September '05 Dive Reports

[carbon]

Date: September 3, 2005
Dive Location: Deercreek, near LA / Ventura county line
Time: 11:00 AM
Bottom Time: 40 minutes
Max Depth: 24 feet
Vis: 5 feet
Wave height: 1 - 2 feet
Temp at depth: 63
Surface Temp: 64
Tide information: High tide occurred at 10:15 AM
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments: The waves were small making the surf entry and exit very easy. It was foggy in the morning, and cleared around 11 AM for a sunny day. Visibility was poor (5 feet), but improved slightly out at the kelp beds.

 

[pasley]

Date: 03 Sept 05 Mo2Vation Dive
Dive Location: Catalina, Italian Gardens
Time: 10:16 a.m.
Bottom Time:46:40
Max Depth: 86 FSW
Vis: 50-60 feet of beautiful clear Catalina water
Wave height: None.
Temp at depth: 68F Suunto Degrees, ah, bath water.
Surface Temp: 70F Suunto Degrees.
Boat: Sundiver
Tide information: 10:28 High 4.42 Feet, 3:59 p.m. Low 1.57 feet
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments:Mo2Vation Dive, A total of 9 Scubaboard members (that we know of) met up on the Sundiver for the inaugural Mo2Vation dive. Present were Headhunter, shark.byte.usa, OldmanandtheC, pasley, kelphelper, CaptainMarvel, Lexy, mark99 and Mo2vation. The haze lifted just as we arrived at the island and as the attached satellite photo shows, a beautiful day followed.
Kelphelper, OldmanandtheC and I buddied up. Acutally, Kelphelper wanted to go solo so OldmanandtheC and I buddied up, with the understanding we would stay around where kelphelper was, but that when OldmanandtheC ran low on air, I would return to the boat with him leaving Kelphelper to continue taking pictures as long as her air allowed.
Jumped into the water and was promptly greeted by an octopus (spare 2nd stage not the marine critter) that was free flowing. Attempts to shake it loose were unsuccessful to back on the boat I went, quickly took it apart, found nothing but evidently set free the entrapped gnome, and put it back together in working order. I had disassembled it prior to the dive to ensure no sand was inside it following last weeks beach dive. I had done the same to the primary (which had enough sand inside to fill a sand box). Back into the water and a beautiful dive. Dropped down and fairly soon spotted a Giant Black Sea Bass with something trailing underneath him. He was a the limits of visibility so I could not tell if it was fishing line or spear. Two bait balls were spotted, and in one a barracuda was having brunch. Kelphelper spotted an octopus of medium size in a hole. Attempts to lure him out were unsuccessful and greeted with color changes, so to avoid stressing him we left for other distractions. After a bit, we turned the dive due to air and returned to the boat leaving Kelphelper to fend for herself. As her reward for going solo, a pair of Giant Black Sea Bass buzzed by OldmanintheC and I on the way back at about 10-15 feet distance.
The leaking octopus did cut into the air a bit and my air consumption was up to 0.4 for this dive.

Date: 03 Sept 05 Mo2Vation Dive
Dive Location: Catalina, Lions Head (I believe, Captain gave the name as Africa Point but I don't find that on Frank-Os map and it appears to be in the neighbornood of Lions head).
Time: 12:40 p.m.
Bottom Time: 40:10
Max Depth: 59 FSW
Vis: 40-50 feet,
Wave height: None.
Temp at depth: 68F Suunto Degrees,
Surface Temp: 70F Suunto Degrees.
Boat: Sundiver
Comments: Same dive team as before. Dropped down and had a very since dive with the usual suspects. Water was a tad more most likely due to the heavy traffic that day. The ocean was full of weekend boats who all insisted on passing close to the dive boat at full speed. Hmm, Wonder what that pretty red and white flag means?

Saw the usual suspects on the dive and after a while we left Kelphelper alone and retuned to the boat. For some reason my side of the boat received short fills all day. Starting pressure 2550 PSI. Nice leisurely dive with a SAC of 0.36.

Date: 03 Sept 05 Mo2Vation Dive
Dive Location: Catalina, Eel Cove
Time: 2:31 p.m.
Bottom Time: 58:40
Max Depth: 26 FSW
Vis: 25-30 feet
Wave height: None.
Temp at depth: 68F Suunto Degrees, ah, bath water.
Surface Temp: 70F Suunto Degrees.
Boat: Sundiver

Same plan as before and same buddies. But kelphelper we arrived at our new destination rather quickly and Kelphelper had not yet eaten or changed her batteries. So OldmanandtheC and I went out alone leaving her on the boat. Later, we were joined by Kelphelper. Kelphelper spotted some eels in a hole, and a Giant kelp Fish hiding in some eel grass thinking he was invisible. Again found octopus and the usual suspects. Another short fill at 2810 PSI to start the dive. SAC 0.35 for this dive.

