The November '06 Pasley Dive Report (hurry home, bud!)

[Mo2vation]

Date:
Dive Location:
Buddy(ies):
Time:
Bottom Time:
Max Depth:
Vis:
Wave height:
Temp at depth:
Surface Temp:
Tide information:
Gas mix:
Top reason Pasley should hurry home:
Comments:

 

[Mo2vation]

Date: Nov 02, 2006
Dive Location: Vets Park Movie Studio
Buddy(ies): HBDriveAroundTheBlockToPark50'AwayGurl
Time: 7:00 PM-ish
Bottom Time: 58 minutes
Max Depth: 101
Vis: Varied - great deep, not so much up top
Wave height: 2' maybe... no biggie
Temp at depth: 58
Surface Temp: whatever... windy
Tide information: HIGH... HT at 6:48.. .falling
Gas mix: Yokohama
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Bullets suck
Comments:

So 'Chica and I, after a very successful romp with several sets of borrowed doubles in August and September, make our long awaited return to Vets with OUR OWN TANKS!!!

What a whirlwind its been over the last several weeks. But we finally own our own, so tonight was the night to get them wet for the first time.

I in my beautiful 95's, she in her wonderful 85's. No Camera tonight. Just doubles re-acquaintenance.

Driving to Vets I get a call from her - the parking lot is closed. I ask, "what do you mean closed...?" She said, CLOSED. Like 100%.

OY

So I figger we'll park off to the side in one of the strips they always leave open when they "close" the lot.

She said, CLOSED. Like 100%

So I figger we'll park down below, facing the ocean. They always leave that open when they "close" the lot.

She said CLOSED. Like 100%

OY.

I get there, and its windy. HUH? Vets is always windy, but not after the sun goes down. Its whippin, which means I'm gonna get a headache kicking out. Bogus. We begin the dump and run. We set everything up, lean it on the posts at the top of the steps, get into our DS undies, put on the booties (preparing for the long walk back from 1 or 2 blocks away) and we pull out of the lot. Imagine the scene for the neighbors: Its night, and two freaks in fuzzy long underware and boots, park in front of their house, then pile out and speed walk to the beach. Nice.

She scans the block. No go. We turn right and go up the street. I'm following her, as she lives moments from here and surely knows this place better than I... She scans. No go. She turns AROUND and starts back NORTH on Lincoln... I'm all "where is this chick going?" - so I pull out the phone. She's in her car, right in front of me.

Ring.

See her driving.

Ring.

See her driving. NOW I see her looking about her car.

Ring.

She's reaching behind the seat. She reaches under the seat. She's looking about her vehicle with urgency.... We're still driving NORTH on Lincoln. We've left Vets park and I'm thinking next stop is Malibu.

Ring.

She stops looking around her car... She's ignoring me? OK - off goes her air tonight.

Voice Mail.

#&$%%$*$#)@_$&^

We make a U-turn, she pulls into the Elks Lodge parking lot, which is adjacent to, and about 50 feet from where we always park to dive here. Apparently, for the first time in recorded history, they closed 100% of Vets for a movie shoot, but left this Elks lot open. Who knew.

So we're sitting there, just laughing. We walk down to the huge pile o' gear, suit up and head in.

The entry was a walk in, no brainer. I forgot what an anchor these things are in the surf. Loved it.

The plan: Dive to 25 over the sand and do a CG. Dive to 70, and if all feels good, go to about 100.

We get to 25, do the CG drills. I'm feeling really good. She does hers. She's looking really good. Her isolator is a little evil - jabbing her in the dome, but that's an easy fix. After the CG's, I signal a valve drill. Its been awhile - but it was OK. When I was hitting these things a few times a week, I was smoooov and fast. Tonight was a little slower and more deliberate. I can't wait to get back into the groove!

We dive to 70, I signal, "We OK to go to 100?" Chica says sure, so we roll.

We head over the lip, and I'm amazed at the arresting volume of gas I need to put in my suit and wing to keep from dropping like a brick. I forgot how heavy these pigs are. I blow what feels like enough gas to fill a Macy's Day parade balloon, and I slow my drop and confortably continue the dive.

We get to 100, we hang out, turn, and roll back up.

We see all of the usual suspects on the way up and down - pots of crabs, pages of flatfish, a shell of a lot of Fringeheads, a quarry of rockfish, ONE new squid egg mass (at 79 feet) and some other stuff. We also stumble across one very silly, and very small (like silver dollar size) baby Giant Black SeaBass. He was so funny - what a little spaz.

