scubapro25
Registered
--I moved this to So Cal as it appears to be out of place here...
[Sorry, folks: I tend to write really LADRs [Long-Assed Dive Reports]:sleeping_
Date: Saturday, February 23, 2008
Dive Times: 11:30 AM/3:18 PM
Location: Wreck Alley, Mission Beach: Yukon, Ruby E. and NOSC Tower
Maximum depths: 85 feet/60 feet, respectively.
Surface Conditions: surface chop, occasional white cap, due to 12 to
15 knot winds, otherwise good conditions.
Visibility: 12 to 15 feet
Temperature: 54°
Critters seen: Huge schools of Blacksmith fish, Surfperch,
Greenlings, Red and Brown Gorgonians, Macrocystis, Gobies, Giant
Spined Starfish and a Mola Mola [!]
Remarks:
With a 24 our 'Storm Window' between Friday's rain storm and the one
which is on its way tonight and threatening to bring 20 ft seas, we
decided that Saturday would be a great day to do the Ruby E and the
Tower with Merrianne, Navy Dan, 'Iron Man' Charlie and NOAA Jim.
Yukon:
The sky was sunny and blue as we motored out on the trusty Scuba Do to
Wreck Alley. We were also on a special mission for NOAA Jim,
attempting to recover something very dear to his heart [and very
expensive] that he had lost on the Yukon the previous weekend.
Although a charter boat was already tide up to the mooring line when
we got there, after a short wait, they gather their divers up and left
and we tide up to the Forward Guns.
'Iron Man' Charlie with his scooter and Jim, on a borrowed one,
jumped in and began their hunt. Navy Dan, Merrianne and I had decided
to sit this out out.
Not 15 minutes later, NOAA Jim popped to the surface, yelling and
mumbling something unintelligible into his regulator; as I leaned
forward to better hear what he was trying to say, he removed the
regulator from his mouth and promptly aimed a stream of projectile
vomit in my direction, which whizzed by my head and landed harmlessly
in the water next to the boat.
[I told him later he really needs to
work on his aim.]
When his stomach was done evacuating, due to surface chop seasickness,
he yelled out that he had found his scooter under the Yukon.
Naturally he was overjoyed at his discovery and so were the rest of
us. I actually felt guilty, because I never thought he would find it,
thinking as I had, that it would've been halfway to Tijuana by now in
the open ocean currents. Turns out it had lodged amidships in the
sand, right where he had found it.
With such an upbeat start to the day, we all motored over to the Ruby
E., to begin our first official dive of the day, with Jim happily
ranting and raving over his good fortune and having found his long
lost scooter, with video camera and Nite Rider lights still
functioning perfectly. We all had to agree that the SCUBA gods were
certainly smiling favorably on him today. :14:
Ruby E:
I had been given a task to gather some topographical data on the ruby
E for a project that my [other] dive buddy is working on, so Merrianne, Navy Dan and
I suited up and wasted no time jumping in. And Jim and Charlie had
decided to sit this one out and wait for the Tower
Upon arrival on the Ruby E, we found the visibility was not that bad
and the little ship glowed neon pink in the early afternoon sunlight,
due to being covered by strawberry anemones.
Clutching a wicked looking spear gun, Navy Dan went off to hunt for
dinner and Merrianne and I split off to explore the ship. We started
at the bow and made our way forward, toward the wheelhouse.
The deck of the Ruby E was covered in red and brown Gorgonians,
wafting gently in the current, along with huge schools of Blacksmith
fish, which practically covered the entire wreck, and parted like a
curtain to lead us through.
Of course I promptly did the one thing and I had advised Navy Dan not
to do, which was descend down into one of the many holds in the deck,
now rusting and corroded in many areas, leaving sharp and menacing
edges sticking up in several places.
But with Merrianne hovering above me in a motherly fashion, I felt
safe going down. Inside the holds a thick layer of sand had built up
on the bottom, making it easy to stir things up, without meaning to,
so I was careful to not use my fans for propulsion, but pulled myself
along, carefully, hand- over-hand.
Warty and California Sea Cucumbers dotted the walls inside the holds.
I was careful not to disturb them and create the much dreaded [by
them] 'sea cucumber avalanche' inside the ship.
After carefully gliding upward and out of the hold using only my BC
for gentle buoyancy control, Merrianne and I proceeded down to the
wheelhouse, where I turned my attention to gathering the data I had
come to take.
We had fun gliding in and out of the wheelhouse, and playing
peek-a-boo with the huge schools of Blacksmith fish, which flitted
this way and that, all around the ship in the current, nibbling at
unseen morsels of food in the water column.
We made our way to Ward's the stern, where the buoy line no longer had
a buoy attached to it and then made our way back towards the bow and
did this several times, while I gathered my data, and then we headed
up the line toward the surface, having had a productive and satisfying
dive.
