Here again is my once a year opportunity to dive underneath the Redondo Beach Pier and collect what people have dropped over the side for the last 12 months.

For a few hours, they prohibit fishing off the pier and let SCUBA divers clean the “garbage” underneath.

I arrived a little late, so my dive buddy TwinDuct and I were one of the last divers to enter the water and head for the pier.

Upon entry, a wave knocked me flat on my ass, and to make things worse, I couldn’t get up – a wave would hit me, and I would try and get up, or at least try and float out to waist level water, but I ended up flailing in the surf zone until TwinDuct and my arch Divevets rival Airborne helped me to my feet.

Thank God there were no witnesses or pictures, as I did not look very macho.

We swam out and headed for the pier.

We descended and went towards the pier.

Logged SCUBA Dive #389

Dove with TwinDuct
Off of and Under Redondo Pier, Redondo Beach, CA

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 800 psi
Max depth: 70 feet
Waves: Big in the surf zone, calm once out
Visibility: 15 feet at best
Water Temperature: 62 degrees, colder at depth
Total Bottom Time: About 40 minutes

We passed over a community of sand dollars; I’ve always wondered, where the hell do sand dollars come from and what is their purpose in the ecology, anyway?

It looked like all the good stuff was already picked up – in previous years, guns, hoop nets, a skull and a variety of weird stuff has been found.

All around the pier, the remains of dead sea creatures litter the ocean floor.

We headed South and then down the canyon – there’s usually trash there.

We came across a baby electric ray.

TwinDuct found a cool snorkel; I found a fishing knife and nice diving mask.

I thought I was narced or something, but TwinDuct confirmed what I saw – a duck, swimming around our area at 70 feet underwater.

I couldn’t turn my camera on quick enough to catch a picture of the duck.

We went back up the canyon and did one last pass under the pier before heading in.

I made a perfect exit, except for tripping on my bag in six inches of water.

After being told to crawl by a DM, I just got up and walked ashore – now that is macho.

TwinDuct and I display our bags of trash.

Less trash was collected than ever before, and nothing super cool was pulled up either.

What amazed me, was what was given to the people who cleaned the surface of the beach…

Everyone got a plastic bag to put trash in – the liberals hate plastic bags so much, they’ve pretty much banned them all over the South Bay and Long Beach area – but they give the clean up crew evil plastic bags?

Amazing! What a double standard!

My thanks goes to Heal and Bay and Dive N Surf for this event.

Thanks goes to ChrisFromDetroit from DiveVets for pointing the below article out.

There is speculation that the tank was made from an old Aluminum alloy that has been known to develop cracks and be susceptible to exploding.

However, tanks tend to not just explode.

I’m not trying to make light of this tragedy, but my guess is the tank was severely over filled, or it was a “hit” that was made to look like an accident.

As long as SCUBA tanks pass VIP and a hydro test and they aren’t compromised structurally since, tanks just don’t exploded.

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St. Pete veteran killed by exploding scuba tank

Photo by Andy Jones Tampa Bay Online Staff

By RACHEL PLEASANT, JOSÉ PATIÑO GIRONA | The Tampa Tribune
Published: September 11, 2011
Updated: September 12, 2011 – 7:15 AM

ST. PETERSBURG — An Iraq War veteran who moved to the Tampa Bay area to pursue his love of diving died Sunday after the scuba tank he was carrying exploded.

Russell Vanhorn II, 23, was carrying the scuba tank to his car about 6:50 a.m., getting ready for a planned diving trip, when it exploded.

The force of the explosion blew out the front door and windows of Vanhorn’s apartment at 5875 37th Ave. N. The explosion also sent debris flying as far away as 75 feet. Some of that debris blew out the windows of cars parked nearby.

Vanhorn was taken to St. Petersburg General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 8 a.m., said St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue Lt. Joel Granata.

The entire article can be found here: St. Pete veteran killed by exploding scuba tank