The only thing not perfect with this day, is that there was really thick fog blanketing 90% of the South Bay; the air was warm, and the sea was calm – I mean flat as a lake.

Dive N Surf was there, with their club’s monthly beach dive along with the regular Divevets crew.

I paired up with Air Force Chris (formerly know as Not New Chris) and Dennis G.

Logged SCUBA Dive #392

Dove with Air Force Chris and Dennis G.
Off the Cove and to the right, Terranea Resort, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 42 feet
Waves: Flat
Visibility: 15 to 20 feet
Water Temperature: 56 degrees
Air Temperature: 69 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 59 minutes

The entrance was too easy; we swam to the right.

I pulled out my camera and took a picture of Chris, with the Terranea Hotel in the background.

After a little more surface time, a duck landed next to me; I pulled out my camera to take a picture.

Why won’t my camera turn on?

Upon close inspection, I concluded that the root cause of my camera not turning on is a direct result of my camera case being half filled with seawater.

Yep, my camera case flooded – after many faithful, and sometimes unpredictable years of service – SCUBA Diving, River rafting, camping, Gold Prospecting – the macho-cam was dead.

Calling the dive because of this tragedy would be fruitless, so I continued.

We descended.

What a crappy time to have my camera flood!

The visibility was great – up to 20 feet in most areas.

Luckily, Air Force Chris was able to document highlights of the dive:

You can watch this video on YouTube by clicking here.

The “buddy system” in SCUBA diving makes more sense to me now; if one camera floods, your buddy with his camera can document the dive.

With no camera, obviously I have no pictures to post.

We circled back half way through our air and made an extremely easy and uneventful exit.

One topic of debriefing was with Chris From Detroit – Why is SCUBA diving in the Southern California scene such a sausage fest (a.k.a. male dominated sport)?

I mean, half the students who get certified here are women – so where do they all go once they get a C-card?

Chris From Detroit basically had the hypothesis that women who get certified either do it because they’re going on vacation to dive in warm water, or their boyfriend dives, or they take up diving to meet someone.

The latter reason intrigued me; Chis From Detroit continued, “Once they meet someone diving, their objective has been met and they stop diving.”

So that’s where they all go?

Debriefing continued until a little after noon.

I soaked my camera in 95% denatured alcohol and hung it in front of a fan to dry out.

The prognosis does not look good for my camera – I am searching for a new one.

OK, maybe I should have titled this “Terranea Look Report.”

A good 30 divers showed up this morning for our traditional Sunday Services dive and debrief; it was great to see a lot of old faces and many new.

At first glance, conditions looked good, but then after we all stood there and watched some tall sweeping waves come in and wash out, we started to change our minds.

Yeah, it was doable; you just needed to time it right.

The water didn’t look that clear either.

Everyone stood there, over looking The Cove; one by one everyone eventually called it.

These are seasoned divers; safe entry and exit would be possible if it was timed right, however at what price?

The potential of five feet of visibility?

What about The Point?

Same thing… if you timed your entry right and were quick, it wouldn’t be a problem – if not, you could really get hurt.

Everyone made their way back to the parking lot.

Some went to go check out Honeymoon Cove, some went to Veteran’s Park.

I stayed to do an early debrief with PDP, TwinDuct and Air Force Chris.

I was told by a diving peer, “Donna (The Hot Biker Chick) really wants to go to Albania with you, but she’s not sure if she can trust you.”

I’m not sure how to take that – he was either trying to mess with my mind, or somehow I have obtained some kind of an untrustworthy reputation.

Maybe she is afraid that I will sell her to the Albanian mafia?

TwinDuct asked me, “So what are you going to do, go home and post that you were here, but conditions sucked… just ’cause you haven’t posted anything in a week?”

Yeah, that’s it.