Logged Dive #316

Secret Location: 53 6f 6d 65 77 68 65 72 65 20 6e 65 61 72 20 74 68 65 20 66 61 72 6d 20 74 68 61 74 20 6f 6e 6c 79 20 72 61 69 73 65 73 20 70 69 70 65 73 2e, Redondo Beach, CA

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 700 psi
Max depth: 90 feet
Waves: Pretty flat
Visibility: 20 feet
Temperature: Getting Pretty Cold!
Total Bottom Time: About 20 minutes

Having secretly bribed a boat captain for these GPS coordinates, Instructor John and I took the mighty zodiac to check out a secret deep lobster hunting spot off of Redondo Beach.

It took us 15 minutes to get to the approximate spot and 20 minutes trolling around to find the exact spot; life was easier after Instructor John figured out he was accidentally in reverse for a while.

We dropped anchor in 85 feet of water; I briefed him on where it gets really deep, really fast.

But, I also said, “We are here at the exact coordinates according to your GPS, but we won’t really know if we’re here until we descend.”

We both submerged at the same time, but I had to take my time equalizing; by the time I made it to the ocean floor at 85 feet, John had already taken off to the East, I went West.

I looked at my computer and it was off.

I turned it back on and it wouldn’t turn on; maybe the batteries?

OK, back to “time approximation” and using the dive tables.

The ground looked familiar as far as the contour, but I never ran across some of the landmark pipes and concrete boxes; if we weren’t at the exact spot, we were close.

I saw one short lobster in 85 feet of water; other than that, it was a pretty bland and uneventful dive.

There was no current, the swells were flat and the visibility was good; I surfaced pretty close to the zodiac and boarded empty handed.

I spotted John in the distance making a long surface swim back.

Once he climbed on board, he said, “My computer is screwed up, it still thinks I’m at 15 feet.”

Two computers broken on the same dive?

Is this some sort of “Dive Computer Burmuda Triangle?”

Instructor John caught three lobsters in 110 feet of water – at least that’s what his screwed up computer told him; I would guess he didn’t get deeper than 90, maybe 100.

We pulled anchor and tried another secret spot off of Palos Verdes.

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.