The Dock Of The Los Angeles Harbor Police Headquarters
Inside Los Angeles Harbor

WARNING: You are not normally allowed to dive in a harbor unless you obtain permission first.

It is a great way to get arrested and interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security.

Having the Police with you is also a good idea.

But, by not diving in a harbor, you are not missing anything at all.

Dove with Instructor John, his friend Jim and John’s Harbor Police Open Water students as part of my Dive Master training.

In With: 2000 psi
Out With: 1700 psi
Max depth: 15 feet
Waves: 0
Visibility: 0-2 feet, really shitty
Water Temperature: 60 degrees Fahrenheit, I think
Total Bottom Time: 12 minutes

I don’t know if I should consider this a dive, but under the circumstances (students, visibility) I obviously will.

The Police boat pulled back in to the dock and we dove off the pier – I did a giant stride off the end.

The woman followed, but lost her weight belt; I retrieved it.

Three students were in the water plus John, Jim and myself. John paired us up for a tour.

My “buddy” was the young officer that I brought in yesterday due to low air.

He asked if he could hold my arm as vis really sucked – about zero to two feet.

I said, “sure.”

We submerged and bumped around under the pier for several minutes.

I gave him the “OK” signal; he responded with the “having trouble clearing” signal; we surfaced.

I pointed to a ladder off the pier and suggested that we swim there and try submerging again, as slow as possible.

We swam over and he said, “I’m done.”

“OK, great!” I thought.

We swam over to the ladder that was not completely rusted and climbed up.

These two dives were the nastiest, most disgusting dives I’ve ever been on.

I tasted diesel fuel in my mouth for hours – I hope it was only diesel fuel!

Jim and his buddy dive off the smelly, stinky, crappy (literally) harbor.

The LA Harbor Police Dock.

I thought to myself, Police cars are more comfortable than Police boats.