Remember me? I finally got in the water again!

[MaxBottomtime]

Merry and I have been battling bronchitis since the end of January. After visiting the Doctor and pharmacy last week I felt well enough to attempt a dive today...sort of. I managed to make an entire dive without coughing. I needed to know if I could clear, but also wanted to try an experiment with my drysuit. I removed the wrist seals in early January and mounted dry glove rings directly to the suit. I've been waiting to test it, and it passed with flying colors. No water entered the suit, but more importantly, no more replacing wrist seals.
We arrived at Buchanan's Reef to find water clear enough to see a large school of blacksmith eating plankton just under the surface. I dropped down through them and was happy to find twenty feet of visibility on the reef. There were not many nudibranchs out as I expected, but I did see something unexpected. I found my second triggerfish at Marineland. The last one was several years ago. He dashed into a hole under a rock, so I had to move both strobes close to the lens just to get my only backscatter-filled shot.

I didn't find any Bruce anchors as I had hoped, but came across a few others. Buchanan's is an anchor magnet.

I spent the dive exploring a small area of the reef. There were plenty of other fish and a few nudibranchs, as well as the usual sponges, hydroids and gorgonians.

I hope Merry feels well enough to dive next week. This is the longest she has been out of the water. I'm happy that my dry spell is now over.

 

[USCScubaboy]

welcome back and nice pics. I have mild chronic bronchitis myself so I know how annoying it feels to not be able to breath without coughing out a lung every few breaths

 

[FrankPro1]

Very cool finding the Trigger Fish. I thought their distribution was only as far north as Baja. Maybe due to El Nino's warm waters? By the look of your wide angle photos it seems conditions were a lot better then the swell model showed. I should have dove today! I'm about ready to take out my RIB for marina trials, so you'll have to give me some tips on where to anchor for Buchanon's reef. It will sure be one of my first stops.

 

[blue steal]

Thanks for the pictures and glad you are feeling better and back diving. Today looked great, no swell to speak of and the VIS looks pretty nice. We went tide pooling due to the extreme low tide, between point fermin and white point and then whale watching out at point vicente in the afternoon. How I wish I could have gone out into the water.

 

[DwayneJ]

Sorry to hear about your illness... Conditions at the island and marineland were fantastic this morning although no diving for me as I was with the family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_7f6aG-2gI

I stopped by marineland for lunch today and could see a few divers entering and exiting the water.

Dwayne

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Thanks for the pictures and glad you are feeling better and back diving. Today looked great, no swell to speak of and the VIS looks pretty nice. We went tide pooling due to the extreme low tide, between point fermin and white point and then whale watching out at point vicente in the afternoon. How I wish I could have gone out into the water.

My buddy Ross took his boat out today. They checked out a wreck about six miles out, then looked at Pt. Fermin but said the water was dirty everywhere. They decided to check out Marineland and found a line seperating the dirty and clean water.

Very cool finding the Trigger Fish. I thought their distribution was only as far north as Baja. Maybe due to El Nino's warm waters? By the look of your wide angle photos it seems conditions were a lot better then the swell model showed. I should have dove today! I'm about ready to take out my RIB for marina trials, so you'll have to give me some tips on where to anchor for Buchanon's reef. It will sure be one of my first stops.

We anchored in the middle of the reef on a 45' high spot. I wasn't sure if I could clear or if my drysuit experiment would work. Next time I'll head to the deeper pinnacles. Check Ebay for deals on a handheld VHF and GPS. I got a new radio last month for $30.

 

[Teamcasa]

Really nice shots and I hope you are not sidelined again anytime soon. I have not been diving since the cleanup and am really in need of some underwater time myself.

 

[fnfalman]

Sweet shot of the triggerfish. I saw two when I was at Coronado Norte a week ago.

 

[drbill]

Very cool finding the Trigger Fish. I thought their distribution was only as far north as Baja. Maybe due to El Nino's warm waters? By the look of your wide angle photos it seems conditions were a lot better then the swell model showed. I should have dove today! I'm about ready to take out my RIB for marina trials, so you'll have to give me some tips on where to anchor for Buchanon's reef. It will sure be one of my first stops.

We've had finescale triggerfish here on Catalina for decades, possibly as a result of the 82-83 El Nino or the earlier one in 78. Very cool find, Phil. Glad you and Merry are back in the water. I had bronchitis or walking pneumonia back in Nov-Dec and it kept me out of the water for some time.

 

[Dive California]

Phil...welcome back...missed your reports and photos...