80% of life is showing up.
About two weeks ago, Claudette and I planned an early MarineLand dive for Saturday 12/13 - sort of a Pre-Wrinkles thing.
I announced it online on 12/5 - c'mon along.
Crickets.
On Saturday, Cody, Mel, Claudette and I had probably the best MarineLand dive I've had in over 6 months - maybe one of the best this year. Surely the last great shore dive of 2008 for me.
It was remarkable.
Pre-storm conditions had the ocean flat-flat. No wind, not even a puff. Very manageable surge mixed with the super high-tide and no wind made the place look like a table top. I couldn't wait to get in.
We loaded up and walked about a quarter of the way down the path (to the first sharp left) and pushed open the fence and walked across the construction zone. We parked our carts at the top of the parking lot, geared up and walked to the point for an entry.
We were all diving HP100's. My last visit here a couple of weeks ago was a nice dive, but conditions weren't impressive enough to make us linger, so we came back with 1500 PSI and had to carry all that and the 130's back up the hill. So Saturday we brought the baby tanks.
What a mistake. I wish I was diving double 130s. I never wanted to leave.
The entry at the point was cake - walk out, put one fin on, fall onto my back and let the draw take me out as I put the other fin on - and then make a leisurely kick to the drop. One of the easiest Point entries ever. I wish I had my camera and scooter for this one...
The 4 of us meet up, kick out a bit and drop. The plan is for me to lead us N/W to the edge of the sand - about 65 feet. We play and go pinnacle hopping for a bit until about 1700 PSI, then head slowly back towards 30 degrees towards cobble beach until we hit about 300 PSI, at which time we come up and surface kick the rest of the way.
We drop into water so clear you can count the boulders, then count the rocks. It was amazing. It also got dark - it was pretty cloudy, so once we were below 40 it became a twilight dive.
We get to 65-ish, and go pinnacle hopping. The Kelp is perfectly vertical, as we are on the slack for almost the entire dive. Nothing is moving except us. No surge, no current - just us. It was glorious. We kick through a Sea Lemon grove. We see Fed Ex. We see Sandy's, 'tata's and even some yellow dorids. 8 species of Nudis. And Octos? Oh baby - this place is loaded with them.
Cody comes over and signals to me he has 1700, and he and Mel are going to split for cobble beach. I look at my gas, I get Chica's reading - we got plenty. I take a toe count. At this time, she still has 10 - and I'm feeling pretty warm (we're diving wet today) so I put is back N/W a bit and we head out deeper for a little more.
What a good idea! OMG - the fish. We're mobbed by Sargo, Pile Perch, Rubber Lip perch, and Sheephead. Tons of them. The pinnacles off in the distance are too attractive, so we kick over. Then there are some more - we kick over. Then more, and more.... its like a drug. The water is clear, easy to kick in, we're not frozen, we got gas... I was in a trance. It was lovely.
We get to about 1900 and I turn us towards home. We move to about 40 feet, and we hit the elbow (you can tell from the kelp and the rock change.) This means we're soon going to be on Frat Row - the place where we found all the Octos a couple of weeks ago.
Sure enough, its all pizza boxes and beer cans (well, mostly just white bivalve shells strewn about) and we're here. One big octo after another in long rows of stacked rocks. I love this part of the dive. We're still pretty far out, but we're not deep, Dette still has 6 toes left and its octomania.
We come across a really large pile of shells. An arrestingly large pile. It was cartoon large - you could see it from 20 feet away. I roll up and look into a big crack in the rock and there is a very large octo. I get on my knees near the hole and feign a big fat guy with a stomach ache. I'm all rubbing my extended belly, wiping my forehead and I mouth into my reg, "I can't eat another bite..."
We crack up.
I then grab a shell fragment and hold it up for Claudette, and we both say into our regs, "but its wafffer tin...."
We crack up.
I then explode in a cloud of silt and shells, tossing both into the water column for effect.
We spit the bit.
After a few moments of aqueous recomposure, we move on.
