Old Marineland (aka Long Point, Terranea Resort)

Dove with IceJon

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 60 feet
Waves: Surge at the shoreline at the Point, but pretty much flat
Visibility: 15 to 20 feet
Water Temperature: 55 at depth, in the 60s at the surface
Total Bottom Time: About 40 minutes

I arrived at Long Point at 8:10 AM and took the first “alternately illegal” spot in the lot.

The water looked flat as a lake from the cliff, so we geared up and planned to go off The Point; I hooked up with IceJon as a buddy.

The Point was a little tricky on entry; flat for a while and then three or four swells washing into the rocks.

We both timed it right and made it out with no incidents.

Other Divers start out off the Point.

Terranea Resort is coming along.

There’s me with the Point Vicente light house in the background.

A small whaler boat pulled up and then stopped; what I thought was a paparazzi started to take pictures of me…

…it ended up being Dive Bum Don who was in a friend’s boat.

I asked Don, “Where is Cyber the attack dog?”

“He’s home watching Animal Planet,” he answered.

There was sort of a strong current going West.

IceJon and I submerged…

…to 60 feet and explored the reefs.

IceJon examines a Sea Cucumber, maybe to take for lunch?…

…No, it wouldn’t be good, this one is infected with genital warts.

Another interesting reef off of The Point.

We ran across the Pinnacle, right on target.

A Sheephead approaches for a kiss; too bad for him I don’t swing that way.

Oooh, Ahh… The colors of the reef!

We fought a pretty stiff current going back to the cove.

IceJon had no problem keeping up.

I “peaked” once to get our heading.

We came up right on target!

We surface swam in to the cove…

A touring company cheats the trail and lowers their kayaks over the cliff.

IceJon and I made an uneventful exit in the calm water and enjoyed the macho walk up the switchback trail to the parking lot.

We passed Angelshark, who was walking down with another hot chick named Dana for a dive.

It’s party time!

We broke out the barbecue and cracked the beers!

TwinDuct brought some Louisiana style hot links that he barbecued on my grill.

The party continued until noon.

Having the day off and no money to enjoy it, I decided to strike it rich up in the mountains above Azusa – the East Fork of the San Gabriel River.

Jeremy, who works in the same building as me at my real job, wanted the “adventure” and experience to go Gold prospecting.

I was happy to help him out.

We arrived around 7:15 AM and hiked maybe two miles up river to find a good spot.

Another perfect day in the mountains!

We came across a huge hole that someone had dug on the river embankment.

I thought, “There must be Gold here, someone kept digging.”

Jeremy dug and classified a bucket of gravel in the area surrounding the hole, while I supervised.

I instructed Jeremy on how to feed a sluice, while I drank my breakfast Chelada.

After a while, I dug while Jeremy classified.

Another prospector, who later introduced himself as Ted, walked down to us and asked if we were digging in his hole.

“No,” I said, “have at it, but I was considering it.”

Ted digs in his hole; apparently he is up here every week.

After a few bucket fulls of nothing, Ted was nice enough to point out some places where we may have some luck.

Jeremy said, “If I even see a tiny flake of Gold, that will make my trip worth while.”

Ted lent us his huge 16 pound crow bar to move some rocks.

We dug a few more bucket fulls of gravel from underneath some of the rocks that we moved.

Jeremy gained much experience in feeding a sluice.

I’m now an expert at setting up my sluice, adjusting for water flow and angle.

As it turns out, all three of us live in Long Beach and Ted frequents the grocery store where Jeremy’s wife works.

I picked Ted’s brain about prospecting here; he bragged about once getting $15 worth of Gold up here in one day.

We told Jeremy basically, that prospecting is something that you “really like, really hate, or something that you like to hate, but nothing beats a great day in the mountains.”

I panned the last sluice full of concentrate and low and behold – there was Gold!

A few flakes, that is.

A few tiny flakes that I couldn’t take a picture of, because I don’t have a microscope.

I gave Jeremy all of our Gold, not only as a souvenir, but also so he wouldn’t go back home empty handed.

We packed up, said good bye for now to Ted and hiked back to the truck.

Jeremy said that he had fun and would do it again; hopefully next time we’ll have better luck.