San Clemente Island was NICE on Saturday 16th JUN 2012

[fnfalman]

The sky was overcast and the sun wouldn't come out until we were half way home, but the air was warm and so was the water. Water temps ran between 61-F and 64-F, viz was standard SoCal around 20-ft horizontal. Water condition was unreal though: flat as a pancake on top, practically zero surge, no current. Kelp forest is thick but some are dying due to the warm water. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary except for one sighting of a black seabass and a diver claimed that he saw a soupfin shark during the night dive (more like the pre-dawn dive than night).

I saw some eels, two good size sand dabs about 6" long, several large abalones and scallops. Tons of small lobsters. ONE lonesome white spotted sea lemon and two sea hares making whoopee. The fun part was swimming among the thick kelps, especially watching the sun rises underwater. A few free divers were out hunting as well.

The most exciting thing of the day was around noonish, the US Navy started blowing things up. That was our cue to get the hell outta Dodge. About a mile from the island, we saw a massive explosion that threw up a serious spew of dirt. As always, the Great Escape provided excellent services and grubs.

Two divers began their OWs, and you can see the smiles on their faces that they're hooked for life.

 

[bperc]

It sounds like awesome conditions and a good trip. Thanks for the report.

 

[drbill]

Heard reports of blue sharks being sighted out there this weekend (although I wonder if they were actually soupfins). See anything like that or did your wetsuit hood scare them away, HT?

We have heard some big BOOMS (or were they BOMBS?) over here on Catalina coming from the direction of San Clemente. Hope that doesn't mean we're heading for Iran!

 

[fnfalman]

Dr. Bill,

I did not see any shark at all, not even a horned shark but one of the guys said that he saw a soupfin during our pre-dawn dive. And yes, many booms and one BIG GOOM that spew dirt hundreds of feet in the air. It was like Saving Private Ryan or something.

 

[jcfahy]

Great report and pics. Thanks for sharing them

 

[Dive California]

HT what boat were you on?

 

[fnfalman]

It was the Great Escape.

 

[drbill]

I was forwarded the pix of the "blue" shark they saw and it was a soupfin as I suspected.

 

[muzikbiz22]

I was out there over Memorial weekend, and had about half a dozen Soupfin encounters.

 

[Leejnd]

Love to see the happy smiles of the newly-hooked divers! We had a TON of OW students on our last dive trip.

Re the sun - same thing happened to us last weekend on the Peace - overcast during all of our dives, but it broke through bright and shiny just in time for the ride home. :cool2: