Jun 2004 SoCal Dive Reports

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Dive Report: Los Coronados Islands
Dive#1
Date: Sunday, June 6th
Dive Location: Los Coroados, Rock Island
Time 10:09 am
Bottom Time: 49 min
Max Depth: 56 fsw
Vis: 15-20
Wave Height: boat was going up and down majorly
Temp at Depth: 55 degrees
Surface Temp: 59 degrees
Boat: Blue Escape

Comments: Saw many schools of small fish. Lots of Garibaldis, senorita fish, juvenile sheephead, and lots of small critters. The vis wasn't so good and it was very cold at depth. The boat was moving bigtime on exit. Was going to sit out 2nd dive but warmed up and went for it.

Dive Report: Los Coronados Islands
Dive#2-3
Date: Sunday, June 6th
Dive Location: Los Coroados, Middle Grounds
Time 12:20 pm
Bottom Time: 51 min
Max Depth: 43 fsw
Vis: 40-50
Wave Height: calm seas
Temp at Depth: 57 degrees
Surface Temp: 63 degrees
Boat: Blue Escape

Comments: Saw some seals on the rocks. We saw 1 underwater. Pretty much the same thing. Some schools of fish, lots of sea hares, garibaldis, fewer senoritas, many urchins, blacksmith, and some bigger sized fish. Vis and temp were better. Pretty mellow dives just cruising around slowly looking for things. We saw a beautiful trea fish inside one hole. The Garibaldis were very unafraid. We did a 3rd dive here and then headed back to San Diego. Another nice day of diving!

 

[Robert Phillips]

Date:6/13
Dive Location:Treasure Island/Montage Resort, Laguna Beach
Time:7:36
Bottom Time:39 min
Max Depth:30'
Vis:12-15'
Wave height:2-3'
Temp at depth:64
Surface Temp:70
Tide information:3.3 at 7:40
Comments:Good dive, good vis, lots of life. Saw a Finescale Triggerfish.

 

[OCdiving Deb]

Date:6/13
Dive Location:Treasure Island/Montage Resort, Laguna Beach <snip>
Comments:Good dive, good vis, lots of life. Saw a Finescale Triggerfish.

Hey cool, Robb! Finescale triggerfish (Balistes polylepis)is kinda rare for OC, as we found out back in March. They're more prevalent in San Diego waters.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Date: 13 June 2004
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores - South Wall
Time: 10:30AM
Bottom Time: 40min
Max Depth: 45fsw
Vis: 15-20ft
Wave height: 1-3'
Temp at depth: 55
Surface Temp: 65
Tide information: No idea

Comments: Entered by the Marine Room. Had some fun getting in, pretty nice size sets coming in. Submerced for a bit till we got behind the breakers. Surfaced and started the long swim in. Someone should start some kind of toe-in system over there. Dropped down in about 30fsw and continued west till we hit the wall. Leveled off at 45fsw and followed the wall south. In and out of the thermocline. Saw some big Sheep Crabs, Kelp Bass (aka Calico Bass), a Stingray and some White Sea Pens. The Jelly fish was the best for me. So far my best dive at the biggest sand bath in San Diego. Found some goggles, but lost them again. Oops.

 

[pasley]

Date: 16 June 2004
Dive Location: Cleo Street, Laguna Beach CA
Time: 09:00 a.m.
Bottom Time: 39:50
Max Depth: 63 FSW
Vis: 10-15
Wave height: 1-2
Temp at depth: 64 SUUNTO degrees
Surface Temp: 70 Suunto degrees
Tide information: High: 10:20 AM +3.5 feet Low: 3:46 AM -0.5 feet
Comments: Dropped down in 43 FSW on top of a Giant Black Sea Bass of about 3 feet size just chilling waiting for us to come and admire him. Swam out to 63 FSW and then did a zig zag pattern back. Ran into a nice school of small fish. A little current was running but not too bad and there was no real surge. All in all a good dive, and it sure beat working in the yard like my wife wanted me to do.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

I went with Mel on 6-16 Cleo Street and here are a few pics of the black sea bass we saw.

 

[dazedone]

Date: 6/17/04
Dive Location: La Jolla Cove (Rock Pile)
Time: 07:23am
Bottom Time:46
Max Depth:38
Vis:5-10 near the shore, 15-20 at the rock pile
Wave height: 1-3 with long lulls
Temp at depth: 66
Surface Temp:68

Comments:

divebuddysean and I hooked up for an early morning dive in the cove. We surface swam out from the stairs at a 30 degree heading for about 100 yards and them dropped down to about 18fsw. Continued swimming underwater for another 200 yards or so at the same heading making our way through all the feather boa kelp. The bottom slowly sloped down to 35' and the vis got alot better. We found the rock pile and were treated to large sheephead, octopus and tons of bugs in the cracks (see photos). Surge kept getting wors as the dive went on. Once we were done exploring the rocks we headed back underwater and popped up almost where we dropped down. Surface swam back to shore and noticed that the surf had picked up a bit. Then we made an easy exit and climbed back up the stairs.

