The Mighty Lexy MARCH 2006 Dive Reports Thread

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Mo2vation

Relocated to South Florida....
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Date:
Dive Location:
Buddy(ies):
Time:
Bottom Time:
Max Depth:
Vis:
Wave height:
Temp at depth:
Surface Temp:
Tide information:
Gas mix:
Comments:
 
3/2/06
Redondo Canyon, Veteran's Park
8PM, stars-a-sparklin' in a black sky.
83fsw
54 minutes
20+ viz below 50fsw, maybe 15 viz above.
21% oxy, 78% nitro, 1% unknown gaseous elements from multi-tank fill stations ;-)
55F lowest temp, modest thermocline at 45fsw

Quick! Storms coming! Hit the water before it all goes to heck in a hand basket!

A cold and windy night as I parked at Vets, to find Scott and James re-warming after their canyon dive. “Pretty good viz”, said Scott. Choppy surface, but waves less than 2 feet and weak.

Ken arrived shortly and we geared up in a biting wind. We bashed out through chop, descended to pretty clear water over sand. There were many flatfish amidst the swimming crabs and whelk shells and thousands of big spiny mole crabs. Found The Monument at 63 fsw in 20+ foot viz, and it continues to be CRAWLING with 2 inch white crabs, and some Hemphill’s crabs, and small masking crabs. Crabs so thick it’s creepy!! The “wet floor” cone is back, and it still has an octopus living in it, of course. Many rockfish were snapping at the tiny transparent fish larvae in the water. 4 octopuses tucked into sandy holes and cinderblock caves. Did I mention there were LOTS of CRABS???!!!

We headed down to 83fsw, finding patches of old squid eggs, gray and ratty-looking, often with a brown or pink scorpion fish in the middle. An odd 4-inch smooth white worm wriggled through the water column just off the bottom. Ken handed me a 4 inch Astraea shell… looked nice but "so what?"… then I saw the small sarcastic fringehead living in it… looking cool as a cuke while I handled the shell carefully and set it down gently. Very cool! There were finally many pink scorpion fish all around again. I had missed seeing them the past few months.
We stayed at each depth until I had about 10 minutes RBT, then we rolled up to the next 10ft contour and continued toward the pier. Many crabs everywhere. Buzzed twice by a sea lion.

Found two tall tube worms, 4-5 inches tall, about 8 inches apart. Tan parchment tubes. One looked like a Giant Feather duster worm (orange in my 10W light, but pink in Ken’s 18W Brightstar). The other was clearly a double plume worm with helical stripes on the tentacular crown. Browns and reds… very pretty. These tall plumed worms are a rare but repeating treat in the canyon (about 60fsw). Octopuses and nudibranchs were nowhere to be found tonight.

We laughed to find a Sand Dollar in the mud at 60 fsw... as in a U.S. Legal-Tender Dollar Bill... hahahaha.... It looked too big to be real! An excellent lesson to remind me that objects continue to be smaller than they appear through the miracle of water/air interface refraction.

We rose up to the sandy flats to see hundreds of spiny mole crabs and a few round rays. The sand dollar beds (as in purple-spined, disc-shaped echinoderms, positioned vertically in the sand, parallel to the surge,) welcomed us to the murk zone at 15fsw. Rolling sand billows obscured the bottom as the swells rocked back and forth. Up and out, dry clothes, and then hot chocolate and outrageous chocolate cake at the Catalina Coffee house. What fun to go diving with a skilled partner who will dive rain or shine, and have fun!! Thanks, Ken, for great winter dive.
 
Sean, Max and I met in the main lot and geared up. Low tide made the swim out shorter than usual. Swell is up but not unmanageabe. It does, however run deep into th canyon making it a bit surgy and stiring the sand up reducing visibility to scant 5-10 and the water is cold down there at 50F. It wasn't as nice as we had hoped but we go out and got down and took pictures. Brunch afterwards at the outside cafe' in the village and then lots of dive talk in the parking lot. Good morning with good friends.

Terry

Image gallery: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/030406/

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HBDiveGirl:
3/2/06
Redondo Canyon, Veteran's Park
8PM, stars-a-sparklin' in a black sky.
83fsw
54 minutes
20+ viz below 50fsw, maybe 15 viz above.
21% oxy, 78% nitro, 1% unknown gaseous elements from multi-tank fill stations ;-)
55F lowest temp, modest thermocline at 45fsw

Quick! Storms coming! Hit the water before it all goes to heck in a hand basket!

A cold and windy night as I parked at Vets, to find Scott and James re-warming after their canyon dive. “Pretty good viz”, said Scott. Choppy surface, but waves less than 2 feet and weak.

