July 12, 2014

I was offered a deal that I could not refuse – the last spot on a six-pack diving boat on a trip to the Yukon and Ruby E wrecks.

Financing and a ride to San Diego was arranged thanks to Mean Bob of Divevets.

Bob was due to pick me up at 6 AM; I got news that a very close relative has been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) at 5:30 AM.

There was nothing I could do about it, and if I cancelled at the last minute, all it would do was free me up for an early drinking binge.

Bob picked me up four minutes early and we made the hour and a half drive to San Diego with no issues.

Donna the Hot Biker Chick was surprised to see me – we had kept me going a secret as we were afraid she would have cancelled.

The Pacific Swann is a fairly small, but comfortable six-pack diving boat operated by a cool guy named Jeff.

Kasia, Mike C and Donna The Hot Biker Chick

Dan and Mean Bob

Rough seas and big swells made the trip to the wreck pretty macho – the non-macho became seasick.

Another boat was already on one of the markers.

I was the first one off, Donna the second; we were getting sort of impatient waiting on the others, so we decided to head down first.

Logged SCUBA Dive #469

Dove with Donna The Hot Biker Chick

The Yukon Wreck
San Diego, CA USA

In With: 3100 psi
Out With: 700 psi
Max depth: 98 feet
Waves: Choppy on the surface
Visibility: 15 to 20 feet
Water Temperature: 54 degrees
Air Temperature: 75 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 30 minutes

Heading down the line.

Visibility wasn’t that great, and it was dark, but we could see.

White sea anemones?

Looking up.

Fish along the hull.

Donna the Hot Biker Chick examines the sea growth.

Kelp along the top deck.

A Marine died on this wreck a few months ago – an American and Marine flag had been placed there in memory.

Amazingly, we found the mooring line that we went down on, and made a slow return to the surface.

Coming soon! Our next dive on the Ruby E.

The weather was overcast, but warm; diving reports from Wednesday from Veterans Park were of dismal conditions, including large rolling waves.

I was really thinking about staying home, but I had good feelings about today.

I got to Terranea Resort about 20 minutes late, but parking was no problem.

Reverend Al, Steve and Donna the Hot Biker Chick were walking back from a conditions check.

“It looks a little green, so we’re going off the Point and deep,” I was told.

We geared up and walked to The Point; we were the only divers there today.

Entering off The Point was a little tricky, and we got surprised by some pounding rouge swells.

I waited patiently for the swells to subside and made it out with no issues.

Donna was a little winded when she made it out – I think she had to fight against an incoming swell; Eric looked like he nearly missed playing pinball against some rocks.

We swam around and under the kelp before meeting again and doing our final descent.

Logged SCUBA Dive #468

Dove with: Reverend Al, Donna The Hot Biker Chick, Eric and Mike

Terranea Resort (a.k.a. Old Marineland)
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, USA

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 62 feet
Waves: Generally calm with some big rolling waves on shore
Visibility: 8-10 feet, silty
Water Temperature: 68 degrees
Air Temperature: 81 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 46 minutes

In three words – visibility sucked ass.

I followed Reverend Al, the rest followed us.

Believe it or not, but Al found the statue at the pinnacle; it is heavily encrusted with sea growth, but still recognizable.

We started to head to The Cove after five minutes; there was a strong current going the other way.

It wasn’t a bad dive, but the visibility just sort of sucked.

Mike apparently spotted a few lobsters.

I didn’t see anything really cool – like a shark or something; it was a typical, low vis non-dramatic dive.

I broke away from the group at 500 psi and surface swam about 150 yards to a perfect exit.

Light debriefing ensued.

The five of us talked about how we sometimes scare off some would-be divers wanting to join us here.

“I just want people to know, this is a rocky entrance and exit – do we really need to rescue someone who isn’t ready for a dive like this?” I asked.

We then went over some scenarios if a diver did get injured while making an entrance off The Point.

Those scenarios were scary to think about.

Debriefing ended well before noon.

Today’s diving crew – Me, Donna The Hot Biker Chick, Mike, Reverend Al and Eric