Jun 2004 SoCal Dive Reports

[alaity47]

Just got back from a 6-dive weekend in Catalina...Here's the quick rundown:

Saturday June 19, off the King Neptune

Sea Fan Grotto - very cool; our first time there. Saw sea fans. And about a bazillion gobies. Little chilly below 30-40 feet, but comfortable above the thermocline. Vis about 20 feet.

Italian Gardens - nasty thermocline at 25 feet. Vis was about 30 feet when we got there, but a bunch of divers kicking up sand soon reduced it to about 15 murky feet. We did spot two giant black sea bass cruising by, but they didn't hang around!

Garibaldi Reef - kind of a fun dive; my first time east of Avalon. Lots of kelp to swim through, and we saw a big bat ray swimming around.

Casino Point
Night dive - had a GREAT time! Spotted two octopi; one let us follow it around for a while, and actually got some decent pictures. Dozens of lobsters: we startled one so that it backed into another one, which got spooked and squirted off!

Sunday dives - pretty nice. Vis between 15-40 feet. Found the glassbottom boat, which has gotten really overgrown with kelp... we went right by it twice! Saw another big bat ray, and a HUGE school of zebra perch went by. Lots of aggressive garibaldi defending their nests; it always makes me laugh seeing them zoom up to our masks (and laughing makes my mask flood, which is slightly less fun).

I also got to meet Dr Bill in person at the air fill station - Hi Bill!

Great weekend, all told!

Pics are here:

http://gallery.thelaitys.com/20040619_catalina

 

[miket]

Dive Report: Farnsworth Bank - Catalina Island
Dive#1, 2
Date: Sunday, June 20th
Dive Location: California, Catalina Island
Time: (approx 8:00am, 9:00am)
Bottom Time: 25 min, 35 min
Max Depth: 113 fsw, 80 fsw
Vis: 20-30 (lots of stuff in water)
Wave Height: 2-4 feet
Temp at Depth: 55 degrees
Surface Temp: 60 degrees
Boat: Cee Ray

Comments: Vis was a bit of a dissapointment but the sea life was amazing, there were large fish everywhere. There was a current running. The purple hydrocoral was great. The second dive we saw a California Moray, a large Bat Ray and a cool looking Torpedo Ray hovering in one spot in the current. The schools of fish were huge and allowed us to approach very close.

Dive Report: Cape Cortez (Backside) - Catalina Island
Dive#3
Date: Sunday, June 20th
Dive Location: California, Catalina Island
Time: (around noon)
Bottom Time: 45 min
Max Depth: 72 fsw
Vis: 25-35 (silty)
Wave Height: Flat
Temp at Depth: 57 degrees
Surface Temp: 60 degrees
Boat: Cee Ray

Comments: Nice site, lots of kelp with no surge (I like it when it sits straight up). Dove to the right side of the site (west) and found a wall covered with different types of Gorgonian. Tons of fish. Got some video of an octopus out in the open that was colored like the sand (Neato!). Lots of nasty Garibaldi defending nests and clicking at us when we got too close. Had a nice encounter with a Giant Kelpfish in purple color mode.

Some video screenshots at : http://www.socaldivevideos.com

Cheers,
MikeT

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Date: 06/22/2004
Dive Location: La Jolla Cove
Time: 7:49 am
Bottom Time: 53:20
Max Depth: 43 feet
Vis: 10 feet average, more and less during the dive.
Wave height: We saw a few waves during swim out, but no waves during entry
Temp at depth: 63 Suunto degrees
Surface Temp: 63 Suunto degrees
Tide information: Very low tide, I think vis suffered due to this
Comments:

David, Roy,Griffon, and I met at the cove about 7am. It was low tide with no surf, overcast air temp of 64 degrees. We all suited up and proceeded down the stairs. We decided to swim out in front of Aligator Head, decend and head towards the yellow bouy near Rockpile. The kelp was beautiful, but visibility was around 10 feet. We slowly made our way in the kelp, encountering the usual critters here and there. Suprisingly less during 1st 1/2 of dive. Lots of lobsters in their holes, senorita fish, sheephead, blacksmith, kelp bass, sheep craps, and we were lucky to see a 4 foot black sea bass who was following some sort of ray off into the horizon. The rockpile had tons of fish. I think next time I would try to explore the nooks and crannies of Aligator Head or head out to the Rock Pile 1st. As Mr. Pasley says "Every dive is a good dive!"

 

[divinman]

Must be nice to dive in the morning during the week!!! I am diving the the shores tomorrow around 630p if you want to join us. I think you dove with my usual buddy John last week at the cove. He has committments this week so I am looking for fellow explorers. I will be IN THE WATER at 7p.
Email me if you are coming.
Terry

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Thanks for the invitation! I asked my wife and she said "GO GO GO." I'll be at the shores at 6:30 PM tomorrow evening. I gotta get my tank filled! See you tomorrow!

