{"id":1439,"date":"2008-10-22T23:30:57","date_gmt":"2008-10-23T06:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=1439"},"modified":"2008-10-24T05:48:26","modified_gmt":"2008-10-24T12:48:26","slug":"lobster-hunting-off-of-the-island-diver-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=1439","title":{"rendered":"Lobster Hunting Off Of The Island Diver Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

Logged Dive #312<\/p>\n

Secret Locaton: 34 30 30 20 79 61 72 64 73 20 4e 6f 72 74 68 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 67 61 74 65 73 20 6f 66 20 4d 61 72, Palos Verdes<\/p>\n

Solo Diving\/ SoCal Buddy Diving<\/p>\n

In With: 3000 psi
\nOut With: 300 psi
\nMax depth: 55 feet
\nWaves: Pretty damn flat!
\nVisibility: 15 to 25 feet – Spectacular!
\nWater Temperature: About 56 degrees
\nTotal Bottom Time: About 25 minutes<\/p>\n

After almost two weeks of taking a break from lobster hunting, I’m back in the water to look for more bugs.<\/p>\n

The commercial trappers haven’t been having a great season and divers have been coming back with only a few – a recent boat with eight divers came back with only 12 bugs total.<\/p>\n

Was I going to pay $60 to get skunked tonight?<\/p>\n

The Island Diver left dock at 7 PM with Captain Alec in charge of the boat!<\/p>\n

Captain Alec knows where to drop us once we tell him where to go, so I had a good feeling about this trip!<\/p>\n

We anchored in 45 feet of water off of our secret location; I was the third off the boat and the first to submerge down the anchor line.<\/p>\n

The visibility was spectacular!<\/p>\n

At 25 feet I shined my light downwards and saw the ocean floor that rested at 45 feet; I swam to the anchor and spotted a bug!<\/p>\n

I pinned it… it was like grabbing a beer can, so it was legal and I bagged it.<\/p>\n

The thrill of victory! <\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought, “This is going to be easy, one bug in two minutes, I’m sure to limit!”<\/p>\n

In the kelp, just off the anchor was another big-ass bug; I turned my light to the side so I could just see the outline of the bug, exhaled, moved my left arm back into “liberation mode” and pounced!<\/p>\n

The lobster shot back and hit me in the nuts, on reflex action I closed my legs and pinned something… I grabbed it!<\/p>\n

I shook my bag down and was about to open it when I realized I had caught my console instead of the lobster!<\/p>\n

Fuck! The agony of defeat!
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I continued on, actually swimming 10 feet above the floor so I could scout more territory – vis was that good.<\/p>\n

I spotted another one that charged my light… too short, that young punk was only alive because of the legal size limit.<\/p>\n

But, just to my left, another one… I pinned it, but for what ever reason, I grabbed the tail and it closed; one of the spikes tore through my glove and gave me my first scar of the season.<\/p>\n

I am so macho, it didn’t even phase me.<\/p>\n

Another lobster soon followed; I now had three in my bag!<\/p>\n

There was a long “dry spot” towards the end of my dive when I didn’t see any lobsters.<\/p>\n

I peaked on the surface when I was down to 1200 psi to spot the boat; it was not far.<\/p>\n

I submerged and headed back to the boat, still hunting.<\/p>\n

I grabbed for, but missed, maybe two more when I saw the anchor chain; I started ascending, still keeping my eye on the floor in the great vis…<\/p>\n

I spotted a bull!<\/p>\n

OK, with 600 psi left, I decided to just go down and pin it and bag it on the way up.<\/p>\n

I exhaled and lunged toward the bug; I shot to pin the carapace, but only grabbed the antennae.<\/p>\n

It wigged free and shot into some kelp, I pursued it and checked my air gauge… 400 psi.<\/p>\n

“Forget it,” I thought; I have to make it to the surface.<\/p>\n

Without a safety stop, I slowly ascended to the surface with my three bugs…<\/p>\n

\"Me<\/p>\n

I posed with more lobsters than I caught in my last three trips combined!<\/p>\n

I was the first one back on the boat, other divers soon followed as planned…<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Mike C. brought up a five pound bug.<\/p>\n

This was a great and plentiful dive; I only have four more lobsters to get before I limit for the night!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logged Dive #312 Secret Locaton: 34 30 30 20 79 61 72 64 73 20 4e 6f 72 74 68 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 67 61 74 65 73 20 6f 66 20 4d 61 72, Palos Verdes Solo Diving\/ SoCal Buddy Diving In With: 3000 psi Out With: 300 psi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,7,9,3,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439"}],"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=1439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}