The Lexy October '05 Dive Reports Thread

[TeqP]

Time: 9:08am
Day:10/22/05
Surf: 0-1’
Visibility: 30-35’
Max depth:35’
Temp at depth: 63F
Run time: 41 minutes
Dive: #1

First dives at Marineland, and this place lived up to my expectations. This was just an awesome day of diving. Met up with Rick (Rickster) and Steve (stoddu). The water looked flat so we geared up. Hiked down and the waves were pretty non-existent. This was an easy entry. As we are swimming out I look down and am surprised that I can not only see my fins in the water, I can see both buddy's fins. The viz is excellent. We drop down and head towards the reef. Fish everywhere, blacksmith, garibaldi, kelp bass, barred sand bass, senoritas, blackeye gobies, Spanish shawls and 4-5 octos hiding in cracks. This place is awesome!!! I swim through a small school of blacksmith and they spread out, like parting the sea. Senoritas are very curious and come up to my face to say hello. This place is awesome! Rick is low on air so we head back. Rick finally slows down to allow us to catch up to him. We get ready to do a safety stop when I see some nostrils in the sand. I poke around and uncovered a nice looking thornback ray. He breaks out of his sand armor allowing us to see its spines on the tail. The best dive in a while for me. This place is awesome! I’m just thinking to myself, I can’t wait to get back in.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long to get back in.

Time: 1105am
Day: 10/22/05
Surf: 0-1’
Visibility: 30-35’
Max depth: 45’
Temp at depth: 63F
Run time: 51 minutes
Dive: #2

Conditions are the same as the first dive, except that the viz was slightly better. We swim closer to the reef this time. I look underwater and am shocked that I can actually spot a sand bass cruising on the bottom. We head under and towards the reef. Again fish everywhere, senoritas, blacksmith, garibaldi, a couple octos, Spanish shawls, and 1 (2-2.5 lb) lobster. There was just so much to see. I am at 42’ and look up and can see the surface. This can’t be SoCal beach diving! Rick was getting low on air so we turned around. On the way back we spotted 2 small lobsters hanging out. I didn't want to leave this peaceful place but it was time for us to leave. Stubbornly, I surfaced with 1450psi left. Best SAC rate ever of 0.40 SCFM. With a place like that I could only improve on my SAC rate. This was the best day of diving in quite a while. And now I can go to bed tonight happy (after I finish a few more pints of Guinness).

I can’t wait to get back to Marineland. To those that decided not to dive with us today (and you know who you are )….cough….Claudette…..cough…Thomas, you really missed out on a great day of diving. Oh yeah, did I mention that this place is AWESOME!

 

[divinman]

Date: 10/22/2005
Dive number: 307
Dive Location: San Diego/ Wreck Alley/ Ruby E
Dive Time: ~80 minutes
Max Depth: 82ft
Avg Depth: 62ft
Gas: 32 EANx
Vis: 40-45 ft from top to bottom
Surface Temp: 63F
Temp at depth: 54F
Surface Conditions:flat for the most part, calm seas, no current

Image gallery: http://photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/Ruby E 102205/

Tyler and I met at the God-awful hour of 6am to take advantage of a local charters special price for two dives on the Ruby E. It was a calm morning, no wind and the bay was quiet as we headed out. This boat holds 18 but today we only had 8 dives plus crew.....nice! As we cruised out of the channel we were pleased to see that the flat seas extended beyond the bay. Surface water looked blue....but what about at depth. Any one who has been on the Ruby knows that it really is hit or miss adventure. A good day may bring 15ft of vis with manageable surge at depth, an average day has you rocking back and forth over the wreck.

Tyler and I geared up and splashed in. We were diving nitrox today and twin tanks so the plan was for a single long dive with minimal deco instead of two shorter NDL dives.

Standing on the swim step and looking down into the aqua-marine water as the bubbles from the descending divers rose from below like huge silver jellyfish I knew it was a rare day. SPLASH!!!! ....and down and down and...OH MY GOD!!! From 20 ft we could see the wreck! Visibility was an outstanding 4045ft . Others say more but I lean toward the conservative.

