So, I made the trek once again up North and hoped for some diving. I heard it had been a bit windy throughout the week but was settling down towards the weekend, so I was hopeful for a dive or two.
We showed up at Monastery after fighting through some traffic and it looked a bit ankle-break-y, so we just ended up heading to the breakwater instead. We got reports that viz was 10' at best (normal for San Diego then, lol!) and considering the water's a little bit chillier than down South, my buddy and I definitely had to pause for thought. In the end, we decided screw it, let's go. I have a friend who was asking about how the harness I've got rides in the water weight-distribution-wise so I wanted to give it a go if but just for that.
Good lord, the second my feet in my hole-ridden boots hit that water I could feel that ice-cube water down to the bone. What are you guys diving up here?! As I walked further in, it got worse. I regretted the decision immediately. And for 10' viz?! I thought about how sometimes bad judgement rears its ugly head as we kicked out... and then we dropped. I've never had such an icecream headache before in my life.
Once my head stopped pounding, I knew immediately the reason for the 10' viz and was excited we actually made the dive! Because of all the wind, the most amazing assortment of salps and translucent tiny sea critters had been pushed in towards shore and the whole ocean was sparkling with glitter. (Or, at least, that's all my camera saw, haha!) I'd never seen any of these critters before so it really was an amazing dive. We survived ~35min dive, max depth 30fsw average about 23fsw, and the temp came to a bone-chilling 51ºF.
My most excellent buddy's the black-ish blob on the left. Thanks for the help with the tanks, and the dive itself!!
Some of the critters had tails. Man, my camera just couldn't focus for anything...
I tried macro, which I can't use in San Diego because of all the surge we have down South. Nope, didn't get anything good either..
Found some nice barnacles though!
And Stars and slugs
I almost thought I had actually finally focused on one. Nope, glove
Maybe I need to hold onto some rocks for dear life in San Diego and work on the macro shots.
But it was cold. And low viz. And did I mention the cold? We turned back pretty quickly and headed back in. They had some nice sand dollar beds on the way back in, and the usual skittering sand.
At the end as we were skimming the shallows on the way back, I saw something strange and orange mid-water. Some plastic garbage necklace or something? No! More cool translucent sea critters!
I definitely enjoyed my visit up North, but I appreciate more my 12fsw and 65ºF San Diego crummy viz and sea turtles dives though...
We showed up at Monastery after fighting through some traffic and it looked a bit ankle-break-y, so we just ended up heading to the breakwater instead. We got reports that viz was 10' at best (normal for San Diego then, lol!) and considering the water's a little bit chillier than down South, my buddy and I definitely had to pause for thought. In the end, we decided screw it, let's go. I have a friend who was asking about how the harness I've got rides in the water weight-distribution-wise so I wanted to give it a go if but just for that.
Good lord, the second my feet in my hole-ridden boots hit that water I could feel that ice-cube water down to the bone. What are you guys diving up here?! As I walked further in, it got worse. I regretted the decision immediately. And for 10' viz?! I thought about how sometimes bad judgement rears its ugly head as we kicked out... and then we dropped. I've never had such an icecream headache before in my life.
Once my head stopped pounding, I knew immediately the reason for the 10' viz and was excited we actually made the dive! Because of all the wind, the most amazing assortment of salps and translucent tiny sea critters had been pushed in towards shore and the whole ocean was sparkling with glitter. (Or, at least, that's all my camera saw, haha!) I'd never seen any of these critters before so it really was an amazing dive. We survived ~35min dive, max depth 30fsw average about 23fsw, and the temp came to a bone-chilling 51ºF.
My most excellent buddy's the black-ish blob on the left. Thanks for the help with the tanks, and the dive itself!!
Some of the critters had tails. Man, my camera just couldn't focus for anything...
I tried macro, which I can't use in San Diego because of all the surge we have down South. Nope, didn't get anything good either..
Found some nice barnacles though!
And Stars and slugs
I almost thought I had actually finally focused on one. Nope, glove
Maybe I need to hold onto some rocks for dear life in San Diego and work on the macro shots.
But it was cold. And low viz. And did I mention the cold? We turned back pretty quickly and headed back in. They had some nice sand dollar beds on the way back in, and the usual skittering sand.
At the end as we were skimming the shallows on the way back, I saw something strange and orange mid-water. Some plastic garbage necklace or something? No! More cool translucent sea critters!
I definitely enjoyed my visit up North, but I appreciate more my 12fsw and 65ºF San Diego crummy viz and sea turtles dives though...
