Dark-Thirty Diver
Registered
This past Friday five divers with Capt. Jim at the wheel, headed out on the Giant Stride dive boat to dive the rigs, wrecks and reefs off the Southern California coast. On-board were Barry and Kevin, two decked out tech-divers, accomplished female Orange County free-diver Lauren Renteria and professional photographer Damon Loble.
Lauren and Damon were teaming up to shoot Lauren free diving and interacting with the marine life swirling under the oil rigs.
But first we needed to give the tech guys a shot at the Olympic II wreck. This was to be my 6th dive on the wreck this year and having experienced some pretty challenging conditions down there, I wondered what the dive would hold. On the surface the water looked deep blue, but that can mean little as its whats down at the wreck that counts.
Barry, Kevin and I descended the anchor line and as we passed mid-way I started to see the wreck spread out below. We trimmed out above the wreck and conditions were excellent; good light from the surface, no current or swell. We did a full lap of the wreck from stem to stern with Barry jetting around Kevin and I using his DPV. This was my first experience actually being able to see entire sections of the wreck in one view, as on past dives the limited viz prohibited that. Marine life was plentiful with schools of fish darting around the ribs and several large Cabezon perched about. We finished the lap and as we ascended up the anchor line we paused mid-way to complete a deep stop at 50'. From the stop I could see the wreck below us on the bottom and by looking up I could see the GS bobbing on the surface. Around us it was just blue abyss. Amazing.
Once back on the GS I asked the guys to give me an estimate of the visibility, as I like to calibrate my own estimation with that of other experienced divers. At this point Barry offered what would become the line of the day: "Well...it wasn't over sixty feet." Trust me, I'll take 60' viz with no current or swell on the Olympic II any day of the week!
From here we headed to the oil rigs in search of even better visibility in which to showcase Lauren's free diving skills. (See more of her diving here:LoLo Renteria.)
Conditions under the rigs was good, 75' visibility under the first one and 40'-50' at the second, although by the time we got under the second rig (Eureka) a current arrived which required some effort to offset and hold steady for photography. The sea lions took an immediate liking to Lauren in her camouflage themed wet suit. Free of heavy sucba gear, she was free to twist and frolic with them in a way they don't see from traditional scuba divers.
Completing two dive session under the rigs, with the tech guys zooming about with their DPV's, me serving as a not very accomplished lighting technician and Damon getting some awesome shots, we then loaded the boat and headed back in.
I'll post some links to Damon's work once he completes the editing process. For now here is a shot I took of Lauren:
Instagram photo by J. Reeb • Aug 28, 2016 at 2:48pm UTC
And one by Damon: Instagram photo by @damonloble • Aug 27, 2016 at 2:29am UTC
J. Reeb
Dark-Thirty Divers
Lauren and Damon were teaming up to shoot Lauren free diving and interacting with the marine life swirling under the oil rigs.
But first we needed to give the tech guys a shot at the Olympic II wreck. This was to be my 6th dive on the wreck this year and having experienced some pretty challenging conditions down there, I wondered what the dive would hold. On the surface the water looked deep blue, but that can mean little as its whats down at the wreck that counts.
Barry, Kevin and I descended the anchor line and as we passed mid-way I started to see the wreck spread out below. We trimmed out above the wreck and conditions were excellent; good light from the surface, no current or swell. We did a full lap of the wreck from stem to stern with Barry jetting around Kevin and I using his DPV. This was my first experience actually being able to see entire sections of the wreck in one view, as on past dives the limited viz prohibited that. Marine life was plentiful with schools of fish darting around the ribs and several large Cabezon perched about. We finished the lap and as we ascended up the anchor line we paused mid-way to complete a deep stop at 50'. From the stop I could see the wreck below us on the bottom and by looking up I could see the GS bobbing on the surface. Around us it was just blue abyss. Amazing.
Once back on the GS I asked the guys to give me an estimate of the visibility, as I like to calibrate my own estimation with that of other experienced divers. At this point Barry offered what would become the line of the day: "Well...it wasn't over sixty feet." Trust me, I'll take 60' viz with no current or swell on the Olympic II any day of the week!
From here we headed to the oil rigs in search of even better visibility in which to showcase Lauren's free diving skills. (See more of her diving here:LoLo Renteria.)
Conditions under the rigs was good, 75' visibility under the first one and 40'-50' at the second, although by the time we got under the second rig (Eureka) a current arrived which required some effort to offset and hold steady for photography. The sea lions took an immediate liking to Lauren in her camouflage themed wet suit. Free of heavy sucba gear, she was free to twist and frolic with them in a way they don't see from traditional scuba divers.
Completing two dive session under the rigs, with the tech guys zooming about with their DPV's, me serving as a not very accomplished lighting technician and Damon getting some awesome shots, we then loaded the boat and headed back in.
I'll post some links to Damon's work once he completes the editing process. For now here is a shot I took of Lauren:
Instagram photo by J. Reeb • Aug 28, 2016 at 2:48pm UTC
And one by Damon: Instagram photo by @damonloble • Aug 27, 2016 at 2:29am UTC
J. Reeb
Dark-Thirty Divers