For more on this divesite, see: Ruby E
NOSC Tower:
Navy Dan never found suitable prey on the Ruby, so was eager to dive
the Tower, a popular site for local fishermen.
Upon arrival, we tide up to the buoy, suited up and jumped in, with
'Ironman' Charlie and Jim and doing the first dive, and Merrianne,
Navy Dan and I, the second.
Descending down the line towards the tower, we could see long strands
of giant kelp coming off the top and large schools of surf perch
swimming in and through the crossbeams.
Upon arrival on the bottom we saw the usual assortment of giant Spined
starfish all heaped on top of one another as if in a giant orgy, with
brown Gorgonians scattered everywhere and the same large schools of
Blacksmith fish we had seen on the Ruby E.
As we began our circumnavigation of the tower in a counterclockwise
fashion, we saw Navy Dan pointing towards the surface .. following
his finger, we looked up and saw a juvenile Mola Mola hovering in the
water column about 20 feet above us.
As I ascended slowly in the water column to check him out, I could see
him glance worriedly down at me, perhaps wondering who this predator
was coming at him. But since I was not the one with the spear gun,
he had nothing to fear and Navy Dan knew better than to try and spear
him because of their reputation of being a lousy meal. We wouldn't
have let him do it anyway, to such a delightful and comical creature
of the deep.
After checking out the Mola Mola, we descended back down toward the
tower and resumed our counterclockwise circumnavigation. Large
schools of surf perch seemed to mingle with a Blacksmith as curtains
of fish parted to lettuce through the water.
We checked out the abundant sessile and Gorgonians attached to all the
many iron cross bars lying scattered along the bottom. There were
also many barred sand bass cruising along the bottom, trying to avoid
all the mono filament and hooks dangling from the crossbar is of the
tower, indicating what a popular the fishing site this is for local
San Diego fishermen.
Ironically, despite all the fish around us Navy Dan never did find
suitable prey to bring home to his wife for dinner, since he was
looking for the sheep head of a particular a minimum size and we
appreciated the fact that he was a discriminating hunter and didn't
just shoot at anything that moved.
After about 45 minutes of this, we all began to feel the late
afternoon cold, due to leaky seals, and reluctantly began heading
towards the surface.
We clambered aboard the Scuba Do happy and content and having had a
satisfying day of diving.
And no one was more happy than NOAA Jim!
[For more on the NOSC Tower, see:
http://www.saintbrendan.com/cdnfeb00/scoast2.html]
Dive safe, everyone,
Mikey
[This dive report dictated into voice recognition software.]
[Sorry, folks: I tend to write really LADRs [Long-Assed Dive Reports]:sleeping_
Date: Saturday, February 23, 2008
Dive Times: 11:30 AM/3:18 PM
Location: Wreck Alley, Mission Beach: Yukon, Ruby E. and NOSC Tower
Maximum depths: 85 feet/60 feet, respectively.
Surface Conditions: surface chop, occasional white cap, due to 12 to
15 knot winds, otherwise good conditions.
Visibility: 12 to 15 feet
Temperature: 54°
Critters seen: Huge schools of Blacksmith fish, Surfperch,
Greenlings, Red and Brown Gorgonians, Macrocystis, Gobies, Giant
Spined Starfish and a Mola Mola [!]
Remarks:
With a 24 our 'Storm Window' between Friday's rain storm and the one
which is on its way tonight and threatening to bring 20 ft seas, we
decided that Saturday would be a great day to do the Ruby E and the
Tower with Merrianne, Navy Dan, 'Iron Man' Charlie and NOAA Jim.
Yukon:
The sky was sunny and blue as we motored out on the trusty Scuba Do to
Wreck Alley. We were also on a special mission for NOAA Jim,
attempting to recover something very dear to his heart [and very
expensive] that he had lost on the Yukon the previous weekend.
Although a charter boat was already tide up to the mooring line when
we got there, after a short wait, they gather their divers up and left
and we tide up to the Forward Guns.
'Iron Man' Charlie with his scooter and Jim, on a borrowed one,
jumped in and began their hunt. Navy Dan, Merrianne and I had decided
to sit this out out.
Not 15 minutes later, NOAA Jim popped to the surface, yelling and
mumbling something unintelligible into his regulator; as I leaned
forward to better hear what he was trying to say, he removed the
regulator from his mouth and promptly aimed a stream of projectile
vomit in my direction, which whizzed by my head and landed harmlessly
in the water next to the boat.
[I told him later he really needs to
work on his aim.]
When his stomach was done evacuating, due to surface chop seasickness,
he yelled out that he had found his scooter under the Yukon.
Naturally he was overjoyed at his discovery and so were the rest of
us. I actually felt guilty, because I never thought he would find it,
thinking as I had, that it would've been halfway to Tijuana by now in
the open ocean currents. Turns out it had lodged amidships in the
sand, right where he had found it.
