fnfalman
Contributor
Air was warm, sun was out and water temp at the lowest was 63-F and highest was 67-F. Too hot for me.:shocked2:
Lots of particulates in the water. Horizontal viz is typical 20-ft SoCal and vertical viz were much better thanks to the sun.
Kelps started to brown out and laid down. Dammit, I wanna go back to cold season diving already.
First dive was at Turquoise Point - we hit 101-ft (part of AOW class of which the instructor asked me to be an observer/rescue diver), and there the temp went down to maybe 60-F. A very slight thermocline. A good current by the boat and none at the kelp line. My highlight of the day was seeing a tiny janolus barbarensis nudie in the water current. It was maybe 1/4" at most. Floating around like it owned the joint. I also saw a big purple jelly floating around at maybe 50-ft and a bat ray swimming by also around 50-ft. I was hovering at 30-ft.
Second dive was at Goat Harbor - once again, warm water with some currents. Saw some nice abalones and some big lobsters and one eel trapped in a trap. This trap looks like it was made out of plastic and the buoy was tethered on a very short rope (less than 5-ft long). I didn't know whether or not it was one of the traps set by the USC marine biology department to gather game to study or what. Doesn't look like a typical lobster trap/crab trap.
Third dive was at Yellowtail Point - nothing to rave about. We cruised the sand trying to find something interesting to see but didn't see any. Not even a mantis shrimp. I haven't seen a mantis shrimp in ages.
Fourth dive was at the Rock Quarry - even though the kelps started to die and laid down, the site wasn't too bad. Ripping current at the boat heading west and mild current at the kelp line heading east. Hey, I don't know what the ocean wants, I just dive there. Saw one ginormous eel. The head was probably as big as both my hands put together. Tons of cleaner shrimps around it, and I saw some of the striped rock shrimps that were nearly 1" long by themselves. Also saw some dinner plate size abalones - awesome!!! Over all, we swam a lot because of the students.
One thing for sure, next time I think that I will politely turn down the invitation to be an observer/cat herder/rescue diver for a group of students - even AOW students. Unless there are some hot mermaids in the group, naturally.
I missed out on the gathering of black sea basses at Goat Harbor because we went one way and the rest of the boat went the other way and see the GSBs.
The Great Escape serves some mean grubs, but after last week on the Peace, well, it was a bit of a let down. Mike the galley cook did a damn good job with the cook-to-order omlet, monkey brain bread, some weird chicken tortilla whatchamacallit for lunch and brownies for dessert. But it ain't like Joe on the Peace.:depressed:
Lots of particulates in the water. Horizontal viz is typical 20-ft SoCal and vertical viz were much better thanks to the sun.
Kelps started to brown out and laid down. Dammit, I wanna go back to cold season diving already.
First dive was at Turquoise Point - we hit 101-ft (part of AOW class of which the instructor asked me to be an observer/rescue diver), and there the temp went down to maybe 60-F. A very slight thermocline. A good current by the boat and none at the kelp line. My highlight of the day was seeing a tiny janolus barbarensis nudie in the water current. It was maybe 1/4" at most. Floating around like it owned the joint. I also saw a big purple jelly floating around at maybe 50-ft and a bat ray swimming by also around 50-ft. I was hovering at 30-ft.
Second dive was at Goat Harbor - once again, warm water with some currents. Saw some nice abalones and some big lobsters and one eel trapped in a trap. This trap looks like it was made out of plastic and the buoy was tethered on a very short rope (less than 5-ft long). I didn't know whether or not it was one of the traps set by the USC marine biology department to gather game to study or what. Doesn't look like a typical lobster trap/crab trap.
Third dive was at Yellowtail Point - nothing to rave about. We cruised the sand trying to find something interesting to see but didn't see any. Not even a mantis shrimp. I haven't seen a mantis shrimp in ages.
Fourth dive was at the Rock Quarry - even though the kelps started to die and laid down, the site wasn't too bad. Ripping current at the boat heading west and mild current at the kelp line heading east. Hey, I don't know what the ocean wants, I just dive there. Saw one ginormous eel. The head was probably as big as both my hands put together. Tons of cleaner shrimps around it, and I saw some of the striped rock shrimps that were nearly 1" long by themselves. Also saw some dinner plate size abalones - awesome!!! Over all, we swam a lot because of the students.
One thing for sure, next time I think that I will politely turn down the invitation to be an observer/cat herder/rescue diver for a group of students - even AOW students. Unless there are some hot mermaids in the group, naturally.
I missed out on the gathering of black sea basses at Goat Harbor because we went one way and the rest of the boat went the other way and see the GSBs.
The Great Escape serves some mean grubs, but after last week on the Peace, well, it was a bit of a let down. Mike the galley cook did a damn good job with the cook-to-order omlet, monkey brain bread, some weird chicken tortilla whatchamacallit for lunch and brownies for dessert. But it ain't like Joe on the Peace.:depressed:
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