JANUARY 2006 Dive Reports

[HBDiveGirl]

Date: 25 Jan 2006
Dive Location: Redondo Beach Vets Park
... 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)

Thanks, Kevin, for the report. Playful sealions are a rare pleasure for the canyon... so glad you got to experience it and thank you for sharing the good news. It can be initially pretty shocking when those big boys and girls come torpedoing at you out of the dark murk... then it gets fun!!! (Although it makes Maxbottomtime tuck in his elbows :05: .)
Very Cool!
Claudette

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Lots of body parts get tucked in when the big bulls come at me.

 

[divinman]

Date: 01/26/06
Dive Location: San Diego/La Jolla Shores
Buddy(ies): Tyler Stalter and other guy
Time: 1937
Bottom Time: 66 minutes
Max Depth: 134
Vis: Unlimited shallow and maybe 15 deep
Wave height: knee slappers
Temp at depth: 55
Surface Temp:56
Air Temp: 54 (gotta hate it when the water is warmer than the air)
Tide information: Didn't check
Gas mix: 21%
Comments:

Tyler, another guy (sorry) and I met up at the boat launch and made a lovely dive out to the cruiser and back. On the way we say stubby squid, tons of hermissenda, thornback, shovel-nosed and round rays. Red and two-spot octopus, schooling mackerel and more. Visibility was gin clear shallow and a decent 15 foot down the canyon.

Tonight I had a new sighting for me. Everyone has been talking about the squid runs and thousands of squid and eggs. I did see patches of eggs tonight but only one squid. No, not a market squid. A Stubby Squid!!!! First time for me and I was stoked.

The album can be seen Here: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/012606/

 

[LLKZ16]

Date: 26 Jan 2006
Dive Location: OML (Long Point to Cobble Beach)
Buddy(ies): Angelique
Time: 10:41 am.
Bottom Time: 55 min
Max Depth: 62 fsw
Vis: 20+ feet
Wave height: 1 -2.5 feet
Temp at depth: 56F
Surface Temp: 62F

Comments: WOW!!!!!!!!

What an AWSOME day at OML. When we arrived to check it out, Cobble Beach was very calm but my interests were leaning towards a Long Point entry. We walked down to the entry point and there were a few waves coming in but it did not look too bad (Famous Last Words…lol). The rocks were extremely slippery when getting in. Basically we got nailed around a little and then made our way out.

The plan we agreed on was to check the point out and then make our way down to Cobble Beach for the exit. When we dropped down is was amazing how clear it was. It was easily 20+ visibility. That however was the greatest part (Believe it or not).

It seemed like every creature there was out and roaming around the reef. At 35 feet 3 lobsters came out and waved hello to us (Damn, I did not bring my bag…lol). As we moved along we noticed a TON of Nudibranchs. Spanish Shawls, Diaulula nobilis (The biggest I have ever seen), Ringed Dorids, Hermissenda crassicornis (I think). Also, there was tons of Tube Anemone around 40 – 60 feet. The ones with the orange glow to them were really cool to look at. We also came across 4 or 5 Octopi. One in particular was HUGE. He was hiding in a crevasse but judging from the size of his head he was a big one. And directly next to him was a horn shark who found a nice place in the rocks to take a nap.

As we moved on our way to Cobble Beach there were tons of Sea Pens moving back and forth with the current. I thought that the trip back would be boring but I was totally wrong. There was a nice mix of sand and rock to go through. It seemed like there were more Puffball Sponges in this area then at the point. As we were moving across a sand area I was pushing myself along the bottom and without noticing, I put my right hand full force on top of a small Halibut. The thing (which was perfectly camouflaged) felt like a high voltage vibrating squishy pancake. I had a good laugh with my self at that point.

Our compass reading held true and we made it perfectly to the beach area and popped up. The exit was super easy.

Overall, it’s days like this that make me want to get into underwater photography.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Date: 01/26/06
Dive Location: San Diego/La Jolla Shores
... A Stubby Squid!!!! First time for me and I was stoked....

Fantastic, Terry!! Thank you for the sighting and the great photos!!! You must have been flooding your mask with excessive grinning! I've heard of them, seen them in critter ID books, but never thought to see them locally. How cool. Also, very wonderful photo of the octopus reaching out one arm, and the mug shot of the brown shrimp. Looks like ya'll had a fine night of diving. Thanks for the report
Claudette

 

[veek]

Date: 1/26/06
Dive Location: Thousand Steps (Santa Cruz Blvd), Santa Barbara
Buddy(ies): Paradise Dive Club
Time: 8 pm
Bottom Time: 48 minutes
Max Depth: 25 feet
Vis: 10-15 ft
Wave height: 2-3 ft
Temp at depth: 54 deg F
Surface Temp:
Tide information: high

Comments: This was a night dive, with 149 steps down for beach access. We managed to dive together in a group of five. Great dive! Not too cold, and we saw some fish, crabs and shrimp and five or six lobster (all short!). Excellent company and great to go out when the conditions are good!

