Giant Pacific Octopus at Ball Buster...

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mikeguerrero

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Location
Hayward, CA
# of dives
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Hi all,

With the last day of the year, it couldn't have been better ending it with seeing my first GPO at Ball buster at 99 feet... It was a sight to see and Raj my dive buddy found it and signaled to Todd and I to move in for a peak...

It was huge and it's eyes stared back at us, too bad I didn't have my camera on this dive, I wanted to enjoy and familiarize myself with the dive site again, and it was my first dive back in since getting pummeled at Break Water so I wanted minimal gear... :wink:

Chuck Tribolet and Anne were also in the vicinity off of their Bostan Whaler anchored next to us on the Silver Prince...

He was taking pictures just above the GPO on one of the pinnalces in about 75 feet, while we enjoyed the octo at about 89 feet...

Later Chuck went back after we told him what we saw and found the GPO, he can tell you more...

Dive two was the best dive I have had on a boat. Since the winch stopped working, Raj had Todd and I jump off the boat at Eric's Pinnacles and later picked us up when we were done...

It was my first drift dive in Monterey, and it was awesome!!! We took a compass heading to the shore towards Eric's pinnacles and descended down to 55 feet, and I almost forgot my camera but Raj handed it to me just before we took the plunge...

As we glided down to 55 feet we got an awesome 35-40 ft of viz... And just as I had my camera on video I made out two really large dorsal fins in silver comming my way, wow, it's two Mola's and they swim and check us out, and I get them on film. I will post the video soon, my computer is acting up and the video is slow...

Not having to worry about finding the anchor, we continue to explore and allow the slow current to pull us towards shore, finally it's time to end the dive.

At 55 feet I signal to my buddy that I'm going to deploy my SMB and shoot it to the surface, thanks to my training with Don and Kathy I successfully deploy it and make sure to inflate it really well before it shoots to the surface.

As I see it take off, I never seen so much of my reel just leave the spool, wow it was real work reeling that spool back up, my hands got a little workout, but it was so cool since it helped me with my safety stop and my dive buddy was so impressed, he had heard of them but never seen them in action.

Surfacing with my SMB was the best treat because as my head broke the surface, the Silver Prince honked it's loud horn and swirled around us, I had the biggest smile feeling so happy that the dive went so well and the boat was right there.

Raj, said he saw the SMB, and was able to locate us in minutes... Hey Don and Kathy, thanks for the training, wish I had that on video to show you how well I performed at 55 feet.... :)

Here are just a couple of pics I took video to come soon... All are from Eric's pinnacle...

Here she is, the SP...
24wuhrl.jpg


Sealions basking their flippers in the sun...
nxulh4.jpg


Just a glass surface...
es6o80.jpg


Starfish...
2a67asm.jpg


2n9vps7.jpg


Nudi eggs :confused:
243rwup.jpg


Anenome...
2dane34.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hey all,

As promised here is the video I said I would do... I fixed my laptop and found out I had my drivers set to PIO instead of Ultra DMA... Huge difference in speed, just unbelievable...

Anyway enjoy the Mola Mola....
 
It's amazing what a useful little skill SMB deployment is, isn't it? I can tell you, as the boat tender, it's a wonderful, reassuring feeling to see that bright orange cylinder break the water's surface!
 
Nice video.
 
Chuck Tribolet and Anne were also in the vicinity off of their Bostan Whaler anchored next to us on the Silver Prince...

Anne????? Her name is Adm. Linda.

Thanks for the GPO pointer. We found it the next day.

OK, so where's the GPO? Those who remember where there was a GPO at
Ball-Buster a couple years ago: same hole. Everybody else:
On the south side, 10' above the bottom, a bit west of the sand
bottom, about 8' east of a piece of fine (1/16"?) stainless cable on the
bottom. We couldn't see much except the suckers about the size
of 35mm film can lids. There's a rock blocking most of the entrance
to the hole, and the GPO likes to hide behind the rock.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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