dwashbur
Contributor
Many thanks to all who came out for this morning's impromptu Meet & Greet dive. We got to meet Michelle (second time 
, Brandon, Peter, Matt, Devin, Katherine - did I miss anybody? I hope not. We gathered at Monastery North, realized we could hear the waves from the road, and basically said "uh-uh." My daughter lost her breakfast while we were there, so it was clear she wouldn't be diving anywhere. We discussed and debated and decided to go to the Metridium Field instead. It was a good choice.
We've never tried to use lineups before, we've always followed the pipe, so this was a new experience for us. Peter and Brandon led us out to their approximate spots, while a pair of dolphins cavorted near us. My daughter was intensely jealous of that, because she loves dolphins. But she had to stay at the car because she still wasn't feeling well. We dropped in about 50 fsw, right on some of the rocks, and started exploring. Kathy and I never actually got to the main rock piles of the Field, but that's okay, we had a blast. She was a little short on air because her reg did a free-flow as we entered the water, that cost her about 200 psi. But we've been working hard on her air consumption and she did great. We found lots of nudibranchs, some cool rockfish, and crabs of every shape and size you can imagine. Here's one picture, taken right after we dropped. It's a three-fer: the copper rockfish, probably about 8-10" long, sitting on top of a really big Sea Lemon (Peltodoris nobilis, for those of us keeping score), with a tiny sharpnose crab looking like he's about to grab the fish's nose.
When we hit turnaround we started back and found the pipe to guide us in. Peter and Michelle went zooming past us at one point, probably because we define the word "slow." We found lots more critters coming in, including a nice white-lined dirona. Back in the parking lot, it was a lot of fun comparing notes with the rest of the group. That's something we don't often get to do, because we tend to split our time evenly between being underwater and being back at the apartment in Salinas. Everyone was really nice to us and made us feel like part of the gang. We had to leave fairly quickly, because we had a sick kid to tend to, but we did so with regret.
It was a great way to meet some fellow divers, try a new way of navigating, and celebrate a new friend's birthday. To Katherine, I offer the standard Pooh greeting:
HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDA THUTHDA BTHUTHDY
Which of course is how Owl writes "A Happy Birthday"!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One more picture, this one of a clown nudibranch (Triopha catalinae, sorry, I can't help myself!). How tiny was he? That's Kathy's fingertip on the left edge of the picture.
The rest of our pictures are at dwashbur/Metridium Field 8-17-08 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Those that say they were taken with a Casio are by Kathy, the ones taken by a Pentax are by me. Again, thanks to all our new friends for making us feel welcome!
, Brandon, Peter, Matt, Devin, Katherine - did I miss anybody? I hope not. We gathered at Monastery North, realized we could hear the waves from the road, and basically said "uh-uh." My daughter lost her breakfast while we were there, so it was clear she wouldn't be diving anywhere. We discussed and debated and decided to go to the Metridium Field instead. It was a good choice.We've never tried to use lineups before, we've always followed the pipe, so this was a new experience for us. Peter and Brandon led us out to their approximate spots, while a pair of dolphins cavorted near us. My daughter was intensely jealous of that, because she loves dolphins. But she had to stay at the car because she still wasn't feeling well. We dropped in about 50 fsw, right on some of the rocks, and started exploring. Kathy and I never actually got to the main rock piles of the Field, but that's okay, we had a blast. She was a little short on air because her reg did a free-flow as we entered the water, that cost her about 200 psi. But we've been working hard on her air consumption and she did great. We found lots of nudibranchs, some cool rockfish, and crabs of every shape and size you can imagine. Here's one picture, taken right after we dropped. It's a three-fer: the copper rockfish, probably about 8-10" long, sitting on top of a really big Sea Lemon (Peltodoris nobilis, for those of us keeping score), with a tiny sharpnose crab looking like he's about to grab the fish's nose.
When we hit turnaround we started back and found the pipe to guide us in. Peter and Michelle went zooming past us at one point, probably because we define the word "slow." We found lots more critters coming in, including a nice white-lined dirona. Back in the parking lot, it was a lot of fun comparing notes with the rest of the group. That's something we don't often get to do, because we tend to split our time evenly between being underwater and being back at the apartment in Salinas. Everyone was really nice to us and made us feel like part of the gang. We had to leave fairly quickly, because we had a sick kid to tend to, but we did so with regret.
It was a great way to meet some fellow divers, try a new way of navigating, and celebrate a new friend's birthday. To Katherine, I offer the standard Pooh greeting:
HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDA THUTHDA BTHUTHDY
Which of course is how Owl writes "A Happy Birthday"!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One more picture, this one of a clown nudibranch (Triopha catalinae, sorry, I can't help myself!). How tiny was he? That's Kathy's fingertip on the left edge of the picture.
The rest of our pictures are at dwashbur/Metridium Field 8-17-08 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Those that say they were taken with a Casio are by Kathy, the ones taken by a Pentax are by me. Again, thanks to all our new friends for making us feel welcome!
