With little hassle, I was allowed beach access to Terranea Resort; Reverend Al, SCJoe, Nice Bob, Frank, Charlie and Todd showed up to check out the conditions.

The waves were flat, but the water looked sort of green; some stayed to dive, while others chose to check out Christmas Tree and Honeymoon Cove.

Logged SCUBA Dive #341

Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Dove With SCJoe

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 43 feet
Waves: Pretty flat with surge on the bottom
Visibility: 5 to 10 feet, sort of green
Temperature: 58 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 45 minutes

We geared up; I buddied with SCJoe for a planned dive to the 120 reef.

Reverend Al and Nice Bob chose to surface swim towards The Point.

Terranea Resort is near completion.

Chairs are out, the pool is filled and some people were seen walking around.

We walked past the “picnic nodes” to the cove.

We spotted the man-made sandy beach for the first time.

There was foam on the water towards shore, and a dive boat was anchored a few hundred feet off the coast.

We made an uneventful entrance into the water; visibility really sucked towards shore, but cleared up as we swam out.

Me off of Terranea Resort.

We ascended…

Visibility sort of sucked, well it really did suck – shadows and no definition – probably 10 feet at best.

My mask was twisted, kept leaking and I had a hard time equalizing – it was though I hadn’t been in the water for a year.

I had to surface to fix my mask; I hope SCJoe wasn’t too concerned, but I was a little uncomfortable at first.

We swam out at a 120 heading; stupid me didn’t take a reading at the surface and we missed the reef.

We surfaced, corrected course and headed towards the reef.

An Opal Eye….I think?

The typical 120 reef.

There was surge at the bottom, and I kept moving from side to side when I focused on anything of interest; my battery was running low too, so I didn’t get too many underwater shots that were worth anything.

SCJoe in the kelp bed.

We made it back after a nice and uneventful 40 something minute dive.

I broke in the new shower at Terranea.

The facades and greenery are pretty much done around the casitas at Terranea Resort.

We were debriefing with a few beers when two guys with a cart full of booze rolled up, and passed us.

We had thought it was a welcoming committee, but as it turned out, there are actually guests staying at the resort for what they call, the “soft opening.”

The staff at Terranea were quite nice and talked to us at extent; one was even a diver.

Rent for a casita for the weekend?

About $2,000.

The pools are all for the guests at the hotel and resort, but the restaurants and bars will serve anyone who shows up.

Will us divers be a pain in the ass when the resort opens?

We will see June 12th, when Terranea Resort opens to “The Public.”

The upper Kern river apparently peaked today at 2,912 cubic feet per second, so it’s back up to the Kern River for some rafting.

This may be the last really good weekend of rafting due to the crappy snow fall last Winter.

Next weekend is Memorial Day; the water may be good but the crowd makes it too much of a pain in the ass to have fun.

The Kern River Death Count remained unchanged from last year at 242, even though we know of at least eight additional deaths since then.

I think it’s ironic that just as many Americans as Mexicans have died on the Kern – 242 each; so I guess that would be 484 total?

On the way up, Instructor John told us that the commercial operators are really hurting for business and that private boats are considered “Pirate Rafters” since we are taking business away from them.

Cool, we’re pirates!

We inflated the raft at Frandy camp ground before hauling it up river, past the Power House.

Here’s the front of the raft from John’s perspective.

John handed the camera back to me, I turned and yelled, “Tree!”

“All forward! All forward,” John yelled.

We barely missed getting all of our heads ripped off by the approaching branches.

The water was so high, the islands in the middle of the river were flooded.

We went through the Power House rapids without a problem – a really fun ride, in addition to the four other rapids along the way to the class three Euwing rapids.

There were teenagers on the banks of Euwing with professional cameras taking pictures of the rafters, hoping to make a few bucks – obviously they did with us.

We approached the Euwing rapids…

John yelled, “Oh my God, we’re all going to die!”

Notice how composed and macho I am.

We headed into the Euwing rapids.

We hit the first pit – I laugh at danger!

The fun is just beginning…

All forward! Dig! Dig! Dig!”

“Rock! Rock! Rock!”

We made it through the Euwing rapids without a scratch!

We brought the raft back up river.

We relaunched at the same spot, but some hot chick sun bathers tried to take over the beach… they practically fainted at the site of pirate rafters!

Do I look macho, or what?

I’ve noticed that the commercial rafting outfits cater to everyone, regardless of experience, just like Instructor John does.

However, they charge an insane amount of money – I think $40 to $80 – for two runs down.

They launch below Power House and stretch a 25 minute run down the river by having water fights and pulling over for some swimming.

Depending on who is on board, they might purposely miss some of the waves and pits, which may be a good thing for them.

Here comes our second run at the Euwing rapids…

“All forward! Dig! Dig! Dig!” John yelled.

Another successful run!

We made two more trips down the upper Kern, all without a wipe out, crash or anyone falling out.

Macho man me, done for the day.

The ceremonial deflating of the raft.

The ceremonial rolling up of the raft.

Hopefully, we can get a few more weekends of rafting in, but it doesn’t look too promising.