November 8, 2013

I was so sore last Thursday from Cage Fighting training earlier in the week, that I took the night off and went to a local bar to ingest some recovery carbs.

I was greeted by the hot bartender by her yelling, “So, where the fuck is my lobster? You gave everybody one except me!”

Yeah, the last trip I got skunked, but I never promise anyone lobster until I actually have them.

That greeting sparked a conversation with another patron who also goes lobster hunting.

“Yeah, I have a friend with a boat, if you want to go out Friday night for some hunting, we have a spot,” the guy said, who would later identify himself as Ranger Danger.

Not knowing if he was bullshitting me because he was drinking, I took his number and followed up the next day – yep, we were going.

We met at the local pub, where he picked me up to get my SCUBA gear at my apartment in the ghetto.

“Why are you bringing all that shit?” Ranger Danger asked.

“Uh, we’re going lobster hunting, right?”

“Yeah, but we use hoop nets,” he responded.

Oh, Fuck!

I guess I should have asked for details on this trip!

I was determined to dive – scoop up the lobsters, limit, and drink beer while I watch their futile effort to score the big bugs; at least, that was my plan.

So, for this trip – Captain Tom, Luis, Ranger Danger, all hoop netters, and me on SCUBA.

Captain Tom’s boat.

We boated out of the harbor, but within the break wall, to a secret spot.

Hoop Nets next to SCUBA gear.

They threw baited hoop nets over.

“OK, we can’t anchor, but we’ll know where you are by your light; if you pull this off, I’m gonna take a refresher course and join you next time,” Captain Tom said.

I was determined to limit.

I geared up and flipped backwards over the starboard side.

Logged SCUBA Dive #454

Solo Diving

Secret Location: 49 6e 20 74 68 65 20 62 72 65 61 6b 77 61 74 65 72 2c 20 6f 75 74 73 69 64 65 20 74 68 65 20 68 61 72 62 6f 72 20 6f 66 66 20 74 68 65 20 69 73 6c 65 20 6f 66 20 43 68 61 66 66 65 65 2e
Long Beach, CA, USA

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 1500 psi
Max depth: 35 feet
Waves: Pretty flat
Visibility: shit to 10 feet
Water Temperature: 62 degrees
Air Temperature: 73 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 25 minutes or so

I submerged to a barren wasteland of boulders – I searched in the holes, up and down, going East.

I saw one lobster and pinned it – it was so short, I didn’t even bother measuring it, and let it go, unharmed.

I continued hunting… some molts, but no lobsters.

Fuck, they must be deeper?

I took a heading and went deeper – the visibility turned to shit.

Off the rocks, the floor is a three foot deep mass of mush.

After about twenty five minutes or so, not seeing any legal lobsters at all, I surfaced.

I spotted the boat, gave three blinks on my light, and was picked up.

“There’s nothing down there,” I said.

Captain Tom expressed some concern when I went deeper because they lost sight of my light.

Once on the boat, they went around pulling their nets.

All “blanks” except for one sheep crab.

Ranger Danger looks way too happy to have caught a sheep crab.

The sheep crab was thrown back.

We went on to our next spot – more to come.

October 2, 2013

If you didn’t read the last post of our first dive, it would pay off if you did before reading this.

We were debating on where to go.

The only thing that we agreed on is that the last spot was the shittiest lobster dive we had ever done – there was one lobster on the boat with eight divers.

Some wanted to go to some spots in Palos Verdes, others wanted to stalk the hoop netters (their spots, NOT raid their nets), some wanted to try the break wall.

Somewhere off of Hermosa, there is an artificial reef made up of construction pipes.

The final decision was to try there.

After a 15 minute ride, again, the boat was trolling, spinning, turning, speeding up, slowing down…

I remarked, “Why do I have a feeling that this dive is gonna be just like the last.”

Mirek high-fived me.

Again, the instructions were, “Go East to the structure.”

I was the first one off the boat and descended down the anchor line.

Logged SCUBA Dive #452

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

Secret Location: 54 68 65 20 72 65 65 66 20 6f 66 20 63 65 6d 65 6e 74 20 70 69 70 65 73 20 6f 66 66 20 6f 66 20 42 65 61 75 74 69 66 75 6c 20 42 65 61 63 68 2e
Hermosa Beach, CA, USA

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 400 psi
Max depth: 60 feet
Waves: Slightly choppy
Visibility: 10 feet to shit
Water Temperature: 62 degrees
Air Temperature: 73 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes or so

Once I hit bottom, the first thing I realized was that the visibility was sort of shitty – 10 feet at best.

I came across the “structure” – it looked like concrete sewer and drainage pipes that were dumped either as an artificial reef, or for a lazy contractor’s convenience.

Honestly, it was some interesting structure, but when you’re looking for lobster, it was like swimming through a ghost town.

Nobody was home.

All the little indentations, all the holes didn’t possess one lobster.

I continued swimming East and made it over sand and sea feathers.

Another diver, later identified as Mirek, was about 15 feet to my left.

I’m swimming over sand and sea feathers in 10 foot visibility at best; I was frustrated and about to turn around until my light shined on of the biggest lobster tails I had ever seen.

FUCK! A LOBSTER!

I didn’t want to hesitate, but I usually blow all the air out of my lungs while I’m going for a pin, however, I took a breathe right when my left hand pinned the carapace.

It was like putting my hand on a wall!

I tried using one of my Jiu Jitsu moves with my leg to pin the tail, but the breath I took made me too buoyant and the bug went backwards and escaped through my legs, slapping me in the nuts with it’s tail in the process.

I was in 60 feet of water, recovering from the monster lobster hitting me in the balls – his way of saying, “Fuck you bitch, I ain’t this big by being a pussy.”

Oh, man! I wanted to cry so bad.

The bragging rights, the lobster meat, the pictures … I fucked up – my chance was gone.

I should have taken just a few more seconds to plan the pin a little better.

Maybe I should go look for him in this great visibility?

Yeah, right.

I had 1,000 psi left, I turned around and headed back to the boat.

Upon hitting the structure again, I caught one bug – it was short, and therefore released unharmed.

Defeated, depressed, humiliated, bruised and sore I made my way slowly to the surface.

I had a short swim back to the boat; I was the first one back on.

I told the Captain, “There was one huge bug down there, but it got away.”

Now, I had a fear that since it was weakened by our confrontation, maybe someone else caught it?

Again, the divers slowly started coming back to the boat.

Chris G. caught one bug, fairly good sized.

Again, we were waiting on Mirek, who surfaced about 100 yards away.

Debriefing started…

Why we didn’t pull anchor and get him, I’m not sure.

Mirek caught another one – he had 66% of the bugs caught on this boat – eight divers, three lobsters total.

Dan, Mirek and me all have a lobster rivalry going…

Mirek has proven that he is the current Lobster King.

The thing that really sucks for me, is that Dan and I both got skunked – so we are equals.

On the ride back, Kathy M. (who apparently is not a hunter, just a “spotter”) remarked, “We saw this huge lobster just limping on the sand, but I couldn’t point it out to Chris because he was too far ahead of us.”

I’m taking a hunting break for a week while I put my balls on ice.

Traditional parking lot debriefing took place; all wrapped up by midnight.