JANUARY 2006 Dive Reports

[TeqP]

Date: Jan 21, 2006
Dive Location: Heisler Park
Time: 8:35 am
Bottom Time: 62:00
Max Depth: 36 ft
Vis: 5-8 ft.
Wave height: 2-3’
Temp at depth: 54 degrees Suunto
Surface Temp: 55 air

Met up with Scubainspired (Thomas) for some diving in Laguna. This was my first dive with my new DiveRite BP/W and Thomas with his new steel HP100 (I guess Santa was nice to both of us ). We headed straight out from the stairs at Heisler Park and swam to the reef. Dropped down to find not the best visibility, but since we were wet, might as well take advantage. Both Thomas and I were over weighted as we tested our new gear. We found the reef and started to explore and ran into a few lobster traps. Seems like the bugs are getting smart as most we hiding deep in the reef crevices and not in the traps. We saw some of the usual suspects and a nice size octo hiding in some rocks.

Date: Jan 21, 2006
Dive Location: Heisler Park, Diver’s Cove
Time: 10:44 am
Bottom Time: 36:00
Max Depth: 30 ft
Vis: 5-10 ft.
Wave height: 1-3’
Temp at depth: 54 degrees Suunto
Surface Temp: 55 air

Even though the viz was not the best, we decided to try another dive near Diver’s Cove. The viz seemed to be a little better here, but the water was a little on the chilly side. We had decided that this was going to be a short dive because we wanted to beat traffic. We explored the reef and saw some of the usual suspects. It turned out to be a nice day for diving even though the viz wasn’t the best.

Thanks to Christian for helping me adjust the webbing for my BP/W. I need just a minor adjustment to get it to fit a little bit better. Looking forward to the Mo2vation boat dive next weekend. I’m sure the viz will be better.

 

[Kevfin]

Date: January 21, 2006
Dive Location: Deer Creek, Ventura County
Buddy(ies): Josh, Kevin, Mark, and Adam
Time: 7:20am, 9:00am
Bottom Time: 24min 1st, 30min 2nd
Depth: 28', 30'
Vis: 4'-10' at the most
Wave height: 2-4'
Temp at depth: 51F


Well, my thoughts on this day is better to dive, get wet, and not see anything, than to dry up and jones for another week. Besides the company is always great!

:monkeydan :fruit: :jump013:

Agreed Rick!!! Yucky dive, but great company!

Got to meet Adam and Mark too!

Thanks guys for making a poor viz dive worth it...

I'd do it again! :monkeydan

 

[headhunter]

Thanks to Christian for helping me adjust the webbing for my BP/W. I need just a minor adjustment to get it to fit a little bit better. Looking forward to the Mo2vation boat dive next weekend. I’m sure the viz will be better.

It's my pleasure to help anyone when possible. It sounds like it was pretty close.

How was your weighting on the second dive?

Next week is gonna rock!

Christian

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: January 22, 2006
Dive Location: Caissons
Buddy(ies): HilaryRN71
Time: 10:20
Bottom Time: :26
Max Depth: 134'
Vis: 50' or more!!!
Wave height: Boat, so we don't care.
Temp at depth: 52F
Surface Temp: 58F
Comments: Now that was a fun dive! I always enjoy showing my buddies the sites I love to dive. My favorites offshore dive is the Caissons.

http://ub88.org/thecaissons.html

http://diver.net/ross/Caissons/caissons.htm

My friend Marc took us out there this morning. He decided to act as surface support and skip the first dive. Big mistake. We had some of the best conditions I've seen there in a long time. We dropped right down to the opening of the broken third section. I checked the anchor, then we headed up to the top of the wall. The entire structure is covered with scallops, corynactis anemones in every shade possible and large metridiums. We decided to make one lap around the structure before heading up. Hilary spotted a large Copper rockfish cruising below us. A school of baitfish covered most of the surface. As we neared the all-too-soon end of our bottom time I was going to move the anchor, but the chain was next to a large Cabezon guarding his eggs, so I left it alone. We made a slow ascent and hung out watching for anything that might float by. Ony a small salp came to visit.
We headed to the Fog wreck for a second dive, but the water there was dirty. We found sand at 99 feet in about six feet vis, but no wreck. Disappointing, but it still couldn't spoil the great dive we had made earlier. Hilary now has experienced something that most SoCal divers will never see, and will soon have a coin as a momento. She bought two of the Santa Monica Breakwall tokens from Ebay that are featured in the UB88 link.

