JANUARY 2006 Dive Reports

[DiverBuoy]

Date: Jan 29th 2006
Buddy: Tiburon72152 (and another friend)
Location: South Crescent, Laguna Beach
Depth & Time: 38 ft / 58 min
Temp: 55 F
Conditions: Surgy
Visibility: 5-10 ft / like split pea soup

Sorry, belated report on Sunday's morning dive. Not a lot to say ... another commerical dive in murky water. After a week of good diving reports from all the shops and from people getting out of the water, I finally got my opportunity only by then it had turned bad ... just my fortune. Nothing of note was seen. Did find for the second time a little pristine swim through I like, with a big "safe" bug inside. I love how all the sponges are untouched and clean ... few divers find this one to bang with their tanks and fins I'm sure. Buddy found a fish net with pole. I found a prescription mask in about 22 feet on the sand. I'll make a post to see if I can reunite the owner. Going on a boat this weekend Saturday ... hope it will be much nicer in Catalina.

 

[divinman]

Date: 01/30/2006
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores/Boat Launch North
Buddy(ies): Tyler Stalter
Time: 19:46
Bottom Time: 55 minutes
Max Depth: 112
Vis: 10-15
Wave height: 1-3
Temp at depth: 52F
Surface Temp: 56F
Temp at Truck 54F
Tide information: didnt check
Gas mix: Air
Comments:

Images: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/01302006/

Tyler and I made an impromptu dive to the shores last night. The sea was pretty flat with occasional 2 footers and no real punch where we entered down at the boat launch. Gearing up we insured all valuables were locked away and scanned the area for would-be thieves before strolling into the surf.

The water was extremely clear shallow and once past the "break" it was smooth and calm with no wind. We kicked out to the canyon edge and dropped in. Visibility at depth was green and a bit milky but still a respectable shores 15ft. We turned north just over the edge and explored along the wall. Lots of nudibranchs, rockfish, scorpionfish more octopus than you can shake a fin at were seen. Temp was a chilly 52 below 75ft but not bad in the drysuit. We cruised along south, taking pictures and leaving bubbles until we reached our turn around time and headed back into the sand flats for some off gassing and shallow exploration. LOTS of lobster in the sand tonight. Short and legal both. Brown shrimp and rays were also in abundance. Over the rock piles Tyler found a nice bowl. We took pictures and left it undisturbed where found. Soon we were back shallow enough and stood up and walked out. The surf had picked up some but was still no threat to dives who pay attention.

Winter diving in drysuits is the way to go. It was only 2 degrees warmer at my truck than in was in the canyon. Dry is warm and warm is nice.

Oh! and I found a flashlight! If your last name is RENTAL describe it and I will see about returning it.

Terry S.

 

[Peter McGuinness]

Terry, great report; I always switch quickly from divebums to scubaboard to get the version with pictures. One of these days I'll beat you there!

It's a great picture of the sculpin; do you have an ID? It looks to me like a sailfin except for the lack of the eye bar. What do you think Threadfin? Spotfin?

Peter

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: January 31, 2006
Dive Location: Redondo Canyon
Buddy(ies): HBBirfdayGirl
Time: 5:50
Bottom Time: 1:00
Max Depth: 74'
Vis: 10-15' in places
Wave height: 1-4'
Temp at depth: 54F
Comments: As the Sun set on Claudette's #*th year we entered the water about one minute too soon. The large set of waves wasn't quite finished, but no divers were harmed in the making of this dive report. We made a shorter than usual surface swim, just for Claudette's Birthday. We dropped down a short distance away from the Monument, where we planted some fiberglass coral I "found" on the Marineland property. I was hoping to get a picture of an octopus checking out some Brain coral, but they were shy tonight.
We meandered along, finding a squid here, a squid there, two more there, a couple dozen total. For some reason, the usual cast of characters were nowhere to be seen tonight. We didn't find any octopus in the sand, only a few small Batrays, no lobsters and we didn't find any Sheepcrabs until the last few minutes of ther dive.
We did have a great time playing with the Pipefish, squid, Fringeheads and the shrimp. Claudette and I were in team mode tonight. We must have been, because we both thumbed the dive at the same time. All in all, it was a great dive with great company. We debriefed at Hennesey's and I finally got to meet her son Jacques. Once again, Happy Birthday. Killer!

 

[mccabejc]

Dang, the photos you guys are pumping out are increbidle !!! Between Terry's stubby squid with the Cujo eyes and that beautiful sea pen and the guitarfish and and Max's sunsets and the octopus and TeqP's spanish shawl and and.... this stuff is like breathtaking.

No, really, I can't breathe here....

I still can't get over that mini squid. Kinda reminds me of a Nautilus or something. Very cool.

 

[Archangel]

Hi Melvin,

Glad to hear that you're considering the dry side. Drysuits are of limited use for beach diving but rock for multi-dive days on the boats. The plumbing thing is no big deal and is pretty reliable. Contact me off list if you need more info.

Ross-O

Dear Ross:

I am a newbie (25 dives), and just purchased a drysuit. I was fully intending to use it with 80% beach, 20% boat now because the drysuit has now drained my foodstamp budget.

This the first I have heard of not using it for beach dives. Could you educate me why not?

I can understand the hazards of geting Maytag'd or clipping it on a shallow reef, but am I missing something big?

Thanks for taking the time to explain,

Tevis

 

[Frank O]

Hey Tevis,

I'm not Ross, but I'll jump in with my two cents.

There are three reasons I tend to use my wetsuit on the beach, and my drysuit on boats.

1) As you point out, drysuits sometimes get ripped when making challenging entries/exits -- the rocky point at Old Marineland on a frisky day, for example. Not an issue on most sandy beaches, though.

2) I have to add a fair amount of weight (almost 10 pounds) to my drysuit as compared to my 7mm wetsuit to get the same buoyancy in the water. For those of us with dodgy knees, it helps to keep weight down on beach hikes (which often involve a significant post-dive climb up a bluff). I know other people have to add less weight -- don't know why so much in my case. I'm not blowing the drysuit up like a Michelin man -- just a squirt or two of air to keep from being too shrink-wrapped.

3) Overall, given a choice, I'd usually dive the wetsuit rather than the drysuit -- I just like the simplicity, less to think about underwater while taking pictures, etc. However, I've found that with a p-valve the drysuit is a lot more comfortable to lounge around in on an all-day boat trip -- I put it on in the morning and never take it off until I go home, and generally it's nicer to be in between dives. So, I wear the drysuit on boats year-round no matter how warm it is, and wear the wetsuit for beach diving as much as I can stand it.

Cheers,

Frank

 

[Archangel]

Dear Frank:

A grateful thanks, I never really thought about 10-15 extra pounds trying to climb 1001 stairs back up the street, or the rocks at OML.

Makes a ton of sense.

Tevis