With such an upbeat start to the day, we all motored over to the Ruby
E., to begin our first official dive of the day, with Jim happily
ranting and raving over his good fortune and having found his long
lost scooter, with video camera and Nite Rider lights still
functioning perfectly. We all had to agree that the SCUBA gods were
certainly smiling favorably on him today. :14:
Ruby E:
I had been given a task to gather some topographical data on the ruby
E for a project that my [other] dive buddy is working on, so Merrianne, Navy Dan and
I suited up and wasted no time jumping in. And Jim and Charlie had
decided to sit this one out and wait for the Tower
Upon arrival on the Ruby E, we found the visibility was not that bad
and the little ship glowed neon pink in the early afternoon sunlight,
due to being covered by strawberry anemones.
Clutching a wicked looking spear gun, Navy Dan went off to hunt for
dinner and Merrianne and I split off to explore the ship. We started
at the bow and made our way forward, toward the wheelhouse.
The deck of the Ruby E was covered in red and brown Gorgonians,
wafting gently in the current, along with huge schools of Blacksmith
fish, which practically covered the entire wreck, and parted like a
curtain to lead us through.
Of course I promptly did the one thing and I had advised Navy Dan not
to do, which was descend down into one of the many holds in the deck,
now rusting and corroded in many areas, leaving sharp and menacing
edges sticking up in several places.
But with Merrianne hovering above me in a motherly fashion, I felt
safe going down. Inside the holds a thick layer of sand had built up
on the bottom, making it easy to stir things up, without meaning to,
so I was careful to not use my fans for propulsion, but pulled myself
along, carefully, hand- over-hand.
Warty and California Sea Cucumbers dotted the walls inside the holds.
I was careful not to disturb them and create the much dreaded [by
them] 'sea cucumber avalanche' inside the ship.
After carefully gliding upward and out of the hold using only my BC
for gentle buoyancy control, Merrianne and I proceeded down to the
wheelhouse, where I turned my attention to gathering the data I had
come to take.
We had fun gliding in and out of the wheelhouse, and playing
peek-a-boo with the huge schools of Blacksmith fish, which flitted
this way and that, all around the ship in the current, nibbling at
unseen morsels of food in the water column.
We made our way to Ward's the stern, where the buoy line no longer had
a buoy attached to it and then made our way back towards the bow and
did this several times, while I gathered my data, and then we headed
up the line toward the surface, having had a productive and satisfying
dive.
For more on this divesite, see: Ruby E
NOSC Tower:
Navy Dan never found suitable prey on the Ruby, so was eager to dive
the Tower, a popular site for local fishermen.
Upon arrival, we tide up to the buoy, suited up and jumped in, with
'Ironman' Charlie and Jim and doing the first dive, and Merrianne,
Navy Dan and I, the second.
Descending down the line towards the tower, we could see long strands
of giant kelp coming off the top and large schools of surf perch
swimming in and through the crossbeams.
Upon arrival on the bottom we saw the usual assortment of giant Spined
starfish all heaped on top of one another as if in a giant orgy, with
brown Gorgonians scattered everywhere and the same large schools of
Blacksmith fish we had seen on the Ruby E.
As we began our circumnavigation of the tower in a counterclockwise
fashion, we saw Navy Dan pointing towards the surface .. following
his finger, we looked up and saw a juvenile Mola Mola hovering in the
water column about 20 feet above us.
As I ascended slowly in the water column to check him out, I could see
him glance worriedly down at me, perhaps wondering who this predator
was coming at him. But since I was not the one with the spear gun,
he had nothing to fear and Navy Dan knew better than to try and spear
him because of their reputation of being a lousy meal. We wouldn't
have let him do it anyway, to such a delightful and comical creature
of the deep.
After checking out the Mola Mola, we descended back down toward the
tower and resumed our counterclockwise circumnavigation. Large
schools of surf perch seemed to mingle with a Blacksmith as curtains
of fish parted to lettuce through the water.
We checked out the abundant sessile and Gorgonians attached to all the
many iron cross bars lying scattered along the bottom. There were
also many barred sand bass cruising along the bottom, trying to avoid
all the mono filament and hooks dangling from the crossbar is of the
tower, indicating what a popular the fishing site this is for local
San Diego fishermen.
Ironically, despite all the fish around us Navy Dan never did find
suitable prey to bring home to his wife for dinner, since he was
looking for the sheep head of a particular a minimum size and we
appreciated the fact that he was a discriminating hunter and didn't
just shoot at anything that moved.
After about 45 minutes of this, we all began to feel the late
afternoon cold, due to leaky seals, and reluctantly began heading
towards the surface.
We clambered aboard the Scuba Do happy and content and having had a
satisfying day of diving.
And no one was more happy than NOAA Jim!
[For more on the NOSC Tower, see:
http://www.saintbrendan.com/cdnfeb00/scoast2.html]
Dive safe, everyone,
Mikey
[This dive report dictated into voice recognition software.]
