FEB 05 Dive Reports

[MaxBottomtime]

Dare I try for a third night??? No guarantees....could just see a bunch of crabs....but what an unforgettable experience when the little squid darlings go wild!

Another wonderful side affect of a massive squid run is that the animals in the canyon hear about it faster than divers on the internet. All the animals that eat squid and their eggs will be coming up, as well as the animals that eat them! I was taping some mating squid at Redondo one night and getting some good shots. My buddy kept shining his light at me. When I would turn to look at him there was nothing wrong. He just kept pointing in my direction. I assumed he was saying,"Look at all the mating squid". When we got back to the beach he told me that there was a six foot Blue shark behind me the entire time I was taping the squid. I was bummed! That would have been an even better shot.
The two large squid runs I have witnessed there have lasted a couple of weeks. I just patched up my leaking light and drysuit and need time for everything to dry. Hopefully I can get in there for the Wednesday night dive.

 

[ICY ICE]

Date:Feb 27
Dive Location:USS Palawan
Time:8:01 A.M.
Bottom Time:28 minutes
Max Depth:128'
Vis:20'-0'

Palawan was dark, 3-7' vis on the way down, cleared up to 15-20 at 100-130'.


Date:Feb 27
Dive Location:Hermosa Artificial Reef
Time:9:35 A.M.
Bottom Time: minutes
Max Depth:67'
Vis:20'-0'

The water was murky for the first 20-30'

 

[Grey_Wulff]

Date: 2/27/05
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores
Time: 16:14
Bottom Time: 43 mins
Max Depth: 58ft
Vis: 5ft in the shallows, 10-15ft on the North Wall
Wave height: 2ft
Surface Temp: 60F
Tide information: Really low.
Comments: At last sunny weather, gentle waves and acceptable contamination levels. It felt great to finally be in the water again! Headed directly out from Vallecitos, dropping when the end of the pier lined up with the salmon colored house. Initial vis was really bad - milky green - a bit like diving in pea soup. Headed due West until we found the first wall at about 55ft and then proceeded slowly along the North Wall until reaching 1500psi. Viz opened up a bit so it felt quite pleasant. All the usual critters were around plus three octopus, one of them rather large.

Date: 2/27/05
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores
Time: 18:23
Bottom Time: 39 mins
Max Depth: 53ft
Vis: 5ft in the shallows, 10-15ft on the North Wall
Wave height: 2ft
Surface Temp: 59F
Tide information: On the way in.
Comments: Repeated exactly the same route, this time in darkness. Probably dropped a little short of where we were supposed to so the swim to the canyon took a little longer. This time we found one of the smaller octopus out and about, lobster roaming around and a large female sheepshead which stayed firmly in a big hole. Met a group of five divers after we turned for home. On the way back, lots of crabs and shrimps over the sand with a fair smattering of flat fish.

A very enjoyable pair of dives.

Grey_Wulff

 

[divinman]

Date: 02/27/05
Dive Number: 234
Dive Location: Keyhole-Coronado Islands
Time: 0928
Bottom Time: 58 minutes
Avg Depth: 39ft
Max Depth: 68ft
Vis: 15-30
Wave height: small wind chop
Temp at depth: 58
Surface Temp: 59

Date: 02/27/05
Dive Number: 235
Dive Location: Keyhole-Coronado Islands
Time: 1127
Bottom Time: 65 minutes
Avg Depth: 33ft
Max Depth: 61ft
Vis: 10-20
Wave height: small wind chop
Temp at depth: 58
Surface Temp: 59
Comments:

Sean, Paul, Scott, Tyler, Roy and I met at the local charter service at 630 this morning to FINALLY get some decent diving. We opted to flee the brown/green slick of the shore dives. Our destination was the Coronado Islands just south of the border. The sea was calm and the sky was gray as we made the slow 1hr 45 minute boat trip south. First stop was Keyhole, named for the arched swim through at the tip of the island. The swell was rolling through the keyhole so Paul, Tyler and I opted to explore the wall south of the mooring. We dropped down through the hazy vis and it eventually opened up to a decent 25-30ft. The bottom topography here is very different than at Lobster Shack and we took out time peering into the nooks and crannies as the sea lions appeared and vanished in the hazy water. Huge schools of blacksmiths cruised the walls, passing large aggregations of red and orange gorgonians. One small cave sheltered a large horn shark snoozing through the morning. As we passed another bolder, a drop off appeared. Gazing outward, all we could see was the big blue ocean. Hovering at the edge I felt like a skydiver perched in the doorway just before the big first step. "stepping" forward we drifted like leaves down the vertical wall, pausing to look into the crevices that lines the surface like the wrinkles of a wizened old man. reaching the bottom and gazing upwards to the sun filtering down was one of those magical moments that thrill the heart and inspire us to return again and again to the sea.

