Marineland trail closing again

[scottfiji]

very nice! I can't wait..thanks Phil

 

[Mo2vation]

Chica and I got there at about 7:50 AM today.

Bottom line:

1) Still a very long walk. Prohibitive with with the deathstar, two scooters, two 130s and the cart

2) Trail is still not cart-worthy at the top

3) The water was easily diveable, but it didn't look real clean from the top. And unless its perfect, once-a-year conditions, I think I'm done with ML for awhile. Unless I romp down in a wetsuit and an HP100, I can't see a dive there being worth the effort - except on those very rare days.


We were outta there by 8:05, just as they were coming to open the lot.

We were sad.

---
Ken

 

[JMdiver]

Hi Ken,

I am in total agreement with you on that, Robert & I have been dying to dive there again but that hike is just a kller.

John

 

[Dive California]

Chica and I got there at about 7:50 AM today.

... I think I'm done with ML for awhile. Unless I romp down in a wetsuit and an HP100, I can't see a dive there being worth the effort - ...We were sad.

---
Ken

Ken, you crack me up at times...

Less than a year ago...Jake posted this question regarding a concrete entry at OML...

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/socal/183049-concrete-entry-marine-land.html

Do you remember your response?

Nothing against making some dive sites more accessible - but not this one.

Speaking for myself, I hope the entry to OML is never a walk in, or paved, or steps, or anything less or eaiser (sic) than it is now.

I hope they don't make the hill less steep, I wish there wasn't talk of paving the walk or adding facilities.

I hope the walk back up that hill after an 88 minute dive, in a drysuit, wearing a 130 and schlepping heavy Turtle fins and a rediculously (sic) outsized camera rig never gets easier. Some things shouldn't be easy. I work very hard to stay in shape, and this is one of the top reasons why.

I hope they don't install benches on the way up for gentle post-dive repose. I want to walk up that hill in a brisk and unbroken stride and arrive at the top panting - knowing I accomplished something on both the dive and after the dive.

I hope they don't knock out any of the tough and jagged rocks at the point - as I have entry channels mapped out for every possible tide height and accessible swell condition.

I hope that cobble beach remains as slippery and as noisy 20 years from now as it is today.

OML is not a dive for everyone. Its that simple. You gotta want it. You need to practice, you need to get bounced a few times, you need to be in shape, you need to have game. Especially to get in at the point most days.

To dive OML regularly as it sits today means something to those of us who do. I'm bitter you no longer need to hop a fence of tramp down an overgrown trail to get to our fav entry point.

To turn it into another Casion (sic) Point type entry, or make it so easy that the riff raff will descent enmasse, or classes can be held there, or have it open all hours so it becomes Drink Vets South would be a shame.

I love it just as it is. Even with the little plastic fence you gotta climb over to get to the point these days. Kinda cool, really.


---
Ken

What happen over the past eleven (11) months? Sound like you wish some of those challenges were removed?

 

[Mo2vation]

What happen over the past eleven (11) months? Sound like you wish some of those challenges were removed?

I added another 150 pounds of gear to my set up.

1) scooter

2) Buddy's scooter

3) deathstar

4) moved from Trilam to CF200

5) push cart


HUGE difference schlepping another 150 down that hill, over loose dirt, and PUSHING it back up again.

HUGE.

That's what happened in the last 11 months.

You?

---
Ken

 

[MaxBottomtime]

How were you planning to exit over the rocks with a scooter, let alone two? Gotta go with Carlos on this one. That's Craaazzzzyyy.

 

[Mo2vation]

How were you planning to exit over the rocks with a scooter, let alone two? Gotta go with Carlos on this one. That's Craaazzzzyyy.

Getting out? No intention of getting out over the rocks. I think I've exited over the rocks (presume you mean the point) one time out of the 10 or 15 dives I've dived there.

The scoots are for that long boring kick back to cobble beach. Scoots will give us more time on what we consider the best part of MarineLand, which is the pinnacles around the point.

We can stay there longer and just blast back to cobble beach.

Look at you - said the guy who's made a zillion dives there (at the beach and over the rocks) with double 120s.

A scoot and a 130 weigh much less than dub 120's.




---
Ken

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Non dive report, but a great day to be at Marineland. Merry and I received a message from Divebum Don that the waves had picked up overnight. I unpacked the dive gear and loaded the Bottomtime Buggy for a day of rock hauling. There is a rock that we found last year and have devised various schemes to retrieve it. The easiest way would have been to dig the rock out of its semi-permanent location in the rocky shoreline near the outfall pipe between the Point and Cobble Beach, somehow roll it downhill into the water and float it with liftbags while I swam it to the cove. The conditions prevented us from getting in the water so I lowered the Bottomtime buggy over the cliff and pulled it along the rocks to the pipe. Thank goodness for knobby tires. I lifted the 116 pound megarock into the wagon and Merry and I trudged our way back to a steep trail at the midway point to the cove. Getting the wagon back up the cliff was hard, but nothing compared to the rock.

I managed to get it near the base of the cliff with a lot of effort. Don and Drysuit Greg decided to go up the hill for a tarp and come-along for the rest of the lift. While they were gone I moved it a foot here, a foot there. Before I knew it I had it ten feet from the top of the trail. Don showed up and manhandled it with me the rest of the way.

It was almost as hard getting it up the trail in the wagon, but it is now at home, waiting to join its rightful place in Merry's rock garden. Every rock we have came from our local dive sites, mostly Marineland. I hope removing so many rocks made the entries and exits there easier.

While Merry and I were draggin' wagon over the rocks, Don, Greg and Cyber the Wonder Beach Dog went spelunking in Whaler's Cave.

The recent storms have cleaned out the cave of homeless debris and the net, which was deposited on the beach a few months ago. Don called this week and said it was removed, likely by the construction crew while they were working on the lower part ot the land. When we got there this morning we were surprised to find that the power of the ocean works both ways. It was being pushed back up into the cave! I saw a brass thru-hull on it and thought that some California Wreck Divers may want to haul the net out for us.

After high tide I went to the cave thinking I could haul the newly freed net off the beach and onto Terranea property but when I got there I was shocked to find that it was gone. The ocean had swallowed it up once again. Later in the day, Don saw it coming back onto the beach. Just as I went to take a few more pictures, the ocean pulled it offshore and it disappeared. I have a feeling it won't be the last time we see this net.

We ended the day with Chef Don cooking sausage and elk that Merry's friend brought down from Montana. Despite the ocean not allowing us in, it was an amazing day at Marineland, well worth the effort.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Getting out? No intention of getting out over the rocks. I think I've exited over the rocks (presume you mean the point) one time out of the 10 or 15 dives I've dived there.

I was thinking of the cove exit. It's hard enough carrying fins out. I sold my scooter on Ebay after I got rid of my boat. I made one dive at Vet's with it and that was enough beach diving for me with a scooter. I would never consider taking one in at Marineland, even at Cobble Beach.

 

[Mo2vation]

Is there any recent news about the trail? Is it open, passable?

Thinking of going there this long weekend. Anyone been there recently?

Thanks

Ken