Leveling off we began to sweep along the starboard side working our way aft. I was grinning so big I mask actually leaked a bit. It is hard to describe how amazed I was. I have nearly 25 dives on this ship and never seen the water this blue and clear. Hovering over the wheelhouse, I could look forward and see the bow and look aft and see the stern. To quote a local diving legend "DANG!"

Lots of life out today. A few creatures spotted were ling cod, cabazon, scorpionfish, sheephead, schooling blacksmith and senoritas, 7 different species of nudibranchs, cucumbers of many body shapes..... the list goes on and on.

Having reached our turn time Tyler and ascended to 30ft for our first stop. We had come up on the forward line and the charter was tied into the aft buoy so we took a compass heading and started our mid-column swim. After a few fin kicks it became obvious that we did not need the compass as we could look down and clearly see the top of the wreck below is. We continued aft and finished our 30/20/10 in the warm blue clear water......

To quote my ecstatic dive buddy " MAN, THAT WAS AWESOME!"


Terry S.


Clickable links

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date:October 22nd, 2005
Dive Location:Marineland
Time: 9:13, 11:30 and 2:05
Bottom Time: 1:16, 1:25 and 1:21
Max Depth: 61, 67 and 60'
Vis: 35'+ in places
Wave heightUh...no. nada...zilch
Temp at depth: 59-63F
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments: Dive one was Jeff Shaw's 100th. He picked a great day for it. Best conditions I've seen at Marineland this year. Lake Pacific was so flat today that I entered from the point on each of my first two dives, and Jeff and his lovely wife Sue entered and exited there. Sue has bum knees and was able to get out with no problem. The vis was at least 30-35 feet over the main reef and out over the sand. Batrays, lots of friendly fish and nudis were everywhere. I was able to demonstrate my Lobster Whisperer technique for Jeff. I enticed one to come out of his hole and shake hands. How do you do, Mr. Bug.
I tried to reset the line out to the platform, but the combination of my spool and wreck reel was not enough line. I'll have to try again later. It was a great day for diving my favorite site, although some Sunlight would have been nice. It drizzled all day. That's alright. The dive conditions more than made up for the cloudy sky.
Anemones even seem more colorful today.

Laila cockerelli

Hydroid?

Triopha catalinae

Hopkin's Rose. I saw about a dozen on dive #2

 

[Rickster]

The two dives we had today were great! I think teqp said it all! I took 20 pictures and only a couple looked close like what I was taking them of. I was taking a picture of an octo, when, right when I click the camera, :11: Mr Garibaldi zoomed right in front of the lens yelling "Take my picture, take my picture". Well, this is what he looked like. If anyone sees him, tell him I want to talk to him.

Rick

 

[wetrat]

Date: 10/22/05
Dive Numbers: 30/31
Dive Location: Ruby E.
Time: Around 7 and 9 am - forgot to look
Bottom Time: 41/34
Max Depth: 81/78
Vis: 40+
Wave height: Lake Pacific
Temp at depth: 53 F
Gas mix: Air
Comments: This was my first dive in wreck alley and it was AWESOME!!:11: Being an aluminum 80 guy I paired up with Mike McC and his son on the first dive and a cool English guy on the second dive. I'm still completely in shock over how great the visibility was today - like we were in the tropics only a heck of a lot colder. Terry and Tyler were super nice about answering all my questions about drysuits, cameras, diving in general and it was really fun to meet them. See Terry's report for all the cool life we saw - he did forget to mention the guy who was chumming his breakfast during our surface interval - I don't think I've seen a guy puke like that since my fraternity days.

 

[mark99]

Date: 10/22/2005
Dive Location: Catalina Island, Long Point X2, Hen Rock
Dive Time: :30, :34, :47
Max Depth: 30, 65, 45 fsw
Gas: Air
Vis: 40 ft.
Surface Temp: 64F
Temp at depth: 59F
Surface Conditions:very flat

Quite a contrast from last weekend, completely flat crossing both ways, overcast and cool. Good visibility, some surface current eastbound at the tip of Long Point, mimimal current inside Pirate's Cove. No current at Hen Rock. A fair amount of surge. Saw quite a few out-of-reach lobster, one huge eel, leopard shark, and an angel shark.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

OMG! Sounds like the entire SoCalKelpie Subforum was out in the water today, bouncing up and down, screaming into our regulators: "This is incredibly, unbelievably, Freekin' AWESOME!!!"

