2021-03-29 06:14
I am on-call at work all of April, so diving will be impossible next month. The swell map looked good, the weather was nice and I said, “Psycho, this is your last chance to get in the… Read More
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Psycho Solo Diver - Online Diving Blog And More! Blog
psychosolodiver.com
This is my online journal mostly of my SCUBA and free dives, diving education, quest for new diving equipment and much more! Diving equipment for sale, dive locations and other SCUBA resources.
2021-03-01 06:28
February’s weather was mostly crappy, but it looked like it was getting better this morning. However, for various reasons I was not able to dive. I’m hoping to get back in the wa… Read More
2021-01-01 06:13
This has to have been one of the worst years that I could have imagined. This is not news – the Corona Virus Pandemic, the collapse of the restaurant, bar and barber industry, the US e… Read More
2020-09-01 05:15
On September 2nd, it will be the one year anniversary of the Conception dive boat tragedy. I found an interesting article from the Los Angeles Times that states the NTSB will be announcing t… Read More
2020-07-19 21:02
It’s Dive Day Sunday again! I checked the swell map before leaving… If the visibility sucked, at least I shouldn’t have to deal with the waves. I headed to my favorite spo… Read More
2020-06-29 05:58
It used to be that I was diligent enough to write at least one post a month, but since this blog has jumped the shark a year or two ago, I do not find it necessary now. Just as things were g… Read More
2020-02-17 04:28
This has been a stressful few months. I’ve been helping my mother move and am still dealing with liquidating my father’s vast empire. If anyone wants to buy a few hundred VHS tap… Read More
2019-11-01 03:44
September 22, 2019* It’s been a hell of a month, and I know this post has been sort of delayed, but at least I have something for October. We made our way to our final dive for this we… Read More
2019-10-02 00:29
September 22, 2019* After breakfast, Captain Dave took us to the famous “Bird Rock.” There was a big debate among the divers whether “Bird Rock” should be called &ldq&hell…Read More
2019-10-01 00:45
September 22, 2019* After last night’s dive, there was some debate about where we should dive once we reached Catalina Island. We were suppose to do the back side, something that I hav… Read More
2019-09-29 17:52
September 21, 2019* I rested in my bunk for an hour or so until I heard the announcement that dinner was ready. I made it to the galley and was greeted by Captain Dave who asked me, “W… Read More
2019-09-29 15:33
September 21, 2019* I fell asleep on the top deck of the Pacific Star, getting properly baked by the Sun. I woke up after hearing the announcement that the gates were open, and we were free… Read More
2019-09-27 02:01
September 21, 2019* After great taco lunch, it was time to dive the South East Kelp Forest of Santa Barbara Island. Again, I was the first one off the boat. After taking a quick surface pee… Read More
2019-09-26 06:13
September 21, 2019* It was decided that we would stay at the Rookery for our second dive because of the vicious Sea Lion encounters. Having been a cage fighter in training for several years… Read More
2019-09-24 13:25
September 21, 2019* I awoke to the boat moving with the engines still on… so I thought. Yes, the boat was moving with the slight swells, and yes, the generator was on, but there we we… Read More
2019-09-23 19:54
September 20, 2019* It’s time for a vacation. I have been slaving away at my new job, pretty much done liquidating my Father’s estate and am done with a bad business decision. Wh… Read More
2019-09-02 16:10
UPDATE FROM Heavy.com: Jerry Boylan: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know UPDATE From CBS News: 34 people missing after deadly boat fire off coast of Southern California Breaking News from KTLA Cha… Read More
2019-07-21 22:29
My life is slowly starting to come back to normal; I looked at the swell maps this morning and it was all dark blue around Palos Verdes. There was no way I could talk my way out of a dive, s… Read More
2019-07-07 19:45
July 4, 2019 I took four days off from my regular job to do a fireworks show and get some diving in. This is my 12th year that I helped to set up a fireworks show at Big Canyon Country Club… Read More
