scubapro25
Registered
Hi,
I was advised to post my dive reports from a private boat in San Diego here.
If this is the wrong place for it, please let me know and I'll repost elsewhere. I'm not new to diving, but I'm relatively new on this board.
This is not our most recent dive, but one of the more interesting ones.
PS: my reports tend to be lonngg, so don't say I didn't warn you, OK?
:no
*********************************************************
Dive #1 of the day: [Actual: #676]
Date: 2/4/07
Location: Scripps Canyon, North Branch--Cathedral Heights
Conditions: flat, glassy--Lake Scripps
Water temp: 57 F.
Time: 11:50 am
Dive Length: 40 mins
Max Depth: 130 ft. +
Mix: 27%
Critters: Male and Female Sheephead, huge, uncountable masses of Blacksmith fish, Greenlings, bugs, Gorgonians, Yellow and Orange sponge
Sean, Max, Barbara and I motored out under gorgeous blue and warm, sunny skies Sunday morning to Scripps, in hopes of doing a roaming REEF Marine Life Survey, while Sean took photos.
We were not disappointed.
About 3/4 of the way out to La Jolla, we spotted dolphins tailing our wake and a Grey Whale breaching about 1/2 a mile NW of us.
So, Barbara gunned the engine and using care not to 'harass or chase' him, followed along the direction we thought he was going. About 2/3 of the way there, Barbara says, 'Why don't you go down below and get the binoculars?' Brilliant idea!
So, I go down below to get the binoculars and what do I hear? The sound of 3 people shrieking in delight as the whale breaks the surface 15 ft. from the boat, and I miss it because I'm down below getting the binocs!
I looked through the front cabin windows as soon as I heard everybody yelling and all I see is ONE HUGE BUBBLE, nearly bigger than our boat, slowly rippling outward, the whale long gone--Rats! Now, THAT is frustrating, you know? Coming that close to seeing a whale and missing it!
We hung about in the general area for about 10-15 more minutes and he never reappeared. He probably realized he had been a bit close to us and was putting some distance between us before surfacing again. I had visions of that whale/boat accident that happened last year where people where flung about and suffered severe injuries after a whale came up under them, accidentally. I also vowed to send someone else after the binocs next time!
Oh, well: at least I had diving to look forward to after that, to console myself.
We arrived at our usual place over Cathedral Heights, right across from the Lifeguard Parking area on the hill there and dropped anchor and began suiting up.
The plan was for Max and Sean to go first and run our reel out for us, from the anchor line, over the edge of the canyon, being careful to avoid damaging any Gorgonians, and the just jamming it into the sand with a weight and a flashing strobe at the end, so we could find it later, which is exactly what they did--good work, guys!
They did their 40 min. dive and came up, happily reporting 25 ft. viz., so Barbara and I gave them the usual quick review of how to work the boat controls and emergency radio, and suited up and jumped in.
The anchor was lying flat in the sandy bottom right over Shepard's Tributary, and we could see our reel line laying straight out West, over the rim of the canyon, just as planned.
It ended at about 80 ft. and we could see the little strobe flashing from quite a ways away in this viz--so cool!
So, we followed it over the edge and down into the abyss.
We dropped down the vertical cliff face of Cathedral Heights until we reached 140 ft. and began heading South.
I'm sure REEF Surveys were not designed to be done that these depths , but they're pretty foolproof, when they give a pre-printed waterproof sheet, with all the species already in front of you and all you have to do is circle 'A' for Abundant, 'M' for Many, 'F' for few or 'S' for Single and you're good to go.
A lot easier than the San Diego Oceans Foundations Yukon surveys where you actually have to count the number of fish you see.
Which is just as well, because we would have been numerically overwhelmed by the huge schools of Blacksmith fish that were zipping around us on all sides, both juvenile and adult.
We came across Barbara's favorite crevice at around 120 ft., and, of course, she just had to go back in and up to say 'hi' to whatever ocean denizens live on the ceiling there......I didn't go in, so I don't know. I'm sure their on a first name basis by now.
There was the occasional Sheephead, both male and female cruising about, but not too many [Check: Few].
The viz was truly beautiful, and you could see the huge terraces jutting out, dropping away, far below, into the abyss.
After visiting our favorite crevice, we reached our turn around point and began slowing ascending and heading North, the way we came, noting the lush clumps of Gold and Red Gorgonians waving in the 'breeze' on the edge of the terraces.
We came to the horizontal 'shelf' where we had seen the Moray Eel the last two times we had come out here, but alas, he was 'out and about' today, perhaps hunting for lunch and wasn't in his lair.
As we ascended past 85 ft., a large dark object about 5 ft. long suddenly 'whoooshed' by us at about 60 mph, and down into the deep. That had the desired effect of startling the holy s*** out of us, before he returned, grinning from ear to ear and revealing himself to be a large sea lion, come down to play. He buzzed us and frolicked about near us for about 10 minutes before zooming away. We realized it was probably the same one we had seen on the surface about 20 minutes before getting into the water. Unfortunately, I didn't have a place on my REEF slate for 'large marine mammals'!
Finally, we saw our line with the strobe on it, blinking in the distance and realized it was time to begin heading in, our slates full of entries describing the denizens of the deep in Cathedrals Heights.
After reeling our line back to the anchor, we followed our customary procedure of tying a lift bag to the anchor and filling it with about a 1/3 full of air, so that when it came time to bring it up, Boyle's Law would cause it to become miraculously lighter as it is drawn up. And, boy, does it work!
Just another day in Paradise!
