Great pics! They tell the story well.divebuddysean:
Christian
November 04 Dive Reports
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Christian
sapphire
Contributor
November Wrinkles Dive Report - 11/21
I woke up about 4 am to the sounds of pouring rain and wind... logged into the board and a few people were going to show up anyway, so I headed on down! It was an exciting ride, especially the 5 through Irvine and the 133 cutoff to Laguna, it was sooooo windy and I was dodging tumbleweeds and jetsam rolling across the highway...
When I got to Heisler Park there were several hardy souls there already. We paced and looked at the ocean (which actually looked nice), looked at the sky (which didn't), shivered in the wind, and talked about going to breakfast at Ruby's and having an AFTERNOON dive! Well, Scottfiji and Emily showed up, he jumped out of his car in his trunks and sandals and called us all wimps!! So part of the group headed over to Crescent to dive, while part headed to breakfast! As we were gearing up, this nice couple was walking their dog by my car and they asked concernedly "can you dive when it is THIS cold??
"
Dive 1: Crescent Bay/Deadman's Reef: Deadman's is quite a surface swim usually, but this time the wind was BLOWING us out to sea! My buddy Ana started with "I dropped my mask, can you help?" so there were several of us in the surge looking for it... after burning through 500 psi searching I found it much closer to shore than I imagined... if she had HAD a snorkle if would have been easier to spot that thing! I think a neoprene slap strap will be making it into her stocking this Christmas... But now we are even for the time she rescued my camera in Cabo last summer!
DiveBuddySean had his cool depthfinder, so when we were about where we thought Deadman's was he got a reading of 10 ft... and Scott could see Garibaldi on the reef. Ana and I dropped down and the viz was incredible for beach diving, like 30 feet or so... and fish everywhere, schools of little fish and lots of big kelp bass and sheepheads... I think Ana and I found at least 5 octopii, lots of lobster (mostly small but one huge one), a big scorpionfish, etc... we quickly separated from the rest of the group but we were having fun and we knew our way home. We ran into Divinman and Krowsea later and that's when they saw a sea lion right by me (but I missed it). Then I spotted the ray in the gravelly bottom... I didn't know what kind it was but it was 3-4 feet big... and cool. Terry said it was a butterfly ray, which I am not familiar with. We lost the guys and decided to head back in at about half a tank... 90-30, 90-30 is the way you navigate back in there to avoid the rocks... we had so much fun on the way back in! it got quite surgy, and I would find a narrow crevice, get ready, and have the surge SWOOOSH me through it... very fun!!
We surfaced fairly close to shore and had an easy swim in... BUT our car keys were in Sean's car!! So Ana and I are shivering by our cars, finally the SD guys took pity on us and lent us some clothes! We went back to the park and met up with the Breakfast Club to tell them what they had missed!
Dive 2: Crescent Bay/Deadman's: I had left my car and gear at Crescent thinking we might do a second dive there... but everyone had moved their cars to Heisler Park, so they were diving there... I walked all the way back to get my gear, and when I got there Simon and his wife were getting ready to dive Crescent and they kindly invited me to join them. This was Simon's wife first OW dive since getting certified, so we took our time gearing up and swimming out. Once again the wind mostly blew us out to Deadmans!
Finally we dropped back down where we thought Deadman's was, with a plan to head towards Seal Rock and then back in... the viz was not quite as good this time... maybe 15-20 feet. Still it was a great dive, with octopus, some lobster, red rock shrimp, a huge Cabezon and a large scorpionfish... I did some reef clean up by collecting a long fishing line. At one point Simon and his wife were looking at a lobster or something and I had to laugh at the 20 or so Garibaldi that descended upon them looking for a handout! Meaghan did really well for a new diver and braved the cold and the wind nicely... I had a reading of 61 but felt much colder. Thanks again to Simon & Meaghan for letting me join them!
By the time I dropped my tanks off for fills and got back to the park, the other group had already eaten lunch and were getting ready for their 3rd dive!! Thanks to Roger & family we had warm food, so once again I did my best to warm up, but by the time I took off the wetsuit and hung it up and tried to get warm... ate lunch and talked... then the sun was starting to set. I could tell it was going to be a great sunset, so I got ready to take some photos, and we all decided against a night dive and FOR pizza and beer nearby! 18 of us ended up at Gina's Pizza and had a great time... it was so funny because I walked Ana out to her car at 8 and almost could not get back in! They had locked the door and put up a sign "Closed for a Private Party", LOL which was us... we all figured they decided they could get away with closing up early because we were such a big group!
Anyway, it was another great Wrinkles Dive Extravaganza, with the great viz counteracting the cold wind!! I can't wait for the next one!
jennifer
I woke up about 4 am to the sounds of pouring rain and wind... logged into the board and a few people were going to show up anyway, so I headed on down! It was an exciting ride, especially the 5 through Irvine and the 133 cutoff to Laguna, it was sooooo windy and I was dodging tumbleweeds and jetsam rolling across the highway...
