December '05 Dive Reports

[scubapro5]

Date: 12/27
Dive Location:Redondo Canyon
Time: 8pm
Bottom Time:40
Max Depth:70-120ft
Vis:10ft
Swell height: 4ft
Temp at depth: 57
Gas mix:Nitrox
Comments: The vis was not bad at 10ft and was a welcome change from zero vis last week. I even had 10ft vis at 70ft which was a surprise. Too bad we have bigger swells and wind coming in over the next serveral days.

I got a call from a friend today(wednesday) and he said by 1pm there was white caps and not looking good out there.

 

[divinman]

Date: 12/28/05
Dive Location: Catalina Island/Blue Cavern
Buddy(ies): Tyler,
Time: 0940
Bottom Time: 65 minutes
Max Depth: 93ft
Vis: 25-30
Wave height: moderate swell but far apart, some surge above 35 ft
Temp at depth: 55f
Surface Temp:58f
Gas mix: 21%

Date: 12/28/05
Dive Location: Ismuth Reef
Buddy(ies): Tyler
Time: 1141
Bottom Time: 60 minutes
Max Depth: 75ft
Vis: 20-25
Wave height: some swells but nothing spew worthy, some surge
Temp at depth: 58f
Surface Temp: 58F
Gas mix: 21%

Date: 12/28/05
Dive Location: Cherry Cove
Buddy(ies): Tyler
Time: 1330
Bottom Time: 61 minutes
Max Depth: 105ft
Vis: 25-30
Wave height: no swell, minimal surge
Temp at depth: 56F
Surface Temp: 58F
Gas mix: 21%

Images: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/122805/

Tyler and I made the longish drive up the coast to Long Beach to catch a local boat out to the island. EVERYONE must have taken the week off as there was almost no traffic in route or on the return. I sure wish it was always the case.

We arrived early and set up our rigs while the Captain readied the boat. Other folks from scubaboard and scupapost arrived and soon we are on board and wiping across the channel toward the island. The boat we on cruises at a blistering 23 knots so in short order were at the island and diving. First drop, Blue Cavern. Named as such for the string of ....blue caverns that pock the wall on this site. I found them to be more green than blue today but I also found them to be full of lobster, treefish, squid carcasses and more. We found one at 90ft that I could have parked several medium sized cars in. Very cool

Dive two was at Ismuth Reef. Nice structure and our dive master limited out on bugs here. No one else was hunting from our group but we all could have got our limit here as there are bugs everywhere.

Dive Three brought us to Cherry Cove and we once again made the decent to the lovely depths. This was the stellar dive of the day. Finds of the dive included moray with cleaner shrimp, a lobster that was as big around as a two liter bottle, an electric ray cruising quite mellow while I took picture after picture and then a 4.5ft angel shark swam over to see what all the fuss was about.

GREAT DIVES.

Terry

Full album in Here : http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/122805/

 

[wetrat]

Date: 12/28
Dive Location: Catalina - Blue Caverns, Isthmus Reef, Cherry Cove
Dive Buddies: Mrs. wetrat, two of our baby rats, Scubalizard, Captain Marvel, HBDiveGirl, Divinman, California Diver, Kevfin, Rick Inman (guest of honor)
Time: First splash at about 9:30 am
Bottom Time: Two kinda short dives for the rat family
Max Depth:75/57 ft
Vis: 20 to 30, depending on location
Swell height: Some rollers on the way over, a little wind chop. Basically flat at the island.
Temp at depth: 57
Gas mix: Air 21%
Comments: Fantastic day of diving! Blue Caverns was a totally awesome wall dive for us. Others decided to enter one of the caverns. Mrs. wetrat and I, and our two ratlings started out deep and worked our way up the wall, where we finned along the 40 ft. contour. Saw a lot of bugs (one BIG FAT mobster lobster) and a moray, plenty of blue-banded gobys and all the Catalina locals. On our second dive, we saw a horn shark and a mesmerizing wall of baitfish (anybody - what were those things, lol!). Got buzzed by a sea lion. The kelp was gorgeous. It had been awhile since Mrs. wetrat had actually been wet, so we decided to take it pretty easy. Got to the boat on time, no gear issues, did all our safety stops and everybody on the boat with at least 500 psi. SUCCESS!! It was really, REALLY fun meeting more great people from the board. Thanks for some great dives and great company. I'm pretty sure others would like to add to my report - especially DIVINMAN who took some incredible pictures (and POOF! it's done in a simultaneous posting above). Nice photos Terry! They'll also probably raz me for not doing a third dive. OK so I was a WIMP, alright!!!! Oh yeah, one more thing - why is it so hard to get teenagers to rinse their own gear? Jeeeeeeeeeeez!

