After almost two weeks of freedom from Psycho Woman, I decided to get back into the water for a short dive to see whether or not I need a refresher course.

A number of Open Water classes were being taught, as usual, in addition to Rips, Rocks and Reefs having a course.

Logged SCUBA Dive #379

Veterans’ Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Solo Diving

In With: 2400 psi
Out With: 1000 psi
Max depth: 50 feet
Waves: Some pain in the ass waves coming towards shore
Visibility: 10 feet above the canyon, better at depth
Water Temperature: 57 degrees, colder at depth
Air Temperature: About 70 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 25 minutes

The surf was up towards the shore, but I made an easy entrance.

I was cameraless and, having left my hood at the Santa Monica crash pad, hoodless.

I submerged in 15 feet of water and swam towards the canyon – the water felt fairly warm.

As soon as I started over the canyon, it got really f’ing cold – ice cream headache set in big time.

My stay at 50 feet was short lived – I was just too damn cold without a hood on.

Visibility was 10 feet at best above the canyon, but seemed to open up at depth.

I saw the usual assortment of sand, trash and crabs – my camera wasn’t needed at all on this dive.

After messing around above the canyon lip, testing my buoyancy while trying to sing Dean Martin’s Volare, I headed in – underwater is the only place I don’t get complaints when I sing.

Of course, as it always happens, the waves picked up on my exit.

I skillfully made my way, walking, to one feet of water when I slipped on the sand and got thrown by an incoming wave – right in front of the entire Rips, Rocks and Reefs class.

A couple of their Dive Masters came over to see if I needed help.

I stood up and thanked them for their potential assistance – they probably couldn’t tell how macho I really am.

It is nice to finally go home to the Long Beach Ghetto, but word about my new found freedom has been getting around.

I went to a local watering hole for a beer, and when I came out, four young chicks were hanging all over my car.

I don’t know if women like me for who I am, or if they just like my car?

110 biodegradable and fish food friendly hard boiled eggs, all with playing card values written on them, were placed in the water off of the Malaga Cove gazebo.

The idea was to find five eggs, and with the three community cards make your best poker hand, hopefully winning the grand prize – usually a beach towel or hat.

Of course, there’s always one specially marked egg that wins the super grand prize – usually an all expense paid trip to an exotic dive location.

Unfortunately, year after year, nobody has ever found such egg.

The conditions above water were nice, and if you were a surfer, the ocean would be great, too.

However, the water looked muddy and the entry and exit were a challenge to non-macho divers; some called the dive here and went to Old Marineland (a.k.a. Terranea Resort).

Still having a slight problem with my ear, I wanted to keep the dive shallow, and this was the place to do it – plus with reduced competition, I was sure I would win a prize.

Logged SCUBA Dive #378

Malaga Cove, Palos Verdes Estates, CA

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 2200 psi
Out With: 700 psi
Max depth: 20 feet
Waves: Four feet maybe – good day for surfing
Visibility: 5-8 feet
Water Temperature: 57 degrees
Air Temperature: 75 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 22 minutes

Being a little selfish, I opted to go solo so I could make my dive plan up as I went along, and not worry about someone else.

Diving under the waves and dodging the surfers who made it a point “not to see me,” I made it out from the sandy beach.

I swam parallel to the gazebo and dropped.

I knew the dive was going to suck – lots of silt, and the surge underwater was sometimes so intense that deadly horn sharks were not sleeping on the ocean floor, but prowling around looking for a diver to bite.

Being so macho, I was not scared.

I also had the kelp to deal with, as I was constantly getting caught swaying back and forth with the surge.

After about 20 minutes, and finding no eggs, I decided to call it and head back in.

After a long and slow surface swim, I made it back to shore without incident.

My ear didn’t bother me, so I’m glad I kept it shallow.

However, I had sown the rip up in the butt of my wetsuit using dental floss and neoprene cement and the cement had chaffed my leg.

Richard The Brit, after seeing my empty game bag said, “We were just kidding about hiding eggs, there weren’t any.”

His joke was short lived when other divers came back with eggs.

I was told, “We always hide the eggs at the edge of the kelp beds, not in the kelp beds.”

I didn’t know.

There was a pretty good turn out, but I think no more than eight divers actually dove here.

Other divers returned from Old Marineland and reported great conditions with visibility up to 25 feet.

Dive Bum Don and Kilani are back in town and made an appearance.

The hands were made.

Dan figured the best hands.

I believe Jester had the best hand with a Royal Flush, I had the worst hand by having no eggs at all, but with so few divers everyone who got in the water walked away with some kind of a prize.

I got a Dive N Surf baseball cap.

The barbecue and debriefing continued until afternoon.

There were several new faces there, including a really hot looking blonde chick, who brought her own diving buddy.

Professional Debriefer Paul has documented this event:

To view this video on YouTube, click here.