December 14, 2013

I have had a really bad cold for the last couple of weeks; just as I think I’m shaking it, the congestion comes back.

I didn’t want to miss such a unique event as the Dive N Surf Underwater Christmas Tree Dive and Toy Drive, so I had a hearty breakfast of water, coffee and a handful of Sudafeds.

I arrived promptly at 8 AM to a parking lot full of divers – Dive N Surf, Divevets and Pacific Wilderness were all represented, but with seemingly separate agendas.

My donations to charity.

They held the dive briefing a little late; I felt the Sudafed wearing off as I blew snot strands on the pavement.

Me with some of the hot babes of Dive N Surf.

Santa enters the water – I wonder if she knows how heavy that suit is going to be when she gets out?

I made an easy entrance, and swam to 20 feet of water before submerging.

I pinched my nose as the water pressure squeezed my eardrums.

Logged SCUBA Dive #458

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

Veterans Park
Redondo Beach, CA, USA

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 2100 psi
Max depth: 60 feet
Waves: Pretty damn flat
Visibility: 15-20 feet
Water Temperature: 61 degrees
Air Temperature: 64 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 20 minutes, if that

I rested in 20 feet as my ears slowly equalized.

The underwater Christmas tree that was placed earlier in the morning.

Basically, divers decorate the tree with fruit strung with hemp string before they have their picture taken with Santa Claus.

I wanted to make a quick dash down the canyon before they were ready to start taking pictures.

I went to the shelf and down… FUCK MY EARS HURT LIKE HELL!

As I was equalizing, I wondered which was going to pop first – my ears, or my eyes out of the sockets?

After a few minutes I was fine; I looked up the canyon wall and took this picture…

I noticed a drop of water pass by my view finder.

“Wow, I’m getting a lot of condensation for such warm water,” I thought.

I tilted my camera case and noticed about 1/8th of an inch of water in the case.

My camera case is leaking!

FUCK!

I shut the camera off and started up the canyon, to find out that I now got to enjoy the dizzying affects of reverse blockage.

I swam past the Christmas tree – I now had 1/4 inch of water in my case.

I surfaced and swam in, tripping on the sand step as I got out.

I handed my camera to a Divemaster, who opened the case and emptied the water.

“Sorry dude, I think your camera is screwed,” a spectator said.

Jimmy The Bagman was nice enough to run home and get some rubbing alcohol and a bag of rice.

My camera went into Emergency Dry Mode, or more commonly known as E.D.M.

Dominic, a famous ex-Divemaster made a parking lot appearance.

He hasn’t dove in 18 months and has been told to never dive again.

Dominic was run over on the freeway while helping a downed motorcyclist; he went into a comma for six weeks while a section of his skull was removed to let his brain swelling go down.

After hearing all that, I was not going to complain about my camera housing leaking.

After an hour and a half of letting my camera bake in a bag of rice on my truck’s dashboard, I attempted to power it on.

It still works!

Holy crap! My camera, is like the “AK-47” of cameras – it has been dropped several times, got rained on constantly in Poland and has now survived a partial camera housing flood!

The toys pile up.

The Fire Department arrives to pick up the toys.

They scored this year – last year, I heard was pretty lame.

A group shot of basically everyone in the parking lot.

Mirek gets all the chicks.

Oh man, I will dive anywhere this beautiful woman wants me to!

And so comes an end to another Southern California diving event!

November 17, 2013

My sister is in town from Reno and I have some birthday celebrations to attend in Palos Verdes, so there’s nothing like a morning dive to combat the upcoming stress.

I arrived at 8:20 AM to find everyone almost geared up.

Apparently, Reverend Al trusted the Pacific Wilderness guys who had already checked out the conditions and went straight to gearing up

“They say it looks great,” Al said.

I hurried and geared up.

Reverend Al, Eric and myself walked to The Point, where it was really high tide with some rollers coming in.

I dawned my fins and waited for a roller to come in so I could ride it out.

I was sitting on a rock, snorkel in my mouth, when a roller swooshed in – I leaped off into the receding water, to land on my stomach, grounded on a boulder.

I looked up to see an even bigger wave coming at me.

“Oh, shit!”

It picked me up, slammed me against another rock and rolled me around until I could ride the water out.

“You picked the worst time to get in the water,” Eric said.

We swam over the pinnacle and dropped.

Logged SCUBA Dive #457

Dove With Reverend Al and Eric

Terranea Resort, Off The Point
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, USA

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 600 psi
Max depth: 64 feet
Waves: Surface chop, some rollers
Visibility: 15 feet at best
Water Temperature: 61 degrees
Air Temperature: 72 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 59 minutes or so

Visibility has declined since last week, so I’ll keep the underwater photos to a minimum.

We spotted a few lobsters under the rocks – this is now a marine preserve, and I think a lot of the lobsters have moved here seeking sanctuary.

Along certain reefs, there’s an interesting “layered” structure to them.

We also noticed a lot of fish, including male Sheephead, that had disappeared before the fishing ban.

I was diving with an Aluminum 80, Reverend Al had a steal 100 – he handed me his auxiliary regulator when I was down to 600 psi, and I continued my dive, holding onto his BCD and breathing off his tank.

We surfaced just outside the cove; Al had 450 psi left.

I think a big problem is that I need some maintenance on my gear – Eric noticed I had leaks coming out of my first stage and another leak out of my console – I have to take it in for service.

There were some rollers in the cove – by far, it wasn’t the scariest exit that I’ve ever made, but it was not as easy as I was hoping.

Sunday’s Group.

My sister Kate and her friend Tina joined the debriefing.

A group shot with my siblings – Me, Professional Debriefer Paul and Non-Diver Kate.

Ever wonder why your car doesn’t get shit on by pigeons when you’re at Terranea Resort?

It’s because the Falcon Man chases then away…

The Falcon Guy.

…and his falcons.

Debriefing continued until 1 PM, with diving stories and a Pacific Wilderness rant against my Luxfer Aluminum tanks from the 1980s.

“Those things could explode and hurt or kill someone,” I was warned.

Tank replacement is on my list.