Sean

 

[dazedone]

Date: 06/22/2004
Dive Location: La Jolla Cove
Time: 7:49 am
Bottom Time: 53:20
Max Depth: 43 feet
Vis: 10 feet average, more and less during the dive.
Wave height: We saw a few waves during swim out, but no waves during entry
Temp at depth: 63 Suunto degrees
Surface Temp: 63 Suunto degrees
Tide information: Very low tide, I think vis suffered due to this
Comments:

David, Roy,Gregory, and I met at the cove about 7am. It was low tide with no surf, overcast air temp of 64 degrees. We all suited up and proceeded down the stairs. We decided to swim out in front of Aligator Head, decend and head towards the yellow bouy near Rockpile. The kelp was beautiful, but visibility was around 10 feet. We slowly made our way in the kelp, encountering the usual critters here and there. Suprisingly less during 1st 1/2 of dive. Lots of lobsters in their holes, senorita fish, sheephead, blacksmith, kelp bass, sheep craps, and we were lucky to see a 4 foot black sea bass who was following some sort of ray off into the horizon. The rockpile had tons of fish. I think next time I would try to explore the nooks and crannies of Aligator Head or head out to the Rock Pile 1st. As Mr. Pasley says "Every dive is a good dive!"

As always, I had a great time diving with you Sean. Hope to do it again once my travel schedule calms down.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

David it was great diving with you! Let me know when your down in the San Diego area and we'll do it again.

 

[divinman]

La Jolla Twilight dive 06/23
Light surf and no surge past the breakers
Visibility ran the gambit from 0-20 depending on depth.
Temperature was 68 on the surface and 54 in the canyon
Dive time 39 minutes.
Max Depth 99ft

Photo Link: http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/photogalleries.php?s=5703


I posted to the boards that all were welcome to join the dive and a hearty group of 6 showed up. Roya was the first on the scene, followed by Sean, Jane and Steve. James was last one onsite but well before the 630p meet time. They all flocked to the big red ugly truck and we talked about dive teams and signals and our planned profile. Marcella was supposed to join us but she ran into a problem on the way down and couldn't make it. Logistics complete we started to gear up and Sean discovered his first stage had a leak that we couldn't resolve on site so he had to call it a night early. It's always better to have a problem on the beach than in the canyon though. Lots of days to dive and the ocean ain't going any where.

Geared up, we started for the beach. Steve teamed up with Jane. Roya and James and I made the second team of three. As some of our group had been on diving hiatus for a bit and others were newer dives we planned conservative profile and turn around pressure. The waves were waste high and had little umph to them so the entry was an easy stroll and pulling on of fins. An offshore wind kept the chop up on the way out but nothing bad and before you could say SPG we were at the buoy and headed down.

Dropping into about 25 ft of water and about 10 ft of soupy vis we took a compass heading west into the canyon. We stayed close together and explored as we went. The usual life was out, sand dabs, swimming craps, lizard fish; all these and many more were present. There was a definite thermocline at 35 ft and the temp dropped nearly 7 degrees below it. Then at 50 ft, right at the canyon lip, we encountered a white out effect. Visibility dropped to 0 as we passed through it and then POP; it opened back up underneath. It was like swimming under an eerie white fog bank. Strange indeed.

On with the exploration. We found more sea hares again tonight, from little ones to big porkers lolling in the surge. We saw several turbot of varying sizes including one that was sharing space with a white nudibranch. At the base of one slope there was a large mound of debris covered in brittle stars. It must have been Vegas style buffet night because every one who was anyone was there for the chow.

Eventually we hit our turn pressure and ascended up the canyon wall. As we moved east we found a small red octopus poking out of the muck. He changed colors several times trying to confuse and elude out lights and eventually slipped back into his home with only his eyes protruding like twin periscopes watching our passage. Crossing the sand we encountered more swimming crabs and lizard fish and a lone sculpin out for an evening swim.

After more exploring we discovered we were in 5 ft of water and decided it was time to rise again to the world of the dry people. The surf had remained mild and we came up just north of our entry point. After removing our fins and grinning at each other, we headed back to the trucks/cars to change and head home for some much needed dinner.
Good night of diving with good folks. Please join us next time.


Terry S.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Its a good day to dive

 

[pasley]

Date: 24 J:une 04
Dive Location: La Jolla Cove, CA
Time: 7:36 a.m.
Bottom Time: 73:30 minutes
Max Depth: 32 FSW
Vis: 20-30 some places less
Wave height: In the cove, I could not measure, did not bring my microscope. Outside the cove, maybe 1-2 feet.
Temp at depth:59 Suunto degrees
Surface Temp: 69 Suunto degrees
Tide information: Low Tide 8:45 a.m. 0.5 feet
Comments: Sean Dyer and I met at 6:45 a.m. and check the ocean conditions. Flat, Flat, Flat. We suited up and swam out on a 30 degree course out and back. No surge at the beginning of the dive, but about half way through a surge of 3-4 feet came up. Visibility was variable depending on location and depth. In close to shore vis was 10-15 feet, out further it was 20-30 feet but cloudy. Saw the usual suspects and a couple of bat rays and a guitar fish. Nice thermo cline at 24 feet. Over all a great dive.

Date: 24 J:une 04
Dive Location: La Jolla Cove, CA
Time: 10:26 a.m.
Bottom Time: 63:20 minutes
Max Depth: 28 FSW
Vis: 10-20 some places less
Wave height: Still flat in the cove
Temp at depth:66 Suunto degrees
Surface Temp: 69 Suunto degrees
Comments: Sean wanted to enter off the rocks at Alligator head. This entry required a jump off a rock about 3 -4 feet above the water. Less if you time the wave right, but make sure you catch the last wave or the next one will get you. Since I could see rocks in the water and was not comfortable with doing the combined small cliff diving scuba, we entered off the beach and swam around to the alligator head. Dive was first towards boomer, then back across the cove to the right of the beach and then home. Saw the usual inkling a banded guitar fish. Still a dive that beats being at work.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Here are the pictures from the dive Mel and I did today.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=628&ppuser=&password=0

Sean