<\/p>\nSorry friends, enemies and lurkers for the lack of recent posts, but up until recently, we’ve had a lot of storms – and yes, I’m still trying to get an unwanted roommate out of my apartment.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, things will be a lot better in February, and if so, I plan to do a lot more diving.<\/p>\n
I checked out Veteran’s Park in Redondo Beach yesterday – it looked flat, and from the surface, it had a potential to have some good visibility.<\/p>\n
I was planning to do a quick solo dive, however, in my haste to pack my dive gear and escape psycho chick, I had forgotten my compass.<\/p>\n
No way was I going to dive the pretty much barren landscape of Vet’s without a compass.<\/p>\n
After seeking asylum at an undisclosed Santa Monica location, I showed up today to finally get my first dive in for the year.<\/p>\n
I asked Military Bob, “Do you have a compass?”<\/p>\n
“Yes, that’s one of the things I remembered to bring,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Good, I’m following you.”<\/p>\n
Seems that everyone had forgotten something – fins, a regulator, etc.<\/p>\n
Luckily, a regular diver opted out of the dive due to congestion issues, and loaned some of his equipment out to fill the voids.<\/p>\n
The trail down was closed for maintenance, but the signs are easily bypassed until you get to the sandy beach – more on that later.<\/p>\n
Five divers made an easy entrance off The Cove, with two others opting for The Point.<\/p>\n
Logged SCUBA Dive #376<\/p>\n
Off The Cove At Terranea Resort
\nRancho Palos Verdes, CA
\nDove with Military Bob, Not New Chris, Donna The Hot Biker Chick and SCJoe<\/p>\n
In With: 2700 psi
\nOut With: 800 psi
\nMax depth: 40 feet
\nWaves: Slow moving, shallow rollers
\nVisibility: 10 feet
\nWater Temperature: 55 degrees – I think
\nTotal Bottom Time: About 40 minutes<\/p>\n
We all made a surface swim over 120 reef and submerged.<\/p>\n
I believe we followed Military Bob most of the way, in a slow pace around the collection of reefs.<\/p>\n
The kelp seems to have thinned out a bit since November, but the silt in the water made for a dim dive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A sunstar and starfish.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Military Bob spotted a lobster too far in a hole to reach.<\/p>\n
Maybe I should think about buying a fishing license and lobster report card for this year?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Donna floating in water – almost like an astronaut.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The arch at 120 reef – I only run in to it when I’m following other divers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now, I don’t know if I was narced or not – probably not at 40 feet – but when I saw Donna coming over the reef with a flashlight in hand, I had a flashback to my early childhood when I watched the NBC Mystery Movies of the 1970’s…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hmmm… I really think of some weird crap when I’m diving.<\/p>\n
A seal dive bombed the group – I was at the tail end, and didn’t get any pictures that turned out.<\/p>\n
This was Donna The Hot Biker Chick’s first seal encounter – maybe it was a sea lion?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We came across a lobster trap…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There was a pretty good sized lobster in it that was bouncing against the walls in a panic.<\/p>\n
The group kept going.<\/p>\n
We followed Military Bob, hopefully back to the cove, but surfaced on the other side of the rocky finger next to the cave.<\/p>\n
Oh well, it happens to everyone now and then.<\/p>\n
We surface swam back to an easy exit – amazingly, with the 10 feet of visibility and five divers, we all stuck together throughout the dive.<\/p>\n
The entire group of seven:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
From left to right – Jordan, Military Bob, Nice Bob, Not So New Chris, Donna The Hot Biker Chick, SCJoe and Me.<\/p>\n
Jordan and Nice Bob went off the point, and apparently experienced a very hairy entrance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now, to get to the water when the sandy beach is closed…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I’ve heard going to the left and across the shallow gully is easier, but we went to the right…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Take the right hand trail to the gully\u2019s mouth and climb down to the beach.<\/p>\n
Obviously, these pictures show us coming back – it’s good starter training for Honeymoon Cove.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bob and Jordan came back with a scallop and treated everyone to some Ouzo flavored scallop sashimi.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Traditional debriefing ensued – we talked about some of the diving characters that have come and gone and some of the worst divers that we’ve met.<\/p>\n
Let’s see – the 350 pound diver that was pulled off the rocks at The Point, who later strolled around the parking lot bare assed naked – this was when Terranea was nothing more than the vacant parking lot of Old Marineland.<\/p>\n
Also, there was once a double tank “tech” diver who would hump his hundred pounds worth of gear down to the beach, only to be back in the parking lot when the regulars returned.<\/p>\n
The stories continued, but eventually the beer ran out – and so, it was time to end another fun day of cheating death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sorry friends, enemies and lurkers for the lack of recent posts, but up until recently, we’ve had a lot of storms – and yes, I’m still trying to get an unwanted roommate out of my apartment. Hopefully, things will be a lot better in February, and if so, I plan to do a lot more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}