2019-06-29 17:48
After spending over a year liquidating my father’s estate and dealing with some bad business decisions, I said, “Fuck it.” I’m going back to my old life of diving, th… Read More
2019-03-19 03:28
I am so sorry for not posting anything for months. It has actually been a quite stressful period of time for me, but more on that later. Dan Rood, one of the icon of Divevets, SCUBA instruct… Read More
2018-06-30 15:21
The end of July will be the last estate sale that I have to deal with, but I have been working all the weekends to make that happen. I’ve been dry for so long, I may have to take a ref… Read More
2018-06-01 04:11
The SCUBA Show is once again coming back to the Long Beach Convention Center, June 23-24! I used to be a regular attendee, but after the show kept looking the same year after year, I stopped… Read More
2018-04-30 00:46
So much has changed in my life, and so quickly. In my last post, my father had died, and I was left in charge of his vast empire of stuff. Since then, I have started a new job, inherited a F… Read More
2018-04-01 05:50
Sorry for the long delay in writing… My life has entered a new chapter; my father died on February 20th. Things are certainly different, and for the next six months at least, I will b… Read More
2018-02-19 04:51
It was Paris Hilton’s birthday yesterday; she is a fellow SCUBA diver, so Happy Birthday Paris Hilton, and congratulations on your engagement and not hooking up with me! Yeah, she is n… Read More
2018-01-04 06:20
2017 was one of the weirdest years that I have ever been through, and I must say, I can only hope for better days ahead in 2018. January and February ended up being hectic months, as I was i… Read More
2017-12-04 03:19
Conditions looked good for diving, but I wasn’t able to go because of other things that I needed to do. My six readers know that I rarely ever get political on this blog – this b… Read More
2017-11-27 06:06
I arrived promptly at 8 am to check the conditions; Reverend Al and other divers were already present. For the most part, the Cove was pretty calm with some waves rolling onto shore. The Poi… Read More
2017-11-13 04:16
I’m on a roll; I wanted to get back into the water again. Plus, I promised to bring some North Korean wine and mushrooms to barbecue for debriefing. I’m returning to my old macho… Read More
2017-11-06 06:02
I woke up to a solid blue swell map around Palos Verdes. Even the slight rain couldn’t be an excuse to stay away. I arrived at 7:30 am – it was calm. A couple of divers in the pa… Read More
2017-11-01 03:39
Sorry for not posting anything recently, but between business dealings and family health issues it has not been an easy month. I’ve been trying to get off my ass, and this last Saturda… Read More
2017-09-13 04:17
August 17, 2017 One of the good things about being on a group tour in the DPRK – you will never oversleep and miss your flight; they will find you and drag you down to the bus to trans… Read More
2017-09-05 04:25
Due to the hurricane and southern California fires, my NBC World News episode did not make it to air. They said, “It could be recycled if Dateline wanted to pick it up.” So, yeah… Read More
2017-08-30 06:04
I’ve been back for over a week. I have realized that some people think I am more crazy than they thought, some are not surprised, others don’t care, others now think I am a douch… Read More
2017-08-27 17:28
August 14, 2017 When I say I’m going to do something, I do it. I used to have that kind of persistency with women, but restraining orders, jail and getting beaten up all the time made… Read More
2017-08-24 00:19
August 14, 2017 After booking a SCUBA diving trip to North Korea nine months in advance and being told 13 days before I was to leave that they no longer take Americans, I decided to go to th… Read More
2017-08-13 20:26
Scams are everywhere here in Beijing, and for some reason, I look like prey. If someone hands you a piece of paper – like they’re giving you a flyer – and you take it, they… Read More
2017-08-12 23:58
August 10, 2017 I have had a horrible time with trips lately. I get all excited, tell people that I’m going, to only have something out of my control cancel the trip. As I said previou… Read More
2017-07-02 16:38
