Catalina Trip Report 5/8/09

[muddiver]

I went out on the Sun Diver Express on Friday, May 8th. The boat use to be the Island Time but is now owned by Sun Diver. Great crew, Capt. Nikki, Cody and the trainee Sunny.

Conditions right now are marginal at best. The plankton is thriving in the cold water and strong sun light of spring making for limited visability. Most of the time it was around 15' to 25' horizontally. Vertical visability was around 20' +/- 5

I was going to post a pic here, but I can't seem to figure out how to find the url through the gallery section. Oh, go see them yourself.

Anyway, water is around 60 deg in temp. and hot in a dry suit. Surface conditions couldn't have been better. 70 to 75 deg., sunny all day, very little chop until around 1:30 pm.

 

[gedmondson]

Thanks Muddiver. I dive Catalina for the first time 5/23. Looking forward to it. 25ft does not bother me. My "home" diving is in Puget Sound, and 25 ft is very good vis there. And.. 60 degrees is warm weather diving for me! :^)

 

[drbill]

Hopefully the visibility will improve by the time you come. We're at the start of "bat ray feeding season" and "phytoplankton bloom season," two bad periods for visibility but they are often patchy conditions.

 

[fuggler]

Thanks Muddiver. I dive Catalina for the first time 5/23. Looking forward to it. :^)

Same here. Are you going to be on a liveaboard, by any chance?

 

[gedmondson]

No fuggler, I am diving the Water Park from shore. Can't wait to experience the kelp forest.