I check gas - doing OK. I give her the sign which means "how many toes you got left?" - she pauses, looks to the sky in a thinking posture, then flashes me a fist.
Chica got no toes. And if Chica aint happy.....
I move us to about 25 feet. We're approaching an hour here. We have ample gas, but we're having too much fun. More stars, more Lobsters, more fish, more vertical kelp... it all too gorgeous.
I point at my cylinder... and I signal to her, "100 = bad. 130 = good." We agree - mo gas would be mo bettah. But we brought the jogging tanks, so its time to move to 25 and kick back as far as we can until we hit 300, then we cork and surface kick.
My toeless buddy signals when she reaches 300. We do a slow ascent through the kelp and pop at about 2/3 the way home. I'm really happy with this, as I hate the long surface kick home when its this perfect below.
We look over and we see Mel and Cody - they're still at the elbow. Guess they went site-seeing and then popped.
Chica and I reach the exit in about 6 or 7 minutes. We kick in, take off the fins and walk out without breaking stride. A perfect exit.
Where are all the people on a day like today? This place should be packed.
Nope.
We walk up the hill to our cart, unload, load and push the cart the short, mostly flat distance to the parking lot. When we get there, there is another car. Looks like Maxbottomtime (Phil) has come and went in while we were still under.
MarineLand couldn't have been more diveable. If you missed it, you missed something spectacular.
We packed up and went to Vets park. We got to Vets at about 10:30 and the wind was howling. We stayed a few hours and the wind just got more intense. We didn't do another dive - we just continued to glow (and gloat a bit) about the wonderful early dive at MarineLand. We had a very cool visit at Vets with some SoCal's, then several of us took down the easy up (THAT's fun in the wind) and descended enmasse to a small restaurant for lunch.
Cody, Mel - thanks for the dive. So glad you guys made it. Great to dive with you guys.
Chica - you were operating at about 80%, and you pushed through. Hope you're feeling better. I'd take 80% of you over 100% of anyone else I know for this dive. One of the best dives of the year for me. Thanks!
---
Ken
About two weeks ago, Claudette and I planned an early MarineLand dive for Saturday 12/13 - sort of a Pre-Wrinkles thing.
I announced it online on 12/5 - c'mon along.
Crickets.
On Saturday, Cody, Mel, Claudette and I had probably the best MarineLand dive I've had in over 6 months - maybe one of the best this year. Surely the last great shore dive of 2008 for me.
It was remarkable.
Pre-storm conditions had the ocean flat-flat. No wind, not even a puff. Very manageable surge mixed with the super high-tide and no wind made the place look like a table top. I couldn't wait to get in.
We loaded up and walked about a quarter of the way down the path (to the first sharp left) and pushed open the fence and walked across the construction zone. We parked our carts at the top of the parking lot, geared up and walked to the point for an entry.
We were all diving HP100's. My last visit here a couple of weeks ago was a nice dive, but conditions weren't impressive enough to make us linger, so we came back with 1500 PSI and had to carry all that and the 130's back up the hill. So Saturday we brought the baby tanks.
What a mistake. I wish I was diving double 130s. I never wanted to leave.
The entry at the point was cake - walk out, put one fin on, fall onto my back and let the draw take me out as I put the other fin on - and then make a leisurely kick to the drop. One of the easiest Point entries ever. I wish I had my camera and scooter for this one...
The 4 of us meet up, kick out a bit and drop. The plan is for me to lead us N/W to the edge of the sand - about 65 feet. We play and go pinnacle hopping for a bit until about 1700 PSI, then head slowly back towards 30 degrees towards cobble beach until we hit about 300 PSI, at which time we come up and surface kick the rest of the way.
We drop into water so clear you can count the boulders, then count the rocks. It was amazing. It also got dark - it was pretty cloudy, so once we were below 40 it became a twilight dive.
We get to 65-ish, and go pinnacle hopping. The Kelp is perfectly vertical, as we are on the slack for almost the entire dive. Nothing is moving except us. No surge, no current - just us. It was glorious. We kick through a Sea Lemon grove. We see Fed Ex. We see Sandy's, 'tata's and even some yellow dorids. 8 species of Nudis. And Octos? Oh baby - this place is loaded with them.
