Report from March 29th,
Yesterday I went out diving in the bay with researchers Dr. Alicia and Dr. Dinorah (nudibranch and equinoderm experts respectively) , we went out to
los Arcos.
Conditions were really nice and typical for this time of the year. We planned a scooter dive starting at the moorings under the dive boat and all the way around Piedra Tortuga and then along the outer wall from north to south an back . Alicia waited for Dinorah and myself at the "Three tank memorial" area on the edge of the abyss at 40 to 50 ft while finding and shooting pictures of
Flabellina fogata nudibranchs and other photogenic sea slugs.
http://research.calacademy.org/research/scipubs/pdfs/v59/proccas_v59_n13.pdf
Vallarta marzo 2009 - a set on Flickr
I do this dive several times during the year (summer and winter) so the diver that I tow behind me gets a good idea and sense of the greatness and depth of this wall that has many secrets and features to observe (one of my favorite places). The surface water temp from 0 to 25 ft was 74-78 F and the viz 25 foot or so with the plankton bloom, very little swell and no current. Under 25 feet, the viz increased dramatically (possibly 80-90 ft ) and the temp was down to a chilly 63 F. It took us 17 min cruising at a depth of 90 ft to go along the wall from beginning (devils jaw) to end (south sand slope), with just one brief stop to look closely with the canister light at the black coral and other stuff. At that point we were kind of cold already (no dry suits this time just 6 mm wet neoprene) so we turned and headed back alternating right on the edge of the slope and the wall at round 75 to 55 ft . The fish were really nice and we had big schools of the usual suspects that are around during cold water season. Also we came across three green turtles while we flew over the abyss. At minute 40 we were back with Alicia to look at small critters and began slowly heading up to the edge of the thermocline at 25 to 35 ft. I was kind of cold already and it felt so good to get out of the fridge !! We surfaced at minute 75 right under our boat while everyone was arriving to the area for the day.
Second dive we did at
Bajo del Cristo in the same area. We stayed fairly shallow during most of the dive (with very mellow current and swell) as we headed out from the mooring close to the beach towards el Bajo. It was cold again under 25ft as could be expected, so we bounced on the thermocline most of the dive while having Dinorah check out the sea cucumbers, sea apples and other holoturids that she works with. It was very interesting as some of these sea cucumbers ( a failry large one) was almost fished to extinction in the Gulf of California (aka Sea of Cortez) in the past decade .
Isostichopus fuscus
PESQUERIA DE PEPINO DE MAR EN MŽÉXICO
This is so because the markets in the orient have a great demand for this delicacy. Nowadays she helps local commercial fishing permit holders (fishing cooperativas) in Baja California to manage this valuable resource and some of the populations are back to sustainable levels. Towards the end of the dive we plunged down into the freezer briefly to 75 feet at the north part of el Bajo, we had all of the great schools of fish and good viz that was expected.
Happy diving !!
