2 dives on the Escapade on Saturday with the BAUE group. Wind, swell and rain forecasts almost caused the boat to be cancelled - I also almost decided not to go due to not wanting to wake up in the cold at stupid o'clock and drive down in the rain. It was surprisingly warm and sunny as we were loading up; super nice not to have to get into a drysuit in the rain.
Dive 1 was at the Needle, just outside the Pt Lobos Reserve boundaries. Absolutely amazing dive! The entire structure is covered in anemones with dozens of nudis, whelks and cowries. A cloud of blue rockfish maintained vigil on one side of the structure. There was a fair bit of surge during the entire dive due to the long period swell but easily managed.
-> 55min, 89ft max, 60ft avg, 30-40ft viz, 54F at depth
The surface interval was not pleasant as the wind had picked up and it was drizzling a bit too. I didn't warm up at all before the second dive and was expecting a short on called due to cold even though the water temp was certainly in the pleasant range.
Dive 2 was back in the Bay at Aumentos Reef. Viz was not as good as the bottom had gotten churned up more. The entire wall of metridium anemones on the east side of the reef were closed up and all the ling cods that are generally cruising around were hunkered down on the reef. We saw one of them next to its egg sack/pile which was a first for me. The end of the dive was not the most comfortable as I discovered I was underweighted with my new doubles
-> 47min, 69ft max, 53ft avg, 20-30ft viz, 55F at depth
Super stoked to be back in the water. Storms here and a cancelled trip to Thailand made this my first dive in 48 days
