I asked Jim what his secret was in getting three bugs.

He asked, “Did you pee in your wetsuit?”

“No,” I responded.

“That might be your problem,” Jim said.

The moon rose up from behind Palos Verdes.

Logged SCUBA Dive #372

Secret Location: 4a 75 73 74 20 6f 66 66 20 6f 66 20 74 68 72 65 65 20 63 68 69 6d 6e 65 79 73 2c 20 6e 65 61 72 20 74 68 65 20 67 61 74 65 73 20 6f 66 20 4d 61 72 2e
Palos Verdes, CA

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 2000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 30 feet
Waves: Pretty flat on the surface, surgy below
Visibility: 10-15 feet
Temperature: 62 degrees or so
Total Bottom Time: About 35 minutes
Lobsters caught: 2

I rolled off the boat and my regulator started free flowing – I lost 500 psi before I could stop the leak.

Following Jim’s advice, I peed in my wetsuit.

I submerged in 35 feet of water and started towards shore.

There’s sort of a trench that goes to the East; I followed along, looking under the moving kelp.

I pinned another lobster, but released it after measuring it.

After 10 minutes under water at a depth of 25 feet, I finally pinned a keeper!

The anxiety of getting skunked was now gone.

I turned back and started following the trench for a few minutes before pinning a second bug.

Maybe Jim was right about the peeing in your wetsuit thing?

We all made it back to the boat – Jim had two, Crazy Ivan had none, Instructor John had none and I had two.

So, total for tonight – Jim, 5 – Crazy Ivan, 1 – Instructor John, 1 – Me, 2.

If we were Socialists, were would have spread the lobster wealth around and each brought home 2.25 lobsters; but we’re not, so we each took home what we caught.

We drank some Budweiser, the King of Beers, on the way back and discussed the morning dives and this season in general, while watching lightening stikes to the North and South of us.

This was a strange Opening Night – not many people were out, compared to the last few years; maybe the thunderstorm warnings kept people dry?

Also, I have never been on water that was so calm on top, but surgy at the bottom.

Dive N Surf, for the first time in 30 plus years, wasn’t open for the Lobster Mobster contest and the DFG was nowhere in sight.

Farmer’s Almanac, and other long term weather predictions, forecast a cold and wet Winter.

We need to get our lobster dives in before the storms keep us out of the water – in previous years it’s been December and January.

This season is also going to be tough, I think.

Three years ago, sometimes it was hard not to limit, now I’m so happy when I don’t get skunked.

We’ll see what happens.

My first two bugs for this season.

Jim pets his six pound bug.

Crazy Ivan demonstrates where the concept of velcro came from.

Jim, with his collection of bugs from tonight.

It’s that time of the year again!

Some look forward to Christmas, New Years, the aniversary of their divorce, but macho people like me always favor the beginning of Lobster Season.

And so it started…

Crazy Ivan, Instructor John, Jim and I set out in the mighty zodiac at 11 PM and headed to a spot that was located via Jim’s psychic lobster powers.

The moon was not visible.

We were in the water at midnight; it took me a while to get situated and submerge to 35 feet.

Logged SCUBA Dive #371

Secret Location: 4f 66 66 20 74 68 65 20 47 61 74 65 73 20 6f 66 20 4d 61 72 2c 20 74 6f 77 61 72 64 73 20 74 68 65 20 68 6f 75 73 65 20 6f 66 20 6c 69 67 68 74 20 6c 61 79 73 20 61 20 73 70 6f 74 20 66 72 65 65 20 66 72 6f 6d 20 68 6f 75 73 65 20 6c 69 67 68 74 73 2e
Palos Verdes, CA

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 2600 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: Pretty flat on the surface, surgy below
Visibility: 10-15 feet
Temperature: 62 degrees or so
Total Bottom Time: About 35 minutes
Lobsters caught: 0

Lobsters usually start the season shallow, but I was told by a self proclaimed lobster expert that due to the weird weather this summer, the lobsters are probably still deep.

I swam towards shore; the bottom was really surgy – kelp moved back and forth.

It was really hard to try and spot lobsters because everything that could move, was moving.

I made it to 20 feet – the visibility sucked and the surge was too much, so I turned back around after not seeing any lobsters at all.

I made my way back, past the boat, to 40 feet and pinned a huge lobster… anyway, it was huge until I measured it.

The thing still needed to grow another half inch – yeah, the shorts look big if you haven’t seen any; I released it, unharmed.

On this dive, I saw three lobsters – two shorts and the third one, I missed the grab because I got caught on kelp.

I made it back to the rubber yacht where Jim was waiting.

“Did you get any?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah I got one,” Jim responded.

He pulled out three lobsters – one was a six pound bull!

I was thinking, “Great, I’m going to hear Jim gloat all night long.”

And yes, I was right.

Crazy Ivan made it back with one bug, then Instructor John with none.

We discussed where we went and what we saw.

All four bugs were caught in 25 to 30 feet of water; we decided to move the boat closer in, and to another spot.