It’s a tradition – Opening Night of California Lobster Season.

This is the night where most first time lobster divers, and even experienced lobster divers, all meet to try and get their one night a year fill of bug catching.

I had a spot on the same boat as I did in a couple of previous years…

The Asante – a 40 foot 12 pack diving boat out of Ports O’ Call in San Pedro.

The boat had nine experienced divers on board – Yours Truly, Tim, Eric F., Donna The Hot Biker Chick, Reverend Al, Chris I, Chris II, Nice Bob and Chipper.

Like all previous Opening Nights, this was a “You better know what the fuck you’re doing, because there’s going to be nobody around to help you” type of dive – unless you can manage to make it to the surface on your own.

You could feel the machismo in the air.

Donna finds out that I am on the boat.

The Captain gave a briefing – the problem was, the swells were up.

He would try and make it to Catalina, but if it was too rough, he would turn back and we would dive Palos Verdes.

With the massive swells that have rearranged the rocky coast of Palos Verdes, I doubted that the lobsters would be shallow at the beginning of this season and I couldn’t see us getting that deep there.

I was prepared to get skunked – I had already packed my Harakiri sword.

We set off a little after nine o’clock in the evening.

It was a rough ride after leaving the harbor, but we kept going.

We didn’t get soaking wet like previous years, but the ride made us hang on for dear life – we kept going all the way to the island.

Shortly after midnight, the Asante anchored in a secret location in 45 feet of water.

I was the first one off the boat – I think.

I swam to the anchor line and submerged.

Logged SCUBA Dive #474

Solo Diving

Secret Location: 54 68 65 72 65 20 69 73 20 61 20 63 6f 76 65 20 74 68 61 74 20 62 65 6c 6f 6e 67 73 20 74 6f 20 57 68 69 74 65 79 2e – Catalina Island

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 200 psi
Max depth: 102 feet
Waves: Pretty flat once we were there
Visibility: 10 to 15 feet
Water Temperature: 68 degrees with a thermocline at 80 feet
Air Temperature: 70 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 26 minutes

I decided to swim towards the island and check bug population.

That was a big mistake- sand, more sand and a few lobsters the size of shrimp.

I went deeper, to 60 feet and found some sea grass.

I looked and looked – nothing.

I continued on, and at 80 feet I felt the water temperature drop about 10 degrees and came upon a piece of wreckage.

I have no idea what the wreckage was, I just cared that there were bugs on it.

I spotted three terrorist lobsters and went to pin the biggest one – BAM!

Got it!

Finally, I am not going to get skunked!

I could barely fit my hand around the carapace, so there was no need to measure; I dropped my light that was in my other hand to open my bag, and the terrorist lobster began flapping its tail and flew out of my hand!

FUCK! REALLY?

I went deeper and started to see a lot of shorts around some giant kelp.

I spotted two nice sized lobsters at 90 feet, but they were hiding under some debris.

Hmmm… I examined the debris and noticed it was just some sort of thin metal sheet.

Using my white belt Jiu Jitsu skills, I lifted the metal sheet up to the amazement of the stunned bugs.

Before they could react, I pinned the biggest one and bagged it.

I looked for the other one, but it did not stick around.

By this time, I had 600 psi left and was at 100 feet – I was not into deco, so I headed towards the surface aiming for the direction of the boat – slowly, but with no safety stop.

I was pretty close to the boat and made a short swim back.

When the Captain went to refill my tank, he mentioned, “You know how close you came to running out of air?”

“Yes, that’s why I came back,” I said.

Most got skunked – out of nine divers, three had a total of six lobsters.

My first bug of the season!

Reverend Al comforted Donna when she started to get sea sick.

Details of Dives two and three will be posted after I get some sleep – STAY TUNED!

March 7, 2014

After a sort of disappointing dive at the last location – four divers and two bugs – we decided to go to a nearby sunken barge.

This was a spot I had no clue even existed.

The Dive Master said, “The barge has openings in the side; There are bugs inside, but if you’ve never penetrated a wreck before, don’t do it.”

Hmm – I had my plan now.

The next spot was so close, I didn’t even know that we actually moved.

We had pulled anchor, and I heard the engines, but between the big swells that were making some puke over the side and the short ride, I couldn’t tell that we had actually moved anywhere.

After more than an hour surface interval, I jumped over and swam to the anchor line.

I submerged first, determined to get to the barge first, but like the last dive, some divers can equalize faster than me, and I was beaten to the anchor.

Logged SCUBA Dive #465

Same Ocean Diving With Chipper, Nice Bob and the other Jeff

Secret Location: 54 68 65 20 61 6d 6d 6f 20 62 61 72 67 65 20 6e 65 78 74 20 74 6f 20 74 68 65 20 6c 61 73 74 20 6c 6f 63 61 74 69 6f 6e 2e
Redondo Beach, CA, USA

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 600 psi
Max depth: 82 feet
Waves: A lot of surface chop, fairly calm underneath
Visibility: 10 feet, a lot of silt
Water Temperature: 62 degrees
Air Temperature: 64 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 24 minutes

I followed the anchor line to the barge, but visibility fucking sucked.

I soon discovered Nice Bob and the other Jeff were leaving a James’ Bond type trail of kicked up silt to ruin my visibility.

Instead of going along the barge, I went over and pinned a lobster within 30 seconds – it was legal and I bagged it.

I cut over the barge and dropped to the other side where there was a big hole in the side.

So, there’s lobsters in the barge?

I went in; maybe about 15 feet, and then towards the right, into another compartment.

No bugs; I turned around to a view of nothing but silt.

Fuck! – it’s a small barge and I have plenty of air, but I should have taken a compass heading before doing such a dumb-assed maneuver.

Which way is out?

Then, I saw a light shining in from the outside.

That diver was later identified as Chipper, who I thought was trying to show me the way out.

In actuality, he was just looking for bugs.

I went towards the light, only to approach a hole the size of a football.

Hah! At least, I know where the side is, and the entrance is just one compartment over.

I found where the first compartment was and the exit.

As I was going out, Chipper was coming in.

I waited to see if he needed help getting out, but left after a minute or so.

After telling my story, Chipper later recounted that, “Yeah, I didn’t think it was such a great idea going in there, especially after you had kicked up all that silt.”

There were bugs under the barge, but out of reach.

I did another circle, until I found the anchor that was resting on top of the barge and started heading back.

I made an extended safety stop, before surfacing.

The rest soon made it back; Nice Bob and the other Jeff got skunked, Chipper got two lobsters.

Chipper’s two lobsters were fighting in his bag.

The grappling continued on the ground.

My catch for the night – this monster bug weighed almost two pounds.

Well, the one bug I caught cost about $100 – even though the fish market is cheaper, I did have fun.

However, I’m not sure if I can afford another trip this season; this might be it.