I missed out on lobster liberating last week – it is a long story involving a broken email account, beer and a psychotic woman.

Anyway, Jim, Instructor John and I were off in the zodiac around 8 PM to a spot off of Palos Verdes.

The spot is usually pounded by surf; but tonight the area was fairly calm, so the decision was made to try this area.

Logged SCUBA Dive #373

SECRET LOCATION: 41 74 20 74 68 65 20 74 69 70 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 47 61 74 65 73 20 6f 66 20 4d 61 72 2c 20 69 6e 20 76 69 65 77 20 6f 66 20 74

68 65 20 68 6f 75 73 65 20 6f 66 20 6c 69 67 68 74 2e 0d 0a 0d 0a, Palos Verdes, CA

Solo Diving, SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 35 feet
Waves: Slight swells on the surface, surge underwater
Visibility: 4-8 feet
Water Temperature: 64 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 40 minutes

The water was comfortably warm, coming in at 62 degrees.

I followed Jim’s advise and peed in my wetsuit before submerging.

I spotted and pinned my first lobster within five minutes; I had to remeasure it several times, but I was certain it was legal.

Jim was beside me before going on his own and I saw him pass up one – yeah, it was so short, he didn’t even bother to pin it to make sure.

I saw a lot of lobsters, at one point I even came across a lobster hole, stuffed with bugs.

The only problem was that all these lobsters were short – to the point where the “monster” bugs were a quarter inch under legal.

There was a horrid surge in the shallows, with visibility that was in the four feet range.

I pinned five more bugs, all shorts – they were released unharmed.

I surfaced twice to spot the boat and plan my return.

Unfortunately, when I did surface with 500 psi, I was about 40 yards away from the boat – and when you’re that far away, looking at a 14 foot zodiac, it looks as though you have to swim miles.

The surface kelp was thick and I basically had to bitch-crawl over to return to the boat.

I remeasured my bug – it did not shrink when it was exposed to the air, so into my liberation bag it went.

Instructor John came back with two, I had my one and Jim got skunked.

It is suppose to rain Monday, so between now and then remains to be seen.

Everyone has agreed that this season sucks for us, despite talk of people limiting in Orange County and the Redondo Beach break water.