At the end of the dive I was hunting for the Angel Shark I've seen the last several times there in about 25 feet. I couldn't find it. HBEagleEye turns to me a moment later and points it out... duh. We play with it for a few minutes, but it gets tired of us and shoots off.

On our ascent, we look over and the entire dive site is lit up with the huge movie lights. We cover our HIDs at about 12 feet, and we don't even need them. The entire water was glowing. Pretty neat. We rise, and have a walk in exit.

Great dive. Excellent to be back in doubles. Man. They turn slower. There is so much more mass I'm pushing around. They are great in the surf. They are less great going up the steps and walking to the Elks lot.

Thanks for another great dive, 'Dette. This is the first step into the next phase.

---
Ken

 

[scottfiji]

nice report Ken

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Date: Nov 02, 2006
Dive Location: Vets Park Movie Studio
Buddy(ies): HBDriveAroundTheBlockToPark50'AwayGurl
<insert rockin' report>

Thanks for another great dive, 'Dette. This is the first step into the next phase.

---
Ken

Thank You, Ken, for the patience, the fun, the skills, the joy, and more fun!! This was my most comfortable dive in doubles, yet. A little more wood putty to the back of my head, and the isolator-divot will hardly be visible. You make those ACME-Safe 95s look easy... Which is a walking, finning, frog-kicking lie!!! (But gracefully told ) I'll be at the gym if anyone needs me..:sprite10:
Thanks for all the support as we roll down Doubles Drive. We make it all work.

:director:Movie Night!!! That's was one way to get Vet's all to ourselves. :dancinglock: You should have seen me trying to get the security guard to let us park in the two empty spaces next to the security cars.... ABC'ing for all I was worth. Nada! Sheesh!

Never have two people driven so far to park so close! Hee-hee....:rofl2:
I was trying to find the ringing phone in the E, and laughing hard because I knew you had the pie loaded into the catapult, :1poke: and I was gonna be toweling whipped cream off my eyebrows over the Synchronized Parking Drill!!!

Great stuff underwater!!
I loved the PantyLine Condo: Large rumpled undies housing a Pleurobrancha nudi and a Sarcastic Fringehead.
The moonscape below 80 is so eerie, dotted with tiny windmill worms, single-arms of burrowing brittle stars, Dirt-divot Octo's alternating with CRV cephalopods winking at us from bottles, jars, cups, and, last night, even a can!! All I saw was a pale octopus eye, looking outta the pop-top, like someone peeking through a key-hole.

Putty-Pink Scorpion fish, like balled-up hedgehogs, having given up looking for a hedge.

And, in all that silence, two doubled-up tech nOObs, pivoting and propulsing, 12 inches above the talcum fine mud, with barely a whisper left in our traces. Heck, the Angel Shark barely noticed me :14: . Silent.... except for the explosive laughter over the brilliant silliness of life.:jestera:

Thanks for the fun diving, cool team work, brilliant new hand signals, and the endless wonderment of exploring this world.

Was that "deploy the bag"? Or...?

'Dette'ness Shot
(What took ya?!?!?!?)

 

[divinman]

Location: Steep walls south of the boat ramp at LJS
Time: 4:52pm descent
Temp: 57 degrees
Vis: 25 fantastic feet
Max Depth: 95 feet
Bottom Time: 69 mins
Buddies: Catalina 30

Image Gallery: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/110206/

After gear issues (read-left gear at home after driving all the way to the shore at 430 in the morning) left me dry this morning I was determined to get a dive in . The local crew was diving later but I was itching for something a little earlier and again at 430p I was standing on the boat launch and looking out at the easy surf roll in as the sun dipped toward the horizon. I wasted no time getting my gear on at 4:52p I settled beneath the waves and started my dive. I had planned on dropping in at about 35-40ft and had I brought a shovel I might have made but instead I settled for 22ft and started headed west over the HUGE expanse of sand dollars. Visibility was remarkably clear tonight and before long I could see the wall dropping away below me. Turning south I hovered midway down the wall, 25ft of relief above and another 25 below me in stair-like formation. I really like this dive. Its steep and dramatic. Not a lot of life on it but on a good vis day, its pretty dang cool. With Catalina nestled close to my side I continued south until my computer said it was time to head back. I glided up the slope and back across the sand dollars snapping the occasional picture but mostly just cruising along in the quiet. At about 40ft I turned off my camera and lights and from the light filtering down from above I followed the sand ridges northeast finally surfacing in 6ft of water just south of the ramp.

