It’s that time of year when people all over the world stop throwing cigarette butts and trash all over the place and clean up the coast.

Yes, I’m referring to the Coastal Cleanup Day of 2015.

Dive N Surf handled cleaning underneath the pier – they closed the pier to fishermen and provided support to the volunteer divers who were picking up trash underneath the water.

I haven’t been diving in over four months, mostly due to a sickness from hell that I acquired while in Iowa; my sinuses and inner ear were so clogged up, there would have been no way I could have submerged.

I was given a prescription of antibiotics – the “Z Pack.”

I think they are just sugar pills because they didn’t do anything.

Anyway, I am better now!

Photo compliments of TwinDuct.

TwinDuct and I prepare for the dive.

Tony gives the dive briefing.

TwinDuct and I were a little out of sync as far as being ready for the dive.

I was fully geared, sweating my ass off and really needed to get in the water, so I decided to go solo.

I also figured that since I hadn’t been in the water for a long time, if I got in trouble, I wouldn’t burden anyone else.

I made an easy entrance.

Logged SCUBA Dive #492

Solo Diving

Under the Redondo Beach Pier and down the canyon, Redondo Beach, CA

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 1000 psi
Max depth: 78 feet
Waves: Pretty flat with some waves breaking on shore
Visibility: 15 feet plus
Water Temperature: 62 degrees, colder in the canyon.
Air Temperature: 84 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 31 minutes

Just like in lobster hunting, the first divers under the pier get the coolest stuff.

That’s why my time under the pier netted zero trash.

Under the pier.

Pier pilings.

I decided to head South and into the canyon.

After a five minute swim, I felt a cold blast of water coming up from the canyon.

I headed down the canyon.

Other trash divers had my same idea – coming back with no trash is really embarrassing.

I scored a mask!

A bottle.

This was a nice and uneventful dive that gave me the confidence to finally get back into the water.

As I was swimming in, I encountered divers walking in – I had no idea I was in five feet of water.

I made an easy exit, thanks to Dive N Surf Joe who kept me from falling over as I was dragging my trash bag ashore.

My collection of trash – a mask, two bottles, assorted socks and t-shirts and other garbage.

The trash dump – all trash is sorted and checked for sea life, that is thrown back.

Debriefing with the King Of Beer ensued…

It was nice to catch up with people I haven’t seen for a long time.

Chris, Mirek, TwinDuct and a new diver from Boston named Kelly.

Kelly is interested in diving Terranea Resort, so I gave her my phone and pager number – I wasn’t drunk, obnoxious or acting desperate, so she may actually call me one day.

It is great to be back in the water!

More dives to come!

February 1, 2015*

We slowly motored from the Eureka to the Elli and Ellen oil rigs; we all needed at least an hour to off gas from the previous dive.

Elli and Ellen are connected by a bridge.

No, I don’t know which one is Elli and which one is Ellen, but we only dove one of them.

I freed up some space on the memory card in my GoPro.

Before the dive, I noticed the camera had taken 123 pictures all by itself.

Later, I discovered that I have 123 identical pictures of the below…

WTF is this, a condom?

I was the second one over board; I swam underneath the rig and submerged.

Logged SCUBA Dive #486

SoCal Buddy Diving/Solo Diving

Elli and Ellen Oil Rigs, California, USA

In With: 3200 psi
Out With: 800 psi
Max depth: 110 feet
Waves: Some vertical chop
Visibility: 20-30 feet
Water Temperature: 58 degrees
Air Temperature: 72 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 20 minutes, or so

I turned my camera back on and it just started taking pictures.

I ended up with almost 400 pictures, and they were all upside down!

Luckily, my graphics abilities are good enough to where I can rotate pictures 180 degrees.

I headed down to about 100 feet and collected two more scallops; fish followed me around, like I was going to feed them.

It was an interesting and colorful dive.

I love Sheephead – they are beautiful fish and very tasty, but I stopped shooting them a long time ago.

Why did I stop shooting Sheephead?

Because there is no sport in it!

You could literally swim up to a Sheephead, measure it, swim back and shoot it.

Shooting a Sheephead is like shooting your own dog.

Everyone made it back to the boat with no issues… well, someone lost an $80 lens to the sea gods, but nobody was injured.

I was asked, “How were your dives.”

I responded, “Excellent, but my ass was cold.”

(See the previous post, if you are not aware of the condition of my wetsuit.)

Me with my bag of scallops and the King of Beers.

Some of us enjoyed the crisp and refreshing taste of Budweiser on the way home; Dan broke out a bottle of Jameson.

As Donna The Hot Biker Chick told me several years ago on a rafting trip, “No more Jameson for you!”

Another great day of diving followed by probably the best Super Bowl that I have ever seen.

*Post delayed due to the Super Bowl.