I had to get in the water today.

I have been stressed out and sedate in my macho activities for too long.

Just a swim in the ocean might be enough.

I arrived at Terranea Resort around 8:30 AM; since I had no air, I was just going to free dive.

Some of the regular SCUBA divers had already geared up and were walking down.

The water looked pretty calm, but visibility remained to be seen.

Free diving Terranea Resort, Palos Verdes, CA

Max depth: About 20 feet
Waves: Predictable one to two feet swells
Visibility: 5-15 feet
Water Temperature: Maybe about 63 degrees
Total Ocean Time: 35 minutes or so.

Entrance was easy; I swam to the right side of the Cove.

Kelp is very abundant now, which is quite a change from a few years back.

Visibility was OK; I could see the bottom from 15 feet.

I was perfectly neutrally buoyant with my very used 7 mm wetsuit and 16 pounds of weights.

I held my breath and plunged down to 20 feet…

…I touched the bottom.

I’m still sort of macho, I guess.

The ocean water felt good, there was beer waiting for me in the car… and best of all – no psycho women!

About 30 minutes later, a woman took a picture of me making my easy exit.

I guess I’m that famous?

It seems when you free dive here, people actually watch you from their hotel rooms and pool.

I was asked what I was hunting, did I see any dolphins, how are the lobsters?

I told the guys that I was simply out for a swim, but I told all the women that I was out hunting sharks.

Beer in the parking lot washed the salt water out of my mouth.

11 AM rolled by and I noticed none of the other divers had made it back from their dives.

Was something wrong?

The dive started on time, but by 10:30 AM, most divers would usually have returned.

Two beers later, Nice Bob pulls up in his truck with Military Bob, Chipper and Jordan.

It seems they planned and executed an extremely macho dive – going off the Point, diving one way, across two coves to make a beach exit at Cardiac Hill.

Nice Bob had dropped his car off at Cardiac Hill earlier for the return trip.

They had reports of five to 15 feet of visibility.

They said it was a nice dive, but it kicked their asses – especially the walk up Cardiac Hill.

Debriefing continued as usual.

It was sort of a light SCUBA diver turn out, but I noticed a lot of oriental free divers carrying big spear guns – maybe three groups of them.

I didn’t notice anyone coming back with fish.

Getting older and more out of shape, I was determined to get in the water today.

The regular Sunday morning group had already called the dive off by the time I arrived.

“The Cove and The Point look like washing machines,” someone said.

I walked down and verified – green water and heavy surf.

The group went to check out Honeymoon Cove.

Honeymoon Cove looked spectacular – you could see the bottom of the ocean from the cliffs and there were barely any waves.

We started to gear up, then someone went to go take another look.

Someone suggested, after looking at the steep goat trail down, that we check out Malaga Cove.

I took another look.

“OK, let’s check out Malaga Cove, and if it sucks, we’ll come back,” I said.

Malaga was diveable – short waves crashing on shore with water that didn’t look too muddy.

Professional Debriefer Paul was there for shore support; he drafted me to take “Mr. Kim” for a swim.

To make a long story as short as possible, Paul won a YouTube contest and part of his prize was some kind of a stuffed toy bear from Korea – “Mr. Kim.”

With too much time on his hands, Paul has decided to send “Mr. Kim” around the world on various adventures.

Logged SCUBA Dive #368

SoCal Buddy Diving With Reverend Al, SCJoe, Eric and Jordan – oh yeah, and “Mr. Kim”

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 1700 psi
Max depth: 20 feet
Waves: one to two foot manageable swells, with a few surprises
Visibility: 5 to 10 feet
Water Temperature: 56 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 35 minutes

After waiting patiently for some rouge waves to subside, I made an easy rock entrance into the shallow Malaga Cove waters and joined the rest of the divers.

Mr. Kim showed no signs of panic.

After the above picture was taken, my camera froze in the “On” position, with no response from any of the controls.

Why the hell doesn’t it do that on land?

Crap!

I don’t know how well the pictures would have turned out anyway, the water was sort of silty.

But, lobsters, horn sharks and various fish were in abundance.

I mean, the ocean floor was covered with horn sharks.

Trying to fix my camera, I lost sight of the group – it was just me and “Mr. Kim.”

A little pissed that my camera wasn’t working, I slowly headed for a sandy beach exit.

Twenty five minutes later I was approaching the shore in waist high waters.

I took my fins off and turned back towards the ocean to find a set of large waves heading my way.

Easily diving underneath them, I was pushed above some kind of a hole where I couldn’t feel the ground.

I thought I would have to put my fins on again, but I regained traction soon after.

Traditional debriefing soon followed…

Professional Debriefer Paul drafted our help in making an AFLAC commercial for a video contest – 10 seconds long, and first prize is $25,000…

I don’t believe the video is done as of this writing, but we had a lot of fun helping him make it – you will fully understand when you see the commercial.

If he wins the $25,000, he has promised to throw a huge party for us.

We met two hot free divers – Valerie and Tao, who decided to split a beer during our debriefing.

Split a beer?

Yes, Valerie was driving, so she didn’t want to have a full beer.

How responsible!

It was nice to finally get in the water again!

I’m thinking about starting cage fighting again, just so I can stay in shape for diving.