Long Point, CA
(aka The Old Marineland)

Solo Diving

I got to Long Point about 8:30 AM; No other divers were around.

Cardiac Hill “killed” Nick last week. He’s still sore.

I went in around 9:30 AM; I did the one fin on entry. It worked perfectly. I had my spear with me.

The visibility was absolutely spectacular, maybe up to 30 feet.

I swam to the rocky point just outside of Pigeon shit cave, not the Point.

I was so awed by the scenery that I didn’t hunt until I had about 2000 psi.

I saw some really big sheephead, some males. Those fish are so stupid, and these were really big. I was scared to shoot them — they looked really big.

I got down to 1200 psi and thought, “I really need to catch something.”

I speared a sheephead and ripped part of its back off; it escaped. I felt sorry for the creature.

I went looking for the bigger fish and saw one of those shovelnosed guitar fishes. It scared the shit out of me because they look really big underwater and similar to a shark, but it swam by with no problem.

I eventually speared a 12 inch sheephead with only 800 psi left. I started to swim back, but saw more. I chased after them, but at 300 psi, I had to surface. I was about 100 yards North of Pigeon Shit Cave, totally off track.

I swam back to the cove and made an easy exit.

When coming up with my fish, a chick who was standing on the beach with her dike girlfriend said, “look at him, how macho. I bet that fish didn’t have a chance.”

Oh well, especially not in my frying pan.

In with: 3000 psi
Out with 300 psi
Maximum depth: 30 feet
Waves: 3 feet and calm
Visibility: 30 feet
Water Temperature: warm
Total Bottom Time: 40+ minutes

Pt Vicente Fishing Access, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
(aka Cardiac Hill)

Dove with Nick

I met Nick at Malaga Cove around 8 AM.

This is high tide and we were planning to dive there.

The conditions didn’t look too promising.

It was shallow, the water looked murky.

We checked out Pt. Vicente; it’s West of Long Point and decided to dive it.

This place is the famous “Cardiac Hill.”

We geared up and walked down to a fork in the path.

Straight lead to a narrow path down to the rocks where Nick’s diving book said were the best conditions.

After going right on the switch-back, the path is absolutely terrifying to walk down fully geared.

It’s very narrow and at one point there’s a big rock that jets out of the cliff and the path underneath was only a foot and a half wide.

The trail didn’t bother Nick; he wanted to go back up that way because there were no surges West of the rocks.

Nick was concerned about walking too far back.

I was concerned about getting killed on the trail back.

We entered the water around 10:30 AM or so.

Nick didn’t want to swim “too far.”

I’m thinking, “Crap, we’re here to dive….?”

Neither of us were hunting or talking pictures.

We slowly submerged and went East.

This is a very shallow dive.

We didn’t get deeper than 20 feet the whole time.

We surfaced a few times to get our bearings.

Around the kelp near the middle rocks, Nick pointed out a Bat Ray – a BIG Bat Ray!

It was on the bottom minding its own business.

It startled me; I hear those things can sting badly.

The bottom reminded me of Shaw’s Cove but without the shells; actually, it’s a lot like White Point.

We hung around that area for the remainder of the dive.

There’s a small rocky beach exit just to the East, but Nick didn’t want to walk back that far.

Shit, sometimes I really prefer solo diving.

We went in just underneath the end of the trail to the East.

It’s very shallow; add a few waves and it’s hazardous.

Up Cardiac Hill was a bitch.

It was a 15 minute walk – it seemed like forever.

In with: 3100 psi
Out with: 1600 psi
Maximum depth: 20 feet
Waves: 1-2 feet
Visibility: 15-20 feet
Temperature: about 60 degrees F
Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.