Honeymoon Cove, Palos Verdes Estates, CA

Solo Diving/night diving/lobster diving with shore support.

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 25 feet
Waves: 1-2 feet, insignificant
Visibility: 10 feet plus
Water Temperature: Cool and comfortable
Total Bottom Time: About 50 minutes
Photos by: Nick

I’ve heard so much about this place – “It’s better than Malaga Cove because it’s so hard to get to from shore and is not ‘lobstered’ out.”

I arrived at 7:30 PM; Nick soon arrived and so did Ron T.

Ron and Nick were not planning on diving but came to either provide shore support or to see how desperate I was to fill my bag with seven tasty lobsters.

I geared up.

Nick was such a pussy; he was going to stay on top of the cliff and not risk the goat trail down to the shore.

Dive Master Ron followed me down the steep goat trail to the shore line.

The walk down sucked, but entry into the water was smooth.

I put my fins on and basically crawled out.

I went South and caught and released a short lobster.

I was hoping that it wouldn’t set the precedent for the night.

Back and forth, back and forth, covering as much ground as I possibly could looking for lobsters.

All in all, three lobsters and all short!

I swam back in, debriefed with Ron and took probably 20 minutes to walk back up the hill.

The walk up sucked!

Just short of the lip of the cliff is a crawl.

In Ron’s words, “You didn’t catch anything, but that sure was a macho dive.”

Casino Point, Catalina, CA

Night time, Solo Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 1200 psi
Max depth: 50 feet
Waves: Insignificant
Visibility: 15 feet, maybe 20
Water Temperature: Warm
Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes

After a great dinner at Steve’s Steakhouse and a walk down the pier with my family, I did a night dive.

I carried all my crap from the hotel to Casino Point; my brother Paul, sister Kate and my father followed.

There was a class in the water already.

The eerie green glow of all their lights was predominant.

Once in the water I descended near the buoys.

It was really spooky – spookier than I thought it would be.

I’ve dove Casino Point a lot and at night it looks totally different.

Yes, fish do sleep – either that or a fish – a White Sea Bass – was dead at the bottom.

Bigger fish kept following me around.

Lobsters were all over the ground – none legal size, but it’s a game preserve anyway.

I made it down to 50 feet and decided there was just as much to see at 30 or 40 feet.

It was like touring a haunted kelp forest.

My light hit kelp, rocks, and fish, with a pitch black background.

I ran across the buoys again, but couldn’t find them on the way back.

I surfaced, got my bearings and submerged again.

I found the two buoys and swam to the staircase.

My “safety crew” greeted me with a beer.

We humped all my gear back to the Hotel and went out and partied with my brother and sister.