Off of Margate, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA
Southern California Buddy Diving with John and Ron off of John’s Zodiac

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 1200 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: Minor chop
Visibility: 10-15 feet
Water Temperature: Cool
Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes

We moved just a tad North, parallel with the “Margate storm drain.”

I thought to myself, I’m going to look for Scallops, but if I can’t find any, I’ll get a few Sea Urchins.

I thought about continuing with my tank from the last dive; I had 1500 psi left.

John and Ron both convinced me to switch out tanks just incase.

I jumped over and put my BCD on.

I started to pee in my wetsuit and must have made a funny face because Ron asked, “Are you OK?”

I replied, “Yeah, I’m just peeing.”

I submerged and looked for Scallops, but couldn’t find any.

So, I started looking for some really big Sea Urchins for lunch.

I pried a Sea Urchin off the rocks and looked up – I saw two big fucking eyes staring right at me!

It was a seal looking at me eye to eye and it startled me so much I almost swallowed my regulator.

For the entire rest of the dive, this thing was fucking with me.

It bit and pulled my fin, dive bombed me several times and would come up and sniff my urchin bag.

No wonder there’s no fish around here, the seal was fatter than me!

I have no experience defending myself underwater against a huge blob of blubber, which sort of concerned me.

But I knew he was just out to play.

This was the same spot that I went lobster hunting off the Island Diver and almost freaked out for some unknown reason.

I think the thing that kept hitting me was this seal or one of his friends.

I collected a total of three Sea Urchins and made it back to the boat.

John followed and then Ron.

I split the Uni with Ron; John is not an Uni fan.

A few beers and some great conversation about diving, we were done for the day.

North of Margate, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA
Southern California Buddy Diving with John and Ron off of John’s Zodiac

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 1500 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: Minor chop
Visibility: 10-15 feet
Water Temperature: Cool
Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes

Wow, it’s great to have a friend with a boat!

It was the same routine; I picked Ron up, met John at his boat and we were off.

I took my spear gun just in case I needed to look macho in front of some chicks, but I had no intention of shooting anything unless I knew the ocean was crawling with White Sea Bass.

During the ride to Margate, we hit a swell pretty hard and heard a big “wooshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” like an inner tube leaking, or something.

My stomach sank; it would be a long surface swim from where we were if the boat was sinking.

It ended up being the fire extinguisher spraying into the storage bag.

CO2 was everywhere, but at least that’s what it was and not an inner tube.

We anchored just North of Margate.

I jumped over, fumbled with putting my BCD on and eventually submerged.

It took a while for me to get down; I was sort of cold and my ears didn’t clear immediately.

I trolled for scallops and Uni.

I thought if there’s one thing that I can get, it is Uni, and being a fan of Sushi, I really would appreciate such a lunch with my post dive beers.

I couldn’t find any scallops.

I was the first one back to the boat.

John complained that a seal was following him around on his dive.

Ron came back shortly thereafter.