The Lexy November '05 Dive Report thread

[MaxBottomtime]

Nice shot of the tritonia diomedea. I need to get a shot of those for my collection.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

John and I decided to make a Tuesday Night Dive at Redondo Beach, Veteran's Park. ...

The next cool thing we saw was a nudibranch that neither John or myself had seen before. It was light brown, with ivory markings. It's head was kind of shaped like a vaccuum cleaner, it had horns on it, then the body looked like as if it had a shell on top of it's elongated body. After spotting this nudi, we spotted several more of the same species, quite large ones too. This nudi is not on my ID chart, and I didn't have my camera with me to take a pic. Anyone???

Hi Jan,
Fun report, thanks!
I would guess it's a Pleurobranchea californica, as I've seen them three times in the canyon recently. Check out this photo on the slug site for confirmation? Just a guess...
http://slugsite.us/bow/nudiwk80.html

Isn't the Redondo canyon a hoot??? It's the craziest show in town, everynight!
Cheers,
Claudette

 

[California Diver]

headed out with Steve S. and Steve... last name forgotten. after some mechanical problems we got underway. the condtions were beautiful. first off we motored to check the buoy at the donathan pinnacles as well as get numbers for it and to check out the pinnacles on a 3-d bottom finder. they looked really cool on that thing. next we headed off to f-4 to play with the drop camera. we got close and dropped it looking at the sand on the bottom til we finally found evidence of the wreck. i sptted one of two lines that run off the back of the f-4. these lines are approx 200 ft long, the reason for these lines if unkown. next we motored to the p-38. we dropped the camera again, more sand. then i believe i caught a glimpse of the cockpit at this point we decided it was time to dive. with steve s. watiing on the bottom me and the other steve tied off a reel and found the plane. i went back to the drop camera and dragged it to the plane as well so steve on the boat would know we had found the plane and to come join us. i then blew my bag and tied it off to the cockpit so we could get spot on numbers. we hit our bottom time and headed to the anchor line. the visibility was a respectable 30 ft and the swells were non existant. it was a great day out on the water for everyone. hopefully i got some decent photos.

 

[mccabejc]

A quick report, cuz I'm too tired and hungry. Pasley, Dazedone and I did two dives today at Crescent Bay, first was on the east reef over to Shaw's, and second on the west reef over towards Seal Rocks. Conditions are still wonderful, crystal clear water all the way out, best viz was probably 25-30 ft or more, surf was usually 0-1 ft, occasional sets of 2-3 ft. Quite a bit of surge in spots. High point of the dive was a tiny octopus with its arms wrapped around the leg of a big ol' 2 ft wide seastar, and he was pulling the seastar into his little hole. Kind of like the dog chasing the delivery truck: when you catch it, what are you going to do with it? Hilarious.

Delightful dives, no indication whatsoever of the predicted increase in swells when we left at 4pm. Gorgeous day.

 

[Frank O]

About Crescent Bay -- I've dived it a grand total of two times in my diving career, once in early September and the other yesterday (when conditions were as nice as it sounds like they were today).

On both visits, I ran across a particular banded guitarfish. I'm pretty sure it's the same animal, as the pattern of banding spots is a close match.

Can anyone who dives Crescent Bay more than I do say whether this is a frequently seen denizen -- sort of a Bucky the sheephead of Crescent?

 

[Robert Phillips]

Can anyone who dives Crescent Bay more than I do say whether this is a frequently seen denizen -- sort of a Bucky the sheephead of Crescent?

Both times I have seen this animal, I have been diving with you. So I can say that it is, indeed, frequently seen

 

[pasley]

Robert Phillips is the dive expert on Crescent bay. I have dove it a toal of 54 times over the past 4 years and have not been blesed with sighting this critter. Seen lots of stuff including Mola Mola there but not the banded guitar fish. So I guess you are 1. a better observer than I and 2. blessed.

 

[JMdiver]

Date: 11/25/05
Dive Location: Deer Creek
Time: 2PM
Bottom Time: 33min.
Max Depth: 27ft
Vis: 12-15ft
Wave height: 2-3ft
Temp at depth: 59deg.
Surface Temp:?
Tide information: low coming in
Gas mix:
Comments: Swam out to the middle kelp bed & descended to the bottom & headed north to deeper water then headed west. There was alot of surge & not much animal life. Before we got in the water there were a couple of dolphins hanging around but were gone before we could get in.

 

[Frank O]

Seen lots of stuff including Mola Mola there but not the banded guitar fish. So I guess you are 1. a better observer than I and 2. blessed.

Funny, because (1) I'm usually not the creature spotter, and (2) only semi-blessed Thursday. Actually I had my slug-hunting macro lens on my camera, and the pickings were slim on that front. Sounds like other folks ran across more varied fare than I did. I had to be consoled with this old friend:

 

[Diver_Jan]

Hi everyone,



Attempted and semi-completed two dives today 11/26/05



First Dive: Reef Point



Surf: Bigger than me (5' 3")

Swell: Reminded me of the Mogul's on Minnie's Mile in Vail, Colorado

Surge: Felt like a Human Slig Shot at times

Viz: White out to 5' at best

Temp: Toasty 64 degrees

Max Depth: 22'

Bottom Time: 20 minutes



7 of us geared up and headed down the ramp to the ever waiting surf. After several minutes of timing the waves, 5 of us made it through the (ever increasing surfline) without incident. The remaining two decided to call their dive, which I applauded later.

Kicking out while snorkeling, viz looked really good. At that point, I was pleased that I made the effort getting past the big waves. Once we all gathered at the surface, we dropped down. Viz promptly disappeared to a mear 5' at best decreasing rapidly as we made our way to the reef. In some spots, it was complete white out. In the short 20 minutes, we got separated twice and met back up at the surface. We tried going deeper, but viz just wasn't to be found and we were struggling with pretty strong surge. We decided to call the dive at that point. I told the group that this was my second worst dive of the year. However, good practice with entries and exits.



After a quick bite to eat, Kathi, Jessica, and I headed to Shaw's Cove for our second dive attempt.



Dive #2 Shaw's Cove



Surf: Initially, minimal; increasing at end of dive 2-3' with an occassional BIG ONE.

Swell: minimal

Surge: Human Sling Shot again, only in some areas, well...most. LOL

Viz: 3-10' at best near the reef; 15' over the sand.

Water temp: 64 degrees

Max Depth: 48 feet

Bottom time: 55 minutes (YIPPEE!)



Dropped down into pretty good viz over the sand. Dropped considerably once we got ot the reef. Entered parts of the Arch, but it was if it was snowing...pretty hazy in some parts. Exited the Arch and headed south on the reef, fighting the surge all the way. Saw the usual suspects: painted and spotted greenlings, giant green sea anemones, octopuss, Girabaldi's and jv's, Treefish, female Sheephead, Sandbass, Kelp fish, Blue Banded Goby's, Black Eyed Goby's, ect. Kathi and I briefly got separated from Jessica, so as we turned around, a GIANT Bay Ray swam by us. Soooo Cool. Once we re-grouped with Jessica, we continued our way down the south side of the reef to the end, where I spotted a San Diego Dorid. After showing Jessica and Kathi, we turned around and headed back to shore.



I had originally wanted to do 3-4 dives today, but with the conditions decreasing, decided to call it. Hopefully, conditions will improve next week.



Jan