Air running low and stomachs growling for lunch, we headed back to the boat.

Dive two was just like the first only with diminished vis but still a wonderful day to be in the water. The sun came out to warm us on the ride home.

Ahhhhhhh! Diving!

Terry

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Ross and I made an early dive after sunset. Reports of bad visibility were correct. We had 2-4 feet vis down to 80 feet and 6-8 feet between 80 and 100 feet, where we found most of the squid and fresh eggs. Maybe we were too early or maybe the boats overhead were too busy, but we saw several hundred squid, not the thousands we were hoping for. We also got shaken by a VERY loud seal bomb, in spite of Ross' call to the Harbormaster before the dive. I bumped my setting knob on my housing, so none of my U/W shots came out, but Ross will probably post his soon.
Max depth; 102 feet
Temp; 57F
Surf; 3-4 feet, but easy enough to get through

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Beautiful, Terry....absolutely beautifully worded. I could see you drifting like leaves...and found myself breathing very deeply, imagining the view upwards into the sun....Thank you.
Claudette

Date: 02/27/05
Dive Number: 234
Dive Location: Keyhole-Coronado Islands
Time: 0928
Bottom Time: 58 minutes
Avg Depth: 39ft
Max Depth: 68ft
Vis: 15-30
Wave height: small wind chop
Temp at depth: 58
Surface Temp: 59
...
The bottom topography here is very different than at Lobster Shack and we took out time peering into the nooks and crannies as the sea lions appeared and vanished in the hazy water. Huge schools of blacksmiths cruised the walls, passing large aggregations of red and orange gorgonians. One small cave sheltered a large horn shark snoozing through the morning. As we passed another bolder, a drop off appeared. Gazing outward, all we could see was the big blue ocean. Hovering at the edge I felt like a skydiver perched in the doorway just before the big first step. "stepping" forward we drifted like leaves down the vertical wall, pausing to look into the crevices that lines the surface like the wrinkles of a wizened old man. reaching the bottom and gazing upwards to the sun filtering down was one of those magical moments that thrill the heart and inspire us to return again and again to the sea.

Air running low and stomachs growling for lunch, we headed back to the boat.

Dive two was just like the first only with diminished vis but still a wonderful day to be in the water. The sun came out to warm us on the ride home.

Ahhhhhhh! Diving!

Terry

 

[Diver_Jan]

Thanks everyone for posting all of your dive reports. For the moment, I have to live through all of you. Ugh...it's tough.... :06:

I am going through such MAJOR withdrawls....who said that diving isn't addicting??? I definitely would not be a very good scuba rehab candidate! LOL

Hopefully I will get my *fix* next week!

In the meantime, continue with your wonderful reports!!! :dazzler1:

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I am going through such MAJOR withdrawls....who said that diving isn't addicting??? I definitely would not be a very good scuba rehab candidate! LOL

Rehab is for quitters!
A friend at work asked me how long I've been diving as a hobby. I thought for a moment and told him I couldn't consider it a hobby. It's more of an obsession. I work to pay for diving. When I'm not working I'm usually diving, or at least thinking and writing about it.

 

[Diver_Jan]

Rehab is for quitters!
I thought for a moment and told him I couldn't consider it a hobby. It's more of an obsession. I work to pay for diving. When I'm not working I'm usually diving, or at least thinking and writing about it.

Yep, it's my obsession, my passion...and NOTHING will EVER, EVER, EVER change that!!! (I gave it up ONCE for my ex husband...thankfully, I rediscovered the sport after 20 years and getting rid of the ex!)

 

[scottfiji]

Date: 2/28/05, 9:10PM
Dive Location: Redondo Canyon
Bottom Time: 44 mins
Max Depth: 101ft
Vis: see report
Temp: 57F

Sean, Paul, and I met up for a squid dive. Saw Ross in the parking lot, Frank & Jon Davies coming in from their dive, got some, uh, interesting reports. Dropped down at 25ft, vis was ok. Started seeing squid at around 40ft. Squid picked up at 60, vis dropped to 2-3 feet. went down to 1-2 feet at 80. vis at 90-100 feet was 0 feet, I couldn't even see my gauges, there was just piles and piles and dead squid, live squid, lots of ink - it was a mess! thousands and thousands of the little buggers. It's pretty cool seeing starfish munching on squid! I ended up going back to 30-35ft where I had several feet of vis, and there were lots of crabs, thornback rays, cusk eels, and a horn shark. Paul made a cool video I'm sure he will share with everyone. Paul, Sean - thanks for driving down!

Lots of sea lions were at the surface. I got shocked by 4 bombs near the end of my dive. Squid boats seemed to be really close in. We talked to the harbor patrol for a while, they keep checking on the boats, the boats legally park at 300yards from shore.

Scott