Driving from the Long Beach Ghetto to Palos Verdes, I noticed a tremendous amount of wind.

I thought that we probably wouldn’t be diving, but I had to check conditions myself.

At exactly 8 AM, I pulled up to the main gate of the Terranea Resort; the wind was howling, not one diver was around, the security guard was not in sight and the front gates were locked.

I drove to the old “public access” lot and walked to the cliff side…

AngelShark, Reverend Al, Chris A and Not So New Chris were checking the conditions.

Reports from all over Palos Verdes were that conditions sucked!

Waves pounded against the Point; we walked to the other side, over looking Abalone Cove…

The other side of the cove revealed ocean water that resembled mud.

Waves pounded against the cliffs near the nude beach.

Reverend Al said it best… “I didn’t even bring my gear, I just came down here to see how bad the conditions were.”

Later posted on the DiveVets’ message board indicated conditions even at Redondo Beach were “some of the worst conditions… ever seen there.”

I think the lobsters are going to be pushed ever deeper.

I’m on a chartered lobster boat this coming Friday and have an opportunity to go zodiac diving sometime before; hopefully, conditions will improve.

Logged SCUBA Dive #317

Secret Location: 4a 75 73 74 20 61 20 73 70 6f 74 20 6f 66 66 20 74 68 65 20 47 61 74 65 73 20 4f 66 20 4d 61 72 2c 20 6e 65 61 72 20 74 68 65 20 70 69 70 65 2c 20 63 6c 6f 73 65 20 74 6f 20 74 68 65 20 65 64 67 65 2e, Palos Verdes, CA

Solo Diving/SoCal Buddy Diving

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 500 psi
Max depth: 60 feet
Waves: Pretty flat
Visibility: 20 feet
Temperature: Getting Pretty Cold!
Total Bottom Time: About 40 minutes minutes

We motored over to Palos Verdes for a second lobster dive of the night; hopefully I won’t get skunked!

Having no watch and a computer that wouldn’t turn on, I had to make an educated guess as to when and how long my next dive would be.

Off the zodiac, we submerged and soon went our our separate ways.

This was an interesting dive with sparse kelp at the ocean floor, complex reef structure and an abundance of a wide variety of sea life.

A was combing the bottom with my light and came upon a five foot sand shark taking a nap on the ocean floor; I almost swallowed my regulator as I was not expecting to run across a shark.

I swam away, luckily for the shark, as I am certain I would’ve kicked it’s ass.

I approached a huge lobster and pinned it… it was like grabbing a Foster’s “oil can” of beer; that was all the measuring I needed and I bagged it.

I was in 50 to 60 feet of water.

I caught two more, but they were short and were released unharmed.

Getting down to 500 psi, I headed towards the boat and grabbed onto it’s side.

I unhooked my game bag, threw it on the zodiac… I unhooked my weight belt and threw it on the zodiac… I unhooked my BCD and tied it to the side… grabbing the rope that circles the boat, I did a muscle up and pulled myself in; kelp was dragging.

I sat on the floor of the zodiac, took one fin off and then… “Where the fuck is my other fin?”

I know I had it when I got to the boat, I would have noticed if I was swimming with only one fin.

It must have fallen off as I was lifting myself up through the kelp; that is a downside to having spring loaded fin straps.

Sometimes, they come off too easily!

Luckily, Instructor John made it back to the boat and was able to descend and retrieve my lost fin at the anchor line.

I said, “Thank you John, if I had seven lobsters, I would give you one.”

John pulled himself onto the boat and said, “I couldn’t take it anyways, I limited tonight.”

John caught four more bugs on the second dive.

A beer in one hand and a three pound bug in the other – do I look macho, or what?

I swim slowly, looking under the kelp and on top of the reefs; John tends to cover as much ground as possible as fast as possible – tonight, John’s technique paid off, in addition to being lucky.

We pulled anchor and made a nice and pretty flat voyage back to the harbor.