 

[riguerin]

Date: 12/28
Dive Location: Catalina - Blue Caverns, Isthmus Reef, Cherry Cove
Dive Buddies: Mrs. wetrat, two of our baby rats, Scubalizard, Captain Marvel, HBDiveGirl, Divinman, California Diver, Kevfin, Rick Inman (guest of honor)
Time: First splash at about 9:30 am
Bottom Time: Two kinda short dives for the rat family
Max Depth:75/57 ft
Vis: 20 to 30, depending on location
Swell height: Some rollers on the way over, a little wind chop. Basically flat at the island.
Temp at depth: 57
Gas mix: Air 21%
Comments: Fantastic day of diving! Blue Caverns was a totally awesome wall dive for us. Others decided to enter one of the caverns. Mrs. wetrat and I, and our two ratlings started out deep and worked our way up the wall, where we finned along the 40 ft. contour. Saw a lot of bugs (one BIG FAT mobster lobster) and a moray, plenty of blue-banded gobys and all the Catalina locals. On our second dive, we saw a horn shark and a mesmerizing wall of baitfish (anybody - what were those things, lol!). The kelp was gorgeous. It had been awhile since Mrs. wetrat had actually been wet, so we decided to take it pretty easy. Got to the boat on time, no gear issues, did all our safety stops and everybody on the boat with at least 500 psi. SUCCESS!! It was really, REALLY fun meeting more great people from the board. Thanks for some great dives and great company. I'm pretty sure others would like to add to my report - especially DIVINMAN who took some incredible pictures (and POOF! it's done in a simultaneous posting above). Nice photos Terry! They'll also probably raz me for not doing a third dive. OK so I was a WIMP, alright!!!! Oh yeah, one more thing - why is it so hard to get teenagers to rinse their own gear? Jeeeeeeeeeeez!

John,

Sounds like a great day ... sorry we missed it. Hope you post a group photo with MOF's

-Rick

 

[wetrat]

We're sorry you missed it to Rick! We were thinking about you all day!

John

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Terry's pictures are worth many thousands of my words, but into every report sequence a few stats must fall! Head's up!!!

GORGEOUS PICTURES, TERRY!! Thanks for sharing them with us all

A dozen Scubaboarders had WetRat and RickInman to thank for organizing and inspiring a diving jail-break from the relentless pounding of huge coastal swells.

Three very fun dives were had by some. (Two wonderful dives were had by all!)

Blue Caverns
Splash: 9:45 AM
Max depth: 91 fsw
Run time: 54 minutes
Temp: 56F
Vis: 40 feet, maybe more at depth, less in shallows

Oh, Baby! What a great dive!
Captain Rich got us all squared away for a live-boat drop, right in front of a large sloping bush on the hillside. “Drop in front of the right edge of that bush. Descend to about 55-65 fsw, where the rocky face meets the sloping sand, then head east along that boundary as it descends. Look for a smaller cavern around 90fsw, and a larger cavern around 65-68 fsw. Take lights. It’s dark. Surface at the next cove east and we’ll come and get you.”