Cody comes over and signals to me he has 1700, and he and Mel are going to split for cobble beach. I look at my gas, I get Chica's reading - we got plenty. I take a toe count. At this time, she still has 10 - and I'm feeling pretty warm (we're diving wet today) so I put is back N/W a bit and we head out deeper for a little more.
What a good idea! OMG - the fish. We're mobbed by Sargo, Pile Perch, Rubber Lip perch, and Sheephead. Tons of them. The pinnacles off in the distance are too attractive, so we kick over. Then there are some more - we kick over. Then more, and more.... its like a drug. The water is clear, easy to kick in, we're not frozen, we got gas... I was in a trance. It was lovely.
We get to about 1900 and I turn us towards home. We move to about 40 feet, and we hit the elbow (you can tell from the kelp and the rock change.) This means we're soon going to be on Frat Row - the place where we found all the Octos a couple of weeks ago.
Sure enough, its all pizza boxes and beer cans (well, mostly just white bivalve shells strewn about) and we're here. One big octo after another in long rows of stacked rocks. I love this part of the dive. We're still pretty far out, but we're not deep, Dette still has 6 toes left and its octomania.
We come across a really large pile of shells. An arrestingly large pile. It was cartoon large - you could see it from 20 feet away. I roll up and look into a big crack in the rock and there is a very large octo. I get on my knees near the hole and feign a big fat guy with a stomach ache. I'm all rubbing my extended belly, wiping my forehead and I mouth into my reg, "I can't eat another bite..."
We crack up.
I then grab a shell fragment and hold it up for Claudette, and we both say into our regs, "but its wafffer tin...."
We crack up.
I then explode in a cloud of silt and shells, tossing both into the water column for effect.
We spit the bit.
After a few moments of aqueous recomposure, we move on.
I check gas - doing OK. I give her the sign which means "how many toes you got left?" - she pauses, looks to the sky in a thinking posture, then flashes me a fist.
Chica got no toes. And if Chica aint happy.....
I move us to about 25 feet. We're approaching an hour here. We have ample gas, but we're having too much fun. More stars, more Lobsters, more fish, more vertical kelp... it all too gorgeous.
I point at my cylinder... and I signal to her, "100 = bad. 130 = good." We agree - mo gas would be mo bettah. But we brought the jogging tanks, so its time to move to 25 and kick back as far as we can until we hit 300, then we cork and surface kick.
My toeless buddy signals when she reaches 300. We do a slow ascent through the kelp and pop at about 2/3 the way home. I'm really happy with this, as I hate the long surface kick home when its this perfect below.
We look over and we see Mel and Cody - they're still at the elbow. Guess they went site-seeing and then popped.
Chica and I reach the exit in about 6 or 7 minutes. We kick in, take off the fins and walk out without breaking stride. A perfect exit.
Where are all the people on a day like today? This place should be packed.
Nope.
We walk up the hill to our cart, unload, load and push the cart the short, mostly flat distance to the parking lot. When we get there, there is another car. Looks like Maxbottomtime (Phil) has come and went in while we were still under.
MarineLand couldn't have been more diveable. If you missed it, you missed something spectacular.
We packed up and went to Vets park. We got to Vets at about 10:30 and the wind was howling. We stayed a few hours and the wind just got more intense. We didn't do another dive - we just continued to glow (and gloat a bit) about the wonderful early dive at MarineLand. We had a very cool visit at Vets with some SoCal's, then several of us took down the easy up (THAT's fun in the wind) and descended enmasse to a small restaurant for lunch.
Cody, Mel - thanks for the dive. So glad you guys made it. Great to dive with you guys.
Chica - you were operating at about 80%, and you pushed through. Hope you're feeling better. I'd take 80% of you over 100% of anyone else I know for this dive. One of the best dives of the year for me. Thanks!
---
Ken
