My old friend and original SCUBA diving instructor, Instructor Ed, called me a few days ago wanting to dive.

Ed in 2002.

He is now pretty much retired, but doesn’t want to sit around and let his arteries harden.

He brought a potential future student with him by the name of Jo.

Sunday is usually my dive at Terranea Resort, however, Ed wanted an easier dive just to practice and make sure he still knew how to dive.

We decided on Veterans Park in Redondo Beach.

When I first began to dive, Redondo Beach was part of my training – diving Veterans Park and then heavy debriefing at the pier.

There’s nothing like trying to relive the past – when I remember life as being better.

Instructor Ed and I get ready for our first dive together in many years.

I also needed to test my underwater housing that leaked a few weeks ago and ruined my camera.

I am now down to my reserve camera that I bought for a backup on dive trips.

I got a lot of compliments and comments on my custom wetsuit…

I have a rip in my wetsuit to allow pee to escape.

I don’t normally have people take pictures of my butt, but I just wanted to see how bad the rip really is.

At least my swim trunks sort of match my wet suit.

The waves were sort of annoying, but manageable; we were off.

I made it out, but Ed apparently dropped his snorkel upon entry.

I swam back into the surf zone in a futile attempt to find it.

Ed waved me on; I swam back out and waited for him.

Ed entered and immediately went under.

I waited, and waited… 10 minutes later I realized that the reason I learned to solo dive was because of Ed.

I didn’t see any bodies floating around and nobody was yelling for help, so I continued the dive on my own.

Logged SCUBA Dive #477

SoCal Buddy Diving With Instructor Ed; a.k.a. Solo Diving

Veterans Park, Redondo Beach, CA, USA

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 1000 psi
Max depth: 100 feet
Waves: Some annoying waves, but good once out
Visibility: 15-18 feet
Water Temperature: 68 degrees
Air Temperature: 72 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 30 minutes

I swam West and down the canyon; I pressed the buttons on my camera housing – all was fine.

I got as deep as 100 feet and then turned around.

I had thoroughly washed and resealed my camera housing prior to this dive – it was obvious to me that my camera got flooded due to my lack of housing maintenance.

I made a perfect exit and once ashore I saw Instructor Ed.

He was not comfortable surface swimming without a snorkel, so he just went under and continued on his own.

I wish he would have told me first.

He also forgot Vaseline to oil down his mustache, so his mask was constantly leaking.

The waves started to pick up.

I saw a rouge wave toss an exiting class.

I saw a lot of people who I have gotten to know over the years, but haven’t seen in a while because I don’t dive here regularly.

Joe R. and his diving crew – Penni and Sam.

I offered Joe and his group a beer, but Sam is on the wagon, so they all declined in a token of solidarity.

Here is a shout out – Hi Joe, Penni and Sam!

I now officially have seven readers of this blog!

Now, it was on to debrief at Quality Seafood on the pier.

Quality Sea Food at the Redondo Beach Pier.

Local lobster is $33.90 a pound!

We debriefed with local crab, sea snails, mussels and oysters… oh, and beer.

We haven’t been here for a long time and things have certainly changed.

You now have to pay in advance to park, and the beer prices at Quality Seafood are now outrageous.

Back in the day, a large bottle of Pacifico went for $2.50; since the founder Pete retired, the price is now $10 a bottle.

Instructor Ed, Jo and me.

When we used to hang out there years ago, it was predominantly a Mexican crowd, complete with a mariachi band that would travel from table to table.

Now, it seems like a younger crowd of European and Asian descent.

Another perfect day of trying to relive the past!

September 27, 2014

The bugs were deep and all of us were super saturated with Nitrogen.

We had to try deeper places, so the Captain pulled anchor to find a similar spot.

After a 20 minute boat ride and a surface interval of over an hour, we anchored in a not so secret spot – there were several dive boats already in the area.

“It’s 3:30 AM, hasn’t this spot been picked clean already?,” I thought.

Eric made a mad dash to be the first one off the boat.

I soon followed and noticed a fairly strong current.

I submerged down the anchor line and swam against the current.

Logged SCUBA Dive #476

Solo Diving

Secret Location: 41 20 52 65 65 66 20 63 6c 6f 73 65 20 74 6f 20 61 20 50 6f 69 6e 74 20 74 68 61 74 20 69 73 20 4c 6f 6e 67 2e – Catalina Island

In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 800 psi
Max depth: 65 feet
Waves: Pretty flat once we were there
Visibility: 10 to 15 feet
Water Temperature: 67 degrees
Air Temperature: 66 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes

I hit a reef with an abundance of fish and other sea life.

I spotted a short lobster with half its legs gone, limping on the sand.

Yeah, this place has already been raided and I bet the lobsters are spooked.

I saw a bunch of bugs in the cracks of the reef – too far in to grab.

I know they were too far in, because I tried; I even looked for a back entrance.

This was a nice dive, with lots of structure and sea life, however we got there too late.

The fact that I always saw at least one other diver’s light double confirmed my thought.

I began to accept the fact that I would not be limiting on this dive.

I toured around the reef, and when I lost hope for another bug, I slowly swam to the surface.

I hit the surface literally 15 feet away from the boat.

Eric amazingly caught two on this dive – he didn’t have to go home skunked.

My entire catch for the trip.

We debriefed after the dives, but I soon found myself sleeping in the galley on the way back.

We made it home just as the Sun was coming up.

This trip was not as plentiful as last Opening Night; some experienced divers got skunked or only one or two.

Tim was the only one who limited and won the jackpot for the biggest dive (pictured last post).

I ended up with four lobsters and felt bad that I didn’t have a couple to spread the wealth around.

All in all, another Opening Night with cool people on a cool boat.