 

[riguerin]

Date: January 28, 2006
Dive Location: Diver's Cove/Fisherman's Cove, Laguna Beach
Buddy(ies): Brandon Guerin
Time: 11:16 am
Bottom Time: :50 min
Max Depth: 32'
Avg Depth: 20'
Vis: 10-20', Better in Diver's Cove
Wave height: 1'
Surge: 1-2'
Temp at depth: 55F
Surface Temp: 60F
Gas Mix: 21%

Comments: Woke up to a gorgeous looking morning today. Waited for it to warm up some, then loaded up the truck and the kid and headed up to Laguna. We saw several groups of divers finishing or suiting up for dives at Heislers. We ended up a Diver's Cove. The weather conditions looked good - bright clear skies, calm seas, and a very light SE wind putting a slight texture on the surface. A group of divers, finishing their dive,confirmed UW conditions were decent. We decided to do the cross-country Diver's->Fisherman's tour.

We entered the water on the heels of another massive high tide from earlier in the morning. It was probably still about +5ft when we entered. We finned out to the drop spot, and descended to a depth of ~12fsw. For the first leg, we worked a line out toward the mini-wall in deeper water. This was the prettiest part of the dive with the best vis ... probably as much as 20ft+. Made the turn west, for the 2nd leg, in about 30fsw. We stopped and poked around the southern entrance to Mermaid's Grotto ... didn't venture too far in. We continued for some time before making the turn north into Fisherman's Cove; where we worked the wall in toward shore. Vis was worst on this side, as was the surge. We stopped again to poke around the west entrance to the Grotto. We finally completed the dive in the shallow sandy area. Here, Brandon was on a mission pointing out all the little baby soles in sand (cute little guys about 3-4" long).

In summary, it was a pretty fun but uneventful dive. There was lots of typical marine life but, we didn't really see anything spectacular or remarkable. In fact, we didn't see a single bug, moray, or octopi. It was, however, another really fun adventure shared with my young son.

 

[Peter McGuinness]

Dive Report.
La Jolla Shores secret garden
Sat 28th Jan
1:30pm
107ft
42 mins
vis: 10 to 15ft (mostly because of the dim light; the water was clear)
temp: brrr
Surf: moderate

Mike and I hit the shores after the classes had left and went to take a look at the secret garden. The area immediately above it was where we found all the squid eggs on the wrinkles dive, so we went back to see how things had developed.

The water was a bit green and murky down to about 35ft, with a clear layer beneath it, but dark. On the way down into the draw, there was not much other than crabs around, but once over the little hump at the end, the slope was covered in thousands of squid eggs, more than before, with fresh layings filling in the gaps between the original ones.

Secret gardens was shrimp city today, there were hundreds of coonstripes around, as well as a very large horn shark, and quite a few biggish lobsters. Only a very few nudibranchs, though which is unlike recent dives. It's really looking pretty healthy there recently, with a good scattering of gorgonians and scallops.

The swim back out was over thousands more squid eggs in various states of maturity, with a stop to find a couple of octopus in one of the little rocky ledges, then we played with a pipefish before riding the surf back inshore. A very nice dive. Thanks, Mike let's do it again soon.

Peter

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: January 28, 2006
Dive Location: Marineland
Buddy(ies): Hilary A. and Jeff Shaw
Time: 12:30
Bottom Time: 1:04
Max Depth: 43'
Vis: 15'+
Wave height: 1-2.5'
Temp at depth: 55F
Surface Temp: 32F, or close to it.
Comments: We had great vis at Marineland this afternoon. The octopus were everywhere, including sitting out in the open. More Hopkin's Rose nudibranchs were spotted, as were a couple of large Cabezon, a Scorpionfish, flatties, Blacksmith, Sandbass, Gobies and deformed starfish. Jeff timed his exit very well. Hilary and I didn't. Jeff helped Hilary up from the rocks while I swam back out to sea to retrieve her fin that fortunately floats. I slammed my knee into a boulder in the surf zone while attempting another exit. A little skin missing but not much else. Still, a great dive with lots to see.

 

[divinman]

John, Tyler and I went to the sea cliffs area today for some diving. No cliffs were found but much sea life was. Below are a few. The complete album is here. http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/01282006/

Terry S.