pacificgal
Rest in Peace...
Point Lobos: 100th dive
Plan was to go out with Chuck on Sunday, however, conditions looked pretty bad for a boat so we decided it just wasn’t the day.
Kathydee and DocWong contacted me and asked if I wanted to try Lobos, because the swell predictions were bad we thought we might be able to get in, due to people not using their reservations. I was assured that there were certain ways to get in off the boat ramp even in bad days, even if we had to float our gear out, clip off our gear and enter without our tanks. We brought hiking shoes just in case.
Kathydee and DocWong were both in doubles, I was in a nice compact HP80, real easy for me to maneuver. The boat ramp wasn’t so bad, it was low tide so it was bit slippery, but all of us were able to get in without any problems.
Visibility was poor in the cove, maybe 3 feet, it opened up to about 20 feet outside the cove at middle reef. Saw a really pretty spotted kelpfish sitting on a rock, we watched it for a bit then it walked over the rock and down. It was a beautifully vibrant red fish, with lacy-looking fins.
We went around the end of the reef and dove down to the bottom, Doc was peering into this cave which come to find out was more of a crack, I suppose, as we were able to see light through it. We passed by a memorial plaque to Stephen Brian Davis who died in 2008, and started our swim back in. At some point when I had 700 psi remaining, Doc and I buddy-breathed back into the cove, in low viz, I switched back to my gas to do our safety stops.
Dive 1, max depth 63 ft., 68 mins.
After our surface interval we decided to go back in and take this one easy, not really intending on going anywhere except out of the cove where the viz would be better. We swam out and dropped right on top of something (worm mound, maybe?).
We stopped to take some video of my 100th dive and in the coralline algae was a hermissendra, I love those. Doc took some silly video of me in my pink cape underwater till my buoyancy started getting pretty bad and I was figuring I was making a pretty poor subject (I didn’t want to be standing or kneeling on the bottom, which is what I was tending to do). We got into an area with a bunch of little kelp (palm kelp?) and I was motioned to look around while Kathy and Doc played with their doubles. I found the neatest stuff by just staying in one area!
I looked into a kelp holdfast and found a clown nudibranch, I stayed still and saw this miniscule shrimp, all kelp colored burgundy, smaller than my pinky nail, sitting on top of another one, then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the kelp move in an unusual way. I looked at it directly and it was a fish like I had never seen, so freaking cool! It had a sharp snout with a white diagonal line across it, the body like an eel with spots like a peacock on it and a rounded tail. I looked it up this morning (thank you BAUE) and it’s a six-spot prickleback. It amazing what you can find if you just stop and really look at the area you’re in, I think I’m going to try and do that more.
The swim back was exciting, extremely low viz, touch contact through the murky water, we did a 10 ft. mid-water safety stop (Doc said we did it beautifully).
All in all, a great dive.
Dive 2 (my 100th) max depth 40 ft., 61 mins.
Thanks to KathyDee and DocWong for getting me out on a day I would have stayed home. Also, thanks to Chuck for the offer, hopefully we’ll be able to dive together someday.
Plan was to go out with Chuck on Sunday, however, conditions looked pretty bad for a boat so we decided it just wasn’t the day.
Kathydee and DocWong contacted me and asked if I wanted to try Lobos, because the swell predictions were bad we thought we might be able to get in, due to people not using their reservations. I was assured that there were certain ways to get in off the boat ramp even in bad days, even if we had to float our gear out, clip off our gear and enter without our tanks. We brought hiking shoes just in case.
Kathydee and DocWong were both in doubles, I was in a nice compact HP80, real easy for me to maneuver. The boat ramp wasn’t so bad, it was low tide so it was bit slippery, but all of us were able to get in without any problems.
Visibility was poor in the cove, maybe 3 feet, it opened up to about 20 feet outside the cove at middle reef. Saw a really pretty spotted kelpfish sitting on a rock, we watched it for a bit then it walked over the rock and down. It was a beautifully vibrant red fish, with lacy-looking fins.
We went around the end of the reef and dove down to the bottom, Doc was peering into this cave which come to find out was more of a crack, I suppose, as we were able to see light through it. We passed by a memorial plaque to Stephen Brian Davis who died in 2008, and started our swim back in. At some point when I had 700 psi remaining, Doc and I buddy-breathed back into the cove, in low viz, I switched back to my gas to do our safety stops.
Dive 1, max depth 63 ft., 68 mins.
After our surface interval we decided to go back in and take this one easy, not really intending on going anywhere except out of the cove where the viz would be better. We swam out and dropped right on top of something (worm mound, maybe?).
We stopped to take some video of my 100th dive and in the coralline algae was a hermissendra, I love those. Doc took some silly video of me in my pink cape underwater till my buoyancy started getting pretty bad and I was figuring I was making a pretty poor subject (I didn’t want to be standing or kneeling on the bottom, which is what I was tending to do). We got into an area with a bunch of little kelp (palm kelp?) and I was motioned to look around while Kathy and Doc played with their doubles. I found the neatest stuff by just staying in one area!
I looked into a kelp holdfast and found a clown nudibranch, I stayed still and saw this miniscule shrimp, all kelp colored burgundy, smaller than my pinky nail, sitting on top of another one, then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the kelp move in an unusual way. I looked at it directly and it was a fish like I had never seen, so freaking cool! It had a sharp snout with a white diagonal line across it, the body like an eel with spots like a peacock on it and a rounded tail. I looked it up this morning (thank you BAUE) and it’s a six-spot prickleback. It amazing what you can find if you just stop and really look at the area you’re in, I think I’m going to try and do that more.
The swim back was exciting, extremely low viz, touch contact through the murky water, we did a 10 ft. mid-water safety stop (Doc said we did it beautifully).
All in all, a great dive.
Dive 2 (my 100th) max depth 40 ft., 61 mins.
Thanks to KathyDee and DocWong for getting me out on a day I would have stayed home. Also, thanks to Chuck for the offer, hopefully we’ll be able to dive together someday.
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