My July trip has been cancelled – not by me, but by the tour group that I was going with, simply because I am an American citizen. I jinx all my trips: 2012 – I bragged about goi… Read More
2017-06-16 23:16
I know, I have not been in the water for a while. Sorry! I took the day off to take care of some stuff. I managed to do a solo dive off of Redondo Beach, just to make sure I still know how t… Read More
2017-05-31 15:31
For some unknown reason, the month of May has brought many Great White sharks to the waters of Southern California. Great White sharks have been spotted as far North as San Francisco to as f… Read More
2017-05-01 05:20
Sorry again for slacking on the posts – but it really doesn’t matter as I haven’t been getting wet lately. It is a combination of the crappy conditions recently, and family… Read More
2017-03-31 05:28
Sorry for being such a stranger! I think my seven readers may have gone down to four. But, Oh well, I make no money on this blog, so I don’t care! SCUBA diving conditions have sucked… Read More
2017-02-28 12:45
February sucked. It rained extremely hard throughout the month, so I stayed dry. However, there is lots of snow now in the mountains, so I thought it will be a great rafting season coming up… Read More
2017-02-01 06:37
Sorry for lagging on the posts for the last few months. The weather has been pretty stormy and the conditions have sort of sucked, so I have been out of the water. I have other things going… Read More
2016-12-31 06:43
I have to say, this year sucked for me and SCUBA diving. I didn’t get into the water until July because of the weather and conditions, one of our main diving characters – Dennis… Read More
2016-11-21 14:10
November 18, 2016 Once everyone was back on board, Nice Bob decided to move to a better spot a few minutes down the coast. The visibility looked good on the surface; I was the first one over… Read More
2016-11-19 18:32
November 18, 2016 Sorry for slacking lately! I’ve had some issues other than diving to take care of, and since this blog is only a small tax write off, I am forced to keep my regular j… Read More
2016-10-02 20:51
I had gotten over my phobia of lobster diving off of big boats. This year, it was slim pickings to find a lobster boat; for whatever reason, the usual charter boats just weren’t going… Read More
2016-09-26 06:17
Having not been able to put a SCUBA diving trip together for several years, I stumbled onto the diving trip of a life time. It is a group tour in July 2017 that originates in Vladivostok, Ru… Read More
2016-09-05 06:13
The swell map was solid blue around Palos Verdes and there was a big turnout at Terranea today – maybe 20 divers and a lot of new faces. I was the first one off the Point – it wa… Read More
2016-08-22 06:06
I arrived at Terranea Resort a few minutes after 8 AM, to what was going to be my 500th dive. There were maybe eight or nine divers there, but only three regulars – Reverend Al, BlueSt… Read More
2016-08-15 06:07
While getting air on Saturday at New England Divers, I found out that Steve, the old manager of American Diving, died recently. Me, Laurie and Steve – 2006 Steve goes back to the very… Read More
2016-08-08 04:30
It’s two months before lobster season, and I have made reservations to go on the Bottom Scratcher on Opening night. I was told it will be limited to 25 divers, and the boat will move t… Read More
2016-07-11 00:06
Holy crap! Writing this post, I just realized I haven’t been diving at all this year! I am now ashamed, but beach diving conditions have sucked that much, and I haven’t been able… Read More
2016-07-01 06:05
I wasn’t able to get on a boat this month, so yes, I have remained dry. I feel as though I have gained a few pounds, so I hope I can still fit into my wet suit when I finally get back… Read More
2016-06-01 06:09
The last several months of shore diving have absolutely sucked; at least that’s the reports that I have received. I’ve woken up in the mornings to see swell map models in the ora… Read More
2016-05-01 06:57
Drone pilots can bomb and terrorize from thousand of miles away; with the same type of technology, Stanford University has developed a SCUBA diving robot. Well, since the diving robot is una… Read More
2016-03-23 06:51
Lobster season has come and gone, and El Nino has been pounding the coast for the last couple of months. Well, to get my diving fix, I have been catching up on the old Sea Hunt series with L… Read More