Had a great time diving with you Sean. Thanks to Mr. Pasley for the tips on the dive site, hope you can join us next time!!

 

[divinman]

Date: 06/18/2007
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores South Wall
Time: 18:00
Bottom Time: 47
Max Depth: 94
Vis: 8-10 shallow 15-20 deep
Wave height: knee slappers
Temp at depth: 54
Surface Temp: 59
Tide information: didn't check
Comments:


John A and I went out for a twilight dive on the south wall at LJ shores. Swam straight out from Vallecitos to just north of the buoy and dropped down into 18ft of water. Vis was green but not bad, just green. Headed west to the canyon edge, descended to 85ft and turned south. Lots to see out tonight, there seems to be tons of sea hares this year for some reason. We encountered several small red octopuses, a turbot, multiple purple jellyfish, as well as the usually smattering of gobies and shrimp hiding in the walls many nooks and crannies. At one point we came across a larger sheephead trying desperately to squeeze into a whole obviously too small for it. We reached the turn around time and headed up over the cliff face and started back across the sand. As we passed the anchor for the buoy we paused and I found a small kelp fish about 1.5 inches long on the change and a small blenny playing house underneath the anchor. From there out we crossed a huge field of sand dollars that seemed to go on forever. Small silt clouds were apparent and I did see one largish bat ray speeding away as it mucked up the vis. Surge built as we got shallower but the return kick in was nice and relaxing. Stood up facing the non-existent waves in 5ft of water and walked back to trucks.

It really was a great early evening dive.

Terry S.

 

[Robert Phillips]

I did 2 Fathers Day dives at Crescent Bay today and conditions were beautiful! I could not have asked for a better Fathers Day present than this!
For our first dive, we swam all the way out to Deadmans with a good 20-25' of visibility. Lots of sea life: We saw a huge Sheepshead hiding in a hole and I saw my first Spanish Shawl nudibranch, but right next to it on the same Gorgonian was number 2! We passed another one up later in the dive for a total of 3! Huge Cabezon resting on a rock, big Garibaldi, lots of Senioritas, Blackeyed Gobies, etc... My buddy Chris saw several Baracuda swimming on the outside of the reef, but my head was burried in the reef looking for small stuff, so I missed them. This was a great dive! At 56 minutes, we shot a bag and did a nice slow ascent with stops at 30, 20 and 10' for our deco/safety stops.
Max depth: 51'
Ave. depth: 47'
Dive time: 59 minutes
Temp: 57 degrees below thermocline otherwise 63
Visibility: 25-30' YEAH!
Surf: 1-2' on entry 2-3' on exit
Surge: 0-2' but mostly none
Great dive.

After a quick lunch and an airfill we geared up for dive #2.
This time we descended on the reef at the beach for a quick tour and skills practice dive. We dropped down into 12 fswd headed out to the end of the short reef. Along the way we saw a huge (4-5' wingspan) Bat Ray cruising across the sand. He saw us and headed out to deeper water. This is the point where we started regretting not bringing the camera along like our first dive, as the next thing we saw was a Purple Striped Jelly in about 18-20 fsw. Then we came across a free swimming Octopus that promptly found himself a hole to hide in once he caught a glimpse of us! As we continued along the reef I ran across my third ever Nudi spotting. A Hopkins Rose (Hopkinsia Rosacea.) Mind you, I have no idea about the diffrent species and I figure the Sea Hare (Aplysia Californica) is so abundant I dont really think about them too much except to giggle when I see a Sea Hare orgy. But after spotting the Spanish Shawls on a fluke on the first dive (these ones were tiny, less than a half inch) I just thought it was too cool to spot another type on my next dive. Yeah, I know, big deal, everyone has seen tons already!
After our little wildlife adventure, it was time to get past 30' and work on some skills. So we practiced the Basic 5 and some OOA drills while maintaining trim (still need work) and air shares while swimming. Chris and I are really coming together as a team and he is great to dive with. After he gets done with his DIR-F class next week we will really get it together as far as team dynamics and skill drills. It is great to have a buddy that shares the same intrests and motivations. Makes all your dives even more enjoyable!
After our skills practice and some more exploring, we shot a bag and did our 30,20,10 stops and headed back into shore, ending an excellent dive!
Max Depth: 37'
Ave. Depth: 27'
Dive time: 44 minutes
Temp: 63 degrees
Visibility: 20-25'
Surf: Same as dive 1
Surge: no
Outstanding dive!
See some pics in my gallery:
Here

 

[PhotoTJ]

...is somewhere on the bottom, near the Malibu pier. I bought one of the new Pelican led Sabre-lites, with the reverse parabolic reflector, it worked great. Awesome light. Saw a few tiny halibut, a couple rays, nothing too exciting, then, on exit, dropped the light. Black, with a black leash. I will be cussing for a few days about this one. "Gee, I've got $60, I think I'll go throw it into the Pacific." ARRRRRGHH!

If you find it, I'll get you a reward!

Otherwise, the dive was fun.

TJ