Thank you, everyone, for sharing all your amazing adventures, sights, and thoughts. You all keep the stoke going strong!!!

The Frontside of Catalina was Freekin' AWESOME!! (When you're right, you don't even have to be original :05: )

Ross, Don, Brian, Beth and I marvelled at the glossy flatness of the crossing, as dolphins and a whale intersected our path. No sun, but a beautiful peaceful morning.

#1: Touch 'n' Go on the Airplane wreck
10AM, 125 ft depth, 80 foot viz, 58F, 25 minutes, 21% Oxy.
The plane rose into visibility while we were still zipping down the anchor line... great day underwater at the island. 2 inch long little pink anemones on the tail, bull kelp fronds under the wings, fish spectators looking in through the windshield. Very cool and beautiful. No humans were harmed in the making of this wreck. Rolling stops while hovering next to the anchor line surrounded by infinite blue... Ahhhhhhhh! Drysuit as magic carpet.

#2: Circumnavigation of Ship rock
11:45AM, 115 ft max depth, 80 foot viz, 39 minutes, 21% oxy.
One commercial dive boat was leaving as we arrived. We noticed there wasn't much kelp visible at the surface... darn little, in fact. And Ship Rock is surrounded by Very Thick Kelp.... we just couldn't see much on the surface....Hey, this oughta be fun!!!
Anchoring on the lee side from the current, we splashed in to more beautiful clear water than even the HID artificial suns could illuminate. We headed out, over and down to a beautiful promontory wall at 115fsw, triangulating out into blue tinted sand and kelp. Massive clouds of blacksmith filled the big blue as we looked out into open water. We spread out and savored the intense beauty of the rock wall formation, the thick kelp, the color of the blue surface easily in sight. As we Clicked Around the Rock Clockwise, I was deepest and on the outside. Looking up toward Ship Rock, my buddies silhouetted against the surface, in front of huge pillars of black kelp with golden fronds... which were beginning to.. well... "lean" a bit.
Just a tad off vertical.
Then a tad more...
Hey! That's about 45 degrees...
Then an "OMG, That's Horizontal"... and we're kicking to stay in place!!!"
We tightened up the formation quite a bit, signaled "Cool!-Let's-Keep-Going-This-ROCKS!", and began tactical negotiation with this amazing watery wind. Hugging the rocks worked, pulling hand-over-hand, as did watching buddies and helping to untangle when needed. We were soon threading between the Amber Spaghetti which was not only horizontal, it was also fluttering and flapping wildly around in a current that grabbed at my mask and hoses, doing everything but whistling in my ears. Staying horizontal minimized the entanglement and resistance, and we rounded the bend into a stiff side wind. It soon whipped us around the other side and We Were FLYING downstream like seagulls in a storm. I had to grab kelp and hunker to regroup with buddies, before finishing the white water downstream run to the boat.

A beautiful bat ray swooped around us in the clear water. Rising up the anchor line, we were clothes-on-the-line in a high wind. At 20 feet, I went supine, staring up at the bow of our boat, seeing Beth looking down at us. And she was smiling and waving! We made clear eye-contact through 20 feet of water, as if she were just on the other side of thick blue glass. We both waved and laughed as I hung in the wild wind.
Oh Man... what a ride!!


#3: Hovering in Sea Fan Grotto caves, walking the lobster.
1:30PM, 59 feet max depth, 50 foot viz, 62F, 64 minutes, 21% oxy
More beautiful water on a cloudy grey day. Lots of kelp, lots of giant boulders, clouds of yellow senoritas matching the kelp fronds like moths in a flower hedge. A legal bug had been acquired earlier in the day, and lacking a topside receptacle, it remained in my bag. "There could be lobster here...", so it was time to take the bagged lobbie back into the drink while looking for second helpings. (Mo2vation warned me about this...but did I listen? No..and now I'm walkin' the bug.) We had a great time hovering through at least 4 different cave rooms in this beautiful place. The gorgonia covers the edges of the cave openings and parts of the ceilings, like chandeliers. Most rooms had other openings or doorways with light streaming in... most beautiful. Morays, kelp bass, garibaldis were all over, and little bugs, or bugs deep in cracks, or tips of large antennae way-back under boulders. It was a great inner-space dive, with cool light and bubble effects. My bug appeared unimpressed with the outing, resting like a bored house cat in a window hammock. Alas, a solo bug to the end. It was a nice walk. We hung forever in the cool blue beneath the boat, resistant to rise, loathing to leave, hating to end the glorious thrill of the hover. Swim step raised, anchor weighed, bow pointed for home. Dolphin on the way home.
TepP got it exactly right: What a freekin' awesome day of SoCal diving with great friends.

