B-day Bonaza

  Joe and I decided to make a dive Sunday morning for a fish fry for later that day . We woke up at around six and come to find out we can't find my dad's keys to the van to get out my dive gear . After about 15 minutes Joe and I finally head over to his his house ,get his kayak and add shooting line to my speargun.
  When we get to Carmel we unload all of our gear getting ready to launch the swell and shore break is pretty rough. The roughest launch I ever went into but , the raptor plowed through the swell with ease! After seeing what was behind the corner we decided to not go very far due to the swell and wind so we drop in not far from launch . The vis looked great but unfortunately there wasn't very much activity except for small blues and blacks . We stayed in that spot for about 20-30 mins and decided to relocate to see if there is any activity somewhere else . After diving for about ten minutes I come up and notice that my kayak is floating away and have to go make a long swim and get it . Finally getting the kayak back I tie back up to the kelp and start diving again . Then , after about 15 minutes I noticed my paddle was not on my kayak (I forgot to strap my paddle down ) and have to go make the long journey and get my paddle . I definitely learned my lesson on that one never again . We then started to notice that the swell and wind were getting worse and worse so we decided to call it quits . The shore break was even worse with huge rollers before and on shore break . We sat and watched it for about ten minutes till we finally decided to go land at the beach just north of launch . After making it in Joe makes the long walk back to the truck while I start cleaning the fish . Where I learned another life lessons to not let your eyes off the waves because man did it only fake seconds for the waves to sneak up on me and take me out . I lost my knife and one fish (layer recovered the fish but never found my knife) . It was just one of those off days where nothing was in my favor but I do sure learn a lot .

We still had a great day Kris! At least we didn't  get skunked.
Days like this happens to the best of us. Experience gained buddy!

Awesome report Kris. You fools have some balls launching there on a day like that! Way to get in the water and make it out safe WITH your yak lol

Thanks for the diving report Kris.

The best thing about it son is you are learning from some great friends...

Kris!

I was totally looking forward to diving with you on Sunday and was bummed when you guys never showed up!!

Good lessons learned dude!!

That beach to the North is definitely the safer landing and an excellent Plan B for there.

My Plans C and D are the two beaches further north still, and Plan E (for Emergency!!) is paddle all the way back south to the very sheltered one...

That section picks up QUICK with swell AND wind so gotta be on your A-game for sure.

Glad you and Joe got out there and had fun though and look forward to diving with you in 2015!

Happy B-day buddy!!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Congrats on getting in and out safely. Now where is the video of the luanch and landing?

Awesome report Kris and hope you had a Happy Birthday despite the hard lessons!

Take the good with the bad partner. Least you made it back that's cause for a celebration. Happy birthday fool!

Took a couple pics! 

Lessons learned, Lessons shared, Look forward to diving with you when I finally make down. 

Damn Kris!  That sounds like a FUN way to spend your birthday    But way to stick to your guns!