I need to get back into the swing of things.

I need to start diving at least a couple times a week, otherwise I see myself just getting older and withering away.

The sun really didn’t come out this morning, so it was hard to get up, but I was determined.

Not many regulars appeared – Dr. D (aka Dennis G.), Kenneth and a couple others, but mostly new faces; at least new faces to me.

I accompanied Dr. D., with Pinky and New Dry Suit Chris to 120 reef.

Logged SCUBA Dive #425

Dove with Dr. D, and “Pinky” and New Dry Suit Chris
Terranea Resort. Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 900 psi
Max depth: 43 feet
Waves: Pretty flat, maybe two foot swells
Visibility: Up to 20 feet
Water Temperature: 64 degrees
Air Temperature: 65 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 39 minutes

For whatever reason, I had a hard time keeping my footing on entry.

Visibility sucked in the cove, but cleared to 20 feet of visibility further out; we could see the bottom.

We swam to the rocky finger outside of pigeon shit cave and descended.

We followed Dr. D. who lead us to places of 120 Reef that I forgot existed.

This was a pretty routine, uneventful dive.

The other two divers apparently had only a dozen dives after certification, but did extremely well.

A perfect dive with a perfect exit, too – no casualties!

Debriefing was with Budweiser and ghetto grill cooked spicy sausages.

I was talking to yet another Bob about the differences between Divets and the now defunct “Sandeaters” dive club.

“The Sandeaters would meet once a week at a different location, but nobody knew who was part of the club… different people would show up and some you would never see again…”

“…and as soon as the dive ended, people would get in their cars and leave; you never got to debrief or get to know anybody.”

If it wasn’t for the post dive debriefing, I probably would just dive solo.

Dr. D and Pinky were so macho, they did a second dive.

Well, so far, I have two bugs at $70 a piece; all I need is five more to limit and make this trip worth it.

We moved the boat a short distance, to a deeper reef where the boat that was refilling our tanks – after our compressor broke – said there were plenty of bugs left.

Logged SCUBA Dive #424

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving
Secret Location: 31 30 30 20 79 61 72 64 73 20 66 75 72 74 68 65 72 20 66 72 6f 6d 20 74 68 65 20 6c 61 73 74 2c 20 69 6e 20 64 65 65 70 65 72 20 77 61 74 65 72 2e. Catalina Island

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 700 psi
Max depth: 83 feet
Waves: Pretty flat
Visibility: Up to 20 feet
Water Temperature: 58 degrees
Air Temperature: 69 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 25 minutes

A deep dive, and I’m guessing at my bottom time since my computer broke – not too smart.

My plan was to do a quick dive, limit and do a 10 minute, progressive safety stop.

Having my doubts about being this deep for lobster, I was pleasantly surprised to have liberated three bugs within ten minutes; it should have been five, but oh well.

I came up slowly, grabbing on to the anchor line, taking ten minutes to break the surface.

Here’s my five – 15 pounds of lobster.

Reverend Al, not only scored heavy on the lobster, but also won the jackpot…

…it was between Al and Chippers bug, but Al obviously won.

We debriefed on the way back, arriving back at port around 7:30 AM.