 

[wetrat]

Nice dive reports Pasley! Thanks.

wetrat

 

[divinman]

Dive #1
Date: 09/03/05
Dive number: 285
Dive Location: Los Coronado Isle/Lobster Shack
Time: 9:03a
Bottom Time: 58 minutes
Max Depth: 66ft
Avg Depth: 36ft
Vis: 20-40. not crystal clear but nice and blue
Surface Temp: 64F
Temp at depth: 54F
Surface conditions.: slight chop but nice and calm, swell at depth but manageable

Dive #2
Date: 09/03/05
Dive number: 286
Dive Location: Los Coronado Isle/Keyhole
Time: 11:00a
Bottom Time: 47 minutes
Max Depth: 61ft
Avg Depth: 35ft
Vis: 20-30. not crystal clear but nice and blue
Surface Temp: 64F
Temp at depth: 55F
Surface conditions.: south running current, strong surge in shallow.

John, Cheryl (from Canada), and I headed south of the border to find some blue water. The right out was smooth and although overcast, the weather was warm and pleasant. First dive was at Lobster Shack. Morays, scorpionfish, schools of opal-eye and blacksmiths. Water was clear and blue.

Second dive was at Keyhole. Surge and current were in play. Surge of 6-8ft at times with a strong south running current trying to take us to Ensinada. We successfully navigated both and everyone made it back to the boat intact. Critters seen included Mexicromis Porterae nudibranchs, a Tylodina Fungia no where near the sulfur sponge that comprises there diet, cabezon, numerous species of starfish. An Octopus in a shell and more morays.

Clear skies and smooth sailing accompanied us back to the dock. Nice day to be out on the water.

Images from the dive are here: http://gallery.scubapost.net/v/terry/album10/090305/

Terry S.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Roy, Simon and I kicked out in clams seas to the reef northwest of the beach. After a long surface swim we hit some kelp and dropped down into 30 feet of water. We had about 3 feet of surge which made the dive challenging but not impossible. We found several overhangs with tons of lobsters, serveral very legal inside. We encountered several small schools of fish like senoritas, Blacksmith, Sargo, and Perch. We found a few blennys, a nice looking Onespot Fringehead, a tiny nudibrach Simon found on a shell, and a reasonablely sized Southern Kelp Crab. We saw several Garibaldis, and female Sheephead. We did see one small male Sheephead. We almost came in too far north which froms some nice large waves but we surfaced and kicked down south. As we were exiting we saw a lot of birds and a few seals eating an enormous school of Topsmelt which was lying in 3-10 feet of water. Simon thought they were seeking shelter from the seals by surrounding us. It was cool to see! Another nice dive at a new spot!

Marine Street Beach​

Southern Kelpcrab

Onespot Fringehead

Twospot Octopus

Crevice Kelpfish

Here are my pictures(not much more to show)

http://gallery.scubapost.net/v/seand/2005scubaphotos/09032005/

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date:September 4th
Dive Location:Marineland
Time: 11:40
Bottom Time: 1:17
Max Depth: 49'
Vis: 20-25
Wave height:0-1
Temp at depth: 56F
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments:After a five week absence from Marineland it was good to see my old friends, especially the nudibranchs. Missy told me before the dive that she wanted to find some Hopkin's Rose nudis. She found more than I have ever seen on a single dive, six!

We also found octopus everywhere. We stopped counting after ten and stopped looking for them after a dozen.

Although the nudis were not at the numbers they were earlier this Summer, we still managed to find then on almost every rock, including dendrodoris fulva

navanax inermis

triopha catalinae

hermissenda crassicornis

acanthodoris lutea

acanthodoris hudsoni

baptodoris mimetica

We also found several others including laila cockerelli, cadlina luteomarginata, thordisa rubescens, doriopsilla albopunctata, armina californica, flabellina iodinea and facelina stearnsi, but they were too fast for me.

We didn't move around much, as there is so much to see on every rock, and so we got pretty cold. All in all, a very fun dive.

 

[scottfiji]

Dive #1 - Point Dume Pinnacles, 9AM
bottom time: 72 min
max depth: 57ft
vis: 15-20ft
waves: 3-4ft
temp: 59-60 degrees

Melvin and I had a great dive on the pinnacles this morning. A strong reverse current meant we had to work extra hard to reach the pinnacles. A lot of divers were in the parking lot, sports chalet west hills was doing an open water class and a divemaster class.

