FreeDiving in Palos Verdes, California

by Andre Navarro of Ocean Earth Green

I've always loved hiking and exploring Palos Verdes due to the beautiful scenery, mesmerizing cliffs and gorgeous sea. It wasn't until 2 years ago that I attempted to dive their finally and it was amazing. I had no clue there was so much plant and fish life along the cliffs. And my favorite Harbor Seals are there in abundance. I fell in love with it so much, I made it a goal to dive and video all the interesting locations starting from Rat Beach all the way to San Pedro over time. So far I have made 4 videos and left off to continue at Bluff Cove continuing south along the cliffs. There are huge kelp forests along the cliffs at many locations which are my favorite to dive. I love swimming through the soothing cool ocean water through the long-reaching kelp. I love the way the sun flickers from above through the tops of the kelp while gliding through the shadows and bottom along the rocks. When I was young, while others wanted riches and fame etc, my dream was to be able to breathe underwater and swim like a fish. I feel this is my calling in life.

I am Andre Navarro, Southern California adventurer and freediver. I was born in San Pedro California and grew up in Long Beach California where I graduated Millikan HS class of 93 and attended Long Beach City College for Art, Drawing and Painting. After obtaining an Associates Degree for Art and a semester away from transferring to Cal State Long Beach to continue in Art, I joined the LA County Sheriff's Department as a Custody Assistant (County Jail Guard). Approximately a year later I promoted to Sheriff Deputy where I worked custody and patrol assignments. After working law enforcement for roughly 9 years and having a son and daughter during this time, I came to the hard decision that long term this career was not for me. Shortly after ending the law enforcement chapter in my life, I began a new one in industrial machinery and conveyor belting distribution where I worked for 14 years in several positions including: fabrication and installation, purchasing, business development and sales management .

Recently in June of 2019, I left this position for another major direction change in my life. During my management years, I was sent to Mexico and the Ukraine to help recruit and train international employees. This is where I fell in love with traveling and experiencing different cultures. And this is also when I began freediving exotic locations on the weekends. I have always loved being in the ocean since a child and began bodyboarding young. Way later I began snorkeling on the downtime when there were no waves. This morphed into freediving which I do today. I also love to hike, camp and explore. In the last 3 years I began making videos of my explorations on land and now mostly in freediving. After leaving my last job of 14 years, I made the decision to spend approximately 1 year traveling, diving and making videos of my adventures while trying to figure out a possible way of making a living at this. I have realized there is an immediate and important need for ocean conservation and education while there is a major lack of understanding about our local coasts, ocean and it's life. Through my videos, my goal is to take everyone with me over land, air and into the ocean to experience all its beauty, life and importance.

Links

YouTube Channel (Full Videos) ~ Youtube.com/OceanEarthGreen

Facebook (Multimedia) ~ Facebook.com/OceanEarthGreen

Instagram (Mini Video Clips) ~ Instagram.com/OceanEarthGreen

Twitter (Mini Video Clips) ~ Twitter.com/OceanEarthGreen