Cardiac Hill, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
(aka Pt Vicente Fishing Access)

Free Diving/Solo Diving/Spear Fishing

Max depth: 15 feet
Waves: 1-3 feet
Visibility: 10-15 feet
Total Ocean Time: 60 minutes

Man! Cardiac Hill is a lot easier with no tanks.

I was going to check out Malaga Cove, but this was my first stop and it looked good.

I took my spear gun and trolled around the cove, but I didn’t see any fish big enough to shoot.

Free Diving is fun, but I had to consciously think “hold your breath; don’t breathe when you’re underwater.”

I will be doing this more often.

I talked to two free divers afterwards; they said that their SCUBA gear is gathering dust.

They were explaining how I need to “read the fish patterns.”

They also said that free diving was great for hunting because you can hear a fish’s tail snap.

Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach, CA

I dove as a safety diver with Instructor John’s Open Water class of five and returning students, Bonnie and Clyde, who were there for “more experience.”*

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 2100 psi
Max depth: 20 feet
Waves: 1-3 feet
Visibility: 10 feet
Water Temperature: Warm
Total Bottom Time: 15 minutes
Notable Event: This was the dive that gave the the idea for my nickname, “Psycho Solo Diver.”
*The names of students have been changed, probably because I don’t remember them to begin with.

We did the traditional skin dive and what not.

The students:

Pedro – An older man who is taking diving because he desires to go dredging for Gold.

Lurch – A huge guy that Bonnie and Clyde seem to know.

Green Horn – Young guy, skinny and fit.

Leeza – An older woman who desires to dive, but had a friend drowned in the ocean when she was younger.

Young Hottie – A young and petite girl who probably weighs 100 pounds and, like all the other students, is required to carry the 60 pounds worth of SCUBA gear.

We did our traditional “feel the bottom” dive; the students dawned their weight belts and BCD for the buoyancy check.

As we were floating around outside of the surf zone, Pedro mentioned to me, “I think I lost my weight belt.”

I asked, “You think? Did you drop it?”

“I must have.”

John turned Leeza back as she was too nervous.

After John and the rest joined us, it was decided that I would go back to shore, gear up and look for Pedro’s weight belt.

We did not have a spare belt.

I was putting my gear on; Leeza asked what I was doing and said I was going diving to look for a weight belt.

She warned me about diving alone.

I explained that I was just going to be out in the surf zone in shallow water.

Leeza retorted, “Man, you’re psycho.”

I thought, “Psycho solo diver, huh?”

I went out and did a zigzag pattern along the bottom where we entered the surf.

I couldn’t find Pedro’s weight belt.

This whole dive was looking for Pedro’s weight belt.

I surfaced and asked Pedro, “Are you sure you brought your weight belt with you?”

“Uh, I think so,” he responded.

“Do you think you might have left up by your car?”

“I could have.”

Everyone went back on shore.

John and Pedro went to the parking lot to look; I decided to go out one last time where we entered… and tripped over Pedro’s weight belt in two feet of water!

Bonnie and Clyde waited on shore for their turn to dive.