Textbook! Scott and I cruised along, finding only a small dent in the rock around 90, so we headed up shallower and flew right into the mouth of the big cavern at 68fsw. The water was green, shadowed and beautiful, perhaps 40 foot visibility. We had seen an occasional dead squid around 60-70 feet. As we approached the big cavern, the sandy bottom was littered with many dozens of dead squid. Must be interesting at night here! The cavern appeared featureless in the blackness. We entered along one side, lighting up the corynactis-encrusted walls with my mighty 10W artificial sun . Great place to practice horizontal trim and zero-silt propulsion. The cavern narrowed to a final arch, about 9 feet across, 6 feet high, leading to a last little alcove with 3 lobster on the ceiling. Total blackness wherever my light was not. I entered the alcove, helicoptered around…. Paused before looking… and was stunned at the beauty now in front of me. The oval mouth of the cavern filled only about 1/10 of my field of view, and was luminous green.. Really Really GREEN, filled with light, framed by a huge solid black frame of jet black cavern walls. I blacked out my light and the effect became even more dramatic. I wish we had lingered here for a long time, as I didn’t realize at the time this was the absolute highlight of the dive. Wow!! So beautiful. The rest of the dive moving east was made of great wall structure, thick kelp, increasing surge, and great creatures. "Life is good... in a preserve!" Schools of slivery fish were dramatic as they paraded by. Great spot, and I hope I get to come back here soon.


Isthmus Reef, West Wall
SI: 1 hour
Splash: 11:50 AM
Max depth: 81 fsw
Run time: 44 minutes
Temp: 58F
Vis: 50 feet, darker at depth, often less than 40


The kelp looked up and relaxed as the boat anchored at the edge of the wall (anchor deeper than 90, boat sitting over 30 fsw on the top of the reef). We dropped over the edge right into a very large school of 8-10 inch silvery fish. It was mesmerizing and lovely to watch the movement around us as we dropped through them: the perfect sphere rotating around us, making my head spin slightly. The HID makes them jump a bit. It got very dark as I followed Scott down to about 80fsw. Found two well-hidden octopuses in vertical and overhanging crevices. The rock structure and invertebrates were fun, but what kept making me turn my head left and look out in the misty blue, were the endless schools of silvery fish. Dense in some places, sparse in others, constantly moving and mercury/mirror shiny and reflective. The current began pushing us along briskly, so we turned and slowly and diagonally ascended toward the plateau. The surge got very strong along the edge of the wall several times. We passed the entire happy wetrat family, and then KevFin, Rick, and Tony. Lots of garibaldi and ghost gobies everywhere. A well camouflaged small cabezon on a rock at about 50 fsw. It was feeling pretty dark and cool. No sun so far this day, but no rain and a generally bright cloudy sky. Drysuits are good. Wetsuit divers are very tough!


Lion Head, Cherry Cove side
SI: 1 hour
Splash: 1:35 PM
Max depth: 44 fsw
Run time: 45 minutes
Temp: 59F
Vis: 30 feet


The sun had burst through the clouds over Two Harbors at 1:10 PM, just 10 minutes later than Rick had heard predicted by the weatherman this morning. Wow! THAT’s amazing. The water was glassy and pretty calm as we anchored outside the moorings of Cherry Cove, and approached the Lion Head kelp beds from the east side. Scott found 2 moray eels: A small one first, and then a really BIG one with very wrinkly skin. Perhaps 4-5 feet long, guessing the size of the head and part of the body. It was under a notch in the rock, so I could get very close to examine the wrinkles. Some very well camouflaged scorpion fish and cabezons. Terry and Tyler found all the big action at some creative depths, but we stayed in the toasty 59F zone exploring the dense reef. There were very large schools of mackeral along the sandy bottom next to the boat, that materialized through the mist as we descended. Nice free-swimming octopus under a kelp frond along a rock, and another in an old abandoned mooring can pile.
An enjoyable end to a fun day of diving. We had slivery and gold sunlight raying down through the clouds above the island as we motored home fast. Lots of great conversation with all aboard. We are so lucky to dive year around, where it never "goes below zero". Rick's stories of ice-encrusted drysuits and numb faces makes me Really appreciate our easy-going winter diving.
Great Day. Thank you, Captain Marvel, for three fun dives.
See you all at La Jolla in a couple of weeks.
SOMEONE PLEASE TURN OFF THE WAVE MACHINE!

