Holy crap!

I haven’t been SCUBA diving since mid-April!

I was certain that I got in one dive a month, but personal shit just keeps interfering with my diving.

Determined to get a July SCUBA dive in, I headed down to Veteran’s Park in Redondo Beach.

I was hoping I’m still in shape for beach diving, but as it turned out, my equipment was what was in disrepair.

My spare air leaked through the pressure gauge, my backup second stage free flowed and I discovered a lot more problems during the dive.

I wasted about 500 psi just attempting to fix my problems.

The entrance was easy.

Logged Dive #369
Veteran’s Park
Redondo Beach, CA

Solo Diving

In With: 2500 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 70 feet
Waves: Calm – one foot at most
Visibility: 15 to 20 feet
Water Temperature: About 55 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 30 minutes

The water was very clear – probably even more than 20 feet in some places, but the 55 degree water made me cold; I’m sure all the holes in my wetsuit didn’t help either.

I swam down the canyon to about 70 feet; I got one of the cold headaches, like the kind you get when you eat ice cream too quickly.

I had to use my machismo to ignore the pain and push forward with the dive.

A yellow crab – I get so exicited when I see sea life here!

Don’t let anyone tell you there is no kelp off of Veteran’s Park.

A starfish tries to make a meal out of a conch pile.

I trolled around the bottom of the shelf for a while before heading back up to 35 feet, just a little South of where I remember the “blocks” or “monument” to be – I haven’t found that thing in over a year.

I had a buoyancy problem when I was in 35 feet and soon discovered that my inflator hose was stuck on; I had to keep dumping air to stay down.

A baby Pacific Electric Ray.

I came across a submerged hoola hoop, that was anchored in 35 feet of water…

Maybe divers are suppose to swim through it?

When the dive was over, I was able to walk ashore with no problems – I guess my muscles haven’t atrophied as much as I thought.

I am so glad that I am still in decent shape to dive, however I need big time service on my equipment.

I also saw a lot of friends that I haven’t seen in a while.

July Recap:

Sorry for being such a posting slacker; my internet access is spotty at times.

I’m still trying to get an unwanted house guest out – this shit has been going on for a year right now and I’m tempted to just move out of my own condo and turn off all the utilities.

I’ve been warned that I could get in trouble for that, but I understand it would be more of a civil matter, not criminal.

Since I have nothing to sue for, it is very tempting.

Imagine living with a paranoid nut-job, that is unemployed and has no friends, (which wasn’t always the case) and then serving eviction papers to her.

Yeah, you can imagine that going home is just going to be wonderful, especially since it could take months to get her out.

It was a long time in coming, but I finally put together the 4th of July video that answers the question, “If you work as a pyro on the 4th of July, why are you gone for 16 hours?”

There’s a lot that goes on to prepare for that 20 minute show…

To view this video on YouTube.com, click here.

Lots of macho activities planned for August, so stay tuned.

Getting older and more out of shape, I was determined to get in the water today.

The regular Sunday morning group had already called the dive off by the time I arrived.

“The Cove and The Point look like washing machines,” someone said.

I walked down and verified – green water and heavy surf.

The group went to check out Honeymoon Cove.

Honeymoon Cove looked spectacular – you could see the bottom of the ocean from the cliffs and there were barely any waves.

We started to gear up, then someone went to go take another look.

Someone suggested, after looking at the steep goat trail down, that we check out Malaga Cove.

I took another look.

“OK, let’s check out Malaga Cove, and if it sucks, we’ll come back,” I said.

Malaga was diveable – short waves crashing on shore with water that didn’t look too muddy.

Professional Debriefer Paul was there for shore support; he drafted me to take “Mr. Kim” for a swim.

To make a long story as short as possible, Paul won a YouTube contest and part of his prize was some kind of a stuffed toy bear from Korea – “Mr. Kim.”

With too much time on his hands, Paul has decided to send “Mr. Kim” around the world on various adventures.

Logged SCUBA Dive #368

SoCal Buddy Diving With Reverend Al, SCJoe, Eric and Jordan – oh yeah, and “Mr. Kim”

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 1700 psi
Max depth: 20 feet
Waves: one to two foot manageable swells, with a few surprises
Visibility: 5 to 10 feet
Water Temperature: 56 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 35 minutes

After waiting patiently for some rouge waves to subside, I made an easy rock entrance into the shallow Malaga Cove waters and joined the rest of the divers.

Mr. Kim showed no signs of panic.

After the above picture was taken, my camera froze in the “On” position, with no response from any of the controls.

Why the hell doesn’t it do that on land?

Crap!

I don’t know how well the pictures would have turned out anyway, the water was sort of silty.

But, lobsters, horn sharks and various fish were in abundance.

I mean, the ocean floor was covered with horn sharks.

Trying to fix my camera, I lost sight of the group – it was just me and “Mr. Kim.”

A little pissed that my camera wasn’t working, I slowly headed for a sandy beach exit.

Twenty five minutes later I was approaching the shore in waist high waters.

I took my fins off and turned back towards the ocean to find a set of large waves heading my way.

Easily diving underneath them, I was pushed above some kind of a hole where I couldn’t feel the ground.

I thought I would have to put my fins on again, but I regained traction soon after.

Traditional debriefing soon followed…

Professional Debriefer Paul drafted our help in making an AFLAC commercial for a video contest – 10 seconds long, and first prize is $25,000…

I don’t believe the video is done as of this writing, but we had a lot of fun helping him make it – you will fully understand when you see the commercial.

If he wins the $25,000, he has promised to throw a huge party for us.

We met two hot free divers – Valerie and Tao, who decided to split a beer during our debriefing.

Split a beer?

Yes, Valerie was driving, so she didn’t want to have a full beer.

How responsible!

It was nice to finally get in the water again!

I’m thinking about starting cage fighting again, just so I can stay in shape for diving.