Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Dove with Instructor John, his friend Jim, John’s Harbor Police Open Water students and two other certified Harbor Police Officers as part of my Dive Master training.

In With: 2700 psi
Out With: 1800 psi
Max depth: 30 feet
Waves: 4-6 feet
Visibility: 3-10 feet
Water Temperature: 55 – 65 degrees Fahrenheit
Total Bottom Time: 21 minutes

John gives the dive briefing to his Harbor Police Students.

I don’t know any of the students names, so I won’t even bother giving fake names.

We did the initial Open Water “skin dive” that was pretty challenging.

The waves were really big, four to six feet.

The Officers didn’t have snorkels because they don’t use them.

One Officer couldn’t breathe well and was going to cancel until John had him remove his hood.

Jim and I submerged first followed by a chick and three guys; John had a hard time getting another student down.

After six minutes or so, John and the remaining student made it down.

We all went towards the shelf, but a student signaled to me that he was getting really cold.

I let John know before we went over the shelf.

We turned back and all went in.

The two regular Harbor Police Officers who were diving with us had intercoms and were talking to each other; the two later said how wonderful the visibility was.

The thing is, as crappy as it was, they weren’t joking coming from the crap that they dive in.

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

Solo Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 1200 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: 1-3 feet
Visibility: 10-15 feet, silty
Water Temperature: Cool
Total Bottom Time: I think about 30 minutes

My Memorial Day Dive!

I stopped by Friday to dive, but conditions sucked.

I scouted today’s conditions – the Point was really choppy, but the Cove looked manageable.

A lot of the Divevets were there.

I entered from the Cove and swam East toward the first reef and submerged.

Vis was probably 10-15 feet, or a “good 10,” but pretty silty.

At one point in my dive, the water turned REALLY DARK.

I looked up as a thick school of mackerel (or sardines) passed overhead; I then got spooked by seeing two other divers.

Coming ashore, I couldn’t get one of my fins off to walk, so I crawled up on the rocks – sort of embarrassing because a lot of the Divevets were watching my not-so-graceful exit.

I was the first one in the water, and the first one out this morning.

Some divers were still entering as I was coming ashore.

I didn’t hang out for the traditional Divevets beer party.

I slammed a few of my own brews and left early.