Ken arrived shortly and we geared up in a biting wind. We bashed out through chop, descended to pretty clear water over sand. There were many flatfish amidst the swimming crabs and whelk shells and thousands of big spiny mole crabs. Found The Monument at 63 fsw in 20+ foot viz, and it continues to be CRAWLING with 2 inch white crabs, and some Hemphill’s crabs, and small masking crabs. Crabs so thick it’s creepy!! The “wet floor” cone is back, and it still has an octopus living in it, of course. Many rockfish were snapping at the tiny transparent fish larvae in the water. 4 octopuses tucked into sandy holes and cinderblock caves. Did I mention there were LOTS of CRABS???!!!

Choppy surface is being kind. We were kicking out directly into the wind. We're over 35" of water, and still getting waves washing OVER us... it was like never leaving the surf zone...

Monument Jr. was funny.

Ken is great, give us the chocolate cake....

Yummers.

Good dive. Thanks. You're the best.

DC dry gloves rock.

---
Ken
 
Mo2vation:
Choppy surface is being kind. We were kicking out directly into the wind. We're over 35" of water, and still getting waves washing OVER us... it was like never leaving the surf zone...

Sounds like you're ready to give Laguna another try :laughing:

Location: Shaw's Cove
Date: 3/4/2006
Time: 4:00 PM SUNNY
Surf: 1 ft
Surge: 2 ft to 3 ft
Visibility: 15 ft - 20 ft
Temperature: Air 60 Water 57
 
riguerin:
Are you ready to give Laguna another try ? :laughing:


Only if they move it North out of OCal. :10:

---
Ken
 
When: Sat 4th March
Where: The shrimp infested waters of San Diego's Wreck Alley - The Yukon.
Depth 95ft
Time 35mins
Temp: cold!

Diving with Barbara, Mike and Jackie on the scuba do: a wonderful day to be on the water - sunny skies and a bracing wind. We had a pod of dolphins to play with as we exited the mission bay channel - in such a small boat, you really get an impression of the grace, size and power of these creatures - amazing!

After last week's discovery of mantis shrimp (and the excitement it caused on the divebums list, we were determined to find more this week, and it's remarkable that, once you start looking for them, there are mantis shrimp burrows all over the sand by the Yukon. We found quite a few but since the shrimp would not come out to play, we didn't need the baseball mitts and shinguards!

The vis was not great today, and all we found were a few weight pouches (duly recovered) and some hermissendas (duly photographed).

Actually, the dive was more interesting topside, with dolphins in the water and moon jellies back at the dock. I got lots of nice pictures of the jellies:

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and the rest of them are here:

http://www.mcguinness-family.net/albums/diving/SanDiego//WreckAlleyMar_06/

Peter
 
Date: 3/5
Dive Location: Crescent Bay
Buddy(ies): Chris A, Anders J
Time: 7:45 a.m.
Bottom Time: 93 minutes
Max Depth: 36
Vis: 20+
Wave height: 1' if at all
Temp at depth: 55°
Surface Temp: 58°
Tide information: Low 0.5 at 7:30something
Gas mix: 32%
Comments: We dropped down in 8' and headed out toward the reef and the 30' range to work on skills and goof around in doubles.
The water was nice and clear, especially in the shallows, with a solid 20' of visibility.

If you're not out diving today, you should be!!!
 
John and I met at the main lot at La Jolla around 7am. We kicked out to the bouy and dropped in a bit south maybe 50 yards west and headed SW along the bottom. We say stuff, we took pictures. It was nice. John writes better reports...Here are my pictures.

Image Gallery is here: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/020506/

See all my Albums here: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/

The Stats:

Date: 03/05/06
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores/The Draw
Buddy(ies):John A.
Time: 07:59a
Bottom Time: 58 minutes
Max Depth: 94ft
Vis: 5-10
Wave height: Slight swell, easily managed surf zone
Temp at depth: 52 Frigid F
Surface Temp: 56F
Tide information: Didn't look

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Date: March 5, 2006
Dive Location: Marineland
Buddy(ies): Solo
Time: 9:11 and 9:54
Bottom Time: :43 and 1:03
Max Depth: 43' and 67'
Vis: 12' and 15'
Wave height: 1-2'
Temp at depth: 53F
Comments: Yesterday was not a great day for diving Marineland. The waves were up and the water was muddy. It was much nicer today. We had a crowd of the usual suspects show up for Sunday Service. It seems that when there's food and beverages involved, the crowds get bigger. :)
The waves at the point were not big, but just enough to make everyone enter at the cove. I walked in and made the long surface swim to the point. I saw the usual assortment of nudibranchs, octopus and lobsters, then decided to head out over the sand in search of Mantis shrimp. I didn't find any, but Claudette and Frank hit the Mantis jackpot. I can't wait to see Frank's pictures. I swam along the sandy bottom until I was low on air. Thinking I hadn't reached the cobble beach yet, I expected to look Northeast and see the cove. Instead, I saw Portugese Point. I had another long surface swim back to Marineland.
For my second dive I entered from the point, where the waves had calmed down to less than a foot. I found a MacFarland's chromodorid just after my batteries died, but I did manage to get in a few pictures today.
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