Casino Point Misadventure for Frank Delargy and self

[fnfalman]

Frank and I were suppose to go on the Great Escape on Saturday 30 Jan 09 but due to lack of reservations, the boat cancelled the trip. So Frank and I were making last minute planning to hit Casino Point instead. It wouldn't do for Frank to lug all his dive gears from Massachusett and not at least get in one dive. So we got on the Catalina Express bound for Avalon. On the way there, we noticed how calm the ocean was and began to salivate at the possibility of some sweet dives.

Got to the Point, rigged up, ready to boogie. Me with my new Aqualung regulator and Dive Rite TransPlate/Wing, Frank with his Bare drysuit and DSS BP/W. No wind, sun was shining and downright hot. We were sweating buckets, anxious to cool off in the nice Pacific water. Got out to the buoy and I descended first. Frank was right there, doing just fine suddenly he popped up to the surface and then down again, porpoising. Then one of his fin came off. I grabbed it. Suddenly the next one also came off too.:shocked2: Grabbed that one. Went up to Frank and signaled to surface. Went up and Frank signaled he wanted to head back to shore. Naturally he needed a tow since that he had no fins. By the time we got back to the steps, we were both sweating buckets and overheated.

It turned out that the soft drysuit boots didn't fit the fins. By this time we were both exhausted and Frank was frustrated. Anyhoo, Frank went and rented a wetsuit from Catalina Divers Supply and off we went again. This time, things went off without a hitch and we had a great three dives. Found the Jacque Cousteau plaque, the sunken sailboat, a couple of starfish and three lobsters. Frank took photos of everything but the Cousteau plaque because we went without his camera.

Good viz, warm water, no current, little surge, lots of fishies including some big sheepheads and one lingcod.

All's well that ended well...or something to that effect.:cool2:

 

[drbill]

Lingcod? Interesting... I've never seen one in the dive park although this would be the time of year when they are in shallower water.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Was Frank for using the drysuit for buoyancy rather than the wing?

 

[DiverBizz]

Glad you finally got to dive. I love to dive Casino Pt.

 

[fnfalman]

Lingcod? Interesting... I've never seen one in the dive park although this would be the time of year when they are in shallower water.

It was a small one and at around 30-ft or so by one of the rocks about maybe 25-yards to the right of the stair towards the harbor.

Was Frank for using the drysuit for buoyancy rather than the wing?

He was using the BC, but I think the problem was that the fins didn't fit right so he wasn't getting propulsion and once they came off, he was too anxious to continue on, so we headed to land and regrouped.

Glad you finally got to dive. I love to dive Casino Pt.

I told Frank that we were going to dive one way or another, even if it were free dive with weight belts and snorkels.

 

[FrankPro1]

Lingcod? Interesting... I've never seen one in the dive park although this would be the time of year when they are in shallower water.

Saw my first Lingcod at Marineland the other day. I have countless free-dives there and about 10 or so scuba dives, not once have we seen one before this. Checking out California diving news, there article on Lingcods mentions the males can be found defending there nests this time of year.

 

[drbill]

I've seen plenty of lingcod at the deeper sites off Catalina like Ship Rock or Farnsworth Bank, just never in the dive park. Here's one of my weekly newspaper columns on the lingcod.

 

[under water]

Was Frank for using the drysuit for buoyancy rather than the wing?

Nah.. I was using the wing for buoyancy. The problem was that I have 2 pairs of Apollo fins. One Large & one Xtra large, both with springs. I grabbed the Xtra large for this trip and those were the wrong ones for this configuration. The XL's were a bit too loose for the drysuit (without hard boots), so when I lost one, I went down to get it and dang it the other came off too! Hence HT's description of me "porpoising" was me going down to get the first fin (they sink fast), then coming back up again without the second.

Now that's a pretty crappy feeling to be in a drysuit and have no fins. Hands come in handy. Needless to say I wasn't continuing the dive with that config, so I just rented a WS there and used my boots and all was fine.. better than fine.

As HT mentioned we did go on to have a great set of dives.
I did learn from the experience, but I didn't expect HT to chronicle it. :shocked2:

Some pix from the dives ..
Catalina

 

[fnfalman]

As HT mentioned we did go on to have a great set of dives.
I did learn from the experience, but I didn't expect HT to chronicle it. :shocked2:

It wouldn't have been an adventure without some sort of minor mishaps. Besides, you wanted to go with the wetsuit anyway because chicks dig it.:blinking:

 

[TSandM]

I've been through the "don't have the proper footgear for THESE fins" issue more than once, and it isn't fun. At least you were able to make it work. The dive park is lovely, isn't it?