When I got to Heisler Park there were several hardy souls there already. We paced and looked at the ocean (which actually looked nice), looked at the sky (which didn't), shivered in the wind, and talked about going to breakfast at Ruby's and having an AFTERNOON dive! Well, Scottfiji and Emily showed up, he jumped out of his car in his trunks and sandals and called us all wimps!! So part of the group headed over to Crescent to dive, while part headed to breakfast! As we were gearing up, this nice couple was walking their dog by my car and they asked concernedly "can you dive when it is THIS cold??
"Dive 1: Crescent Bay/Deadman's Reef: Deadman's is quite a surface swim usually, but this time the wind was BLOWING us out to sea! My buddy Ana started with "I dropped my mask, can you help?" so there were several of us in the surge looking for it... after burning through 500 psi searching I found it much closer to shore than I imagined... if she had HAD a snorkle if would have been easier to spot that thing! I think a neoprene slap strap will be making it into her stocking this Christmas... But now we are even for the time she rescued my camera in Cabo last summer!
DiveBuddySean had his cool depthfinder, so when we were about where we thought Deadman's was he got a reading of 10 ft... and Scott could see Garibaldi on the reef. Ana and I dropped down and the viz was incredible for beach diving, like 30 feet or so... and fish everywhere, schools of little fish and lots of big kelp bass and sheepheads... I think Ana and I found at least 5 octopii, lots of lobster (mostly small but one huge one), a big scorpionfish, etc... we quickly separated from the rest of the group but we were having fun and we knew our way home. We ran into Divinman and Krowsea later and that's when they saw a sea lion right by me (but I missed it). Then I spotted the ray in the gravelly bottom... I didn't know what kind it was but it was 3-4 feet big... and cool. Terry said it was a butterfly ray, which I am not familiar with. We lost the guys and decided to head back in at about half a tank... 90-30, 90-30 is the way you navigate back in there to avoid the rocks... we had so much fun on the way back in! it got quite surgy, and I would find a narrow crevice, get ready, and have the surge SWOOOSH me through it... very fun
!!We surfaced fairly close to shore and had an easy swim in... BUT our car keys were in Sean's car!! So Ana and I are shivering by our cars, finally the SD guys took pity on us and lent us some clothes! We went back to the park and met up with the Breakfast Club to tell them what they had missed!
Dive 2: Crescent Bay/Deadman's: I had left my car and gear at Crescent thinking we might do a second dive there... but everyone had moved their cars to Heisler Park, so they were diving there... I walked all the way back to get my gear, and when I got there Simon and his wife were getting ready to dive Crescent and they kindly invited me to join them. This was Simon's wife first OW dive since getting certified, so we took our time gearing up and swimming out. Once again the wind mostly blew us out to Deadmans!
Finally we dropped back down where we thought Deadman's was, with a plan to head towards Seal Rock and then back in... the viz was not quite as good this time... maybe 15-20 feet. Still it was a great dive, with octopus, some lobster, red rock shrimp, a huge Cabezon and a large scorpionfish... I did some reef clean up by collecting a long fishing line. At one point Simon and his wife were looking at a lobster or something and I had to laugh at the 20 or so Garibaldi that descended upon them looking for a handout! Meaghan did really well for a new diver and braved the cold and the wind nicely... I had a reading of 61 but felt much colder. Thanks again to Simon & Meaghan for letting me join them!
By the time I dropped my tanks off for fills and got back to the park, the other group had already eaten lunch and were getting ready for their 3rd dive!! Thanks to Roger & family we had warm food, so once again I did my best to warm up, but by the time I took off the wetsuit and hung it up and tried to get warm... ate lunch and talked... then the sun was starting to set. I could tell it was going to be a great sunset, so I got ready to take some photos, and we all decided against a night dive and FOR pizza and beer nearby! 18 of us ended up at Gina's Pizza and had a great time... it was so funny because I walked Ana out to her car at 8 and almost could not get back in! They had locked the door and put up a sign "Closed for a Private Party", LOL which was us... we all figured they decided they could get away with closing up early because we were such a big group!
Anyway, it was another great Wrinkles Dive Extravaganza, with the great viz counteracting the cold wind!! I can't wait for the next one!
jennifer
sapphire
Contributor
divinman:
I did upload them to take a look, and I like a few... but I am using a rental laptop right now and have no Photoshop, so I can't resize them properly to post... my Toshiba is supposed to be back today or tomorrow :06: I hope... and I also have some group shots. I sure wish I had taken the cam on that first dive when we saw the ray!!
Roughwaterjohn
Contributor
Great report Jennifer! It's just like I was there. Like my partner in crime said, pictures, we need pictures.
John-Boy
Like my partner in crime said, pictures, we need pictures.John-Boy
sapphire:
Isn't that the way it always works??? Just have to go back and find it again I guess.
Terry
Butterfly ray
Great report Jennifer!sapphire:
When reading you report, I can almost taste the pizza and beer, which was great. Actually, I've got leftover pizza from that night in the frig, so maybe I'll relive the moment for lunch!
Christian
sapphire
Contributor
divinman:
Thanks for the link, Terry! That looks just like him, and I DO want to go back with my camera
to find it...
Oops! I know better than that. I didn't mean to do that, but was on the run when I did it. An edit will be forth coming! :dazzler1:divinman:Hey Christian!! Can I talk you into NOT QUOTING the intire post next time. Saves space.
Terry
Christian
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