As I mentioned in my previous post, dive conditions for about the past month have been sketchy, and the March weather a little weird – it’s been colder than normal for March and we’ve had a few storms roll in and ruin the visibility.

Now, it’s April, and it’s time for my traditional Easter dive!

Weather could not have been better – a warm 72 degrees in the morning with the ocean as flat as a lake.

I was suppose to meet Holly, a fairly new, Sunday services only diver – neither of us thought that many people would show up.

After all, it’s Easter and some people have families and lives.

How wrong we were – half the parking lot was filled with divers; maybe 15 to 25 in all.

What was worse, Chipper was there – whenever we are in the same ocean at the same time, conditions have always sucked.

Most divers went off the Point; Holy and I went off the Cove.

This was Holly’s 40th dive – for some reason, a diver’s 40th is a special number.

You’ve been smart enough – or mentored wisely enough – to survive 40 dives, so you can really be called a regular diver.

We made an easy entrance and swam to the rocky finger outside of Pigeon Shit Cave before submerging.

Logged SCUBA Dive #405

Dove with Holly

120 Reef, Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 1600 psi
Max depth: 43 feet
Waves: Flat, I mean REALLY flat
Visibility: Eight to 15 feet
Water Temperature: 52 degrees
Air Temperature: 72 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 32 minutes

The water was extremely cold – well, at least cold for Southern California, and the visibility was as good as 15 feet in some places.

I had my underwater camera with me – unfortunately, I really didn’t take any footage that I really liked.

It was sort of dark and in some places a little silty.

We came across something really strange, but my pictures didn’t turn out.

It looked like a really skinny black starfish with a hole going through the middle; I will try and find a picture of a similar one to post later.

We toured the reefs for about 25 minutes.

I was getting cold, but we both had 2,000 psi left in our tanks – Holly motioned to me, I signaled that I was cold and she agreed.

We started back, heading over the sand.

Almost running into the bottom of the rocky finger, I corrected course and broke the surface almost where we entered.

We made an easy exit.

The “Chipper plus PSD equals crappy conditions” jinx is over!

To get Holy in better condition to handle the macho walk, I let her carry all her gear by herself.

Liquid debriefing followed – there were some really hot looking chicks there.

The group photo.

Until next time!

Happy Easter everyone!

I have found out some very disappointing news regarding my planned SCUBA diving trip to Albania in April.

I will have to put that subject together in my next post, within a couple of days – check back for details.

There were lots of divers at Sunday Services – I would say a good twenty, and lots of new faces.

Taking other people’s word for it, our group geared up and proceeded to The Point – Air Force Chris and I have a “No pain” policy of Point entry.

It was low tide, and if you didn’t time the waves just right, you would get dragged over boulders – we called it and headed for The Cove.

Entry at The Cove was still tricky – it was low tide, and stepping between the slippery rocks as the waves rolled in and out sucked.

Air Force Chris and I made it out with no problems.

Three divers followed behind us – one fell, and face planted on the rocks, losing a fin that promptly washed away with the receding wave.

Just a little bloody, the diver got up and snorkeled in the surf zone to retrieve his fin, but with no luck.

His two buddies and Chris and I looked for the fin – some underwater, some from the surface, as the waves rolled in and out of the surf zone; I almost got beached a couple of times.

I swam out about 20 yards, aligned with where he fell, submerged and swam towards shore, skimming the floor.

In 15 feet of water, I found his fin.

Chris and I headed to 120 reef, the other three headed to the right.

Illegal fishermen on the East side of Pigeon Shit Cave.

Logged SCUBA Dive #403

Dove with Air Force Chris
120 Reef,Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA USA

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 44 feet
Waves: A little rough, but manageable
Visibility: Eight feet, maybe better
Water Temperature: 55 degrees
Air Temperature: 69 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes

We descended.

Yeah, it was a little green – eight feet of visibility, I think.

When the visibility is low – just go macro.

I did the best I could…

All in all, it was a great dive.

I made a sloppy exit, washing to shore with my fins still on, and flailing on the rocks trying to get them off.

Luckily, there were no cameras and no women watching.

The braves souls that dove off The Point completed their mission…

They successfully recovered an 80 pound abandoned lobster trap, using lift bags and brute force.

Now, whether it’s worth anything remains to seen, but at least a rogue lobster trap has been removed from what is now a Marine Preserve.

Debriefing was, of course, world class; but we made sure that it didn’t interfere with the other Super Bowl parties that lay ahead.

You want to take your husband’s car and rub it in?

This car was spotted in the parking lot…

Typical vengeful woman.