Dive Sunday AM at Marineroom as usual. When we arrived, it was high tide so it was hitting that bottom-most stair. We took our time getting geared up to give tide a chance to recede a bit and I'm guessing we hit the water at or after 8am. The whole time though, the water looked pretty turbulent from the surface while gearing up. We both assumed viz would be terrible considering there were some good 2' breaking in the surf zone now and then, and definitely in the cove at the south end where the surfers hang out:
Entry
Straight towards shore near our drop point
The surfing cove
Surprisingly on the swim out I could see the bottom the whole time, albeit at times a very sandy dark spot instead of seeing the actual kelp. We definitely assumed that wouldn't happen, as we made the usual contingency plan to do a deeper dive towards the canyon at 40fsw+.
So we dropped and enjoyed an 1:11 long dive. Temp was 66ºF above ~14fsw and dropped to 64ºF below, at my deepest point of 19fsw. I got a little average deeper depth, 11fsw, than normally because we dropped a little bit further out than we usually do, and it was also high tide.
Once we dropped, we definitely noticed the surge! This was the worst surge I've ever dived through.
Here's that guy at the end:
As usual, in-yo-face seabass
My buddy swam i think barely a foot above this little guy he was hidden so well with the surge
..uncovered
So a nice long fight against the surge - more gritty miso soup texture water.. all of a sudden, a surprise horn shark again!
It was so bad, even the sharks were getting tossed around a little
Stingrays too
This guy got tossed in my face, and looked none too pleased about it either
Only saw a couple lobster today. Might have been the viz and surge combination. Maybe they were hiding unlike the fish.
More surprise sharks
We then turned... lots more gritty viz for a while.
So at the end coming back after our dive, there was a big, strangely calm school of bigger fish (not the usual seniorita school)
Did someone herd them together? Does that someone have big teeth and appetite? It was a little unnerving.
Then buddy found this nice big shark hiding with its face in some rocks and kelp.
Notice the sea grass completely flat? I swear it felt like we were fighting a current (going South) on the way back. Swimming just became harder for some reason, but when I stopped I didn't really move. Who knows.. because that grass is definitely pointing North.
Then, buddy pointed towards some metal pole in the sea grass. I was thinking, OK I guess you think metal pieces are interesting? Fine, I'll just wait here. And then I saw it once the surge switched!
Biggest crab we had each ever seen! Buddy's hand in the shot, for scale.
The view back from the dive:
Straight behind the stairs
Towards the surfing cove
Back at the shop getting fills, they were surprised we went out
The Swell forecast is kinda bad early this week, so I'd take the opportunity to tend to your Spring plants instead of diving for a few days. Forecast: http://forecasts.surfingmagazine.com/#place=33.715201644740844_-119.575195_7_1422_height_none_Sat_-1
Entry
Straight towards shore near our drop point
The surfing cove
Surprisingly on the swim out I could see the bottom the whole time, albeit at times a very sandy dark spot instead of seeing the actual kelp. We definitely assumed that wouldn't happen, as we made the usual contingency plan to do a deeper dive towards the canyon at 40fsw+.
So we dropped and enjoyed an 1:11 long dive. Temp was 66ºF above ~14fsw and dropped to 64ºF below, at my deepest point of 19fsw. I got a little average deeper depth, 11fsw, than normally because we dropped a little bit further out than we usually do, and it was also high tide.
Once we dropped, we definitely noticed the surge! This was the worst surge I've ever dived through.
Here's that guy at the end:
As usual, in-yo-face seabass
My buddy swam i think barely a foot above this little guy he was hidden so well with the surge
..uncovered
So a nice long fight against the surge - more gritty miso soup texture water.. all of a sudden, a surprise horn shark again!
It was so bad, even the sharks were getting tossed around a little
Stingrays too
This guy got tossed in my face, and looked none too pleased about it either
Only saw a couple lobster today. Might have been the viz and surge combination. Maybe they were hiding unlike the fish.
More surprise sharks
We then turned... lots more gritty viz for a while.
So at the end coming back after our dive, there was a big, strangely calm school of bigger fish (not the usual seniorita school)
Did someone herd them together? Does that someone have big teeth and appetite? It was a little unnerving.
Then buddy found this nice big shark hiding with its face in some rocks and kelp.
Notice the sea grass completely flat? I swear it felt like we were fighting a current (going South) on the way back. Swimming just became harder for some reason, but when I stopped I didn't really move. Who knows.. because that grass is definitely pointing North.
Then, buddy pointed towards some metal pole in the sea grass. I was thinking, OK I guess you think metal pieces are interesting? Fine, I'll just wait here. And then I saw it once the surge switched!
Biggest crab we had each ever seen! Buddy's hand in the shot, for scale.
The view back from the dive:
Straight behind the stairs
Towards the surfing cove
Back at the shop getting fills, they were surprised we went out
The Swell forecast is kinda bad early this week, so I'd take the opportunity to tend to your Spring plants instead of diving for a few days. Forecast: http://forecasts.surfingmagazine.com/#place=33.715201644740844_-119.575195_7_1422_height_none_Sat_-1
