Wow! Instant Karma. Thanks Dave. You should have seen Jeff's face light up when he spotted it.
May 05 Dive Reports
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Today was my 143rd Marineland dive and I haven't seen it yet. I'm beginning to think it's an Urban Legend.mccabejc:Hey Christian, how many more dives will we make MaxBottomtime do at Marineland before we tell him we were just kidding?
scubacalifornia
Contributor
Date: Sunday, 5/29/05
Time: 8:21 AM
Dive Location: Crystal Cove - Reef Point
Buddy: Marshall Krupp
Bottom Time: 61 minutes
Max Depth: 43
Viz: 8'-15'
Wave height: 1-2'
Surge: 0'-3'
Temp at depth: 64 degrees Suunto
Surface Temp: same
First time diving at Reef Point. Entered the water a bit north of the stairs, but totally covered with rocks on the bottom so we got out, walked a little further up the beach, and found the path of least resistance between our initial entry point and the main visible reef that runs out from shore. Tide was out; very shallow for quite a ways. Dropped down at 15' depth, viz pretty marginal. Headed due south and aside from a good deal of surge around the reef, the viz was better as we got deeper - even had some patches up to 15'. Saw two large and one small ray, a couple of bugs, painted greenlings, blacksmith, and all the other regulars. Loved the varied reef structure and will definitely dive here again soon. Ran into Robb Phillips and a pack of Scubaboarders as we were exiting.
Kevin
Time: 8:21 AM
Dive Location: Crystal Cove - Reef Point
Buddy: Marshall Krupp
Bottom Time: 61 minutes
Max Depth: 43
Viz: 8'-15'
Wave height: 1-2'
Surge: 0'-3'
Temp at depth: 64 degrees Suunto
Surface Temp: same
First time diving at Reef Point. Entered the water a bit north of the stairs, but totally covered with rocks on the bottom so we got out, walked a little further up the beach, and found the path of least resistance between our initial entry point and the main visible reef that runs out from shore. Tide was out; very shallow for quite a ways. Dropped down at 15' depth, viz pretty marginal. Headed due south and aside from a good deal of surge around the reef, the viz was better as we got deeper - even had some patches up to 15'. Saw two large and one small ray, a couple of bugs, painted greenlings, blacksmith, and all the other regulars. Loved the varied reef structure and will definitely dive here again soon. Ran into Robb Phillips and a pack of Scubaboarders as we were exiting.
Kevin
It was nice meeting you and Jeff too Phil.MaxBottomtime:Today was my 143rd Marineland dive and I haven't seen it yet. I'm beginning to think it's an Urban Legend.
I'm beginning to think this dock/swim platform or whatever it is, only appears occasionally and then goes back to the Burmuda Triangle.
I have not really been tempted to find it again because I figured tons of people knew about it and it's just sitting out in the middle of a very sandy bottom. Had I known it was a rare find, I would have at least popped up and tried to triangulate it's position using some sort of line ups.
Speaking of underwater objects, I thought you might know what something we dropped down on today might have been. We did a surface swim from the pebble beach to a place out from the point with a big wooden post on it. When we dropped down we saw a block of cement with a rope tied to it and a float sitting about half way to the surface. The block had some letters on it, but I didn't write down what they were. Do you know what that is or what it's for?
Christian
Sounds like someone dropped something off a boat and tried to mark the spot. Did you find anything valuable nearby?
The area directly in front of the post is the remains of the Newbern wreck (1898) with several pieces of iron pipes and small pieces of various shapes. Occasionally you can find lobsters hiding under the rocks with the little swim-thrus there as well. If you follow the edge of the reef back to the cove you'll come across a large anchor with nets around it. There are at least three octopus that live in the rocks next to the anchor.
The area directly in front of the post is the remains of the Newbern wreck (1898) with several pieces of iron pipes and small pieces of various shapes. Occasionally you can find lobsters hiding under the rocks with the little swim-thrus there as well. If you follow the edge of the reef back to the cove you'll come across a large anchor with nets around it. There are at least three octopus that live in the rocks next to the anchor.
scottfiji
Contributor
Location: Point Dume Pinnacles, 9:45PM
Max depth: 49ft
Time: 52min
vis: 20ft
waves: small to medium
Six intrepid divers met on a beautiful Monday morning to explore the Point Dume Pinnacles. Sunny skies and easily manageable waves awaited us.
We entered the water to find a strong reverse current (east->west).
