The ocean looked too rough yesterday so we slept in. Some friends of ours went out and made two dives. We were kicking ourselves for it, but today was supposed to be calmer. At 7:00 this morning there was a light breeze. It was an omen.
We fought our way along the west side of Palos Verdes, wishing we had slept in again. We saw another friend of ours fishing nearby. He said it was gnarly out there. As we rounded Rocky Point it went from gnarly to snotty. I decided to skip diving for now and head directly to Los Angeles Harbor to fuel up. Along the way the ocean began to flatten a bit. We stopped over the wreck of the F.S. Loop and found clear surface water but a decent current. No worries. We would be back in less than an hour to dive the old wreck.
After filling our tanks we headed back out to make our first dive of the day. We turned the corner at Angel's Gate and were welcomed by swells and whitecaps. I was now cursing under my breath. I figured out where the saying "cursing like a sailor" comes from. They spend enough time at sea battling conditions like this all the time.
After more than a half hour of intermittent wipers so I could see where we were going, the wind shifted directions 180° and the sea began to calm again. We looked at Marineland, Pt. Vicente and Honeymoon Cove but the water was pretty dirty.
As we rounded Rocky Point we saw some more friends. They told us that they had thirty feet visibility and Mola Mola cleaning stations over the barge. We raced north, only to find the Sundiver II parked right over the barge. With thirty feet visibility, we would just anchor on nearby Phil's Reef and swim to the barge underwater. Right!
Visibility was eight feet of green, dark water. We found two Mola Molas, but getting photos was going to be difficult in those conditions. After only thirty minutes on the reef we called it a day. The only good thing that happened was finding a Blue whale...sort of.
We fought our way along the west side of Palos Verdes, wishing we had slept in again. We saw another friend of ours fishing nearby. He said it was gnarly out there. As we rounded Rocky Point it went from gnarly to snotty. I decided to skip diving for now and head directly to Los Angeles Harbor to fuel up. Along the way the ocean began to flatten a bit. We stopped over the wreck of the F.S. Loop and found clear surface water but a decent current. No worries. We would be back in less than an hour to dive the old wreck.
After filling our tanks we headed back out to make our first dive of the day. We turned the corner at Angel's Gate and were welcomed by swells and whitecaps. I was now cursing under my breath. I figured out where the saying "cursing like a sailor" comes from. They spend enough time at sea battling conditions like this all the time.
After more than a half hour of intermittent wipers so I could see where we were going, the wind shifted directions 180° and the sea began to calm again. We looked at Marineland, Pt. Vicente and Honeymoon Cove but the water was pretty dirty.
As we rounded Rocky Point we saw some more friends. They told us that they had thirty feet visibility and Mola Mola cleaning stations over the barge. We raced north, only to find the Sundiver II parked right over the barge. With thirty feet visibility, we would just anchor on nearby Phil's Reef and swim to the barge underwater. Right!
Visibility was eight feet of green, dark water. We found two Mola Molas, but getting photos was going to be difficult in those conditions. After only thirty minutes on the reef we called it a day. The only good thing that happened was finding a Blue whale...sort of.
