After news of giant squid attacking divers down in San Diego and being seen as far North as Orange County, I decided to dive off of the Redondo Canyon to hunt down and kill as many giant squid as possible.

Ok, actually it was really hot today in the ghetto of Long Beach and I just wanted to cool off and stay away from home; I haven’t been to a Wednesday evening dive in a while.

The parking lot was crowded, but I was lucky enough to find a spot.

I geared up and was in the water by 5:30 PM; I brought my light just incase, but I really didn’t need it in retrospect.

Veteran’s Park

Solo Diving

In With: 3100 psi
Out With: 600 psi
Max depth: 83 feet
Waves: Manageable two to three foot swells at the shoreline
Visibility: 5 to 10 feet at best
Water Temperature: 66 degrees at the surface, 54 at depth
Total Bottom Time: 30 minutes

The beach during the Summer can get pretty crowded.

Once submerged, I had to adjust my equipment; when everything was situated, I grabbed for my camera strap that was roped around my wrist… and it was gone!

Fuck!

Where’s my camera?

It floats, so I (carefully) bolted to the surface from 20 feet of water and looked.

I always meant to put a little note in my camera case that stated, “If found please return to…”

But, of course, how would I ever lose my camera?

I floated on the surface thinking about all the recent pictures – diving, the fourth of July and homemade porno – that will now fall into some stranger’s hands.

I looked over where I thought the current was moving, and I spotted it!

Phew!

My dive continued…

The water on the surface was warm and the vis close to shore sucked.

I headed down the canyon…

Muscle shells; maybe the victim of an octopus.

Humans have punching bags, crabs have clawing spools.

I tried to find “The Monument” or “Blocks” but they have apparently moved to 70 feet and are now more covered in sand.

Sort of an uneventful, plain old Redondo Canyon exercise dive – of course I say that now, since I recovered my camera.

Photo by Rolando

The Divevets welcomed me back by peeing on my car.

Dan fires up the outdoor stove for a Summer evening barbecue as we were treated to the Village People’s hit, “Macho Man” from another diver’s stereo.

The sun sets at Redondo Beach.

Debriefing continued into the night; we talked about many off beat topics including how the group can get more single women and whether or not we should buy a foreign kid “for adoption and exploitation.”

All in fun, but they have a tendency to corrupt new divers.

High surf is expected this weekend, so I’ll have to see what this weekend brings.

This morning was gloomy and it sprinkled on and off; but, once at Terranea Resort, it was apparent that conditions were going to be spectacular.

It was low tide, the ocean was as flat as a lake and we could see submerged rocks from the cliff.

Since I hate crawling over slimmy and barnacle encrusted boulders at low tide, I was planning an entrance at the cove, but when I heard a woman was going to enter the Point on her first dive here, I decided to follow the group.

Logged SCUBA Dive #342

Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

SoCal Buddy Diving With The Sunday Morning Divevets Crew

In With: 3200 psi
Out With: 1000 psi
Max depth: 53 feet
Waves: As flat as a lake
Visibility: 15 to 20 feet
Temperature: 58 degrees, colder at depth
Total Bottom Time: About 45 minutes

We all made a very careful and uneventful entry over the slimmy boulders.

We swam out to try and find the statue; I told Reverend Al that I would try and follow him, but I was technically going solo, so “Don’t worry about me.”

Al had two other divers that he was escorting.

Vis was pretty damn good!

Ten divers were in the water, so it wasn’t too long before I became seperated from Al; I went off on my own.

I could not find the statue on this dive.

An orange sea blob.

I really need to buy an external flash; I’ve been going flashless lately to avoid the “scatter back” from internal flash photography that occurs underwater.

Unfortunately, under the massive kelp beds, the light was pretty dim; my camera had to take longer to expose and by that time a surge or current had moved me and the camera.

Visibility was good enough to practice some macro shots of the reef.

This area is what makes Southern California beach diving so great!

I spotted another sunstar on the way back to the cove.

After 45 minutes, I made an uneventful exit at the rocky cove.

Mean Bob was nice enough to DM the exit.

Professional Debriefer Paul showed up to test our new “Debriefing Limits” with Terranea Resort.

With a slight rain and a few “Soft Opening” guests at the resort, we drank beer and even barbecued with no hassle.

This may be Diver Todd’s last dive here before moving to Florida – he’s another victim of California’s shitty economy.