Veteran’s Park
Redondo Beach, CA

Solo Diving

Nick wasn’t interested in diving today because of the visibility yesterday.

Daniel M from Redondo Pier is getting his tank serviced but was willing to rent one.

I had to work early and didn’t want to wait for Daniel.

If I’m not going to see anything, I might as well go deep.

I got in the water about 9:45 AM.

Other divers were there, mostly students.

I descended to 20 feet and started heading West.

Visibility sort of sucked, but that was no surprise – it was about 10 feet.

I went over the shelf and kept swimming slowly to 85 feet.

I turned and started going East.

Coming up at 70 feet I found an “Alamo” baseball cap.

“Alamo” as in “Remember the Alamo,” not the car rental place.

I put the hat on and wore it all the way in.

At 60 feet I swam North and then back again.

I just took it slow.

I saw a group of crabs, some starfish, small fish and trash.

At 1200 psi I started to head in.

At 10 feet I ascended.

I was about 20 yards from shore, still wearing my baseball cap.

The waves were 2-3 feet but broke close to shore.

I took my fins off in the water and walked to shore.

In with: 3100 psi
Out with: 1000 psi
Maximum depth: 85 feet
Waves: 2-3 feet
Visibility: 10 feet
Water Temperature: Pretty Cool
Total Bottom Time: About 35 minutes

Long Point, CA
(aka The Old Marineland)

Dove with Nick

We met at 8 AM.

Watching the waves I saw two divers go in and cancel the dive shortly thereafter.

I don’t know why, but there was a woman there; that might explain it.

It was an easy entry; the swells were 1 to 2 feet and I did the new “enter with one fin on” trick.

We swam to the first kelp bed North of Pigeon Shit Cave.

The visibility sucked.

I was hoping it would be a good as last weekend.

There was a slight current pulling us South.

We surfaced and tried to find the second kelp bed.

It took a few tries, but we found a reef and hung out there for the remainder of the dive.

Nick was photographing, I was sightseeing.

Easy out, but as always, I was knocked down by a wave walking ashore.

In with: 2900 psi
Out with: 600 psi
Maximum depth: 35 feet
Waves 1-3 feet
Visibility: 15 feet at best
Water temperature: warm and cold
Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes