JANUARY 2006 Dive Reports

[LLKZ16]

I too had my first dive with my new Atomic spring straps like scubacalifornia above and I can not express enough how FRIGGEN GREAT they are. It was the best damn money I have ever spent.)

Where can I get one of those ?

You have 2 choices for purchasing Atomic straps:

http://www.pioneer-scuba.com/

The Pioneer straps are easy because you just crimp the ends and off you go. I went this route.

http://www.divesports.com/mall/innovative_acc_springstrapsatomic.asp

The innovative straps look great but in my opinion it would be better if you did not attach them to the original buckles as the dive sport site suggests. I tried to disassemble the buckles like the info on the site and quickly saw that I would F#$* them up. If you crack the plastic then you will need to buy new ones. Also, if you were able to make them work with the original buckles, then they still can come off. I feel that the reason to have the straps in the first place is so they will NEVER come off.

If you want to go the Innovative route, I suggest that you rig the ends as seen on the site below:

http://www.briananddebbie.com/images/Scuba/Homemade/Fin Straps/fin_straps.htm

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[Diver_Jan]

Sunday am



Diver's Cove/ Fisherman's/ Shaw's Cove



Surf: minimal to non existant(Don't believe those swell models from the OC Register!)

Swell: nada

Surge: minimal to nada

Current: nada

Viz: 15-20+

Temp: 57 Suunto

Depth: 36'

Bottom Time: 66 minutes on my little 72 with almost 1000 left ;o)



Met up with 3 divers from South Coast Divers (http://www.southcoastdivers.com). Due to one of the divers being fairly new, we decided to dive Diver's Cove. Made our way in in non-existant surf; dropped down into 20+ foot viz. Stellar! Made our way over to the reef at the southern end of Diver's Cove. Enjoyed spotting all the usual suspects including several octopuss, blacksmith, giribaldi's, JV's, rockfish, ect. Came upon the most unusual looking Sheep Crab that I had seen. It was a light BLUE color!!! And of course, I didn't have my camera with me. Scott who was in the group was shooting film, so hopefully maybe he will be able to share the pics with us if they turn out. We continued exploring the reef, when Scott and Mathias hit their turn around time. Brian and I continued to dive together exploring the west side into Fisherman's and then over to Shaw's Cove. Since I was diving with my 72, I thought we would exit at Shaw's and walk back to Diver's, but we had plenty of air to make a slow turn around back to Diver's. We passed Mermaid's Grotto, I really really wanted to go in, but due to not knowing how long it would take us to get back to Diver's, we skipped it. It did seem doable today.



All and all a great dive!!! I finally got my fixx. I've been drydocked since the 17th of December due to high surf, holiday, and visiting family out of state. It's so good to be back in the water!!! It's been way too LOOOOOOOONG!



Thanks to Brian, Scott, and Mathias for being my buddies today!

 

[Diver_Jan]

Date: Sunday, 1/8/06

Time: 7:56 AM

Dive Location: Deadman's Reef / Laguna

Buddy: Ron Hawkins

Bottom Time: 1:15

Max Depth: 57'

Viz: 10'-15'

Wave height: 1'-2'

Surge: 0'-4' (only on top of the reef in pockets)

Temp at depth: 57 degrees Suunto

Really didn't know what to expect with the CDIP model still showing 4-6' swell as of 6am this morning and the bad conditions we've had the last few weeks. Very pleasant surprise....little surface chop, reasonable viz and small surf. It was however very foggy this morning; couldn't see the beach from the drop down point, so we lined up with the outer Seal Rock as always, guess-timated E-W position, and nailed the reef. Lots of little bugs, couple octos and a moray, and overall lots of fishies out today. Ran into Robb, Kathy, Steve S. and other familiar faces. First dive with spring straps on my Atomics; new product from XS Scuba. Very nice. Buckles be gone forever!

Go out and dive while the dive gods are smiling.

Kevin

Happy New Year Kevi!

Can't believe we missed each other AGAIN! LOL Hmmm...if you had gone around the East side of Cresent, you might have seen Brian and I tooling around on our massive dive tour of Diver's/ Fisherman's/ and then Shaw's. Oh great fun!!! I hadn't done that in a long time.

See ya at the mtg Wednesday??? The QUARTERLY is MINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.....teehee!

 

[scubacalifornia]

I too had my first dive with my new Atomic spring straps like scubacalifornia above and I can not express enough how FRIGGEN GREAT they are. It was the best damn money I have ever spent.)

Where can I get one of those ?

I highly recommend the new spring straps from XS Scuba, which is what I just bought. These puppies are rock solid. They have a heavy duty metal piece that goes around the fin post and seem pretty indestructable. Also, they don't have anything on the spring like a looped pull tab that can get caught on things. $47.95 at Scuba.com. They come with attachments for three types of fins in case you change what you're using down the line.

Happy New Year Kevi!

Can't believe we missed each other AGAIN! LOL Hmmm...if you had gone around the East side of Cresent, you might have seen Brian and I tooling around on our massive dive tour of Diver's/ Fisherman's/ and then Shaw's. Oh great fun!!! I hadn't done that in a long time.

See ya at the mtg Wednesday??? The QUARTERLY is MINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.....teehee!

Hi ya Jan. Seems everybody was to be found in Laguna this morning. We all needed a fix! And maybe you can quit your job by simply cashing in all the prizes you win at the dive club meetings See ya on Weds I hope.

Kevin

 

[jenazah]

Thanks a lot.

