Long Point (aka The Old Marineland), Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Dove With Reverend Al, SCJoe and John

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 1200 psi
Max depth: About 30 feet
Waves: Regular small swells, sort of mildly rough
Visibility: 0-5 feet
Water Temperature: 54 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 25 minutes

To dive or not to dive?

That was the question.

Reverend Al, the crew and me sat for 25 minutes on the cliff looking at the swells, the surf and the overcast conditions.

We were going to call it, until two chicks and Max Bottom Time said they were going to go for it.

Yes, if everyone jumped off a bridge, I probably would, too.

One of the chicks, “Angelshark” was spear fishing.

She asked, “Which way are you going?”

“120 reef.”

“Okay, we’re going the other way.”

I followed Reverend Al, SCJoe and John off the Cove.

I think I might be a little overweighted with my really old wetsuit; I sank like a brick until I inflated my BC.

The group descended off the point at Pigeon Shit Cave and followed Reverend Al to 120 reef.

Visibility sucked!

I followed fins, kept an eye on other divers and briefly scoped out the shadows of the reef…

…five feet at best.

Previous to descending, I told Reverend Al, “If I wave you off, I’m telling you ‘bye,’ so don’t worry about me.”

Just as I was going to head in, Al turned towards the cove… we were heading in.

In 15 feet of water, vis turned to zero; I ascended and surface swam in.

Everyone else was on the surface within two more minutes.

I came ashore over the “easy” way out (so it was explained to me!) – no big rocks to lean on, but fairly flat, compared to other parts of the beach.

The beach has changed so much here, I constantly have to rethink my exit strategy.

Nick and his newly certified girlfriend Jill were on shore watching our exits.

Jill was apparently taking pictures of my exit – probably for her future reference of what a macho rock beach exit looks like.

Now for the debriefing!

We had an assortment of beer, Korean ribs, rice, kim chi and pork something.

This is probably why we didn’t call the dive earlier; we needed to “earn” our beer and barbecue.

New diver Jill consults Ed over his 20 plus years of diving experience.

I warned her, “If you start diving here, we’ll corrupt you.”

“I’m already corrupted,” she said.

Nick and Jill then started to complain that this blog “is gay.”

Spear fisherwoman Angelshark poses with her gun at the back of the Duster.

Everyone loved the food and beer; it was a nice change from the standard hot dogs that everyone else brings.

The whole party wrapped up a little after noon.

Crappy diving conditions, but another perfect day!

Long Point (aka The Old Marineland), Palos Verdes, California

Solo Diving, So Cal Buddy Diving

In With: 2200 psi
Out With: 700 psi
Max depth: About 50 feet
Waves: Small swells, but with a few predictable surprises
Visibility: 20-25 feet
Water Temperature: 64 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 35 minutes

I arrived at Long Point about 30 minutes late; I was able to park in the last remaining illegal spot in the tiny lot.

The parking lot was jammed with divers – regulars and new comers.

Reverend Al said that he was going to try The Point; I didn’t check conditions for myself, but nobody was holding beers in their hands, so I geared up and followed Reverend Al and his group to the boulder entrance.

WARNING: Boulder entries are potentially dangerous and should be reserved exclusively for macho divers.

I made it out with no problem.

We waited for everyone else to make it out.

I looked underwater to preview the visibility…

…it looked spectacular!

I had used my tank previously to clean my regulator, so I went diving with a short filled tank.

I told reverend Al that I was going to follow the group to the Pinnacle, and then take off on my own after five minutes.

We descended; I had a hard time equalizing, but managed to follow the group down with the great visibility.

The Pinnacle – Underwater architecture at its best.

I hung out around the Pinnacle for maybe 10 minutes.

There were a lot of fish here!

A diver at Long Point with a deco bottle?

He later told us, he wants to practice carrying it.

If he needs practice carrying gear back up the hill, he can carry mine!

I broke away from the group and started towards the cove for an exit.

There was some weird kind of nudibrach that I had never seen before – it looked like a bleached Spanish Shawl.

Another Sun Star!

Just think, two years ago, I had never seen one; now they’re all over the place!

An abundance of kelp is returning to Long Point.

I was running low on air and did a surface swim of about 100 yards to the cove.

I used about 200 psi of air looking for a lost fin from last week – no luck.

Juan Twenty was nice enough to be the unofficial Dive Master upon exit, while Cyber the attack dog kept watch.

After another macho walk up the switchback trail, the divers heavily debriefed with an assortment of domestic and imported beers.

Another perfect day of diving at the Old Marineland!