We circled the 2nd pinnacle twice, and found a large torpedo ray and a large angel shark both lying in the sand, near each other. Other sightings included many treefish, octopus, schools of blacksmith, and a few swell shark eggs. Several Cabezon shot past us at various times. Olive rockfish meandered about.

Returning to shore was easy due to the reverse current. The 20 sports chalet divers entered the water after us, but returned before us. I was also told they booked 2 dives because they did 10 minutes at the surface half-way through the dive, so they could rack up the # of dives for their divemaster class, since many did not have the required amount.

Dive #2 - Big Rock, 12:20AM
bottom time: 65min
max depth: 37ft
vis: 4-5ft, occasionally 10ft
waves: 2-3ft
temp: warm

Vis was very low, but Melvin and I still had a good time on this dive. Horn sharks, cabezon, several giant kelpfish, sheep crabs, free-swimming octopus, schools of perch, opaleye, & croakers kept us company. Entry and exit is difficult here due to the slippery rocks and waves. Melvin scared off two divers about to go in after us, they headed down to paridise cove in search of better vis.

Scott

photos:
http://gallery.scubapost.net/v/scot...intDume20050905

Pinnacle of Starfish

Gopher rockfish

Swell Shark Egg

Torpedo Ray

Angel Shark

Black Croacker School

 

[Kayak Diver]

Date:9/3 - 9/5
Dive Location: 4 @ Monterey - The Steam Engine, Hopkin's Deep Reef, Sammit's Spire, and Thumb's Up (all kayak dives)
Time: Mornings
Bottom Time: 44 - 54 minutes, depending on the dive
Max Depth: 56 - 87 feet, depending on the dive
Vis: 25 - 45 feet, depending on the dive
Wave height: None, but a little swell at Point Lobos today
Temp at depth: 51 - 53 degrees F
Surface Temp: Cool
Gas mix: Nitrox (32 - 37%)
Comments: Headed up to kayak dive in Monterey for the long weekend. I met up with good friends from the bay area...we camped in Carmel, close to Point Lobos. The trip was a little on the mellow side (only two of us in our group were diving). On Saturday we only got in one dive...by buddies computer decided that it needed a new battery so we had to take a little time out. Got in a two tank dive on Sunday, and then only one dive at Point Lobos on Monday (I headed out a little early so that I could get home at a decent hour).

This trip was sort of a tour of different environments at Monterey. All except one was somewhat deep, and pretty much all were square dives. The first dive at The Steam Engine is out on the deep shale. The bottom structure is interesting...small outcrops that trend north-south. A lot of clams, brittle stars, invertebrates, etc. live on the cliffs. The second dive was at Hopkins Deep Reef. The structure there includes low profile outcrops that are covered with Metridiums and other critters. We then dove at Sammet's Spire, which was described by a local as an a-typical shallower reef environment around Monterey. The last dive, Thumb's Up, has a lot of beautiful hydrocoral.

I just got home, and ready to plan my next trip back up there...

 

[wetrat]

Dive #1
Date: 09/05/05
Dive number: 23
Dive Location: Islas de Los Coronados/Lobster Shack
Time: 3:05 pm
Bottom Time: 36 minutes
Max Depth: 54 ft
Vis: 25-30 ft
Surface Temp: 66F
Temp at depth: 53F

Dive #2
Date: 09/05/05
Dive number: 24
Dive Location: Islas de Los Coronados/Three Finger Reef
Time: 4:45 pm
Bottom Time: 46 minutes
Max Depth: 38 ft
Vis: 25-30 ft
Surface Temp: 65F
Temp at depth: 56F

Not a bad couple dives. Dive #1 we saw LOTS of blacksmith, a few cabezon and a baby octupus. Many juvenile and large adult garibaldi. We had our first underwater "mini-emergency." My wife's mask strap broke at about 40 fsw while she was clearing her mask. We managed to tie it where it broke, and she put it back on and cleared it. Not a big deal to most of you I know, but nevertheless a new experience and a good training exercise for us newbies. Dive #2 we saw more blacksmith, and were briefly accompanied by a big fat seal. Also saw a large sheep crab scampering along the reef. Other than that, the usual critters. Pretty surgey on the second dive. Wish I knew all the names of the creatures like divinman, but I'm working on it. Also, starting to look at entry level cameras so I can post a few pictures.

 

[scottfiji]

Date:September 4th
Dive Location:Marineland

Comments:After a five week absence from Marineland it was good to see my old friends, especially the nudibranchs. Missy told me before the dive that she wanted to find some Hopkin's Rose nudis. She found more than I have ever seen on a single dive, six!

nice job Max, great photos! thanks for posting

baptodoris mimetica is a new nudibranch for me. were you able to confirm the id on that one by looking at the gills?

scott