The swim back was easy due to the reverse current, and all 6 of us ascended right in front of the beach where we exited. A sheep crab we saw on the way back attacked me and tried to take my camera!
Species spotted include Lingcod, cabezon, scorpionfish, treefish, olive rockfish, kelp rockfish, lots and lots of painted greenling, spanish shawl & hermisenda nudibranchs, sunflower stars, sheephead, a rockpool blennie, barred sand bass, blue-banded gobies, and schools of the other usual suspects.
I didn't take as many pics as normal since I was leading the group, but I made up for it with some nice topside shots. Click on each individual pic to see a larger view, or choose view slideshow!
Full set of pics:
http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/PointDume20050530
Cabezon
Scorpionfish
Hermissenda Nudibranch
Max depth: 49ft
Time: 52min
vis: 20ft
waves: small to medium
Six intrepid divers met on a beautiful Monday morning to explore the Point Dume Pinnacles. Sunny skies and easily manageable waves awaited us.
We entered the water to find a strong reverse current (east->west).
The swim back was easy due to the reverse current, and all 6 of us ascended right in front of the beach where we exited. A sheep crab we saw on the way back attacked me and tried to take my camera!
Species spotted include Lingcod, cabezon, scorpionfish, treefish, olive rockfish, kelp rockfish, lots and lots of painted greenling, spanish shawl & hermisenda nudibranchs, sunflower stars, sheephead, a rockpool blennie, barred sand bass, blue-banded gobies, and schools of the other usual suspects.
I didn't take as many pics as normal since I was leading the group, but I made up for it with some nice topside shots. Click on each individual pic to see a larger view, or choose view slideshow!
Full set of pics:
http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/PointDume20050530
Cabezon
Scorpionfish
Hermissenda Nudibranch
No, we didn't find any gold dubloons.MaxBottomtime:Sounds like someone dropped something off a boat and tried to mark the spot. Did you find anything valuable nearby?
The area directly in front of the post is the remains of the Newbern wreck (1898) with several pieces of iron pipes and small pieces of various shapes. Occasionally you can find lobsters hiding under the rocks with the little swim-thrus there as well. If you follow the edge of the reef back to the cove you'll come across a large anchor with nets around it. There are at least three octopus that live in the rocks next to the anchor.
I'm guessing that it was about 50 yards out from the post. and just a little closer to the pebble beach. It looked like one of those footings that you buy for posts at Home Depot, but the base of it was about a foot square and then rose on all four sides to about an 8 inch square. The rope and the elongated float looked relatively new. We dropped down right on it like it was intentional on our part.
The coolest part of that dive was a pair of dolphins on our final swim in that came between us and the shore. They were only about 30 feet away! I've never had them come that close to me when I was in the water.
Christian
Excellent! So, the rumors of great vis in the Malibu area appear to be true.
Great pics as always!
Christian
Great pics as always!
Christian
SNOBORDJON
Guest
wow nice pics
John
John
Diver_Jan
Contributor
Memorial Day Weekend
Saturday 5/28/05
Dive #1: Franks Cove, La Bocana, Baja Mexico
Surf: 1-2' if that
Swell: non-existant
Viz: 10-30'; 10' under kelp canopy
Temp: 54' Suunto
Max Depth: 39'
Dive Buddies: Jennifer Yee and my son, Nathaniel.
Donned our gear at camp site. Made our way to the steep rocky NARROW path that led down the face of the cliff to what has been named Franks Cove. After climbing down the rocky path and rock face, we crossed a short rocky beach to enter the water. Entered the water without incident. COLD water running into our wetsuits...seemed colder than local waters, but turned out, it's the same temperature.