You have 2 choices for purchasing Atomic straps:

http://www.pioneer-scuba.com/

The Pioneer straps are easy because you just crimp the ends and off you go. I went this route.

http://www.divesports.com/mall/innovative_acc_springstrapsatomic.asp

The innovative straps look great but in my opinion it would be better if you did not attach them to the original buckles as the dive sport site suggests. I tried to disassemble the buckles like the info on the site and quickly saw that I would F#$* them up. If you crack the plastic then you will need to buy new ones. Also, if you were able to make them work with the original buckles, then they still can come off. I feel that the reason to have the straps in the first place is so they will NEVER come off.

If you want to go the Innovative route, I suggest that you rig the ends as seen on the site below:

http://www.briananddebbie.com/images/Scuba/Homemade/Fin Straps/fin_straps.htm

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[pasley]

Date: 11 Jan 2006
Dive Location: Redondo Beach Vets Park
Buddy(ies): LaJim & Kevfin
Time: 7:46 p.m.
Bottom Time: 14:40
Max Depth: 75 fsw
Vis: 10 feet give or take
Wave height: 2-3 feet
Temp at depth: 55F Suunto degrees
Surface Temp: 57F Suunto degrees
Tide information:
14:14 (2:14 p.m.)PST -0.88 feet Low Tide 20:58 (8:58pm)PST
3.61 feet High Tide 2006-01-12 01:06(a.m.) PST
Gibbons Moon (Full Moon)
Gas mix: 21% Air
Comments:
Well that was interesting. Four of us met up at Vets park at the appointed time. One had a slow leak in the inflator hose so he aborted before we even suited up. With hopes of catching a squid run there was a bunch of divers there including the normal Wednesday DiveVets crowd, Dive-N-Surf with a sponsored dive complete with a dive master and oxygen set and us Sandeaters/Scubaboarders. Three entered the water, descended into 47 feet right on the edge of the canyon. Dropped down to 75 feet, visibility was 10 feet or so. We started for deeper water and hopefully better visibility. Shortly after that we experienced a buddy separation, and initiated lost diver procedures. It was 405 Freeway crowded with divers down there so we spent some time spent checking out dive lights that belonged to other dive groups thinking the light might belong to the missing diver. After a short interval of searching, including a 3 minute safety stop we surfaced. We could see tank lights getting out of the water and thought that might be the missing diver. We continued to wait on the surface and do a surface search for a few minutes before heading for shore hoping that the lights we saw were our missing buddy. Found our buddy already back at shore safe and sound, well as sound and any diver can be given that we are divers. Followed up with dinner at a local establishment for the post dive observation period to ensure no one in the group had any symptoms of DCS. But in the end, it was a great time. We got wet (briefly ok it was 14:40 minutes) and had good company. This was my first post certification dry suit dive. It was nice and great to get out of the water dry. Still not buying one in the near future, but I can see I am going to love it in Washingtion State next month. In short, you should have been there or somewhere diving last night.

 

[Kevfin]

Date: 11 Jan 2006
Dive Location: Redondo Beach Vets Park
Buddy(ies): LaJim & Pasley
Time: 7:46 p.m.
Bottom Time: 14:40
Max Depth: 75 fsw
Vis: 10 feet give or take
Wave height: 2-3 feet
Temp at depth: 55F Versa Pro degrees
Surface Temp: 57F Versa Pro degrees
Tide information:
14:14 (2:14 p.m.)PST -0.88 feet Low Tide 20:58 (8:58pm)PST
3.61 feet High Tide 2006-01-12 01:06(a.m.) PST
Gibbons Moon (Full Moon)
Gas mix: 21% Air
Comments: See above. Melvin pretty much summed it up. After fighting 405 and surface street traffic, I was looking forward to this dive. My buddy(not yet a S/B member) had an inflator problem that couldn’t be resolved. Dive conditions weren’t great, however they weren’t bad either. Easy entry and exit. Great beach lighting. Nice moon. Lots of other divers. We saw one reddish spiney looking fish thingy.
Dinner afterwards was the highlight.
I really like night diving. I’m ready to go again.

 

[drbill]

Last weekend vis was fairly lousy (10-15') below about 80 ft. Haven't been in since. Heard a report from the dive park at Casino Point that vis today was at least 40 ft. Don't let the weather forecasts scare anyone away from coming out to the island!

 

[scubanimal]

I'll be diving the park Sunday. - a little rain shouldn't spoil a fun time getting wet

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: January 14, 2006
Dive Location: Pipe Farm
Buddy(ies): Ross-O
Time: 10:22
Bottom Time: :30
Max Depth: 130'
Vis: 6-8'
Wave height: 1'
Temp at depth: 58F
Surface Temp: 58F
Comments: This was my first dive since Christmas. Three weeks out of the water makes Phil an unhappy boy! It was also a test dive of sorts. I removed the P-valve hose from my drysuit and filled the plug with Aquaseal. That seemed to help. I got a little damp, but no standing water in my left boot this dive. I still need to replace my neckseal. I also replaced the switch in my HID light yesterday. I couldn't find the right size switch, so I installed a slightly smaller one. The light burned the entire dive and didn't get a drop of water inside. That was a huge relief. At 130' the buttons on my housing still stick, so no pictures today. They probably wouldn't have been nice anyway. The blue water at the surface gave way to dirty water below 80 feet. If it weren't for the patch of squid eggs and giant metridiums all over the pipes we may not have seen them at all. At least nothing leaked. And I didn't find a thermocline, so it felt fine at the bottom. When I surfaced at the swim step I was greeted by dolphins. Beth-O, who was our surface support today told me they were all around the boat the entire time we were down. It was great to be back in the water, but whatever happened to the cold, clear water we usually get in the Winter in SoCal?