 

[TeqP]

How was your weighting on the second dive?

It was better. I probably could drop another pound or two. I will wait until I get a little more time with the weight as is before dropping.

Next week is gonna rock!

Definitely looking forward to this coming Saturday.

 

[divinman]

John, Cynthia and I made the short trip out to New Hope Rock. Although the vis wasn't stellar and the surge was .....dramatic, I managed a few images. I will let John A. spin one of his marvelous yarns for the dive details.

The better ones can be found here: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/01222006/

All of them can be found here: http://photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/New Hope Rock 012206/

Terry S.

 

[Roughwaterjohn]

New Hope Rock 01-22-06

Conditions:
2’ high tide @ 0900 hrs, rising to 4’ @ 1300 hrs
1.9 knot flood tide until 1215hrs, 1.3 knot ebb after slack tide
3’-5’ swells, with the emphasis on 5’
Clear, sunny day, no appreciable wind present
Visibility at depth, 10’ to occasional 15’
Temperature at depth, 52 degrees
Dive 1, 34’ max depth for 54 minutes
Dive 2, 34’ max depth for 48 minutes

Photos:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v116/krowsea/New Hope 01-22-06/

The Report:
Terry, Cynthia and I headed out this morning for a couple of dives off the Point Loma kelp. It was cold and clear this morning. In fact, it was so cold and so clear, that I found myself slipping and sliding on a thin sheet of ice as I tried to clean the foredeck prior to departure. A quick wash down of the deck so we wouldn’t kill ourselves, and we were leaving the Kona Kai Marina by 0800hrs.

Our original destination was the Ancient Sea Cliffs, but the site description for the Lat/Long coordinates we had, didn’t match the bottom structure or depth contour the Glenna Jane’s instruments were revealing. We weren’t interested in a sand dive, so we re-plotted a new waypoint into the GPS and headed for New Hope Rock. While enroute, Tyler and Steve pulled alongside in their little speedboat, and we chatted back and forth before they headed to their dive destination and we headed towards ours.

We dropped anchor between two of the biggest rocks at New Hope and were in the water in short order. The swells were rocking the boat, but we were expecting milder conditions under the surface. As Terry said, the swells were running deep today. At our max depth of 34’, we were constantly in motion and at the mercy of the swells. We were never able to swim at the speed we intended, forced to either rocket passed what we wanted to see or struggling against the swell to make progress. The lee side of the rocks afforded no more protection than the seaward side.

I tried to take photographs today but reviewing the images during the dive, they reminded me of the photos I tried to take as a kid, aiming my little camera out the window of my Dad’s car as we hurtled down a Nevada highway, hell-bent for Vegas. A lot of blurs and streaks of color were pretty much the only images coming up on the viewfinder. I got a couple of keepers, by luck more than an ability to find a secure spot, but I declined to take the camera on the second dive.

New Hope is a great, shallow, rock dive. The surrounding area is a forest of kelp, while the chain of rocks that make up New Hope are a bounty of tunnels, caves and precarious overhangs, creating a wealth of hiding spots for life. Schools of Blacksmith and Senoritas circle their wagons around the rocks, while every nook and cranny contains Lobster, Garibaldi, Sheephead, Morays and the occasional Octopus, or an ever-changing combination of all of the preceding. On previous dives, we’ve spotted an abundance of Nudibranchs, but the relentless swells precluded us from finding anything but a lone Spanish Shawl today. Kind of like using an F-16 to locate squirrels in a forest. They’re there, you just wont see them.

