Secret Location: 4e 6f 72 74 68 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 67 61 74 65 20 77 69 74 68 20 4d 61 72 73 20 6f 66 66 20 74 68 65 20 68 69 6c 6c 73 20 77 69 74 68 20 47 72 65 65 6e 20 54 72 65 65 73 2e

Southern California Buddy Diving With The Divevets off the Island Diver

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 300 psi
Max depth: 50 feet
Waves: Minor chop, strong surge towards shore
Visibility: 15 feet plus
Water Temperature: 55 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 40 minutes

Since we can’t safely go deeper, we went to our secret shallow spot for the second try.

I again, was the first off the boat because I had the most time to out gas from the previous deeper dive.

This place has a lot of kelp and the vis was pretty good.

Lots of other divers and hoop netters were out trying to get their last bugs for the season.

After I submerged off the back platform, I swam towards shore; I forgot to check the anchor line.

I didn’t see any lobster until I got to 30 feet, but the water became very surgy – almost unmanageable.

I grabbed for a few good ones, but unlike the flat sand of previous dives, the bottom is contoured with rocks and reefs – sometimes I just couldn’t pin the bugs.

I managed to grab one and measured it – it was good.

I reached for my bag and it was a tangled mess that wouldn’t open.

I struggled with my bag harder than I did with the lobster.

I ended up surfacing and untangling it with one hand.

My new wrist mounted dive computer is too cumbersome for bug hunting; it tends to get caught in the bag’s metal mouth.

I continued shallower, to about 25 feet; but, the surge was getting to be too much and I turned around.

At the tail end of the season (no pun intended), the surviving bugs are pretty smart and fast; a lobster monster saw my light and took off.

I made my way back to the boat, doing a shallow surface swim under the kelp – burning my air down to almost 200 psi.

The rest of the divers made it back; Dan caught one, the rest got skunked.

The debriefing started on the boat in traditional fashion.

On the way back, there was a very loud “Bang!” coming from the engine; Captain Anthony slowed the engine down.

“I think we’re OK; we probably just blew a turbo,” he said.

The boat continued on, slowly.

“Uh, hey Anthony, there’s black smoke coming from the back of the boat!” I yelled.

“We’re OK, I think it’s just something passing through the engine,” he said.

I was a little concerned and was sort of pissed that I was no longer wearing my wetsuit, but we eventually made it back.

As we discovered later, a pipe from the turbo on the engine had popped out of its fitting.

The lobster that I caught was so big, Bob couldn’t fit the whole thing in the camera frame.

The only chick on board – Annelaure – complimented my hat and called it “technical.”

The debriefing continued in the parking lot as is always the case; we celebrated Annelaure’s newly acquired Ph. D in Chemical Engineering.

I bet she can brew some pretty damn good beer!