2016-17 Lobsta Season

Last night was day 3 of the 2016-17 lobster (bug) season in California. A long time ago, when I was younger (and more fit) I'd stay up until midnight to hit the water at 12:01AM opening night with all the other watermen and women in the hopes of bagging a bug on opening night- which rarely happened. What did usually happen was lifeguards doing rescues, loads of lost gear by people who shouldn't be diving, and DFG officers out in force. And unfortunately on occasion, a fatality due to poor judgement, high surf, and less than optimal skills and equipment from divers who dive maybe 10 times a year. Night diving, especially in high surf conditions REQUIRES proficiency and training, it isn't hard but you better know the rules and have the skills to do it safely, your life depends on it. And I do it solo so that adds another layer of complexity, no buddy to bail you out if you run into trouble so you better have your gear and skills sorted properly.

So last night after looking at the water conditions of my favorite secret spot, I decided to dive my plan-B site. This is my go-to when I don't feel like climbing over rocks at lowtide with 100 pounds of gear and haul in tow. I headed out at 6:15PM to get to my spot just after sunset and right before last light. I hit the water and noticed a few hoop-netters setting up, gotta get out there before they do to get the fatties.

The first 30 minutes or so of the dive, all I saw were shorts (undersized bugs) but they were starting to come out of the rocks and get mobile on the sand, a good sign. As I swam against the current along the reef (this is good to do since the out & back would be going with the current; a free ride back to my entry/exit point) I started noticing a few bugs out in the open, I panned around the sand with my light and BINGO, fatty #1 was right under me. Booyah and he was in my bag. Just as I was get situated another big mutha of a bug come right up to me, I'm thinking what the hell is going on here? Bam! Grabbed that one. I swam a few more feet and I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was like the march of the elephant bugs, they were everywhere. By this time I had been down 60 minutes and had 700 psi left in my tank so I nailed a few more and did a 180 for home. On the way back I noticed the bugs were smaller so I surfaced to take note of the location and bearings for the next time I dive this area.

I ended up with 5 nice sized bugs, I can't remember doing this well on a single dive. We are on tap for a warming trend the next few days with Ms. Santa Ana making a return visit so you know where I'll be, hopefully my #1 spot settles down a bit, Lobsta Fest at the Casita this weekend for sure.