On our second dive it, was just Terry and me, as Cynthia decided to sit this one out. Being the only wetsuit diver aboard today, it seemed a prudent decision. We headed south, away from the port side of the boat to explore some big structures we noticed during our initial ascent and safety stop. 5 minutes into the dive, and Terry and I found ourselves without the other self. It had been such a long time since Terry and I had been diving where we both weren’t using cameras, I had forgotten the lessons we had learned. With two cameras, we dive together, as we both go slow. When one of us doesn’t have a camera, that person usually follows the photographer. Such wasn’t the case today. Terry stopped to take a picture, I didn’t stop while Terry took a picture. A few seconds later I turned around to look at Terry and discovered there was no Terry looking back at me. In big swells and low vis, a couple of seconds can be a lifetime.

We both surfaced, reconnected and dropped back down to continue our dive, this time with the non photographer, me, in his appropriate position. We found a beautiful rock debris field littered with bright purple Urchins and Sea Cucumbers. Even though visibility was poor, the sun was able to shine through, painting a portrait of bright sponges, Gorgonians and urchins. Eventually, our explorations had to come to an end, so we started back to the boat, as always, exploring the kelp stalks as we ascended. Back on the boat, we raised anchor and were on our way.

Heading into the channel back to Shelter Island, we were followed, and then passed by, the aircraft carrier Lincoln, CV 72. I wanted to get some photos of the carrier, but I was a little leery of all the navy gunboats with flashing blue lights cruising around us, and how they would perceive our dive cameras with all their attached lights and strobes. Wanting to be prudent ‘and’ safe, I casually said, “hey Terry, why don’t you take a couple of pictures of the carrier from the back deck of the boat”. After a few minutes of his camera clicking away and no 50 caliber warning shots across our bow, I asked him to take the helm so I could take a few pictures. When the gunboats started getting close and checking us out again, I prudently told Terry to take more pictures as I took over the helm again. In spite of the anxiety level we certainly instilled in the gunboats, we made it back safely to our homeport.

John A.

 

[TekDiveGirl]

Date: 1/22/06
Dive Location: Submarine tower off of Catalina.
Time: 69 mins
Bottom Time: 20 mins
Max Depth: 202fsw
Vis: amazing -- maybe 50'
Temp at depth: 52
Surface Temp: felt the same
Gas mix: 17/55 backgas with 50% and 100%

Comments: This was a superb day to be diving, The sun was finally out and it was a great group of people on the boat. We left from San Pedro to our destination. Once the hook was set and we were on the wreck -- the pool was open. The structure is interesting and there was a lot of life on it to see. I wish I had a camera because it was really spectacular. I would definitely go back. The water was cold cold cold and it made the 49 min deco seem very long. I shivered a lot and ended up too cold to make the second dive at Bird Rock.

It was a great day out there and I can't wait to go back out again!

 

[JMdiver]

Date: 1/21 & 1/22
Location: Yukon & Ruby E
Time: 8:50AM
Bottom Time: 24min. 22min. 9min. 26min 22min.
Max Depth: 88ft. 98ft. 74ft. 92ft. 79ft.
Vis. 5 to 10ft
Temp. at Depth: 50deg.
Comments: This was a wreck class and I passed. This was also the first time on a wreck of this size. The Yukon has alot of big white anemone. We did a penetration on the second dive of the second day and then checked out the guns. We also checked out the propeller. On the Ruby E we got to go through the wheel house.

John

 

[Kevfin]

Date: 25 Jan 2006
Dive Location: Redondo Beach Vets Park
Buddy(ies): John (non-ScubaBoard) & Tevis (verrett)
Time: 8:33 p.m.
Bottom Time: 35
Max Depth: 75 fsw
Vis: 10+ feet
Wave height: 1/2-2 feet
Temp at depth: 54F Versa Pro degrees
Surface Temp: 60F Versa Pro degrees
Gas mix: 32% EAN
Comments:
WOW! I think Tevis said it best… entry was like diving a lagoon. Practically no waves. My pool has had bigger waves! Swam out parallel to the pier and dropped down. Didn’t see any squid eggs, but saw tons of blue crabs, octopus, star fish, needle fish (I think that’s what they were –I’m no expert), rays (little, big), schools of other fish... the best part was the sea lions. They were all over us. They were all around and playing with us… I’ve had sea lions play with me, but not in such large quantity, simply amazing. One of the best dives I’ve had in weeks. Thanks Tevis -and thanks John (even if you’ll never read this)