The Lexy November '05 Dive Report thread

[dpbishop]

Date: 11/16/05
Dive Location: South Garbage
Time:12:30 am
Bottom Time:60 min
Max Depth:20'
Vis:7 -10 ft
Wave height: 1-3
Temp at depth: 62
Surface Temp:
Tide information: Low tide +2'
Gas mix: air
Comments: Surf seems to be picking up but it hasn't ruined the viz yet. Saw a couple of of big sculpin, starfish, sheepshead, Garibaldi. A lot of small tabletop reefs here, someday I'm going to have to investigate reef structure in local waters, not really sure how they form. Invited 4 bugs home for tonights dinner.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: November 16th
Dive Location: Marineland
Time: 2:46
Bottom Time: 1:06
Max Depth: 57'
Vis: 15-25'
Wave height: 0-1'
Comments: Made my 100th dive of 2005 at Marineland after work today. I was attempting to lay a new line out to the submerged platform, but the line I bought floats.
I'll try again Saturday morning. I didn't find the platform, but I did find a four foot diameter pipe covered in red gorgonian. I have dived similar pipes in deeper water and the red gorgonians are covered with Tritona Festiva nudis. The only nudi I found today on the pipe was a Spanish Shawl. I was buzzed by two sea lions, which startled me. This is the scene of my attack last Summer. They didn't bite today. I also found seven Mantis shrimp. I really should have taken my camera insread of 700 feet of worthless line. Out in the sand flats, I found a few California Sea Slugs, several Lizardfish and a school of mackeral that blocked out the sunlight. Visibility was poor in the surf zone, what there was of it, but twenty yards from shore I could clearly see the bottom 25 feet below.

 

[scottfiji]

location - big rock
11-16ft vis, calm waves, max depth 32ft

nice dive today, 1st dive with my new wet suit, 1st dive in so-cal with my new camera. saw spanish shawl, 2 octos, big fat lemon nudibranch, topsmelt bottom-feeding. Brown, olive, and blue rockfish. highlight was swimming into a dense school of 50+ croakers.

hedgehog hydroid

spanish shawl

red urchin

anemone

two-spot octopus

 

[riguerin]

....1st dive in so-cal with my new camera. ...

Nice pics ! What's your new camera setup ?

 

[scottfiji]

Nice pics ! What's your new camera setup ?

thanks! fuji-f10, internal flash, waterproof housing

 

[wetrat]

Date: 11/17/05
Dive Location: Deadman's Reef/North Crescent, Laguna
Time: 10:30 AM
Bottom Time: 1:06
Max Depth: 59 ft.
Vis: 30 ft (by consensus!)
Wave height: 1-2 ft.
Temp at depth: 59F
Surface Temp: 64F
Tide information: High
Gas mix: Air 21%
Comments: Met with Debbie (kelphelper), Robert P., and Robin for a fantastic day of diving at Deadman's Reef. Definitely got the ol' cardio in on that surface swim. :11: Thanks to Robert's excellent lineups, we dropped perfectly onto the reef. I paired up with Debbie, who was taking pictures and showing me all kinds of cool stuff. It was like having my own personal DM - thanks Deb! We saw dozens of painted greenlings, a couple octos, black eyed and blue-banded gobys, a freeswimming nudibranch (royal blue - not sure the name), juvenile and BIG GRANDADDY garibaldis. Lots of the usual folks loitering about (senoritas, blacksmith, sheephead, various bass, baitfish). We stopped to play with the feather duster and sand worms. Debbie was giggling through her regulator as they retracted . Saw a skate and a dead thornback ray on the way in. I was afraid I would be the air hog with only 35 dives to their hundreds each, but we all surfaced at the same time. That was a really good feeling. Somehow, Robin had the smallest tank and managed to surface with 1000 psi. Pretty sure she has gills somewhere. :05:

 

[scottfiji]

dive location: Malibu road
vis: 10-20ft, max depth 27ft
bottom time: 104 minutes

Diving today was like being in an aquarium, with so many fish so close to me. Large schools of opaleye often passed close by. Navanax, cabezon, kelpfish, horn sharks, lobsters were all abundant and allowed close approach. I often saw 6 garibaldis at one time. A great day for diving!

sandcastle worm tentacles

sunny kelp

cabezon says "your a punk!"

more photos from today in the gallery....
http://gallery.scubapost.net/v/scottfiji/malibu20051117

 

[MissyP]

Date: 11/18/05
Dive Location: Dive 1-Heisler Park, Dive 2-Diver's Cove (Laguna)
Time: 11:24AM, 1:12 PM
Bottom Time: 42min, 50 min
Max Depth: 38ft.
Vis: 20- 25 ft
Wave height: 1-2 ft.
Temp at depth: 61F
Surface Temp: 68F

