Pt Vicente Fishing Access, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
(aka Cardiac Hill)

Dove with Nick

I met Nick at Malaga Cove around 8 AM.

This is high tide and we were planning to dive there.

The conditions didn’t look too promising.

It was shallow, the water looked murky.

We checked out Pt. Vicente; it’s West of Long Point and decided to dive it.

This place is the famous “Cardiac Hill.”

We geared up and walked down to a fork in the path.

Straight lead to a narrow path down to the rocks where Nick’s diving book said were the best conditions.

After going right on the switch-back, the path is absolutely terrifying to walk down fully geared.

It’s very narrow and at one point there’s a big rock that jets out of the cliff and the path underneath was only a foot and a half wide.

The trail didn’t bother Nick; he wanted to go back up that way because there were no surges West of the rocks.

Nick was concerned about walking too far back.

I was concerned about getting killed on the trail back.

We entered the water around 10:30 AM or so.

Nick didn’t want to swim “too far.”

I’m thinking, “Crap, we’re here to dive….?”

Neither of us were hunting or talking pictures.

We slowly submerged and went East.

This is a very shallow dive.

We didn’t get deeper than 20 feet the whole time.

We surfaced a few times to get our bearings.

Around the kelp near the middle rocks, Nick pointed out a Bat Ray – a BIG Bat Ray!

It was on the bottom minding its own business.

It startled me; I hear those things can sting badly.

The bottom reminded me of Shaw’s Cove but without the shells; actually, it’s a lot like White Point.

We hung around that area for the remainder of the dive.

There’s a small rocky beach exit just to the East, but Nick didn’t want to walk back that far.

Shit, sometimes I really prefer solo diving.

We went in just underneath the end of the trail to the East.

It’s very shallow; add a few waves and it’s hazardous.

Up Cardiac Hill was a bitch.

It was a 15 minute walk – it seemed like forever.

In with: 3100 psi
Out with: 1600 psi
Maximum depth: 20 feet
Waves: 1-2 feet
Visibility: 15-20 feet
Temperature: about 60 degrees F
Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.