This morning was gloomy and it sprinkled on and off; but, once at Terranea Resort, it was apparent that conditions were going to be spectacular.

It was low tide, the ocean was as flat as a lake and we could see submerged rocks from the cliff.

Since I hate crawling over slimmy and barnacle encrusted boulders at low tide, I was planning an entrance at the cove, but when I heard a woman was going to enter the Point on her first dive here, I decided to follow the group.

Logged SCUBA Dive #342

Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

SoCal Buddy Diving With The Sunday Morning Divevets Crew

In With: 3200 psi
Out With: 1000 psi
Max depth: 53 feet
Waves: As flat as a lake
Visibility: 15 to 20 feet
Temperature: 58 degrees, colder at depth
Total Bottom Time: About 45 minutes

We all made a very careful and uneventful entry over the slimmy boulders.

We swam out to try and find the statue; I told Reverend Al that I would try and follow him, but I was technically going solo, so “Don’t worry about me.”

Al had two other divers that he was escorting.

Vis was pretty damn good!

Ten divers were in the water, so it wasn’t too long before I became seperated from Al; I went off on my own.

I could not find the statue on this dive.

An orange sea blob.

I really need to buy an external flash; I’ve been going flashless lately to avoid the “scatter back” from internal flash photography that occurs underwater.

Unfortunately, under the massive kelp beds, the light was pretty dim; my camera had to take longer to expose and by that time a surge or current had moved me and the camera.

Visibility was good enough to practice some macro shots of the reef.

This area is what makes Southern California beach diving so great!

I spotted another sunstar on the way back to the cove.

After 45 minutes, I made an uneventful exit at the rocky cove.

Mean Bob was nice enough to DM the exit.

Professional Debriefer Paul showed up to test our new “Debriefing Limits” with Terranea Resort.

With a slight rain and a few “Soft Opening” guests at the resort, we drank beer and even barbecued with no hassle.

This may be Diver Todd’s last dive here before moving to Florida – he’s another victim of California’s shitty economy.

With little hassle, I was allowed beach access to Terranea Resort; Reverend Al, SCJoe, Nice Bob, Frank, Charlie and Todd showed up to check out the conditions.

The waves were flat, but the water looked sort of green; some stayed to dive, while others chose to check out Christmas Tree and Honeymoon Cove.

Logged SCUBA Dive #341

Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Dove With SCJoe

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 43 feet
Waves: Pretty flat with surge on the bottom
Visibility: 5 to 10 feet, sort of green
Temperature: 58 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 45 minutes

We geared up; I buddied with SCJoe for a planned dive to the 120 reef.

Reverend Al and Nice Bob chose to surface swim towards The Point.

Terranea Resort is near completion.

Chairs are out, the pool is filled and some people were seen walking around.

We walked past the “picnic nodes” to the cove.

We spotted the man-made sandy beach for the first time.

There was foam on the water towards shore, and a dive boat was anchored a few hundred feet off the coast.

We made an uneventful entrance into the water; visibility really sucked towards shore, but cleared up as we swam out.

Me off of Terranea Resort.

We ascended…

Visibility sort of sucked, well it really did suck – shadows and no definition – probably 10 feet at best.

My mask was twisted, kept leaking and I had a hard time equalizing – it was though I hadn’t been in the water for a year.

I had to surface to fix my mask; I hope SCJoe wasn’t too concerned, but I was a little uncomfortable at first.

We swam out at a 120 heading; stupid me didn’t take a reading at the surface and we missed the reef.

We surfaced, corrected course and headed towards the reef.

An Opal Eye….I think?

The typical 120 reef.

There was surge at the bottom, and I kept moving from side to side when I focused on anything of interest; my battery was running low too, so I didn’t get too many underwater shots that were worth anything.

SCJoe in the kelp bed.

We made it back after a nice and uneventful 40 something minute dive.

I broke in the new shower at Terranea.

The facades and greenery are pretty much done around the casitas at Terranea Resort.

We were debriefing with a few beers when two guys with a cart full of booze rolled up, and passed us.

We had thought it was a welcoming committee, but as it turned out, there are actually guests staying at the resort for what they call, the “soft opening.”

The staff at Terranea were quite nice and talked to us at extent; one was even a diver.

Rent for a casita for the weekend?

About $2,000.

The pools are all for the guests at the hotel and resort, but the restaurants and bars will serve anyone who shows up.

Will us divers be a pain in the ass when the resort opens?

We will see June 12th, when Terranea Resort opens to “The Public.”