Logged Dive #313
Secret Location: 31 30 30 20 79 61 72 64 73 20 74 6f 77 61 72 64 73 20 74 68 65 20 73 68 6f 72 65 20 6e 65 61 72 20 74 68 65 20 77 72 65 63 6b 20 74 68 61 74 20 69 73 20 6e 61 6d 65 64 20 41 76 61 6c 6f 6e 2e, Palos Verdes

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 300 psi
Max depth: 65 feet
Waves: Pretty damn flat!
Visibility: 15 to 25 feet and very clear!
Water Temperature: About 56 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 25 minutes

The boat was moved 10 minutes away and anchored in 45 feet of water; another dive boat was anchored 100 yards away in 60 feet of water.

I was the second overboard and the first to submerge down the anchor line; and again, I caught my first lobster of the dive at the anchor.

This place had a nice and interesting reef structure but I saw less lobsters; the ones that I did see fled at the first swoop of my light.

I continued on…

I caught another bug and bagged it 15 minutes into this dive.

I ascended to spot the boat, and a boat I did spot; I took my compass bearings and submerged to continue hunting on the way back.

I spotted another lobster, pinned it, but it shot between my legs… I felt something.

Was it my gauge like last time?

I felt lobster legs poking in my arm and grabbed it with my other hand, dropping the light.

I opened my bag a little too quickly and one of my detainees escaped!

I bagged the one I had and I just hoped I was “trading up” in the size of lobsters.

Getting low on air, I ran across the anchor line and thought, “Wow, I didn’t know the Island Diver anchored with a nylon rope.”

I also thought I was a little too deep, at 60 feet.

I surfaced and soon realized I had aimed for and ascended on the wrong boat; it was smaller and unoccupied.

I looked for the Island Diver and spotted it; with only 300 psi left, I surface-swam and bitch-crawled over 100 yards of kelp

I pose with the two lobsters I liberated from this dive.

Ax brought up a huge bug that Mike C. weighed – a six pound bug!

Ax with her bug.

We broke out the deco bottles.

We enjoyed a nice and flat ride back to port.

Ax and Mike C. display their trophy bugs of the night.

Do I look macho posing with all my bugs, or what?

Debriefing continued in the parking lot until a little after midnight.

Finally this season, the tide is turning for me!

I heard tonight that the pre-seasonal swells of a couple weeks ago are pushing the lobsters deeper than usual this time of year; apparently lobsters are still plentiful off the Santa Monica break waters, but I am not familiar with that area.

Logged Dive #312

Secret Locaton: 34 30 30 20 79 61 72 64 73 20 4e 6f 72 74 68 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 67 61 74 65 73 20 6f 66 20 4d 61 72, Palos Verdes

Solo Diving/ SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 300 psi
Max depth: 55 feet
Waves: Pretty damn flat!
Visibility: 15 to 25 feet – Spectacular!
Water Temperature: About 56 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 25 minutes

After almost two weeks of taking a break from lobster hunting, I’m back in the water to look for more bugs.

The commercial trappers haven’t been having a great season and divers have been coming back with only a few – a recent boat with eight divers came back with only 12 bugs total.

Was I going to pay $60 to get skunked tonight?

The Island Diver left dock at 7 PM with Captain Alec in charge of the boat!

Captain Alec knows where to drop us once we tell him where to go, so I had a good feeling about this trip!

We anchored in 45 feet of water off of our secret location; I was the third off the boat and the first to submerge down the anchor line.

The visibility was spectacular!

At 25 feet I shined my light downwards and saw the ocean floor that rested at 45 feet; I swam to the anchor and spotted a bug!

I pinned it… it was like grabbing a beer can, so it was legal and I bagged it.

The thrill of victory!

I thought, “This is going to be easy, one bug in two minutes, I’m sure to limit!”

In the kelp, just off the anchor was another big-ass bug; I turned my light to the side so I could just see the outline of the bug, exhaled, moved my left arm back into “liberation mode” and pounced!

The lobster shot back and hit me in the nuts, on reflex action I closed my legs and pinned something… I grabbed it!

I shook my bag down and was about to open it when I realized I had caught my console instead of the lobster!

Fuck! The agony of defeat!

I continued on, actually swimming 10 feet above the floor so I could scout more territory – vis was that good.

I spotted another one that charged my light… too short, that young punk was only alive because of the legal size limit.

But, just to my left, another one… I pinned it, but for what ever reason, I grabbed the tail and it closed; one of the spikes tore through my glove and gave me my first scar of the season.

I am so macho, it didn’t even phase me.

Another lobster soon followed; I now had three in my bag!

There was a long “dry spot” towards the end of my dive when I didn’t see any lobsters.

I peaked on the surface when I was down to 1200 psi to spot the boat; it was not far.

I submerged and headed back to the boat, still hunting.

I grabbed for, but missed, maybe two more when I saw the anchor chain; I started ascending, still keeping my eye on the floor in the great vis…

I spotted a bull!

OK, with 600 psi left, I decided to just go down and pin it and bag it on the way up.

I exhaled and lunged toward the bug; I shot to pin the carapace, but only grabbed the antennae.

It wigged free and shot into some kelp, I pursued it and checked my air gauge… 400 psi.

“Forget it,” I thought; I have to make it to the surface.

Without a safety stop, I slowly ascended to the surface with my three bugs…

I posed with more lobsters than I caught in my last three trips combined!

I was the first one back on the boat, other divers soon followed as planned…

Mike C. brought up a five pound bug.

This was a great and plentiful dive; I only have four more lobsters to get before I limit for the night!