Memorial Day 2012 Catalina was awesome!!!

[fnfalman]

The sun was out, the air was warm and the water was like 61-F at depth. About the only time it got cooled down to 56-F was when we hit around 80-ft.

Viz was about 40-ft to 60-ft, very mild surge and the only current we encountered was at Goat Harbor (last dive) and even then it was negligible. We also got to see the giant black seabass at Goat Harbor as well. My buddy and I saw one about 4-ft to 5-ft long. A few other divers saw a humongous one further south of us.

Saw a bat ray minus the tail.:shocked2: Some of those red rock shrimps, a baby abalone and two big critters: a lobster that was about my thigh's size and a massive calico bass that was easily 3-ft long. A rather large (guessing 3-ft to 4-ft) horned shark that was tucked away in a nook that I don't even know how the heck it would fit in. All in all, an awesome day!!!

 

[LostWithNoWater]

Sounds like a good time. Thanks for sharing.

 

[blue steal]

Glad you had a good time HT, sounds like great VIS.
I haven't been boat diving for quite some time now, mostly shore or the express.
What boat were you on?

 

[drbill]

Conditions were great Sun and Mon... up to 50-60 vis in the dive park. I did 11 dives over the four day weekend and would have done more if conditions on Fri and Sat were like the other two days. Amazing how quickly the vis cleared up after the strong winds of Friday night.

 

[fnfalman]

We went out on the Sundiver Express.

I found out that my new HP80 tank is too short to fit into the tank slot, so Julie had to dig out a 4x4 wooden block for my tank to sit on. Here is a photo of the bat ray with the tail missing, and a photo of me swimming on my back, enjoying the beautiful sunlight. No, I'm not winking at the photographer - my mask was full of water on one side and I hadn't had the chance to clear it.

 

[nauga]

Conditions were great Sun and Mon... up to 50-60 vis in the dive park.

We were at the park by 0800 Monday and had the place to ourselves for the first dive. Fantastic viz, a beautiful bat ray, and no waiting on the steps. Even by 1200 (when we left) there was still lots of space on the wall. It was as nice a day as I've ever had there.



Nauga,
with room to maneuver

 

[Tim R Alcoser JR]

We went out on the Sundiver Express.

I found out that my new HP80 tank is too short to fit into the tank slot, so Julie had to dig out a 4x4 wooden block for my tank to sit on. Here is a photo of the bat ray with the tail missing, and a photo of me swimming on my back, enjoying the beautiful sunlight. No, I'm not winking at the photographer - my mask was full of water on one side and I hadn't had the chance to clear it.

LOL! If you wear contacts like me, it does get a bit painful!

 

[geoff w]

We sailed over to Emerald Bay on a friend's boat on Saturday (Friday was way too rough to be comfortable, and they've sailed the boat around the world) and returned on Monday. When we got to Emerald Bay on Saturday afternoon, only about a fifth of the moorings were occupied, so we were able to get a nice spot right off Indian Rock for easy diving. Conditions were spectacular for diving, with viz ranging from 20 to 35 feet. We dove off the boat and spent our time underwater exploring Indian Rock, and also saw several different rays, including a sting ray, a few abalone, and all the usual Catalina underwater critters. No sharks on our dives, and the sea lions didn't join us. We dove wet, since we were getting in and out of a Zodiac in our dive gear, but weren't cold. Our friends tried out our gear, and are now ordering new regulators and switching to backplates/wings. Conditions changed dramatically by Saturday, and it was calm the rest of the long weekend, which meant we motorsailed all the way back to del Rey.