 

[riguerin]

We're sorry you missed it to Rick! We were thinking about you all day!

John

Was looking out the home office window all morning, praying for the fog to lift. The reports and pics look great. Sounds like Rich took care of you folks.

 

[Kevfin]

Date: 12/28
Dive Location: Catalina - Blue Caverns, Isthmus Reef, Cherry Cove

The reports above are GREAT! Makes me feel like I was there.

 

[CaptainMarvel]

Excellent report, Claudette! I think I'll just copy-n-paste it into my dive log. All three sites were fantastic. Plenty of structure with lots of life all around. As my ever enthusiatic buddy jotted down in her wet notes during the first dive... "Life is good in a preserve." I completely agree and hope to dive these sites again soon... although perhaps in a dry suit. Thanks for being a great buddy, Claudette!

On that note, my three dives yesterday were the last for 2005. I've had an awesome year of diving, and have met some great people through Scubaboard. I wasn't sure what to expect when I attended my first Wrinkles dive back in March (at Casino Point). I had about 15 dives under my belt and my only buddy had been my wife. Diving had quickly become my passion (okay, obsession), and I figured it was worth checking out what these "Wrinkles" dives were all about. Plus, my wife and I were planning on having our second future diver (she's due in 3-4 weeks), so I'd need to find some new buddies to continue my obsession. Needless to say, I'm extremely glad I went.

I've since dived with a number of people from this board and in the process have become a better diver not to mention even more passionate about diving. But more than that, I've simply had a lot of fun. So thanks to everyone who's been a buddy so far (especially my long-time regulars TeqP and Lexy). And thanks to Christian for organizing all of the regular events. I look forward to many more dives with the SoCal Scubaboarder gang.

-Scott

 

[California Diver]

catalina 12/28 blue caverns, isthmus reef, cherry cove/lions head

headed out with a group of scubaboarding peeps for some good vis on catalina. decent size swells were rolling by mid crossing but the yacking was kept to an absolute minimum (none). first was blue caverns, we had originally planned to head down the submarine docking station which lies below the caverns,but due to time and gas constraints we decided to put around and check out all the cool caverns, some of which are pretty large and filled with lobsters. while terry clicked away on his camera i was busy testing my buoyancy and finning skills inside some of the smallest of caverns i quickly began to see the advange of side mount after our alotted 60 minutes was up we surfaced and headed over to isthmus reef. we dropped down and explored the reefthe vis here was so great, after taking some photos of some juvie horn sharks we surfaced. now it was time for cherry cove. the water was a lot calmer here than the other spots. we dropped into a sandy bottom at 60 ft. initial reaction was great another sand dive. we headed toward the island and hit a large rock. terry found a moray and i found a huge lobster at the base of the rock. terry was once again clicking away on the camera when i noticed a large electric ray freeswimming next to me. i frantically signalled terry who looked annoyed til he realized why i had pulled his attention away from his subject. we stayed with the ray for an extended period of time, once again i look over to see a 4.5 ft angel shark swim by but he only came for a quick peek and had no intention of staying long enough for photo or 30. we followed the torpedo ray for a while longer til our computers were furious at us for following the ray so deep. terry signaled deco and time to ascend i agreed, i passed over a large cage that caught my eye then ascended til my computer was happy again. we entered the boat happy with all the cool things we had seen today and began the trip back the mainland. all in all it was a great day of diving.