May 05 Dive Reports

[MaxBottomtime]

Sounds like you had a great time. One of my favorite dives involved poor vis. We aborted the dive due to the 2' vis and 51F temp at the bottom. While making a safety stop, two dolphins came right up to us. It's the only time I've seen them under water, and it really made the dive enjoyable.

 

[Grey_Wulff]

Sounds like you had a great time. One of my favorite dives involved poor vis. We aborted the dive due to the 2' vis and 51F temp at the bottom. While making a safety stop, two dolphins came right up to us. It's the only time I've seen them under water, and it really made the dive enjoyable.

Definately made for a great day, besides being in the ocean of course.

Grey_Wulff

 

[Scot M]

Date: 5/22/05
Dive Location: Shaw's Cove, Laguna Beach
Time: 8:32 AM
Bottom Time: 55 min
Max Depth: 50 ft
Vis: 8-10 ft inside cove, 10-12 ft on outer reef
Wave height: 2 ft
Temp at depth: 57 F

I met up with CaptainMarvel, Lexy, Eyasha, and stoddu (I think I have everyone's screen name right) at Shaw's. When I arrived at around 7:00 it was Lake Laguna conditions and crystal clear skies. By the time we got organized and into the water, the surf had picked up to about waist-high and some very welcome fog had rolled in to help control the heat.

A herd of students was churning things up over the sand, so we dropped down and headed out along the reef. Once we got outside of the cove, the visibility improved, although there were still a lot of particulates. Eyasha and I stopped to look at an eel and lost the rest of the group, so we continued alone and had a very nice, slow-paced dive. In addition to the moray, we spotted a cranky-looking sheep crab. After a tour of the reef and some empty-tank buoyancy checking, we had an uneventful exit (as all exits should be).


Date: 5/22/05
Dive Location: Shaw's Cove, Laguna Beach
Time: 11:07 AM
Bottom Time: 51 min
Max Depth: 43 ft
Vis: 6-10ft
Wave height: 2 ft
Temp at depth: 57 F

During our surface interval, those who needed air got fills at Laguna Sea Sports. I got a chance to meet some Scubaboard lurkers (you know who you are!) while we were waiting. Eyasha and her significant other decided that they had more important things to do, like eat breakfast, so the second dive was Lexy, CaptainMarvel, stoddu, and me.

The surf was still pretty small, but the visibility had dropped a bit. We found another eel and I heard that someone saw a Spanish Shawl, but I missed it. During our return swim, we got a little too close to the rocks and had a complete whiteout due to bubbles from breaking waves. Since we lost contact (okay, *I* lost contact) with each other, we met on the surface and swam in for another uneventful exit.

All in all, it was a good day. I got to meet a few new people and enjoyed a couple of mellow dives. Thanks everyone!

 

[scottfiji]

Dive #1: Palawan Wreck, 8:00AM
Gas: Nitrox
Depth: 105-120ft
Dive Buddy: Cesar
Vis: 20-25ft below 100ft
temp: around 53 degrees; brrrr

Dive #2: Avalon Wreck, 10:15AM
Gas: Air
Depth: 82ft
Vis: 15ft
Temp: around 53 degrees; brrrr

8 Intrepid divers braved the fog and boarded the Island Diver, chartered by DiveVets. The palawan was the first stop, with multiple air /tank combos (trimix doubles+O2, air doubles+o2, nitrox singles,air doubles, air singles), it was an interesting mix! Dan, Bruce, Terry, Cesar, Kathy, Laila, Merik, and myself prepared to dive.

We pulled up to the Palawan. An extra line was dropped into the wreck with a small anchor and a flashing strobe, giving divers an alternate ascent line, which many of us used.

It was my first dive with the 19cft pony bottle, it was very comfy against my chest, and the weight was perfectly balanced. I kept the tank turned off during the dive and practised breathing out of it on the safety stop.

The palawan itself was a very large wreck , with huge steel walls rising from the sand. Lots of corynactis growing on the walls, and some rockfish, but not a lot of diversity of life overall, at least on this dive. Lots of areas to explore the next time though! Some areas of the wreck had a strong current that pushed us around a little bit. Good thing we came back to the strobe light for our ascent! Next time i'd like to explore the compartments some more.

--------------------------------

2 tech divers and 1 cold diver sat out the second dive. Vis on the avalon wasn't as good as normal, but adequate for finding coonstripe shrimp, various rockfish species, schools of senoritas, and striped ronquils. I stayed closed to the anchor line to avoid a free ascend that surely would have swept me miles away, due to the current. kathy and laila practised laying a line with a reel, which I followed a couple times only to quickly find them reeling the line back up.

Thanks to Merik for bringing some beverages to help the debriefing!

Scott

pics: http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/Palawan20050522
__________________

 

[scottfiji]

Location: redondo canyon, 9:00PM
max depth: 83ft
bottom time: 58 minutes
waves: small, breaking right at shore
vis: variable
Temp: thermocline at 40ft, (goes from 60 to 53)

Had a nice dive in the Redondo Canyon tonight, lots of life was out everywhere. Most were pretty friendly too. A group of 6 locals offered me a hit off a joint as I was entering the water, I politely declined, I told them narcosis was euphoric enough.

pics: http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/Redondo20050524

Sarcastic Fringehead

Young Sea Perch

Octopus stare-down

 

[jerryn]

May 26
Leo Carrillo west end beach
air -- the only full tank I could find in my garage
24 feet
10' vis
1'-1 1/2' surf
54 degrees

pleasant dive this morning. None of the plankton bloom or red tide of the eastern beaches in Malibu. Vis was pretty decent and there was no current running.

