Malaga Cove, Palos Verdes Estates, CA

Night time lobster hunting with Instructor John and student Ron T as part of an Advanced SCUBA class.

In With: 3400 psi
Out With: 2200 psi
Max depth: 15 feet
Waves: 1 foot, very calm
Visibility: 10 feet but silty
Water Temperature: Cool
Total Bottom Time: 25 minutes
Notable Event: This dive just really sucked!

We met around 6:30 PM, geared up and walked down about 7:10 PM.

I briefed Ron and John about what I knew of the area.

John took us out on the South side of the pool building; that really sucked.

It was extremely low tide and we ended up crawling over 20 yards of shallow rock before being able to sort of float.

Once we were out, we started hunting for bugs.

I was the only one to be able to submerge.

John apparently forgot his weight belt; we found it later on shore.

He wasn’t sure if he accidentally dropped it.

Ron wasn’t properly weighted for such a shallow dive.

Ron and I separated from John for a while.

I caught a few lobsters, but they were all short.

We were only under water about 20 minutes, maybe 25.

Ron and I called the dive and started going in.

John was coming in to look for his weight belt.

We crawled back up over the plain of shallow rocks.

This dive sucked.

This was a jinxed dive.

I discovered the next day that I left my fins down on the rocks!

I went back the next day, 20 hours later, and they were still there!

Phew!

Malaga Cove, Palos Verdes Estates, CA

Early morning dive with Nick looking for lobsters

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 20 feet
Waves: 1-2 feet but pretty calm
Visibility: 10 feet
Water Temperature: Warm
Total Bottom Time: 70 minutes

We met at Malaga Cove at 4:50 AM.

Other divers were already there, parked on the street as there is no parking between 9 PM and 5 AM.

We suited up and entered the water just under the pool.

It was very shallow and silty towards shore, but the visibility got to 10 feet further out.

It was dark; we obviously had flashlights.

We spent the better part of an hour chasing lobsters.

At night they literally walk around trying to find food.

We swam up on many and caught several – all too short.

Nick at one point said, “If I run out of air, I’m going to start free diving for lobsters.”

We came across several lobster holes, but it was getting light and they were literally wedged in there.

Nick caught a few and even put one in his bag, until we brought it to the surface and figured that it was short.

It was getting pretty light when exited; easy exit.

Apparently, real lobster hunters consider Malaga Cove the “lobster nursery.”