Mikey
:admin:
I was advised to post my dive reports from a private boat in San Diego here.
If this is the wrong place for it, please let me know and I'll repost elsewhere. I'm not new to diving, but I'm relatively new on this board.
This is not our most recent dive, but one of the more interesting ones.
PS: my reports tend to be lonngg, so don't say I didn't warn you, OK?
:no *********************************************************
Dive #1 of the day: [Actual: #676]
Date: 2/4/07
Location: Scripps Canyon, North Branch--Cathedral Heights
Conditions: flat, glassy--Lake Scripps
Water temp: 57 F.
Time: 11:50 am
Dive Length: 40 mins
Max Depth: 130 ft. +
Mix: 27%
Critters: Male and Female Sheephead, huge, uncountable masses of Blacksmith fish, Greenlings, bugs, Gorgonians, Yellow and Orange sponge
Sean, Max, Barbara and I motored out under gorgeous blue and warm, sunny skies Sunday morning to Scripps, in hopes of doing a roaming REEF Marine Life Survey, while Sean took photos.
We were not disappointed.
About 3/4 of the way out to La Jolla, we spotted dolphins tailing our wake and a Grey Whale breaching about 1/2 a mile NW of us.
So, Barbara gunned the engine and using care not to 'harass or chase' him, followed along the direction we thought he was going. About 2/3 of the way there, Barbara says, 'Why don't you go down below and get the binoculars?' Brilliant idea!
So, I go down below to get the binoculars and what do I hear? The sound of 3 people shrieking in delight as the whale breaks the surface 15 ft. from the boat, and I miss it because I'm down below getting the binocs!
I looked through the front cabin windows as soon as I heard everybody yelling and all I see is ONE HUGE BUBBLE, nearly bigger than our boat, slowly rippling outward, the whale long gone--Rats! Now, THAT is frustrating, you know? Coming that close to seeing a whale and missing it!
We hung about in the general area for about 10-15 more minutes and he never reappeared. He probably realized he had been a bit close to us and was putting some distance between us before surfacing again. I had visions of that whale/boat accident that happened last year where people where flung about and suffered severe injuries after a whale came up under them, accidentally. I also vowed to send someone else after the binocs next time!
Oh, well: at least I had diving to look forward to after that, to console myself.
We arrived at our usual place over Cathedral Heights, right across from the Lifeguard Parking area on the hill there and dropped anchor and began suiting up.
The plan was for Max and Sean to go first and run our reel out for us, from the anchor line, over the edge of the canyon, being careful to avoid damaging any Gorgonians, and the just jamming it into the sand with a weight and a flashing strobe at the end, so we could find it later, which is exactly what they did--good work, guys!
They did their 40 min. dive and came up, happily reporting 25 ft. viz., so Barbara and I gave them the usual quick review of how to work the boat controls and emergency radio, and suited up and jumped in.
The anchor was lying flat in the sandy bottom right over Shepard's Tributary, and we could see our reel line laying straight out West, over the rim of the canyon, just as planned.
It ended at about 80 ft. and we could see the little strobe flashing from quite a ways away in this viz--so cool!
So, we followed it over the edge and down into the abyss.
We dropped down the vertical cliff face of Cathedral Heights until we reached 140 ft. and began heading South.
I'm sure REEF Surveys were not designed to be done that these depths
, but they're pretty foolproof, when they give a pre-printed waterproof sheet, with all the species already in front of you and all you have to do is circle 'A' for Abundant, 'M' for Many, 'F' for few or 'S' for Single and you're good to go. A lot easier than the San Diego Oceans Foundations Yukon surveys where you actually have to count the number of fish you see.
Which is just as well, because we would have been numerically overwhelmed by the huge schools of Blacksmith fish that were zipping around us on all sides, both juvenile and adult.
We came across Barbara's favorite crevice at around 120 ft., and, of course, she just had to go back in and up to say 'hi' to whatever ocean denizens live on the ceiling there......I didn't go in, so I don't know. I'm sure their on a first name basis by now.
There was the occasional Sheephead, both male and female cruising about, but not too many [Check: Few].
The viz was truly beautiful, and you could see the huge terraces jutting out, dropping away, far below, into the abyss.
After visiting our favorite crevice, we reached our turn around point and began slowing ascending and heading North, the way we came, noting the lush clumps of Gold and Red Gorgonians waving in the 'breeze' on the edge of the terraces.
We came to the horizontal 'shelf' where we had seen the Moray Eel the last two times we had come out here, but alas, he was 'out and about' today, perhaps hunting for lunch and wasn't in his lair.
As we ascended past 85 ft., a large dark object about 5 ft. long suddenly 'whoooshed' by us at about 60 mph, and down into the deep. That had the desired effect of startling the holy s*** out of us, before he returned, grinning from ear to ear and revealing himself to be a large sea lion, come down to play. He buzzed us and frolicked about near us for about 10 minutes before zooming away. We realized it was probably the same one we had seen on the surface about 20 minutes before getting into the water. Unfortunately, I didn't have a place on my REEF slate for 'large marine mammals'!
Finally, we saw our line with the strobe on it, blinking in the distance and realized it was time to begin heading in, our slates full of entries describing the denizens of the deep in Cathedrals Heights.
After reeling our line back to the anchor, we followed our customary procedure of tying a lift bag to the anchor and filling it with about a 1/3 full of air, so that when it came time to bring it up, Boyle's Law would cause it to become miraculously lighter as it is drawn up. And, boy, does it work!
Just another day in Paradise!
Mikey
:admin:
