Marineland Platform with Frank and Charlie

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MaxBottomtime

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Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
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Location
Torrance, CA
# of dives
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With swell model predictions in the blue for this weekend I was really looking forward to improved conditions and good visibility. The ocean had other ideas. Visibility at Pt. Vicente was marginal, but the wind and swells would have made gearing up uncomfortable. We headed for the Marineland Platform instead. Frank and Charlie (FrankPro1 and SPKelpdiver) hadn't dived here, so they got to notch another site to their list.

Platform6.jpg


Platform7.jpg

Charlie seemed happy to get in a dive anywhere due to his work and school schedule.

Platform8.jpg

Frank was very upset and hated every minute of being here...just kidding.

Platform9.jpg


Platform5.jpg


Eventually they both cheered up and swam to the down line. Visibility was quite nice, down to about fifty feet. Unfortunately the platform is in seventy-seven feet. We had ten feet of vis on the bottom. The wind pushed the boat away as the anchor fell, so I had to tie off my spool and find the platform thirty feet away. The buoy we placed there last year was still in place, but probably not for long. The line had been wrapped around the rusty bolts on the platform, tearing the three-strand line down to two flimsy lines.
While attempting to untangle the line, I tore my right dry glove. My right sleeve began filling immediately. I continued the dive, but was getting pretty cold.
Life on the platform is slowly making a comeback after the last time it was dragged by squid nets. I didn't find a large assortment of nudibranchs, but the sand bass were large and curious.

Platform4.jpg

Cabezon

Platform1.jpg

Ploycera tricolor

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Aegires albopunctatus
Merry cut the buoy free. We will clean it, re-mark it and attach it to the platform soon with new line.
 
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"
Frank was very upset and hated every minute of being here...just kidding."


LoL!


Life on land has had me down! I don't care what the physics of it says, I am under way more pressure on land than I am under water. It was nice to be reminded of the salt in veins. Yes, I am still a California diver, despite the fact that I am diving once every couple months. I just have to keep my eye on the end goal. All this pressure from school will someday earn me a boat like the "No Pressure", and at that moment, I will have achieved an equilibrium.

I had drysuit "difficulties" as well. Some kind of obscure trickle that was enough to wet the crotch of my board shorts and left arm by the end of the dive, but nothing as severe as Phil's. Although, it causes me more anxiety not knowing where the leak is coming from. Right now my suit is with Pac Wild. I'm not very religious these days, but I am praying that it is not a zipper issue. I noticed I have been praying a lot more since I have been diving dry.

Thanks again Phil!



It means a lot to me, ( and Frank too) that you put a picture of us braving the hill at Christmas Tree Cove in your new book. That was my very first goat trail dive. Its been several years since that day but I can remember it like yesterday and I can definitely tell you that it was a pivotal moment in my falling in love with Palos Verdes diving. There is no place like home.
 
Wow! That Aegires is stunning! Being white and so tiny makes them one of the hardest nudis to shoot. Great capture!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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