2016-02-27 00:58
I found out today, from Professional Debriefer Paul, that one of our regular diving icons, Dennis Gunn – known on this website as “Dennis G” or “Dr. D” died yes… Read More
2016-01-19 05:33
I have run across an interesting project that was crowd funded, and will hopefully do some good to the nasty ocean water that accumulates in the harbors. Having personally dove in Los Angele… Read More
2015-12-31 06:21
Thank you, Professional Debriefer Paul for bringing these articles to my attention. Apparently, a 45 year old woman was diving off of the Sundiver Express on Tuesday at Ship Rock and went mi… Read More
2015-12-28 06:49
This holiday season is getting to me. I have gained so much fucking weight – four pounds – that I really wanted to go diving to at least get some exercise. Saturday was rough for… Read More
2015-12-22 05:35
Thank you Richard The Brit of Divevets, for the excellent video that he sent me. It is a step by step training guide on how to teach your dog to dive for lobsters that was put up by the YouT… Read More
2015-11-30 06:24
I came across an interesting and extremely macho article about Australian cave diving on Vice News. These caves are quite unique; as the article states: “Most caves elsewhere in the wo… Read More
2015-11-22 23:01
So, last pier clean-up, I met this really hot chick who had just moved here from Boston; she had expressed interest about getting back into diving now that she had moved to Southern Californ… Read More
2015-11-16 02:33
I am really low on cash; lobster season may not happen for me, so you may not want to hang out here for lobster reports. Sorry… My investments with my Nigerian business partners has n… Read More
2015-11-02 00:28
Sorry for not posting in a while; I was in Reno, Nevada on another secret mission seeing Secret Agent K. The only part of my trip that has been declassified so far has been the Mac Sabbath c… Read More
2015-10-04 07:20
October 2, 2015 I texted the Captain of the Westerly dive boat and asked if there was any way I could get on the boat tonight. He replied, “No chance, boat is FULL.” I waited too… Read More
2015-10-02 00:16
Yes, it’s that time of the year! Just like the beginning of any hunting season, every yahoo with diving equipment or a hoop net crowds the waters waiting for midnight, unless you are l… Read More
2015-09-20 06:10
It’s that time of year when people all over the world stop throwing cigarette butts and trash all over the place and clean up the coast. Yes, I’m referring to the Coastal Cleanup… Read More
2015-08-10 06:30
I haven’t been diving since May, for various reasons. I came back from my secret trip to Iowa with a cold from hell, but tried to get back in the water two weeks ago. I geared up with… Read More
2015-07-21 01:01
I really wanted to get back in the water Sunday. Even though it rained the previous day, the swell maps made it look calm and the sun was out. Well, I was the ONLY diver who showed up at Ter… Read More
2015-06-26 16:53
Sorry for the big delay in this post. Me with Attack Dog Jay. I have been back for several weeks and came back with a lingering cold that I am just now shaking. I actually went to a doctor a… Read More
2015-05-25 14:33
May 22-23, 2015* I feel the need to come up with a different title other than “Classified Mission To Iowa – Part 3.” Even though my amateurish prose to attempt to document… Read More
2015-05-23 12:54
May 20-22, 2015* The idea of driving a rental Trabant did not work out well. Within the first hour of driving the thing, the clutch cable snapped – at least, I think it was the clutch… Read More
2015-05-21 02:59
May 18-19, 2015* My mission now took me from Flagstaff, Arizona to Henderson, Nevada. From there, we were to take a flight from McCarran Airport to Des Moines, Iowa for the second leg of the… Read More
2015-05-18 17:15
May 16-17, 2015* I am on a confidential two week mission; if the narration seems brief and a little incomplete, that’s because it is. I was met in the ghetto of Long Beach on Saturday… Read More
2015-05-11 03:13
I needed a dive – it keeps my blood pressure under control, until the debriefing of course. It rained a bit a couple of days ago, and the swell maps made the conditions look like it wa… Read More
2015-05-02 16:48
