fuzzybabybunny
Contributor
Dove with mobeeno at Butterfly and The Wall.
Butterfly: 75ft depth, 0:42, 52F, 40ft vis
We went past the wash rock and took a 210 heading and swam for about 5-10 minutes. What I saw took me completely by surprise. Anyone ever been to Zion National Park? Or Yosemite? The very first time you saw it and the canyons just opened up before you?
Yeah.
That was my Butterfly experience. The canyons and pinnacles and sheer walls just opened up for me, dotted with beautiful thin kelp rising impossibly high through the water. Only I'm floating or flying in the middle of the canyon rather than on the ground.
Butterfly is now my favorite dive site, and I will be going back...
The Wall - 95ft depth, 0:40, 52F, 40-50ft vis
We parked close to the Bay School, the road right before the North Monastery Beach pullout. We hiked to one of the beaches out in the meadow at 36.527297, -121.925350 and took a 270 heading in which we hit the sheer vertical wall that drops down into the canyon. It was my first time at the vertical walls and it was spectacular. Mobeeno got dive bombed by a sea lion that came out of no where. Those things are fast! If a great white is just as fast as a sea lion... we then saw a group of 3 mola-molas, lots of rockfish schools, and lingzilla - a ling probably about 5-6ft long, just sitting there at 45ft. Lings would be so easy to catch for dinner.
After that I think we took a 180 heading and when we hit the sandy boundary of the kelp forest, took a 90 heading and hit a beach at 36.526543, -121.925068
Fantastic. Just wish the site was easier to hike to. I really need to simplify my gear setup. I feel really really clunky compared to Mobeeno, who can swim very fast and has such a simple-looking, streamlined gear setup. Care to share your gear loadout?
Breakwater: 43ft, 1:06, 53F, 20-30ft vis
Night dive using a Predator 220. Not happy with it as a primary light - beam is too narrow and not bright enough for me. My P valve worked! In one spot I saw an 8" shrimp! Not the little red 1" ones, but a huge gray one. Then a 4" octopus came out and I thought it was going to attack the shrimp, but I guess it was just attracted to my light. Then I saw a white spotted porostome nudibranch on the rocks, and a very confused sole in the rocks, which I figure should have been in the sand. Then a couple masked pricklebacks and cabezon.
I think the key to seeing things is to just stay in one spot and chill. Things will slowly pop out of their hiding spaces, some may come up to you, and some things will simply be presented to yourself as your eyes and brain slowly filter out things that were previously camouflaged. That's what happened with the cabezon and sole - it took me a while to realize that I was looking in their general direction all along.
Butterfly: 75ft depth, 0:42, 52F, 40ft vis
We went past the wash rock and took a 210 heading and swam for about 5-10 minutes. What I saw took me completely by surprise. Anyone ever been to Zion National Park? Or Yosemite? The very first time you saw it and the canyons just opened up before you?
Yeah.
That was my Butterfly experience. The canyons and pinnacles and sheer walls just opened up for me, dotted with beautiful thin kelp rising impossibly high through the water. Only I'm floating or flying in the middle of the canyon rather than on the ground.
Butterfly is now my favorite dive site, and I will be going back...
The Wall - 95ft depth, 0:40, 52F, 40-50ft vis
We parked close to the Bay School, the road right before the North Monastery Beach pullout. We hiked to one of the beaches out in the meadow at 36.527297, -121.925350 and took a 270 heading in which we hit the sheer vertical wall that drops down into the canyon. It was my first time at the vertical walls and it was spectacular. Mobeeno got dive bombed by a sea lion that came out of no where. Those things are fast! If a great white is just as fast as a sea lion... we then saw a group of 3 mola-molas, lots of rockfish schools, and lingzilla - a ling probably about 5-6ft long, just sitting there at 45ft. Lings would be so easy to catch for dinner.
After that I think we took a 180 heading and when we hit the sandy boundary of the kelp forest, took a 90 heading and hit a beach at 36.526543, -121.925068
Fantastic. Just wish the site was easier to hike to. I really need to simplify my gear setup. I feel really really clunky compared to Mobeeno, who can swim very fast and has such a simple-looking, streamlined gear setup. Care to share your gear loadout?
Breakwater: 43ft, 1:06, 53F, 20-30ft vis
Night dive using a Predator 220. Not happy with it as a primary light - beam is too narrow and not bright enough for me. My P valve worked! In one spot I saw an 8" shrimp! Not the little red 1" ones, but a huge gray one. Then a 4" octopus came out and I thought it was going to attack the shrimp, but I guess it was just attracted to my light. Then I saw a white spotted porostome nudibranch on the rocks, and a very confused sole in the rocks, which I figure should have been in the sand. Then a couple masked pricklebacks and cabezon.
I think the key to seeing things is to just stay in one spot and chill. Things will slowly pop out of their hiding spaces, some may come up to you, and some things will simply be presented to yourself as your eyes and brain slowly filter out things that were previously camouflaged. That's what happened with the cabezon and sole - it took me a while to realize that I was looking in their general direction all along.
