{"id":1404,"date":"2008-09-07T23:50:42","date_gmt":"2008-09-08T06:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=1404"},"modified":"2008-09-08T17:05:25","modified_gmt":"2008-09-09T00:05:25","slug":"logged-dive-302-old-marineland-california-dive-birthday-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=1404","title":{"rendered":"Logged Dive #302 – Old Marineland, California – Dive & Birthday Party!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long Point (aka The Old Marineland), Palos Verdes, California<\/p>\n

Dove With New Chris<\/p>\n

In With: 3000 psi
\nOut With: 1800 psi
\nMax depth: 40 feet
\nWaves: Slight chop, a few pounders at the shoreline
\nVisibility: Four to eight feet, silty
\nWater Temperature: About 57 degrees
\nTotal Bottom Time: About 20 minutes
\nNotable Event: How long does a diver have to be gone, before he is considered missing?<\/p>\n

Today is not only the traditional dive and debrief, but a birthday celebration, too – TwinDuct and Hollywood share September 7th as a birth date.<\/p>\n

Reverend Al, New Chris, Bob W. and I stood above the cliff wondering whether to call the dive; it looked really green.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we couldn’t really go anywhere else due to the scheduled party.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/p>\n

We geared up and walked to The Point; between calm lulls were sets of big, crashing waves.<\/p>\n

Reverend Al, TwinDuct, Bob and Steve went off the Point; a few divers made some scary looking entrances into the water.<\/p>\n

New Chris and I called the Point and went off the cove; I figured vis was going to be crappy, so why risk my life for that?<\/p>\n

We entered the cove and met another diver who had fallen behind his group due to an equipment problem.<\/p>\n

I asked if he wanted to dive with us, he agreed.<\/p>\n

I turned to Chris for the signal to descend and then looked back; the other diver was nowhere to be seen but we saw and descended on his bubbles.<\/p>\n

His bubbles were moving and I lost sight of them, so Chris and I ascended and waited for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

“Well, I guess he’s going solo, but I really wish he would have told us,” I said.<\/p>\n

Chris and I descended back down to 20 feet and headed for 120 reef.<\/p>\n

We had agreed that if conditions really sucked, we would head in after 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Visibility<\/p>\n

Visibility really sucked!<\/p>\n

We slowly did a tour around the reef; I looked at my watch more than my air.<\/p>\n

After 15 minutes had passed, I turned and started to head back.<\/p>\n

\"Let's<\/p>\n

When the vis got down to almost nothing, we surfaced and swam in.<\/p>\n

The waves were a little more fierce than before and I couldn’t get one of my fins off, so I ended up crawling up the rocky beach.<\/p>\n

I thought to myself, “It almost feels like I can walk with that fin on.”<\/p>\n

I looked back and saw my fin washing away; I grabbed it before the ocean gods could take the sacrifice.<\/p>\n

After another macho walk back up the hill, my brother Paul, Dan and Hollywood from Divevets, were awaiting the start of the festivities.<\/p>\n

We fired up the charcoal to have a real barbecue.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The birthday boy and girl – TwinDuct and Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\"Bob<\/p>\n

The first course was scallop sashimi.<\/p>\n

\"Scallop<\/p>\n

\"Korean<\/p>\n

Instructor Ed takes over the grill.<\/p>\n

On today’s menu – South Korean food! Kim Chi, rice, raw onions, raw garlic, barbecued shrimp and marinated cross cut ribs.<\/p>\n

I no longer bring North Korean food because nobody liked dirt soup, roasted rats or leaf and bark salad.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

At the top of their lungs, someone yelled, “Oh crap, it’s the cops!”<\/p>\n

A really hot looking Deputy pulled in; a few of the divers offered to be arrested as long as she was the one who frisked them.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Department of Fish and Game showed up, this week it was the Sheriff.<\/p>\n

We offered her a beer, but she declined.<\/p>\n

“You guys are amazing, have a nice day,” the hot Deputy said; she backed up and drove away.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The first of the ribs came off the grill; they went fast.<\/p>\n

