December 29, 2013

I arrived promptly at 8 AM, extremely tired from getting about three total hours of sleep.

I was hanging out with this hot chick the previous night; I wasn’t drinking since she doesn’t like drunks, so I had to endure the side affects of insomnia.

A good sized crowd showed up, along with some divers we had never seen and a few kayakers.

After changing the camera housing seals after my flood last dive, I took an empty housing on this dive to check for leaks.

We all had geared up by 9:10 – the Point looked a little rough, but the Cove was fine.

Reverend Al, Holly and I, made a perfect entrance into the nearly flat water that was disturbed only by a few rolling swells against the shore.

We waited for Ted and his buddy, submerged and went to the right, the opposite way of 120 reef.

Logged SCUBA Dive #459

Dove With Reverend Al and Holly

Terranea Resort
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, USA

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 1100 psi
Max depth: 40 feet
Waves: A few rollers at the shore, flat otherwise
Visibility: 10 feet, 15 feet some places
Water Temperature: 58 degrees
Air Temperature: 78 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes

After about three minutes I checked my air – I was at 2,600 psi, but every time I took a breathe the needle would drop to 2,000.

Obviously, my air wasn’t all the way on; I must have bumped or rubbed against something on the way out.

I swam up to Reverend Al, showed him the problem and he turned the air all the way on.

There was a mild surge that made it challenging not to run into my surroundings, whether it be a reef, another diver or kelp.

Visibility wasn’t all that great, but there were some spots that reached 15 feet of visibility.

After 20 minutes, Holly signaled to me that she was getting cold.

I signaled to Reverend Al, that we were turning around, Holly seemed a little pissed.

I would rather turn around when someone is getting cold, than turn around when someone is cold.

We slowly made our way back to the cove; I helped Holly off with her hook, almost tearing her head off in the process.

My camera case was bone dry on the inside!

I want to test in at 120 feet before putting my camera inside for a dive.

The Sunday Dive Crew

I brought Polska Kielbasa since Dash had mentioned that he was bringing his barbecue.

When no grill was fired up, I asked why.

It seems that nobody brought anything to grill, and when I told them I had, the barbecue was lit.

Dash tenders the debriefing barbecue.

I was really tired, and kept the debriefing at a minimum.

And so ends another year of diving – I have slacked this year with only 30 dives.

December 14, 2013

I have had a really bad cold for the last couple of weeks; just as I think I’m shaking it, the congestion comes back.

I didn’t want to miss such a unique event as the Dive N Surf Underwater Christmas Tree Dive and Toy Drive, so I had a hearty breakfast of water, coffee and a handful of Sudafeds.

I arrived promptly at 8 AM to a parking lot full of divers – Dive N Surf, Divevets and Pacific Wilderness were all represented, but with seemingly separate agendas.

My donations to charity.

They held the dive briefing a little late; I felt the Sudafed wearing off as I blew snot strands on the pavement.

Me with some of the hot babes of Dive N Surf.

Santa enters the water – I wonder if she knows how heavy that suit is going to be when she gets out?

I made an easy entrance, and swam to 20 feet of water before submerging.

I pinched my nose as the water pressure squeezed my eardrums.

Logged SCUBA Dive #458

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

Veterans Park
Redondo Beach, CA, USA

In With: 2800 psi
Out With: 2100 psi
Max depth: 60 feet
Waves: Pretty damn flat
Visibility: 15-20 feet
Water Temperature: 61 degrees
Air Temperature: 64 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 20 minutes, if that

I rested in 20 feet as my ears slowly equalized.

The underwater Christmas tree that was placed earlier in the morning.

Basically, divers decorate the tree with fruit strung with hemp string before they have their picture taken with Santa Claus.

I wanted to make a quick dash down the canyon before they were ready to start taking pictures.

I went to the shelf and down… FUCK MY EARS HURT LIKE HELL!

As I was equalizing, I wondered which was going to pop first – my ears, or my eyes out of the sockets?

After a few minutes I was fine; I looked up the canyon wall and took this picture…

I noticed a drop of water pass by my view finder.

“Wow, I’m getting a lot of condensation for such warm water,” I thought.

I tilted my camera case and noticed about 1/8th of an inch of water in the case.

My camera case is leaking!

FUCK!

I shut the camera off and started up the canyon, to find out that I now got to enjoy the dizzying affects of reverse blockage.

I swam past the Christmas tree – I now had 1/4 inch of water in my case.

I surfaced and swam in, tripping on the sand step as I got out.

I handed my camera to a Divemaster, who opened the case and emptied the water.

“Sorry dude, I think your camera is screwed,” a spectator said.

Jimmy The Bagman was nice enough to run home and get some rubbing alcohol and a bag of rice.

My camera went into Emergency Dry Mode, or more commonly known as E.D.M.

Dominic, a famous ex-Divemaster made a parking lot appearance.

He hasn’t dove in 18 months and has been told to never dive again.

Dominic was run over on the freeway while helping a downed motorcyclist; he went into a comma for six weeks while a section of his skull was removed to let his brain swelling go down.

After hearing all that, I was not going to complain about my camera housing leaking.

After an hour and a half of letting my camera bake in a bag of rice on my truck’s dashboard, I attempted to power it on.

It still works!

Holy crap! My camera, is like the “AK-47” of cameras – it has been dropped several times, got rained on constantly in Poland and has now survived a partial camera housing flood!

The toys pile up.

The Fire Department arrives to pick up the toys.

They scored this year – last year, I heard was pretty lame.

A group shot of basically everyone in the parking lot.

Mirek gets all the chicks.

Oh man, I will dive anywhere this beautiful woman wants me to!

And so comes an end to another Southern California diving event!