wdunne311
Contributor
29 Sep 07
Had 4 dives this weekend, 3 good ones.
The conditions on Saturday for Breakwater were a little rougher than I'm used to seeing over the past 2 months. Had this weird surf coming in from two different directions. The side nearer the hotels and out in front of the pumphouse was very soupy...5 feet vis and then at one point it was about 1-2 feet of vis. My buddy and I eventually called the dive after about 15 mins since we couldn't see anything. No pictures because they wouldn't have come out. We decided to call it a day and headed in. Fortunately we ran into one of the Bruce's divemaster candidates who was helping out with a class. He informed us that the wall was actually very clear. 15-20 feet of vis (I was skeptical), so we decided to head back in with very little surface interval (ended up being about 30 minutes anyway) and since we had only dove to about 19-20 feet.
The wall was a much better dive. We both brought our cameras and both went up and down the wall taking pictures. Notably I saw what looked like 2 Hopkin's Rose preparing to get it on, so what do I do? I take a picture of it.
Can anyone help me identify this creature? 29 Sep 07
Also saw a big cabezon and multiple other fishies (did not get a good picture of the cabezon though)....
Pictures from the second dive
30 Sep 07
Dove Breakwater again with the same buddy and a new diver. We dove the first dive off the wall and the second dive in and among the kelp in the middle. I took up the rear and took lots of photos. I got some decent video of a sea lion buzzing us and a few other random videos, but spent more time taking pictures than video. I'll add the videos later when I get them uploaded. And other than a scare from new guy, it was a pretty cool dive. I was leading on the way back and look back to find him and my buddy not behind me, but near the surface looking like they're taking care of a buoyancy problem. I've been there so I waited until they got things situated and came back down. Other than that, all things went well. Oh and my buddy and I were entertained by our new compadre since he liked to jog back up to the car with his gear. We did have to tell him to sit down at one point because the tank was dropping out of the BC because of his running. Guess it takes all kinds...Good kid, but a little wet behind the ears.
On the second dive, we went to the patch of kelp to the left of the wall and tooled around in there. Again, I took a fair amount of pictures. I got to take up the rear again, but that suits me just fine since I get to take more pictures that way. I did happen to get a picture of what I know is a Hopkin's Rose because it actually looked like a nudibranch. We also had a playful harbor seal come play with us. Several times he came and nipped at my fins. More than once I almost lost my buddies, because I was busy taking pictures and video of the seal and not keeping up. Thank goodness for my Twin Jets. Thankfully the vis was about 20-25 feet on both dives and all I had to look for was their bubbles. Anyway, my foolishness aside, seals playing with you throughout a dive always makes for a fun dive.
30 Sep Dive Photos
Had 4 dives this weekend, 3 good ones.
The conditions on Saturday for Breakwater were a little rougher than I'm used to seeing over the past 2 months. Had this weird surf coming in from two different directions. The side nearer the hotels and out in front of the pumphouse was very soupy...5 feet vis and then at one point it was about 1-2 feet of vis. My buddy and I eventually called the dive after about 15 mins since we couldn't see anything. No pictures because they wouldn't have come out. We decided to call it a day and headed in. Fortunately we ran into one of the Bruce's divemaster candidates who was helping out with a class. He informed us that the wall was actually very clear. 15-20 feet of vis (I was skeptical), so we decided to head back in with very little surface interval (ended up being about 30 minutes anyway) and since we had only dove to about 19-20 feet. The wall was a much better dive.
We both brought our cameras and both went up and down the wall taking pictures. Notably I saw what looked like 2 Hopkin's Rose preparing to get it on, so what do I do? I take a picture of it. Can anyone help me identify this creature? 29 Sep 07
Also saw a big cabezon and multiple other fishies (did not get a good picture of the cabezon though)....
Pictures from the second dive
30 Sep 07
Dove Breakwater again with the same buddy and a new diver. We dove the first dive off the wall and the second dive in and among the kelp in the middle. I took up the rear and took lots of photos. I got some decent video of a sea lion buzzing us and a few other random videos, but spent more time taking pictures than video. I'll add the videos later when I get them uploaded. And other than a scare from new guy, it was a pretty cool dive. I was leading on the way back and look back to find him and my buddy not behind me, but near the surface looking like they're taking care of a buoyancy problem. I've been there so I waited until they got things situated and came back down. Other than that, all things went well. Oh and my buddy and I were entertained by our new compadre since he liked to jog back up to the car with his gear. We did have to tell him to sit down at one point because the tank was dropping out of the BC because of his running. Guess it takes all kinds...Good kid, but a little wet behind the ears.
On the second dive, we went to the patch of kelp to the left of the wall and tooled around in there. Again, I took a fair amount of pictures. I got to take up the rear again, but that suits me just fine since I get to take more pictures that way.
I did happen to get a picture of what I know is a Hopkin's Rose because it actually looked like a nudibranch. We also had a playful harbor seal come play with us. Several times he came and nipped at my fins. More than once I almost lost my buddies, because I was busy taking pictures and video of the seal and not keeping up. Thank goodness for my Twin Jets. Thankfully the vis was about 20-25 feet on both dives and all I had to look for was their bubbles. Anyway, my foolishness aside, seals playing with you throughout a dive always makes for a fun dive. 30 Sep Dive Photos
