Ok, I guess I screwed up just a bit.

I thought we were suppose to meet at 10:30 PM at the dock, the plan was to leave at that time.

Having pissed off Instructor John, Instructor Ron and Jim, who hate to wait on anyone, I arrived at 10:30 and did the fastest sprint gear-up that I have ever done.

We were off at 10:50 PM and I kept thinking, “I geared up so quickly, I must have left something behind.”

The mighty zodiac chugged along the flat seas with four divers, eight tanks and gear.

We arrived at a pre-scouted secret destination off of Palos Verdes 20 minutes before midnight…

Logged Dive #351

Secret Location: 4f 66 66 20 74 68 65 20 67 61 74 65 73 20 6f 66 20 4d 61 72 20 6e 65 61 72 20 61 20 70 6c 61 63 65 20 77 69 74 68 20 74 68 72 65 65 20 63 68 69 6d 6e 65 79 73 2e

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: Pretty damn flat
Visibility: 5 to 15 feet, really bad close to shore
Water Temperature: About 60 degrees on the surface
Total Bottom Time: About 40 minutes

We entered the water a minute or so before midnight…

I inflated my BC, tied it to the boat and threw it overboard… I soon followed.

The BC didn’t fit, I couldn’t put it on.

It was twisted up… I untwisted it, and managed to put my arms through… but I couldn’t find my console or regulators.

I was in such a hurry gearing up, I put my BC and regulator on the tanks basically inside out and backwards.

Instructor Ron helped me regear in the water while saying, “I wonder how you’re going to document this episode.”

I submerged about 15 minutes after midnight and headed towards shore – the lobsters are usually pretty shallow this time of the season.

Visibility was initially pretty damn clear.

Ten minutes into the dive I spotted and pinned my first legal bug; the anxiety of “will I get skunked tonight” was now over.

I proceeded to go shallower and eventually hit 15 feet where vis turned to crap.

I turned around and came accross the biggest F’ing bug that I had ever seen in my entire life!

It was as big as a horse… well, maybe a small dog.

I exhaled and pinned it to the bottom; as I took my other hand to slide underneath the torso it’s tail whipped up and hit me in the nuts which made me lose my grip.

I closed my legs and tried to use some jiu jitsu to subdue the monster, but it wiggled free and escaped.

My lobster hunting hubris has now been ruined.

I was lucky enough to find two more way-legal bugs before heading back to the mighty zodiac.

I caught three, Instructor Ron none, Jim one or two and Instructor John five or six.

I was quite content with this spot, but of course the divers who didn’t do too well wanted to find another spot.

The next dive and outcome will be up in another hour…

Logged SCUBA Dive #337

Secret Location: 50 61 73 74 20 74 68 65 20 67 61 74 65 73 20 6f 66 20 6d 61 72 20 6e 65 61 72 20 74 68 65 20 44 6f 6d 69 6e 61 74 6f 72 20 77 72 65 63 6b 2e, Palos Verdes

Solo Diving/ SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 300 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: Flat on the surface, lots of surge on the bottom
Visibility: 5 to 12 feet
Temperature: 59 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 42 minutes

The ocean was extremely flat tonight; so flat that Instructor John and I took the mighty zodiac a little further than our normal anchoring spot to scout hopefully virgin lobster territory.

I submerged in 35 feet of water; the bottom had some interesting reef structure and tons of low lying kelp and eel grass.

The surge was strong; the kelp and I involuntarily moved back and forth about two or three feet.

Visibility wasn’t all that great, and with the surge I had to move slow to look under the kelp and grass.

I pinned a few monster bugs, until I measured them – all were short.

At 1500 psi and at 35 feet, I grabbed for a huge bug, but the surge made me miss the pin and the lobster sprung up and hit me it the face before swimming backwards into a hole.

I thought I was probably going to get skunked; even the larger lobsters were obviously spooked.

Heading back to the boat I caught a legal bug with no drama; I think it knew its time had come when it crawled out of its hole tonight.

At 800 psi, I saw a monster bug wedged between a jagged reef; I turned the light away, reached for it, the surge slammed me against the reef so I kicked away.

Then the muscles in the back of my left leg painfully balled up – CRAMP!

FUCK!

I was wedged between the reef and as I came up, my regulator hose got caught on part of the reef and pulled my regulator out of my mouth.

Solo diving, with a leg cramp and now no regulator to breath off of!

Was I going to die?

Obviously not, as I am writing this – I put the regulator back in my mouth and hit the purge button.

Friends, dive training does pay off!

Being extremely macho and calm in dangerous situations also helps.

I headed back to the boat after a very short surface swim over light kelp.

Instructor John had gotten skunked and came back early after getting quickly discouraged.

I pose with my last liberated lobster of the season.

The zodiac started without a problem and we began heading back to King Harbor.

In the distance, a boat started flashing a white signal light at us.

“That must be a dive boat, keep an eye out for divers in the water,” John yelled.

The boat in the distance sped up and got closer, still flashing their signal light.

“John, I think those are pirates!

“Full speed ahead and keep going!” I yelled.

John hit the throttle, but the boat caught up to us and cut us off.

The boat had running lights, but the cabin was blacked out – I could make out two figures on board.

“Gentlemen, California Department of Fish and Game, how are you doing tonight?” a stern voice yelled from the cabin.

“Oh, fine,” I said, as I took my last gulp of beer.

We told them that we had only one lobster and I admitted it was mine.

I handed them my game bag, my fishing license and lobster report card.

“Any more lobsters or fish on board?” the agent asked, as he peered over our many bags of dive equipment and emergency engine repair supplies.

“No,” John said.

“The bug is good,” a voice said on the boat.

I was handed my papers and lobster back and we were given a farewell, “Gentlemen, have a good night.”

Finally, paying for the licenses and report card have paid off!

The rest of the voyage was routine.

I will post a lobster season recap within the next few days.