mikeguerrero
Guest
I had an opportunity to get my fins wet, as I hadn't dove in about 3 weeks and it was awesome for conditions.
Vimal and his son Rishi and my partner Manaik invited me on their reservation, thanks.
Shooting down highway 1 and passing the notorius Monastery, I knew I was going to be in for a treat at Lobos and I was right.
The cove was flat like a pond with a big hint of lots of Kelp. I hadn't seen that much kelp since last summer.
The plan was to keep it simple and swim out to sand channel and head over to middle reef, we all suited up and got ready to enter off the ramp.
I was the only one in a drysuit as my buddy had a leak in his suit and Vimal and his son were thinking about getting drysuit certified, thanks to 48 degrees of Lobos touch, they have decided drysuits all the way next time.
We watched a diver fall on his back on the ramp, luckly he got up and shook it off and told everyone he was okay. I never take that ramp lightly, I know it is very dangerous and divers should be warned.
We enter the bone chillin water and I'm so toastly and warm as my dive buddies are complaining how cold it already is, colder is to come soon.
The cove at 9am is very murky and viz looks really bad, can only see my feet. But, we kick out to the sand channel and set up to drop into about 30 feet of water. The viz opens up to 20 feet at the bottom and as we continue to head out to middle reef it opens up 30+.
We follow the rock formation while Rishi takes several macro pics and then finds a nice school of fish above us. After about 25 minutes out in 41 feet, my buddy signals for us to return.
I keep to the back of the team on the way back, making sure Rishi and Vimal are ahead of me. Maniak does great in getting us back in safely.
I noticed that Maniak is super cold because he does these erratic kicks, that he later tells me is to keep his body warm.
During our safety stop Maniak does an air share with me, I now see the difference in having the long hose over the octopus. So much confinement when you are on an octo, I much prefer the flexibility of the long hose.
I totally wanted to stay in the cove longer, but my team was super cold. Upon exiting they run to their vehicle and Vimal pulls out a huge igloo full of hot water, he starts distributing it to the wetsuit team, as they wait in line eagerly awaiting their turn.
I watch with a smile and pull off my drysuit gloves and shake their hands to show them the heat of my hands, they are surprised and really want to get certified for drysuit.
Vimal tells us that he's not going to do the second dive, no way! He is too cold and cannot feel his feet or his hands. However, Rishi says he will go back in even though he feels the same.
We decide on a shallower dive for dive number two, but instead head out again to middle reef and have a ball.
Same type of dive with the exception that the Sun came out and everything appeared clearer, viz even got better to about 35 feet out at middle reef.
The cove was much better as well. We got out and cleaned our gear and went for some Indian food and boy was it tasty after a long gorgeous dive at Lobos.
While my computer read 50 degrees and Mainaks read 48 and Rishi had 49, we took the average and gave lobos 49 degrees of dreaded ice crystals for the day.
Thanks for the invite I had a blast...
MG
Vimal and his son Rishi and my partner Manaik invited me on their reservation, thanks.
Shooting down highway 1 and passing the notorius Monastery, I knew I was going to be in for a treat at Lobos and I was right.
The cove was flat like a pond with a big hint of lots of Kelp. I hadn't seen that much kelp since last summer.
The plan was to keep it simple and swim out to sand channel and head over to middle reef, we all suited up and got ready to enter off the ramp.
I was the only one in a drysuit as my buddy had a leak in his suit and Vimal and his son were thinking about getting drysuit certified, thanks to 48 degrees of Lobos touch, they have decided drysuits all the way next time.
We watched a diver fall on his back on the ramp, luckly he got up and shook it off and told everyone he was okay. I never take that ramp lightly, I know it is very dangerous and divers should be warned.
We enter the bone chillin water and I'm so toastly and warm as my dive buddies are complaining how cold it already is, colder is to come soon.
The cove at 9am is very murky and viz looks really bad, can only see my feet. But, we kick out to the sand channel and set up to drop into about 30 feet of water. The viz opens up to 20 feet at the bottom and as we continue to head out to middle reef it opens up 30+.
We follow the rock formation while Rishi takes several macro pics and then finds a nice school of fish above us. After about 25 minutes out in 41 feet, my buddy signals for us to return.
I keep to the back of the team on the way back, making sure Rishi and Vimal are ahead of me. Maniak does great in getting us back in safely.
I noticed that Maniak is super cold because he does these erratic kicks, that he later tells me is to keep his body warm.
During our safety stop Maniak does an air share with me, I now see the difference in having the long hose over the octopus. So much confinement when you are on an octo, I much prefer the flexibility of the long hose.
I totally wanted to stay in the cove longer, but my team was super cold. Upon exiting they run to their vehicle and Vimal pulls out a huge igloo full of hot water, he starts distributing it to the wetsuit team, as they wait in line eagerly awaiting their turn.
I watch with a smile and pull off my drysuit gloves and shake their hands to show them the heat of my hands, they are surprised and really want to get certified for drysuit.
Vimal tells us that he's not going to do the second dive, no way! He is too cold and cannot feel his feet or his hands. However, Rishi says he will go back in even though he feels the same.
We decide on a shallower dive for dive number two, but instead head out again to middle reef and have a ball.
Same type of dive with the exception that the Sun came out and everything appeared clearer, viz even got better to about 35 feet out at middle reef.
The cove was much better as well. We got out and cleaned our gear and went for some Indian food and boy was it tasty after a long gorgeous dive at Lobos.
While my computer read 50 degrees and Mainaks read 48 and Rishi had 49, we took the average and gave lobos 49 degrees of dreaded ice crystals for the day.
Thanks for the invite I had a blast...
MG
