Casino Point 11.06.04?

[OCdiving Deb]

Anyone going to be at Casino Point this Saturday?

 

[OCdiving Deb]

Anyone going to be at Casino Point this Saturday?

Looks like we'll have the whole park to ourselves! Have great dives here on the mainland everyone! One of these days I will make it to a Wrinkles dive again. Really!

 

[drbill]

Just realized you may already be here Deb, but I will be (where else would I be.. except Belize, Honduras, Sea of Cortez, Galapagos, Thailand, Malaysia...).

Dr. Bill

 

[Reeveseye]

My wife and I will be there on Monday. I'd sure like to know what kind of conditions to expect, if someone could post them here.

Thanks

 

[drbill]

John-

Dove Sat and Sun this weekend at the Point and Lover's Cove. Visibility was fair (maybe 30 ft in places) but it was surgy down to 40+ feet. Still diveable but not good for video so I gave up by noon today. Rain forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday from what I'm hearing.

Dr. Bill

 

[Reeveseye]

My wife and I took a chance and dove it today (Monday). Very nice! Vis in the 40' - 50' range, not much surge at depth, water temps around 64 (although we kept it shallow and didn't go past 45', so no info on thermoclines past that depth), and the park almost completely to ourselves. Weather was partly cloudy, and a little chilly, but we had some very nice dives. Lots of life out there, and it looks like the fish spent the summer getting busy, judging by all the babies everywhere - blue-banded gobies the size of rice grains, huge schools of baby senorita, baby sheephead, and garibaldi so juvenile that half of their bodies are still electric blue. Large schools of sargo and blacksmith, kelpfish that seemed friendlier than normal, three octopus, and even spotted the elusive zebra goby. My wife found some sort of nudibranch in a crevice that my typically worthless Audubon guide to North American seashore creatures failed to identify. Anyone know what that thing is in the attached photo? And if you used a book to look it up, what did you use? I'm now in the market for a good book about California or Pacific Coast invertebrates.

These were the first dives we've done since we were diving the Kona Coast last month. I don't care how warm the Hawaiian water is or how colorful the fish are, I'd still take the California kelp forests any day - especially ones like today.

 

[drbill]

Glad to hear you and your wife had great dives Monday. Yes, there are a LOT of babies out there now. I'm tempted to write one of my newspaper columns on that subject soon.

The "nudibranch" you photographed appears to be the arm of a young knobby starfish (Pisaster) sticking out of a crevice.

Dr. Bill

 

[saf_25]

.... And if you used a book to look it up, what did you use? I'm now in the market for a good book about California or Pacific Coast invertebrates.

Sea Challengers makes good books - they have a number that are specific to the Pacific Coast, CA to Alaska. I currently own the Pacific Coast Inshore Fishes and Guide to Marine Invertebrates, both by Daniel Gotshall - they're great books! I got them through the CCD training I did, but I know Sport Chalet sells them as well. On my wish list are the Pacific Coast Crabs and Shrimps and Pacific Coast Nudibranchs (since there are none covered in the invertebrates book) books they also publish. If you don't have any of them, I believe you can order a CA/Pacific Coast collection of all of their books (there might also be a seaweed/algae book in the collection, too) for a bit of a discount.

 

[lwronk]

Glad to hear you had a good dive. I am hoping to go there this Saturday or Sunday.