Having not been able to put a SCUBA diving trip together for several years, I stumbled onto the diving trip of a life time.

It is a group tour in July 2017 that originates in Vladivostok, Russia… and after eight days, ends back in Vladivostok, Russia.

I wired my deposit last week.

Other than that, I really shouldn’t say anything else – but I’m sure it will be an adventure.

Lobster season is coming up, and I’m doing my final preparations – renewing all by licenses, making sure my lights are good and practicing my lobster death grip.

I’ll be on the Bottom Scratcher this Friday night – yeah, I don’t like big boats for lobster hunting, but it’s slim pickings this year.

Having stayed the night in Palos Verdes, it was easy for me to show up right on time at 8 am in the public spot of Terranea Resort.

We went down and checked the conditions.

Reverend Al and I would have easily made it out from the Point, however, it was high tide and the receding swells and the pounding waves were intimidating.

Since we didn’t want to perform any rescues, we decided to go off the Cove.

The crew consisted of Me, Reverend Al, Nice Bob, the other Jeff, Rob and Blue Steel.

On the way down, Rob blew an O-ring and had to turn back.

It was an easy entrance and visibility looked promising…

Logged SCUBA Dive #502

Dove with Nice Bob and the other Jeff

120 Reef, Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, USA

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 1500 psi
Max depth: 43 feet
Waves: Flat with some extreme rouge waves
Visibility: 10 feet with some silt
Water Temperature: 64 degrees
Air Temperature: 80 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 31 minutes

We swam to the rocky finger just off of the cave and submerged.

I followed Nice Bob and the other Jeff.

Visibility was not great and there was a large amount of surge on the bottom.

Throwing a pass with a sea hare.

After touring the 120 reef for about 20 minutes, Bob started leading us back.

It was an all-sand dive similar to Veterans Park; the visibility really sucked – 5 feet at best.

But, Bob lead us right to the Cove; we all made easy exits.

As we were walking back, a HUGE rouge wave started towards the beach and crashed into the rocks; every rock on that beach was wet.

A second smaller wave started to form and I was able to get a picture of that one.

If we were delayed by five minutes, someone would have gotten hurt during their exit.

Two minutes later, some people who were sitting on the rocks came up soaking wet.

We did our traditional debrief in the parking lot…

The other Jeff, Me, Nice Bob, Reverend Al and Blue Steel.

Let’s get ready for Lobster Season!

Happy Hunting!

The swell map was solid blue around Palos Verdes and there was a big turnout at Terranea today – maybe 20 divers and a lot of new faces.

I was the first one off the Point – it was like slipping off the rocks and into a lake.

Having no idea where to drop on the statue and memorial rocks, I decided to follow Ben and his group.

After a short surface swim, we submerged.

Logged SCUBA Dive #501

Dove with Ben, Randy and Rob

The Point, Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, USA

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 900 psi
Max depth: 62 feet
Waves: Flat
Visibility: 15 – 20 feet
Water Temperature: 67 degrees
Air Temperature: 74 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 42 minutes

Surprisingly, I had no issues going down – it usually takes me a while to equalize.

We followed Ben, who was carrying a memorial rock for his dead cat that he was going to place by the statue.

So when all is complete, there will be three rocks – Shanon Wesserling and Dennis Gunn, who were regular divers in our group… and then Ben’s cat.

Well, Ben did a better job of trying to find the statue than I did… but the thing is, we never found the statue.

We started heading to the Cove after 10 minutes, Ben carried the rock for the entire dive.

Lobsters!

Garibaldi!

My photos were OK – they’re starting to all look the same.

Nothing out of the ordinary or spectacular to report on this routine dive.

Some other divers later reported running in to two divers measuring the reefs in the garden.

Everyone made it out with an easy exit; OK, I tripped over a rock, but it was still easy.

Today’s crew – Rob, Me, Joe (kneeling), Ben and Randy.

Debriefing was light with potato chips and Budweiser, the King Of Beers.

I complained to Ben that we were too shallow towards the end and that I kept floating up.

Ben said, “You should have told me, I would have given you a rock for extra weight.”

We saw the two divers who were measuring the reefs – they were carrying writing boards and had measuring tapes.

Just like in a scene from a movie, these divers turned out to be two beautiful women…

Emily and Jackie were measuring algae in the garden.

Ben and I gave them our contact information and told them to join us every weekend, usually here.

They were very friendly and even took a Budweiser.

I believe it is Emily that wants to be a Marine Biologist.

I am going to try and break the routine and go diving down in Laguna Beach soon.

Until next time!