FEB 05 Dive Reports

[MaxBottomtime]

Hi Jan, I don't think the squid even came this year (or last). I still have yet to see (in three seasons) maxbottomtime's famous "squid soup" Ask max to post the pics, amazing

Be forewarned though, Redondo is a GREAT night dive and generally a CRUMMY day dive. THe trash hides the critters at night, during the day it's just trash

Chris

Scroll to the bottom of this page. The squid were so thick that despite the good vis I couldn't see more than a few feet. From 100 feet up to around 60, the squid enveloped us like fog.


http://www.scubadivernet.com/photos/userphotos/index.html

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Hi Jan, If the rain takes some breaks, I'm ready for Friday and/or Saturday night dives.... Claudette

Good Morning, Jan. Rain cascaded onto our roof All Night long...waterfall-like in its constancy......can you spell "run-off"...ugh! So let's keep looking forward to a night dive....maybe NEXT weekend? *C*

 

[mccabejc]

What, a little rain ???

You guys worry too much...

 

[hermosadive]

Scroll to the bottom of this page. The squid were so thick that despite the good vis I couldn't see more than a few feet. From 100 feet up to around 60, the squid enveloped us like fog.

http://www.scubadivernet.com/photos/userphotos/index.html

Sure, lots of squid in 2001. This year I never saw more than 5 squid at one time. Lots of eggs thought, so I guess its timing. Too bad considering we dive there no less than once a week, sometimes more.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

What, a little rain ???

You guys worry too much...

Yeah, must be the company I'm fortunate enough to keep....rubbing off on me a bit, eh??? Actually, I'm calculating the tides, figuring that if I slip into the canyon on the top of the pushing high-tide, the clear canyon water should displace the mucky run-off and open up the viz.... theoretically... hmmmmmm... that would mean splashing at 11PM tonight or 11:45 PM tomorrow night... could be done! Let me go look up 'fanatic' in the dictionary...

 

[shoupart]

Date: Malaga Cove
Dive Location: 2/11/05
Time: 10pm
Bottom Time: 30
Max Depth: 20
Vis: 3-5
Wave height: 2feet
Temp at depth: 58
Surface Temp:60
Tide information: High tide
Comments: Dismal conditions still at Malaga. Went to look around since I hadn't been there in a while, and knew it was going to rain today, so we went last night. It wasn't worth going still- maybe 5 feet of viz at very best. Some cool life was around, like the horn sharks, but no decent sized lobsters. Might have just been too murky to see them! We called it off after around 30 minutes.

 

[Frank O]

Date: Feb. 13, 2005
Dive Location: Old Marineland
Time: 9:15 a.m.
Bottom Time: 45 min
Max Depth: 50 ft
Vis: 5-10 ft on reef, ~3 ft in cove
Temp at depth: 57 F

Choosing among the least of various evils, Jon and I headed to Old Marineland this morning to see if we could get halfway decent post-storm diving. In the parking lot ran into scottfiji, hermosadive and others from scubaboard, as well as some tech friends running lines to prepare for a cave class in Mexico. Saw some dolphins on the surface near the point.

Got a clean launch off the rocks at the point, headed out to about 35 ft, dropped, swam to 50 ft, then angled back in toward the cove. Not much in the way of memorable marine life, due at least in part to vis constraints. In the shallows Jon practiced shooting a bag while I worked out details of buoyancy with new wetsuit. Made a definitely non-graceful exit onto the beach -- self-grading would say A+ on the entry, C- to D on the exit, leaving a B to B- for the day ....

 

[scottfiji]

Date: Feb. 13, 2005
Dive Location: Old Marineland / Long Point
Time: 9:05 a.m.
Bottom Time: 65 min
Max Depth: 67 ft
Vis: 5-10 ft on reef, ~3 ft in cove
Temp at depth: 57 F (felt warm!)

Saw lots of familiar faces in the parking lot. Jon, Frank-o nice meeting you finally. Entered with Team-DiveVets. Cesar and I got more practise entering at the point, we both torpedoed out through the waves! Dolphins upon entry, sea lions upon exit. A third diver (greg - divercooke) joined our group 5 minutes into the dive, his other group lost him!

Found some new pinnacles at around 64ft. Saw 1 scorpionfish, black croakers, 3 octopus, several spanish shawl, lobster, 1 lemon nudibranch, some cool sponges. An overabundance of painted greenling. Lots of juvie blacksmith & sheephead. Not as much life as normal! Larger waves made exiting fun. Just when you think you're out, it sucks you back in. Luckily a diver was waiting there to point us to the sandy area, thanks alot!

Scott

 

[MaxBottomtime]

"Got a clean launch off the rocks at the point, headed out to about 35 ft, dropped, swam to 50 ft, then angled back in toward the cove. Not much in the way of memorable marine life, due at least in part to vis constraints. In the shallows Jon practiced shooting a bag while I worked out details of buoyancy with new wetsuit. Made a definitely non-graceful exit onto the beach -- self-grading would say A+ on the entry, C- to D on the exit, leaving a B to B- for the day .... "

I was thinking the entry was more of a C, but since you didn't get maimed I'll give you the A-.
I wasn't too worried for you, figuring the new wetsuit would cushion any fall but I had a bad feeling about your camera. Did you get any macro shots?

 

[Frank O]

I was thinking the entry was more of a C, but since you didn't get maimed I'll give you the A-.

Hey! Nothing got donated to the sea deities, and no shin scrapes. I've had much dicier entries from these rocks ...

I wasn't too worried for you, figuring the new wetsuit would cushion any fall but I had a bad feeling about your camera. Did you get any macro shots?

A recurrence of strobe problems ... DS-125 wasn't firing when level was controlled by manual controller. So I had to set it to full or 1/2 and then go from there. Did a few shots of tube worms. But my take on the results at best would have to be -- now where's that backscatter removal tool?