dead body we found was just a sea lion.

I had taken 189 pictures during and after the dive.

Some of them seemed random, and the last 40 were upside down – I need to some English instructions.

Traditional debriefing ensued.

Someone asked Chipper, “I thought you said visibility was going to be good?”

“I was just fucking with PSD,” Chipper responded.

I’m on a lobster boat next Saturday – stay tuned!

So, I’m getting ready for lobster season, and stop by Big 5 to get this season’s lobster report card.

If you remember, prior to last season, the report cards lasted the entire calendar year.

Last season, if you bought a lobster report card at the beginning of the season, the card would last the entire season.

If you already had a report card from that year from the previous season, that card would be valid until the end of the calendar year.

If you wanted to continue that season after the first of January, you had to purchase another report card that would expire at the end of the season.

Confusing, huh?

Well, I was one of the people that had a lobster report card that I bought in early 2013 and then had to buy one again in January – that one lasted until the end of that season.

I filed my lobster report for the year 2013 by January 30, 2014.

So, I’m in Big 5 this afternoon and ordered a lobster report card.

They asked me for one of my drivers licenses; I gave him the one I use for my fishing license.

The total came to $21.60.

“Holy, crap, the lobster report cards have really gone up!” I said.

The machine printed a small green piece of paper.

“I guess so, I wonder why the machine didn’t print the whole card,” The cashier said.

Mystified, she called the manager.

The manager came over and handed me the paper.

“You didn’t file your report for last season, so you just paid the fine,” he said.

He continued, “Now that you got that out of the way, would you still like your lobster report card?”

Isn’t technology great?

I hope they never start using that kind of technology when they send out Jury Summonses – which I have never gotten.

In other news…

My flooded camera is – deceased.

I volunteered last weekend to dive in the Heal The Bay clean up.

The diving at the Santa Monica pier was cancelled due to big swells.

I had volunteered for the Redondo Beach clean up, on the side near the Chart House.

We canceled the dive on our end due to conditions, but the clean up under the pier went forward.

I don’t have any news on what kind of cool stuff they found – I took off when our diving was cancelled.

I’m on a boat tonight for the opening morning of Lobster Season.

We’re planning on doing three dives off Catalina and the swell models are promising to make the trip quite the puke-bucket adventure.

I like quality posts over quantity, so it may take me until Sunday to complete all the posts from Opening morning.

So, fellow lobster hunters, be careful, be safe and good luck!