Having paid $65 for this lobster trip, I now had a lot of anxiety that I was going to come home with one really expensive bug.

We chose this next site because there were no boats spotted here on Opening Night; this place was going to either really suck or maybe be pretty lucrative.

Logged Dive #354
Palos Verdes, CA

Secret Location: 32 35 30 20 79 61 72 64 73 20 53 6f 75 74 68 20 6f 66 20 6f 75 72 20 6c 61 73 74 20 6c 6f 63 61 74 69 6f 6e 2c 20 77 68 65 72 65 20 6e 6f 20 62 6f 61 74 73 20 77 65 72 65 20 73 65 65 6e 20 6f 6e 20 6f 70 65 6e 69 6e 67 20 6e 69 67 68 74 2e

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 400 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: Calm
Visibility: 15 to 20 feet
Water Temperature: About 60 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 45 minutes

I submerged near the anchor line and spotted a legal looking bug – I reached and pinned it!

It was like grabbing a had full of mashed potatoes!

The poor thing must have just molted – the carapace just dissolved in my hand and lobster guts gushed out between my fingers.

There was no way to measure it even though it was probably legal sized; and it was certainly dead – I left it there as fish food.

Not seeing any in 40 feet, I headed towards shore and turned back around when I reached 15 feet.

At 25 feet I spotted a huge lobster cave – There were two or three good sized bugs just hanging out, waiting for me to liberate them.

I dug one out and caught another one as it was fleeing; I now had three in my bag.

Thirty minutes into my dive, I saw another one and pinned it, and then I saw a bigger one two feet ahead; I dropped the light and tried to grab the second one with my other had, but missed.

The light went out and my reserve was not on – I dive with one light on at a time, so I can control where I point it.

I held the lobster in darkness as I was trying to turn the damn thing back on; I eventually was able to.

I was running low on air, but caught two more heading back.

This was a lucrative spot – I limited for the night!

The lobsters were so plentiful, some just jumped right out of the water and on to the deck; the Captain wrote down the GPS coordinates for our exclusive future reference.

The other divers did really well also – seven divers, six of them hunters, pulled in 33 bugs on this trip.

Donna the Biker poses with one of her bugs.

We debriefed with the King of Beers and some swirl that some other diver brought.

Don’t think you can dive if you ride a motorcycle?

Donna proves the rumor merely a myth.

This is my first lobster trip of the season on the Island Diver with the Divevets.

Joining us on this trip was Donna the Biker – a recent transplant from Chicago (or is it Tennessee?) who has not been scared away by the bizarre antics of some in the group.

This was Donna’s first lobster trip.

I packed all my gear into my second game bag, and took one last look in my trunk before boarding.

I didn’t realize I had turned my light off and left it in the trunk; thanks to Dan and a spare light that he had, my dive was saved.

Thank you Dan!

I would have went anyway with my secondary light, but that would have really sucked.

Dan instructs Donna on the proper bagging procedures.

Logged Dive #353
Palos Verdes, CA

Secret Location: 4f 66 66 20 74 68 65 20 67 61 74 65 73 20 6f 66 20 4d 61 72 2c 20 6d 69 64 77 61 79 20 62 65 74 77 65 65 6e 20 61 20 66 6c 61 74 20 72 6f 63 6b 20 61 6e 64 20 61 20 62 72 69 67 68 74 20 68 6f 75 73 65 2e

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 400 psi
Max depth: 35 feet
Waves: Calm
Visibility: 15 to 20 feet
Water Temperature: About 60 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 45 minutes

Once anchored at our secret spot, I pushed others aside and was the first to jump in the water – I had to urinate really badly.

I submerged to 35 feet and started patrolling for lobsters to liberate.

Many shorts were spotted, but I didn’t even bother grabbing them for practice.

I had gone all the way to 15 feet before turning around; about 20 minutes into the dive, I finally grabbed my first legal bug in 30 feet of water.

The water was surprisingly clear; an almost full moon was on the horizon peaking over the Palos Verdes hillside.

I spotted another legal bug under the kelp, but missed the pin.

I was the first back to the boat with my single lobster; others followed either skunked or with one or two.

Jimmy the Bagman was lucky enough to run across a lobster hole and caught four.

Jimmy the Bagman poses with one of his prized bugs.

Dan and his protégé came back with a few…

Dan shows Donna how to measure a lobster – of course this was already done in the water before it was bagged.

One of the first time hunters on this boat pinned a molted lobster carcass; the diver mentioned, “I thought catching these things would be a lot harder, I didn’t know it was dead.”

We moved the boat to hopefully a “better” spot.