Andy (WTH) and I met up around 10am at Heisler to take advantage of the nice conditions Laguna has been having lately and we certainly weren't disappointed! We dropped down at the white "buoy" (the old bleach jug) and followed the reef around to the side where the little cave is. Swam over the old rusted lobster trap that's been there forever and continued following the reef which was FULL of the usual fish (blacksmith, garibaldi, sand bass, greenlings, scorpionfish, senoritas, etc..). When we got close to our turn around psi, I peered into a crevice and a moray popped out to greet us Since this was Andy's 3rd dive, it was his first time seeing a moray- so that was very fun for him to see! As always with Laguna, it was here an octo, there an octo, everywhere an octo.. No nudis though The vis was a swimming pool blue/clear 20-25ft, which made for a great dive! We surfaced in front of the walkway by the showers and had an uneventful exit.
After having some munchies on our SI, we heaved our gear back on and headed over to Diver's Cove for a 2nd dive. The ocean was placid which made for a nice entry and surface swim over to the exposed outer reefs at Diver's. After giving Andy a brief compass/navigation lesson during the surface swim, we descended and followed the reefs around. Again, we were surrounded by fish everywhere we went, saw lots of octos, few lobsters, a medium sized halibut, and a school of large slender silver fish- mackerel I believe. On our swim in, 2 large bat rays swam directly in front of us, slowly & gracefully...wherever they were headed, they were not in a hurry.. I spotted 2 baby Laila cockerelli's sitting together on a rock, but my pics didn't turn out well
Great day for diving- get out to Laguna if you can while the conditions are so good!!
Thanks for the fun dives Andy!!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: November 19, 2005
Dive Location: Marineland
Time: 8:47
Bottom Time: 1:06
Max Depth: 57'
Vis: 5-8'
Wave height: 1'
Temp at depth: 59F
Comments: I report when I have a great dive, so I should share one that wasn't.
Eight Scubaboard members gathered for another attempt at photographing the submerged platform, aka Headhunter Reef. I guess I should say nine divers, since Murphy showed up. Frank O made a head-first dive onto the rocks at the shoreline, but sacrificed his body to save his camera. We lost contact with each other numerous times in the dirty green water. Claudette and I stretched out my spool between us to see if we could snag the platform. I felt a good pull, so I began reeling the line in. It turned out that I had caught Claudette in a tangled mess of line. We surfaced and finally located bubbles from the other divers. We dropped down through the bubbles and I lost Claudette on the way down. I finally located her again after re-surfacing. We exchanged OK signs and descended. I found Jeff Shaw's fins, but only for a second or so until they swam away. I finally gave up and swam over to the main reef to look for nudis. Found a few, but my light quit working, so only one picture.

After the fun I had at Marineland, I went over to Redondo Beach. Everyone at Vet's told me the vis was terrible in the shallows, about five feet out to the edge of the canyon, and awful in the canyon. Too bad. It's such a beautiful day topside.

 

[divinman]

Date: 11/19/05
Time: 08:25
Dive Location: San Diego/ Donathan Pinnacles
Bottom Time: 60 minutes
Avg Depth: 72ft
Vis: solid 30-45 from shore to canyon
Surface Temp: 60F
Temp at depth: 51F

Well today I finally managed to get out and complete dive 100 for the year. I could not have asked for better conditions. The sea was like glass, water was warm and clear all the way down to our max depth of........ Me and three amigos made the long swim out to the float, once red and now white from sea gull appreciation. The kick out seems like an eternity but we did finally get there. Final checks completed we dropped down through the clear water. I was third in our string of four and as the first team descended below me I could Cleary see them sinking into the abyss. Fifty feet from our planned max depth I could see the wall stretching away to the north and south. Looking up the sun sparkled down in long glowing rays. Visibilility was a solid 45ft I would guess with enough ambient light at depth to read my gauges without the light. NICE. We spread out and cruised the ancient skyscraper-like cliffs and pinnacles. Life is not abundant here save the hundreds of juvenile rockfish and a large cave full of lobster. The occasional two-spot and red octopus watched us pass.

Meeting our 20 minute bottom time plan we ascended to the first of our many stops. More octopus, more fish, a 4ft halibut, a 3ft guitarfish, half dozen stingrays hiding in a clump of eel grass. Lots to see as we completed our gas switch and continued up the slope. At 55ft I found not one but two Aeolidia Papillosa nudibranchs. A new sighting for me and always a thrill. Then, a few feet later, a beautiful cream colored Cuthona Divae feeding on a hydroid. It's times like this I miss my camera the most. Mental Images taken, we continued in. Finally surfacing after completing our 10ft obligation. The tide was up but the surf was small enough that our exit at the Marine Room stairs was uneventful.

Sooooo ready for dive 101.

Terry