I have never been so broke as since I worked as a Copy Boy at Kinko’s in the 1990s. I have come to the conclusion that the stock market is rigged and the economy is now geared to destr… Read More
2015-04-20 06:18
I have been stressing out on my taxes for the last four months, and was working on the last draft of my tax return up until last Wednesday. Somehow, my employer changed my deductions from ni… Read More
2015-04-06 06:23
I was determined to get in the water today – I think everybody else was, too. I arrived at Terrenea Resort right at 8 AM to find the regulars already geared, or gearing up. And then I… Read More
2015-04-01 04:50
Sorry, my six readers, but I have not updated this blog in a while. Several things happened, the main one being that the server that this site was on kept crashing and I was told to migrate… Read More
2015-02-24 07:10
February 21, 2015 Having successfully tested Joe’s retro equipment, and setting the depth record for the regulator at 74 feet, it was now his turn for the dive. I needed to get back in… Read More
2015-02-22 02:59
Inspired by the TV Show Sea Hunt and a recent article by guest author John Ratliff, I was invited to do an old school double hose regulator dive by world famous diver Joe R. Having offended… Read More
2015-02-02 18:33
February 1, 2015* We slowly motored from the Eureka to the Elli and Ellen oil rigs; we all needed at least an hour to off gas from the previous dive. Elli and Ellen are connected by a bridge… Read More
2015-02-02 16:32
February 1, 2015* Once again, it’s time for my yearly Super Bowl Dive on the Oil Rigs – the boat leaves at 7 AM and returns a little after noon, so you can catch the game. It was… Read More
2015-01-27 05:45
January 24, 2015 The swells had been pounding the coast, so nobody wanted to dive the breakwater, and there was little enthusiasm to dive anywhere else. We had an hour and a half of off gass… Read More
2015-01-26 03:35
January 24, 2015 Two weeks ago at this secret spot, the lobsters were so plentiful, divers were limiting on their first dive within ten minutes. I grabbed a spot on the Island Diver for a sc… Read More
2015-01-22 14:35
Guest Post: Article from John Ratliff on behalf of the Sea Wolf campaign. About John With numerous certificates in the Health and Safety Industry, John is no stranger to diving. A former Par… Read More
2015-01-18 22:00
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES ARE CONTAINED IN THIS POST. I have upgraded to a GoPro Hero – yes, a used original GoPro Hero. I figure anything that can get flooded or lost shouldn’t co… Read More
2015-01-05 05:16
I am not going to fluff this post up with recycled news – like sometimes I do – but, I found out that during a wind storm several days ago, two people died on Catalina. If you wa… Read More
2014-12-29 04:00
For Christmas, my Father gave me 68 episodes of Sea Hunt, which I have so far gotten through six episodes. This was one of the best Christmas gifts ever, in my entire 35 years of existence!*… Read More
2014-12-19 21:41
By Michael Story Mossback Enterprize/Sea Wolf Regulator Guest Author Recently I was asked why develop and produce a new double hose regulator when almost every diver uses a single hose. Well… Read More
2014-12-01 05:04
I cheated myself out of a dive last weekend by relying on the online swell map and staying home, only to find out conditions were divable. Dive reports from Thanksgiving were reported as bei… Read More
2014-11-17 14:33
I didn’t have a chance to get wet this weekend; the swell maps didn’t make conditions seem very promising, either. However, I have been looking through some of my funny diving re… Read More
2014-11-10 06:41
The swell model made conditions look questionable, but there was a solid sliver of dark blue near Terranea Resort. I picked up Instructor Ed and headed to our favorite Sunday diving location… Read More
2014-10-26 15:58
October 25, 2014 This is the annual Divevets Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest. It gives participants a chance to do something fun and productive when they aren’t admiring the sand an… Read More
2014-10-20 06:38
I woke up this morning to a dismal swell map… However, sometimes the swell map is not so accurate. I’ve called dives after seeing similar maps, only to be told afterwards that c… Read More
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