Logged SCUBA Dive #318

Secret Location: 4f 6e 20 6f 72 20 76 65 72 79 20 63 6c 6f 73 65 20 74 6f 20 74 68 65 20 66 61 72 6d 20 74 68 61 74 20 67 72 6f 77 73 20 70 69 70 65 73, Redondo Beach, CA

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 600 psi
Max depth: 80 feet
Waves: Pretty flat
Visibility: 15-20 feet
Temperature: Maybe 60 degrees or so
Total Bottom Time: About 25 minutes minutes

Instructor John was unable to dive during the week, so I’ve been dry for over seven days   now.

My dive computer needs batteries and I stripped the screw hole trying to open the battery compartment; it’s back to diving with the tables until I can figure out how to repair it.

We left the dock a little after 7 PM; it was a stag boat, with eight divers plus the Captain.

We anchored at one of our secret spots that should provide us with a mega supply of bugs this time of year.

I was one of the first ones overboard and under.

I descended down the anchor chain and noticed that the anchor was actually dangling 10 feet above the ocean floor; there was no current, but I was wondering if this would be an impromptu drift dive.

I found out later that the Captain gave the anchor more line after a while.

I had about 20 minutes of bottom time and searched as fast as I could for as many lobsters as I could.

I missed grabbing a pretty large bug that was hiding in a pipe; I continued on …

My light hit a HUGE lobster at 80 feet, just crawling along the bottom!

I angled my light away, approached it and pinned it!

I couldn’t get a grip on it with just one hand, so I dropped my light and put the bug in a Jiu Jitsu style choke hold with my other arm, it’s tail flailed and hit me in the nuts.

I was able to wrap my other arm around it’s torso and hold it close to my chest while I opened my spring loaded lobster liberation bag.

After a brief struggle, the lobster tired and crawled into my bag, accepting the fate that awaited him.

At 1200 psi I started heading back, seeing only shorts after that.

I surfaced fairly close to the boat and was the second one back.

Mirek did a five minute dive before calling it; he said, “I didn’t like what I saw, so I headed back to not waste time.”

I worked my upper body strength by doing lobster curls.

The rest of the divers trickled in; Dan caught two legal bugs while everyone else got skunked.

Dan weighed my monster bug in at 5.3 pounds.

It’s on to our second spot…

Driving from the Long Beach Ghetto to Palos Verdes, I noticed a tremendous amount of wind.

I thought that we probably wouldn’t be diving, but I had to check conditions myself.

At exactly 8 AM, I pulled up to the main gate of the Terranea Resort; the wind was howling, not one diver was around, the security guard was not in sight and the front gates were locked.

I drove to the old “public access” lot and walked to the cliff side…

AngelShark, Reverend Al, Chris A and Not So New Chris were checking the conditions.

Reports from all over Palos Verdes were that conditions sucked!

Waves pounded against the Point; we walked to the other side, over looking Abalone Cove…

The other side of the cove revealed ocean water that resembled mud.

Waves pounded against the cliffs near the nude beach.

Reverend Al said it best… “I didn’t even bring my gear, I just came down here to see how bad the conditions were.”

Later posted on the DiveVets’ message board indicated conditions even at Redondo Beach were “some of the worst conditions… ever seen there.”

I think the lobsters are going to be pushed ever deeper.

I’m on a chartered lobster boat this coming Friday and have an opportunity to go zodiac diving sometime before; hopefully, conditions will improve.