Hi everyone,
Had a wonderful weekend of diving in Laguna Beach.
Met up with South Coast Divers (
http://www.southcoastdivers.com) on both Saturday and Sunday.
11/05/05 Deadman's Reef
Surf: 0
Swell: 0
Surge: 3-4 in some spots
Viz: 8-10 at best for the most part; some spots 15-20'
Water Temp: Toasty 64 degrees at depth
Max Depth: 50 feet
Bottom time: 37 minutes (I know, it will be explained in report LOL)
Whew, about 26 divers met up with the usual Saturday gang. Due to I was at Rolling Stones concert the night before, I was in Cahoots to see where to meet up...Thanks Jennifer!
Due to size, the group broke up into smaller groups. I dove with Rene, Rory, and a newbie to the group Ryan...WELCOME!!!
We dropped down just south of the usual drop down point right on top of a reef. Explored a little bit, then took a heading for Deadman's. Now...I normally know Deadman's like the back of my hand, however...we had a long trek over the sand. Later, I surfaced to see just where we were. We ended up way way west of Seal Rock. I dropped back down and headed the group back to Deadman's. We finally got there and were greeted by some red tide. Viz was pretty hazy. Oh, I forgot to mention, before dropping down, I had to take my gear off in the water for I could hear a leak. My inflator hose was leaking air, quite rapidly. The problem could not be fixed in the water and it wasn't major enough to call the dive, so we continued on.
The usual suspects were seen. At one point, Rory was missing from the group, so I surfaced to see if I could see him. As I was at the surface, several sea lions were basking in the water. There was a big bull not more than 10 feet from me. Massive to be more exact. Rory mentioned to us that he would head back early due to air, so at this point, we started to head for shore. Good thing too, for I was loosing alot of air as well. We all met up later for lunch and to share dive stories.
After I departed the group, I headed to the LDS to inspect my gear. Within minutes, I was able to diagnose my problem and quickly repair it (thanks to my Equipment Repair Specialty Class). It turns out that my inflator hose had quite a large hole in it near the dump valve. Once I repaired it, I was good to go.
Sunday 11/06/05
Dive #1 Montage Resort aka Treasure Island
Surf: 0
Swell: 0
Surge: 0
Viz: 10-25+
Water Temp: Toasty 63 degrees
Max Depth: 29'
Bottom Time: 75 Minutes
Met up with Bijan, Don, and Yojan and later Dennis H to dive Malaga Cove. What a stellar choice!!! I had never dove here before, and conditions looked pretty good, even with increasing surf over the reef.
We geared up and got in the water without incident. Dropped down and made our way over to the first reef structure. Cruised around looking in various crevices, rocks, formations, ect. Dove around the reef to the north/ west side, went through a swim through that was pretty cool, continued heading north into the cove exploring the shallower reefs then making our way further west to the larger reef structures. As we approached, a HUGE school of fish loomed overhead. I hadn't seen this type of school before. Looking in my fish ID book, I believe them to have been Topsmelt. Dennis??? Anyway, very cool, regardless. Heading back south to deeper waters, I spotted a nice sized Horn Shark and an Octo out in the open. Headed back to our entry point and came across a really cool underwater arch that I swam through. FUN FUN FUN....Saw the usual suspects. What a beautiful dive!!! I can't wait to go back.
Don't let the walk fool you. If you have dove Old Marineland, Malaga is alot EASIER!!!
Dive #2 Shaw's Cove
Pretty much same conditions with Viz being 8-20'
Water Temp: 61 degrees
Max Depth: 49 feet
Bottom Time: 60 minutes
Bijan joined me for a second dive at Shaw's Cove. Enter without incident. Dove the arch, however, surf was starting to pound above decreasing the viz and increasing the surge. The swim through was not doable. Poked around a bit and exited heading south on the reef. I had my camera with me this dive, so stopped and took quite a few photos. Got some good pics of a large Octo hiding out in a crevice; pics of the Octo and a JV Giribaldi; a couple pics of C-O Turbots (Sole); and THREE different San Diego Dorids that were quite large!!! Again, a very fun dive!!!
Thanks to all of my buddies for the great dives!!!
And to Ryan, our 'new' buddy, GREAT JOB!!! I look forward to diving with you again.
Keep on Diving!!!
. The hike back up again was a *****:11doh:
elican Reserve, Anacapa
