Secret Location: 4f 66 66 20 74 68 65 20 63 6f 61 73 74 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 53 70 61 6e 69 73 68 20 52 65 64 20 42 65 61 63 68 20 6c 69 65 73 20 61 20 72 65 65 66 20 6f 66 20 74 6f 69 6c 65 74 20 62 6f 77 6c 73 2e

Off the Island Diver Boat

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 600 psi
Max depth: About 90 feet
Waves: Calm at first, but became increasingly choppy
Visibility: 25 feet
Water Temperature: Cold!
Total Bottom Time: 20 minutes

So Cal Buddy Diving With Bob from the Divevets

It has been raining for the last few days and was raining pretty hard on the way King Harbor.

The wind was mild and there was no small craft advisory,  so the trip was a go.

The trip was delayed for 30 minutes while we waited for two divers who were stuck in traffic.

Bob and I were the first ones over and down the anchor line.

I trolled for a few minutes before pinning my first lobster.

The lobster was just barely legal, but I had to wrestle the thing from holding my console; Bob later commented that he thought that I grabbed a huge one from the amount of sediment that was kicked up.

We eventually went our own separate ways.

I grabbed a second lobster a few more minutes thereafter.

I found it hard to propel myself; there was a strong current that went one way on the surface and another way at depth.

I figured twenty minutes at 90 feet would be safe, so I started heading back after fifteen minutes.

I crossed paths with another group of divers from the boat before making a slow ascent to the surface.

I did a short twenty yard surface swim to the boat in water that was becoming extremely rough.

I was the first one back and carefully climbed up the bouncing stairs.

I asked the Captain why wasn’t there was a small craft advisory.

He said, “They issued one just as we were leaving.”

Dan and his dive buddy were thrown a current line and hauled back; they were tangled in reel line.

Apparently, Dan’s buddy got disoriented and didn’t know which way was up.

Dan grabbed the diver and started an ascent, but they got wrapped up in the line from a surface buoy they were towing.

Bob ended up with a bug and so did a few other divers.

I think total on this boat, out of seven divers, we caught a total of five or six just legal lobsters.

The boat tossed in the increasing swells as Dan made the decision that we needed to try someplace a lot shallower.

Secret Location: 32 30 30 20 79 61 72 64 73 20 53 6f 75 74 68 20 66 72 6f 6d 20 74 68 65 20 6c 61 73 74 20 64 69 76 65 2c 20 6a 75 73 74 20 74 6f 20 74 68 65 20 6c 69 70 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 73 68 65 6c 66 2e

Night Diving, Solo Diving, Lobster Hunting – So Cal Buddy Diving with the Divevets off of the Island Diver boat

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 110 feet or so
Waves: Pretty Flat
Visibility: 15 feet
Water Temperature: Cold
Total Bottom Time: 20 minutes
Lobsters caught: 0

During the surface interval, we were debating about where we should go on our second dive.

My position was that if I didn’t limit, I would blame the person chartering the boat.

The conclusion was that lobsters are here, but we should just move the boat “closer.”

Oh crap, that’s all that I needed to hear.

Moving the boat “closer” usually means we aren’t going to catch shit.

I jump over after an hour and ten minute surface interval.

Oh man, the water was cold!

I submerged down the anchor line and went South.

I trolled and trolled and didn’t see any lobsters, not even a short.

I passed some metal boxes at 90 feet and started to go a little too deep, down to 110 feet.

I decided to turn around and head in.

Coming up at 100 feet I pinned and grabbed a HUGE lobster and bagged it.

Running out of time and air I started my ascent after 15 minutes.

During my ascent and safety stop, I must have been pushed by a current North as I surfaced on the other side of the boat, but fairly close to it.

Before heading toward the boat, I remeasured my catch… it was short!

It must have shrunk; I threw it back and started to swim towards the boat.

I was amazed that I didn’t get narced on either of these dives tonight, but I did have a slight headache after the second one.

I pose with my catch of the night.

As the rest of the divers came back in, they all reported about the same thing – that there’s nothing down there, not even shorts.

The beer flowed freely on the ride back and the party continued in the parking lot.

The Captain and the crew were filleting there “catch” on the pier.

The divers sat around and discussed how grossed out some were just thinking about eating road kill of the sea from the harbor no less.

Who knows, maybe all the shit water in the harbor killed that grupper?

Debriefing lasted a couple of hours.

Bob’s wife came by with a birthday cake for Bob – we did not know until then it was his birthday.

Dan handed out cigars and complained about my hat.