La Jolla Shores
Dropped down at 6:55PM
1 surf, with an occasional 2.
Fairly flat past the break, although there were small surface swells rolling northeast
towards shore from 20 fsw and deeper.
Water temperature was 65 degrees on the surface, 56 in the canyon.
Visibility in the shallows was 8-10, with the canyon opening up to 15-20.
Maximum depth 94 fsw
Total bottom time, 25 minutes.
Hi, my name is diver John, and Ive been dry for two and a half weeks (which if you ask me, is a completely abominable situation needing immediate correction). Having been the unwitting host for an unknown, and tenacious flu type illness, I was bound and determined to shuck this non-diving lifestyle for one immersed in black rubber, murky depths and air sucked through a hose. Vestiges of illness still clung to my slightly fogged brain like a Remora to a Whale Shark, and like that mismatched relationship, I wasnt going to let this bug hinder my reentry into the underwater world. A Bottom Bunch Dive Club night dive seemed like just the ticket.
Larry, Jennifer, Dan, Keith, Amanda and I met up at La Jolla Cove. Our original intention was to dive there, but a quick peek over the retaining wall and we knew that wasnt going to happen. Large swells were breaking over the reefs, loosing themselves in roiling green foam, then breaking again as the swell was brought up short by the steep shoreline, rising from the shallows with the force of the depths still manifest. I looked over at Dan and said, Well Im not diving here, whats next? Grinning, he asked, What would it take to get you to dive through that? Pal, thered have to be a 60 Grey Whale sitting just past the breakers, waiting to give me a ride around the bay while whistling Stairway To Heaven through its blowhole before Id fight my way through that turmoil. Taking another look at the incoming sets I added, and thered better be a couple of mermaids on its back holding a case of beer under each arm (good beer to, none of that cheap 24 can per case stuff). We waited a few minutes to see if my requirements were met. As the minutes ticked past with no satisfaction, we piled back into our cars and reparked ourselves at La Jolla Shores.
We entered the water at the foot of Vallecitos St. We were greeted with baby waves and flat seas. The tide was still increasing, but with a maximum height of less than 4 and a slack tide close to 7:00PM, things looked, and stayed, promising. We headed out to the white buoy, where I cooled my heels waiting for the others to arrive (not hard to do by the way, when your heels are six feet below the surface in 65 degree water). Once everyone assembled, we discussed the basics, then dropped down to the bottom, which turned out to be another 74 below my fins (do the math, itll be a good refresher).
One of our team lost a fin at about 90 fsw, and whether we were all collectively narcd or the mischievous fin was fighting us for all its worth, it took three of us waaaay to much time to get the foot in the pocket (you put yur right foot in, ya take yur right foot out, thats what were all narcd about). We did eventually bumble our way through it, and then started our dive by heading north along the wall. We saw a vast quantity of baby Rockfish, a few Bocaccios, some Browns and a couple of Calicos. Speckled Sanddabs darted about like hyperactive
well, Sanddabs. We watched a 3 Spiney Sand Star quickly working its way upslope. With all those feet and its fast pace, Im always surprised I dont hear the pitter-patter of its feet, like Fred Flintstone driving his car in Bedrock. Moving on, we saw a few Lizardfish, lots of Red Rock Shrimp, a few Coonstripe Shrimp and a couple of Spotted Prawns for good measure. We even saw a Rock Blenny peering at us from his home in the wall. A sporadic showing of Moon Snails, and our evening was complete.
Air was at a premium after our WWF fin fight, so when our first diver hit the danger zone, we headed upslope, continuing our exploration. We werent over the rim long, before the overstressed SPG was wailing its distress over lack of breathable stuff pushing its needle away from the red. We started our ascent from there, stopping to cool our heels (theres seems to be an epidemic of that lately) for our required safety stop. Breaking the surface, we laid back on our BCs and reveled in another wonderful dive. Eventually, we struck a leisurely north/east course for shore, kicking gently and talking about the dive. It was an easy beach exit, with no trauma greater than the cold water pouring down from the after dive shower.
John A.