Kicked out a little bit from the cove, took a heading, and dropped down into a wonderland of boulders, rock crevices, and bold walls. Immediately spotted several Sun Stars with their multitude of legs. They were in all sizes from itty bitty babies to HUGE spreading about two feet in diameter!!! Saw all kinds of fish, the usual ones that we have here in California. Oddly, I did not see any Giribaldi! I know they exist there, for I saw them last year. As we dove south, we headed under a giant kelp canopy that was the width of a football field. It was interesting, for it was like doing a twilight/ night dive. I promptly handed my son my light Canon so that he could see. This was really exciting. I felt like Hansel and Grettel entering the forbidden forest. As we were making our way south under the canopy, I spotted two big white blotches. Turned out that they were nudibranchs!!! The largest I had ever seen. Some sort of Dorid according to my 'new' Nudibranch ID card. I then spotted an odd plant, or what I thought was a plant. It's tubular in shape like a vase, then has two valves at the top. one pointing down, the other pointing up. Kind of reminded me of how the heart valves look. I have no idea what this was. No one in the group was able to ID it as well. Anyway, cool!!! We continued on our way until we reached the end of the kelp forest. At our turn around point, we entered back under and headed back to the cove. As we turned around, we were greeted by three Jelly Fish. Sooooooo peaceful and graceful. We continued to explore the vast rocks, walls, and crevices with amazement when my son started getting bouyant. He was diving with a AL 80 rather in which he was underweighted. I attempted to push him down to get some rocks for his pockets, but it was too late for that. In order not for him to get tangled up in the kelp canopy, I slowly ascended with him to an open area in the kelp at the surface. Jennifer followed shortly after. As we looked to shore, we had about 50 yards of kelp in front of us. Maybe more. We tried shifting his weight around and attempted to descend. No luck. So...we started to do the kelp crawl which was very difficult for my son, for he wasn't used to doing this and he was using rental gear plus a weight belt. He was able to make some distance, but I could tell he was getting tired. Jennifer and I decided for him to remove his gear to make it easier for him to get through the kelp. I even told him to go ahead and drop his weight belt, but he insisted on keeping it on. Once his gear was removed, it was easier for him to move through the heavy kelp. Rather than crawling straight ahead towards the cove, I had us crawl east for about 30 yards into a clearing. By this time the current had picked up in which it moved some of the kelp. We were able to surface swim around the main part of the kelp field back to the cove. Once to shore, we were greeted by some of the club members who had been watching us from the top of the cliff. Oddly, I wasn't tired when we got back to shore, and even asked Jennifer if she wanted to go back in since we had over 1200 PSI left in our tanks! Unfortunately, someone had grabbed my fins and was already heading back up the cliff.
Thanks to Jennifer for her help and encouragement towards my son.
Dive #2
Sunday May 29th
Punto San Tomas, Baja, Mexico (Just North of La Bocana)
Surf: 0
Swells: 1-2'; 2-3' in some areas
Viz: 5-10'
Surge: 5-7' at times
Buddies: Initially Jennifer, John, and Nathaniel.
Made our way down the rocky path/ rock face. Giant stride from the rocks into the water. No problem. John and Nathaniel were a tad underweighted, so asked for more weight. Jennifer and I were enjoying our surface swim, floating along like 'sea otters' while our friend Frank was topside taking photos. Pretending to be a 'sea otter' I used my mask like it was a sea urchin, removing it from my arm. Continuing playing around in the water while waiting for Nathaniel and John, I discovered I had a free flowing reg that would not correct itself. At that point, I told Jennifer to join John and Nathaniel. I was going to exit and try to fix my reg. As I made my way over to climb out over the rocks, I noticed I did not have my mask! Ugh... Frank loaned me his mask so that I could snorkel to look for it. I removed my equipment and went out. No luck due to poor viz from the surface. I then put my gear back on in the water and using my free flowing reg, decided to look for it underneath. I did two search patterns with no luck. I did get to see a variety of marine life including 4 different types of Nudibranchs; a large Octopus; Egg nests ( the kinds that look like a flower); huge sheepheads, and the usual suspects. I concluded my dive by exiting over the rocks, timing it as the swell and surge pushed me right up on top. The others exited around the point coming up on the boat ramp. John caught a Cabezon by hand in which we enjoyed, along with other fish that were caught by club members for yummy fish tacos that evening.
Equipment issues aside, All in all, a wonderful weekend. On the way down, and back up to California through Baja, we encountered wild horses, two foals, a burro, and cows along with three calves.
Saturday 5/28/05
Dive #1: Franks Cove, La Bocana, Baja Mexico
Surf: 1-2' if that
Swell: non-existant
Viz: 10-30'; 10' under kelp canopy
Temp: 54' Suunto
Max Depth: 39'
Dive Buddies: Jennifer Yee and my son, Nathaniel.
Donned our gear at camp site. Made our way to the steep rocky NARROW path that led down the face of the cliff to what has been named Franks Cove. After climbing down the rocky path and rock face, we crossed a short rocky beach to enter the water. Entered the water without incident. COLD water running into our wetsuits...seemed colder than local waters, but turned out, it's the same temperature.
