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Dove with Waterhorse Charters this past Friday and Saturday. First time diving in and around the San Diego area -- loved it!

Friday was a 4-tanker. We went to Scripps Canyon, NW La Jolla, and the HMCS Yukon (day and night). Scripps was 51°F, max depth 126ft, vis around 5-10ft. Saw a parade of tuna crabs dancing around 100-125ft. Haven't seen anything like that before! Next up was NW La Jolla which was 55°F, max depth 79ft, vis 10ft. We anchored in sand then made our way over to God's Rock. Great variety of fish flying around including Sheephead, Girabaldi, and Blacksmith. Juvenile Girabaldi were especially neat with their small iridescent blue spots. Last dive site was the Yukon. What an incredible wreck! 54°F during the day with max depth at 83ft, vis stayed around 10ft like most of the sites. I found a majority of the life to be around the 65-80ft range. Anchored right at the bridge which was a great starting point for the dive. Saw a variety of anemones, reef fish, and simply took in the beauty of my first wreck dive. Final dive of the day was with the full moon out. We jumped in around 7pm, 55°F with max depth at 79ft, vis was tough to tell. This was my second night dive -- didn't really care much about the vis as long as I could see something. Nightlife was similar to what I saw a few hours prior with the exception of large lobsters roaming the wreck. What a wonderful first day. In addition to my first set of dives in San Diego, this was the first time I dove past 65ft. Really appreciate the supportive crew and divers on the boat. They inspired me to pick up a last minute spot on the Coronados trip the following day.

Saturday was a 3-tanker at the Coronado Islands. We went to the North and Middle Islands. Specifically we checked out Lobster Shack, Three Fingers, and The Keyhole. Lobster Shack was up first with the sea lions showing off their skills throughout the dive -- 61°F, max depth 57ft, vis 40-50ft easily. I have never seen water as blue as it was that day. There was a large bull seal that seemed to be the king of the sea lion crew who paced back and forth. When he jumped out, the sea lions started swimming around us again. Looked like some of them may have been pups, too! Outside of the endlessly entertaining sea lions, we saw tons of fish, coral, anemones -- plenty of life to investigate! Next we went over to Three Fingers on the Middle Island which was a fairly shallow dive, 62°F, max depth 35ft, vis 50ft or so. Much like Lobster Shack, we saw plenty of marine life. There were tons of cracks to check for octos and morays. We even saw a swell shark hanging out on one of the shelves. Awesome spot. Felt like a drift dive at some points. Made it back to the boat OK though! Finished up with the Keyhole back on the North Island. The current was picking up at this point (around 2PM) so we didn't get to swim through the Keyhole itself. Still neat to see the afternoon light shining through and check out the surrounding area. 62°F, max depth 54ft, vis was 40ish. Saw more sea lions roaming around and familiar fish throughout the site. It was tougher to get back to the boat, but everyone made it on OK!

Overall it was a very successful diving weekend with warm [to me!] waters and excellent sights to see. Looking forward to heading out that way again soon.
 
Went out on The Magician out of San Pedro with Channel Island Dive Adventures. Did Izor's and The Olympic. I was getting too cold, and I skipped the 3rd dive. The boat went to White's point for the 3rd shallower dive.

Izor's and The Olympic was pretty cool. My first time visiting The Olympic, and apparently very few boats go out to dive Izor's. I think Izor's has a lot of potential; more than it gave away on Saturday. Izor's is about 100' and the spring plankton bloom made it darker. Viz was 15-20'. Everyone seemed to agree that it was a bit eerie dive. Dive site is difficult to navigate since Izor's is a bunch of large concrete columns splayed out in all manner of directions. There's no pattern to follow. Most everyone took the line down, headed in a direction, checked it out, turned around, found the line again, headed off in a different direction, checked it out, turned around, found the line, etc. Some got lost and surfaced far away from the boat. Not recommended due to the numerous fishing boats around.

Viz on The Olympic was better at depth. Still dark, but fish were plentiful.

Temps on both were mid 50s. Looking forward to getting back to both sites at some point in the future.
 
@dive1bb & @Ready4Launch
Are you guys diving wet or dry?

Hey there! I currently dive in an 8/7mm semi dry. Specifically this suit. I have 3mm gloves and 5mm boots. The boat has a hose "shower" that was a big help in-between dives. Fill the gloves with hot water = golden for a good portion of the dive.

Divers on the boat were a good mix of wet and dry Friday while Saturday was primarily wetsuit divers. Much more rental gear used on that trip, as well.
 
Sniff... my last dive was on September 20th of last year (and I just recently downloaded the video I shot). Hoping to get back in after my dermatologist stops slicing and dicing me
 
Sniff... my last dive was on September 20th of last year (and I just recently downloaded the video I shot). Hoping to get back in after my dermatologist stops slicing and dicing me
Hope so, too! It's going to be awesome once you jump back in
 
Wet, but I am starting to investigate dry suits.
definitely on my radar, as well. I would like to get more dives out of my current wetsuit first, but it’s tempting every time I do repetitive dives. Good luck on your dry suit research
 

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