Jerry

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: 5/26/05
Dive Location:Redondo Beach
Time: 6:25
Bottom Time: 55 minutes
Max Depth: 67'
Vis: 20-25'
Wave height: 2'
Temp at depth: 51F
Surface Temp: Much nicer
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments: Claudette (HBDiveGirl) wanted to get in a little more drysuit practice so we met with Jeff Shaw for a late afternoon dip. It's difficult to tell due to her perpetual smile, but I think Claudette loves diving dry!
We walked down to the Topaz Jetty in search of the pilings and Lion nudibranchs. We didn't find either, but still had a great time. Lots of small octopus, baby Horn sharks and the usual cast of characters were out and about. The top 35 feet of water was a reddish-brown pudding, but vis opened up to 20-25 feet below that. Looking up at the canyon dropoff reminded me of a red fog bank moving over the edge. We had a lot of fun playing with the critters and enjoying the good company. We even had a youg sea lion playing with us at the surface as we exited the water. Nice way to break up a long work week.

 

[Lexy]

Date: Thursday, 5/26/05
Dive Location: North Crescent, Laguna Beach (somewhere between Pinnacles and Deadman's)
Time: 6:38 PM PDT
Bottom Time: 60 mins.
Max Depth: 37 ft.
Vis: 8-12 ft. with particulate
Wave height: 1-2 ft.
Temp at depth: 57 degrees (Aeris)
Surface Temp: 65 degrees
Tide information: not available
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments: Met up with kara (eyasha) and two other friends for a wonderfully relaxed dive at Crescent. The kick out was smooth, nada chop or wind. We decided to drop over the sand, just past the reef structure and head toward Seal Rock. (I think the area I'm describing is right around Pinnacles/Seal Rock). The initial viz was pea-soupish but became significantly better as we hit rock substrate. The purple, red and black urchin population is doing extremely well out there. Encountered noticeable particulate in the water, which made me think my mask was fogging up! We found the old lobster cage and were greeted by lots of garibaldi, a few female sheephead, rock wrasse, blacksmith (not many schools), lobster, painted greenling, treefish, black surf perch, juv. kelp bass and very large sand bass. Some of the highlights were: watching two male garibaldi doing a very serious standoff showdown, several cool nudibranch that I need to ID (white body and orange globe structures on stalks), and lots of sea lions!! There were at least 3-4 sea lions that were curiously watching us, performing underwater acrobatics and the occasional dive bomb strafing. We also watched a garibaldi swimming with a red urchin dangling out of his mouth. The garibaldi could barely hang onto this red urchin and reluctantly dropped the urchin when I got a little too close. The surge was initially non-existent and started to pick up as we got shallower (19-20 feet depth, 2-3 feet surge). The surf exit and entry was a total piece of cake - very long, lazy intervals between 1-2 footers.

 

[melionda]

i'm going snorkeling in laguna beach tommorrow.
any sugestions on where to go?
how were condtions today?

 

[pasley]

Date: 28 May 2005
Dive Location: Malibu Stair Case (Ventura County)
Time: 09:29 a.m.
Bottom Time: 60:00
Max Depth: 36 fsw
Vis: 5-15
Wave height: 1-1.5 feet easy entry
Temp at depth: 57 Suunto degrees
Surface Temp: 61 Suunto degrees
Tide information:
2005-05-28 00:35 PDT 5.73 feet High Tide
2005-05-28 08:23 PDT -0.79 feet Low Tide
2005-05-28 15:37 PDT 3.69 feet High Tide
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments: Andy McKay and I met up at the staircase in Malibu for a dive. This site has lots of reef structure and kelp and rarely disappoints. Today was no exception. Unfortunately, I was in my car on the cell phone when I set the time for this dive and failed to consult the tide tables. Negative 0.79 feet low tide! Not the best time to be diving for visibility and there was a lot of sand in the water. Particularly true as this is a shallow site with only 12 feet of depth about 100-150 yards off shore. We had to swim a long way out to get the 356 feet of depth. Spotted some dolphins just about 15-20 yards ahead of us as we swam out on the other side of the kelp. This site offered lots of life as always including a carpet of http://slugsite.us/bow/pacific/crassico.html nudibranch with 15 or more visible in a single glance. Still we saw lots of marine life and I got in a dive, number 200 in case anyone cares, of which only 15 or so have been off a boat.

Date: 28 May 2005
Dive Location: Malibu
Time: 12:13 p.m.
Bottom Time: 32:00
Max Depth: 31 fsw
Vis: 5-10 lots of red tide in close
Wave height: 1-1.5 feet easy entry
Temp at depth: 57 Suunto degrees
Surface Temp: 63 Suunto degrees
Tide information:
2005-05-28 00:35 PDT 5.73 feet High Tide
2005-05-28 08:23 PDT -0.79 feet Low Tide
2005-05-28 15:37 PDT 3.69 feet High Tide
Dropped in for a second dive of the day into red tide. Visibility was dismal in shallow, but we eventually found some visibility out in deeper water and still lots of marine life. Due to the red tide we called the dive early while I could still get back to shore with 2120 PSI in the tank and a free top off from Sport Chalet. No point in blowing $4.50 on a tank of air when the visibility is not all that.