Kicked out a little bit from the cove, took a heading, and dropped down into a wonderland of boulders, rock crevices, and bold walls. Immediately spotted several Sun Stars with their multitude of legs. They were in all sizes from itty bitty babies to HUGE spreading about two feet in diameter!!! Saw all kinds of fish, the usual ones that we have here in California. Oddly, I did not see any Giribaldi! I know they exist there, for I saw them last year. As we dove south, we headed under a giant kelp canopy that was the width of a football field. It was interesting, for it was like doing a twilight/ night dive. I promptly handed my son my light Canon so that he could see. This was really exciting. I felt like Hansel and Grettel entering the forbidden forest. As we were making our way south under the canopy, I spotted two big white blotches. Turned out that they were nudibranchs!!! The largest I had ever seen. Some sort of Dorid according to my 'new' Nudibranch ID card. I then spotted an odd plant, or what I thought was a plant. It's tubular in shape like a vase, then has two valves at the top. one pointing down, the other pointing up. Kind of reminded me of how the heart valves look. I have no idea what this was. No one in the group was able to ID it as well. Anyway, cool!!! We continued on our way until we reached the end of the kelp forest. At our turn around point, we entered back under and headed back to the cove. As we turned around, we were greeted by three Jelly Fish. Sooooooo peaceful and graceful. We continued to explore the vast rocks, walls, and crevices with amazement when my son started getting bouyant. He was diving with a AL 80 rather in which he was underweighted. I attempted to push him down to get some rocks for his pockets, but it was too late for that. In order not for him to get tangled up in the kelp canopy, I slowly ascended with him to an open area in the kelp at the surface. Jennifer followed shortly after. As we looked to shore, we had about 50 yards of kelp in front of us. Maybe more. We tried shifting his weight around and attempted to descend. No luck. So...we started to do the kelp crawl which was very difficult for my son, for he wasn't used to doing this and he was using rental gear plus a weight belt. He was able to make some distance, but I could tell he was getting tired. Jennifer and I decided for him to remove his gear to make it easier for him to get through the kelp. I even told him to go ahead and drop his weight belt, but he insisted on keeping it on. Once his gear was removed, it was easier for him to move through the heavy kelp. Rather than crawling straight ahead towards the cove, I had us crawl east for about 30 yards into a clearing. By this time the current had picked up in which it moved some of the kelp. We were able to surface swim around the main part of the kelp field back to the cove. Once to shore, we were greeted by some of the club members who had been watching us from the top of the cliff. Oddly, I wasn't tired when we got back to shore, and even asked Jennifer if she wanted to go back in since we had over 1200 PSI left in our tanks! Unfortunately, someone had grabbed my fins and was already heading back up the cliff.
Thanks to Jennifer for her help and encouragement towards my son.
Dive #2
Sunday May 29th
Punto San Tomas, Baja, Mexico (Just North of La Bocana)
Surf: 0
Swells: 1-2'; 2-3' in some areas
Viz: 5-10'
Surge: 5-7' at times
Buddies: Initially Jennifer, John, and Nathaniel.
Made our way down the rocky path/ rock face. Giant stride from the rocks into the water. No problem. John and Nathaniel were a tad underweighted, so asked for more weight. Jennifer and I were enjoying our surface swim, floating along like 'sea otters' while our friend Frank was topside taking photos. Pretending to be a 'sea otter' I used my mask like it was a sea urchin, removing it from my arm. Continuing playing around in the water while waiting for Nathaniel and John, I discovered I had a free flowing reg that would not correct itself. At that point, I told Jennifer to join John and Nathaniel. I was going to exit and try to fix my reg. As I made my way over to climb out over the rocks, I noticed I did not have my mask! Ugh... Frank loaned me his mask so that I could snorkel to look for it. I removed my equipment and went out. No luck due to poor viz from the surface. I then put my gear back on in the water and using my free flowing reg, decided to look for it underneath. I did two search patterns with no luck. I did get to see a variety of marine life including 4 different types of Nudibranchs; a large Octopus; Egg nests ( the kinds that look like a flower); huge sheepheads, and the usual suspects. I concluded my dive by exiting over the rocks, timing it as the swell and surge pushed me right up on top. The others exited around the point coming up on the boat ramp. John caught a Cabezon by hand in which we enjoyed, along with other fish that were caught by club members for yummy fish tacos that evening.
Equipment issues aside, All in all, a wonderful weekend. On the way down, and back up to California through Baja, we encountered wild horses, two foals, a burro, and cows along with three calves.
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