The New Chris also grilled some marinated meat, bratwursts and garlic bread.<\/p>\n

Nick and new diver Jill<\/a> also showed up and brought more beer and pork tenderloins.<\/p>\n

Jill also brought Vodka and Orange Juice and proceeded to get a few participants hammered on the hard stuff; Instructor Ed toasted Paul with straight shots.<\/p>\n

Jill wants a nickname to fit in, so “Screw Diver” has been suggested.<\/p>\n

Nick and Jill want me to give them a tour of the cinder blocks, traffic cones and trash that’s off of Veteran’s Park until Jill can be comfortable diving Long Point.<\/p>\n

Maybe I’ll take them on a night dive?<\/p>\n

So, we had been out of the water for over an hour, maybe an hour and a half.<\/p>\n

I asked New Chris, “Is that diver who was suppose to dive with us back yet?”<\/p>\n

We looked around, he wasn’t back.<\/p>\n

Concerned, six people walked to the cliff to try and spot any sign of him.<\/p>\n

Vis absolutely sucked, so why would anyone want to be out this long?<\/p>\n

He is also a fairly new diver; I believe he has under 30 dives.<\/p>\n

Also, after about an hour and a half, it is doubtful that he would have any air left if he was still underwater.<\/p>\n

I started to imagine that maybe his sudden descent was a result of a health issue; maybe we should have made a better effort to find him?<\/p>\n

Solo diving is fine; but the plan was to dive with us and his separation was very abrupt.<\/p>\n

Dan from Divevets remarked, “Well, lets not wait too much longer, we need to call someone.”<\/p>\n

Bob W. and I walked to the other side of the cliff, but still saw no sign of him; we planned to send a couple guys down in snorkeling gear to try and find “the body” while we called the Coast Guard.<\/p>\n

Just as I was walking back up to the fork in the path, the diver emerged from the trail’s top switch back.<\/p>\n

By the time we got cliff side, the diver was already walking up, but we didn’t see him.<\/p>\n

He left his bottom timer at home, had no idea how long he was under and apparently spent some time on the rocky beach before heading up.<\/p>\n

What a relief!<\/p>\n

The last thing I want to do is go looking for a dead body, especially of someone I know.<\/p>\n

We begged him to communicate better on future dives.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

So now, the party continues!<\/p>\n

\"My<\/p>\n

To make a tribute to the Old Marineland of The Pacific, my brother Paul wore his old name tag from 20+ years ago…<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Yes, my brother and I both worked here when it was Marineland of the Pacific.<\/p>\n

He was in “Food Service” pouring beer and sipping some to assure the quality; I was in “Merchendising” running the carnival games at the back of the park.<\/p>\n

Basically, I took all the money away from the drunks my brother earlier served.<\/p>\n

\"Someone<\/p>\n

We have a blender, stove and now someone even brought an easy chair; let’s see who can top what next week?<\/p>\n

\"Hey<\/p>\n

“Hey Paul, there’s some sort of mysterious yellow fluid leaking from your truck!”<\/p>\n

\"Birthday<\/p>\n

Ana, aka “Wrinkles,” dove with Dennis G after a hiatus from the group; he’s a very lucky man to be diving with such a hot chick.<\/p>\n

Wrinkles however, left the party early to watch a football game; apparently, football is more important to her than hanging out with us.<\/p>\n

The party started to die down around 1 PM; Dan left but the other Bob from Divevets showed up.<\/p>\n

\"Hollywood<\/p>\n

Hollywood hung onto Bob; she has the most resistance to guys who drive Plymouth Dusters that I’ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

We wrapped up around 2 PM and I gave my brother a few dollars to take the trash away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long Point (aka The Old Marineland), Palos Verdes, California Dove With New Chris In With: 3000 psi Out With: 1800 psi Max depth: 40 feet Waves: Slight chop, a few pounders at the shoreline Visibility: Four to eight feet, silty Water Temperature: About 57 degrees Total Bottom Time: About 20 minutes Notable Event: How long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,19,23,9,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}