Claudette

 

[OCdiving Deb]

3 dives at Casino Point, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005

viz: 30-40 ft
temp: 61-62
cloudy all day but still great diving!

Dived the park with the docs today: Dr. Debbie and Dr. Bill.
What a treat to dive with both of them! Lots of other friends were there
today, as well. Loads of classes. The fill station guy said they saw more classes yesterday than typical. An AOW class had an UW pumpkin carving contest. Cute results!

Dr. Deb had asked me to go along to help her spot specific organisms that
she could video. We found all of them except the eels that were eluding us.
We saw fascinating fish behavior over and over. An adult garibaldi was
chasing a juvie. I read somewhere that the juvies have their blue spots so
that the adults won't be territorial with the youngsters. Not so today!

We also saw two female sheephead who were having a little cat fight. You
should have heard the language they were using!

Dr. Bill has blackmail footage of Dr. Deb and me trying to coax the first
octopus out of its hole. Neither of us has ever spent so much time watching
a single critter and we tried very gently to encourage it out of its lair.
When it finally retreated back into its hole we let it be. Such fun diving
today! (No camera for me and that was just fine.)

Other Cool Sightings:

-C-O Sole
-A humongous abalone inside a cave to which I snuck some Macrocystis. I love
feeding kelp to abalone! Dr. Bill got some footage of it munching. ;-)
-Two octopi
-Giant kelpfish (One was the biggest we've seen before and upon further
inspection was covering a juvie also!)
-More treefish, sheephead, and blacksmith than we could count
-A beautiful school of sargo that numbered >30. It was a slow-motion dance
of synchronized swimming.
-Rainbow rockfish (3?) I originally reported them as vermilions but these had brown spots just behind their cheeks.
-Scorpionfish

Had dinner with Dr. Deb and Dr. Bill afterward, missed our 6 pm boat, and
barely made it onto the 11 pm boat back to Long Beach. It's great to be home
but I wouldn't trade a minute of our day or evening. Now I just need to catch up on sleep. Twenty three hours awake before hitting the pillow at 3 am. Ugh.

 

[dpbishop]

Date: 10/23/2005
Time: 2:00 am
Dive Location: Sunset Cliffs
Dive Time: :54
Max Depth: 14
Gas: Air
Vis: 5-10 ft.
Surface Conditions:very small surf
Surge: Light to medium

Snuck in a lobster dive before the swell hit. Saw the biggest sheepshead I can remember sleeping under a reef in 8 ft. of water; thought it was a black sea bass at first cuz all I saw was its big black tail. Didn't know they hung out that shallow. Invited 5 bugs home for dinner. This time of year I never here "are you going diving again?"

 

[saintsfan]

Date: 10/22/05
Dive Numbers: 30/31
Dive Location: Ruby E.
Time: Around 7 and 9 am - forgot to look
Bottom Time: 41/34
Max Depth: 81/78
Vis: 40+
Wave height: Lake Pacific
Temp at depth: 53 F
Gas mix: Air
Comments: This was my first dive in wreck alley and it was AWESOME!!:11: Being an aluminum 80 guy I paired up with Mike McC and his son on the first dive and a cool English guy on the second dive. I'm still completely in shock over how great the visibility was today - like we were in the tropics only a heck of a lot colder. Terry and Tyler were super nice about answering all my questions about drysuits, cameras, diving in general and it was really fun to meet them. See Terry's report for all the cool life we saw - he did forget to mention the guy who was chumming his breakfast during our surface interval - I don't think I've seen a guy puke like that since my fraternity days.

Hey wetrat was that you that waved to me from the dive boat at the Ruby E we were on the boat at the bow mooring line? anyway it was a great dive day