Nice.

Terry

 

[scottfiji]

don't you just love the single-arm burrowing brittle stars?

here's a photo to bring Claudette's words to life:

 

[LLKZ16]

Date: 11/3/06
Dive Location: OML Long Point
Buddy(ies): Jimmy, Angelique and David
Time: 9:50 am
Bottom Time: 49 min (short Dive)
Max Depth: 71 feet
Vis: 10-20
Wave height: 2-3 ft (Tricky Point Entry!!)
Temp at depth: 57F
Surface Temp: 68F
Tide information: Pushing Low From 7am High
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Poor vis during quicksand dives.
Comments:

I really wanted to do the point but the waves looked a little hairy today. The normal entry spot to the left of the rocks looked pretty bad so we actually entered from the right side of the point.

Jimmy was first out and he entered just when a wave came in but another quickly began to peak. Too bad he did not have enough time to put his fins on. Out of sheer strength and panic, he used the rocks to jump across as quickly as possible and kick over the peak (sans fins) barely making it. Bravo Jimmy!!!. I went next with no issues except I kind of scraped the metal ring around my camera lens slightly. Next Angelique got Maytaged but bounced right back and made it out. David made a valiant attempt before getting pushed back on to the rocks. After a slight fin adjustment, he made it out the second time with no problems. Don’t you just love the point……lol.

Jimmy and I dropped down and then Angelique and David. We started to make our way out heading at 180. The visibility was good today and there was only a slight surge. There is just so much to see at the point. I never get bored of this place. We made it out to our max depth of 71 feet but I think we were to the left of Ted’s Pinnacle. We checked the various rock formations for critters, hung out for a bit and then started to make our way back to Cobble Beach heading at 90 to 30. As we started to move out, we hit an area where the vis went to 5 feet. (Odd). Jimmy and I lost the other two but decided to move on. As we made our way back to Cobble Beach the surge was not too bad and we came across a HUGE bat ray that decided he did not what his picture taken. Jimmy attempted to grab a 5lb lobster but lost the battle. The exit was much better then the entry. Overall, we all had a great time.

Lobster Trap At Dropdown

Orange Puffball Sponge

Gray Moon Sponge

Spanish Shawl

Anemone

Anemone

Lingcod

Very Juvenile Sheephead

Limbaugh's Cadlina (Poor Focus)

Yellow Edged Cadlina (Poor Focus)

Yellow Dorid Love (Poor Focus)

Diaulula Nobilis

Nudi Eggs

Coonstripe Shrimp

Chain

 

[dpbishop]

Date: 11/2/06
Dive Location: Big Rock, La Jolla
Buddy(ies):
Time: 11:50
Bottom Time: 56
Max Depth: 20
Vis: 5-8
Wave height: 1-2
Temp at depth:
Surface Temp:
Tide information:
Gas mix: air
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Lobster season
Comments:

Lobster Dive, only the second of the season due to vacation and poor viz since I got back. Fish & Game stopped by while I was suiting up, asked if I had any questions. In 25 years + of lobster dives I think I've been stopped twice. Dropped down at about 10' and got a 2 lb bug within 2 minutes. The Cystociera seems pretty thick this year, and most of the bottom was hidden by it and the eel grass, but every once in a while the surge would part it and reveal the reef below. I found two more legal bugs within the next 10 minutes, after that nothing but shorts.

Saw one honkin big Red Kelp Crab and a few small perch, sea slugs, whelks, the usual suspects.

It's good to get wet again.

 

[divinman]

Location: Random blip on the bottom finder
Time: 9:29am descent
Temp: 59 degrees
Vis: 10-15 feet
Max Depth: 76 feet
Bottom Time: 60 mins
Buddies: Scott and Byl

Location: Pipeline
Time: 11:38am descent
Temp: 58 degrees
Vis: 10 feet
Max Depth: 49 feet
Bottom Time: 40 mins
Buddies: Byl and Scott


Image Gallery: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/110406_001/

I went out Saturday on Byl's boat for a couple nice dives. The swell has definitely picked up since last weekends glassy conditions and with surge anticipated at depth we decided to scrap the Ingram St bridge plan and head down into the kelp for some depth. The ride out was bumpy but nothing "Victory at Sea" so before too long we were puttering along looking at the bottom finder for some structure to dive. Blip found, I was soon dressed and dropping down the anchor. Visibility up top was nice but got murky from 10 -45ft and then cleared up to a respectable 15ft at the bottom. The structure here was random rocks and slabs of stone....and one BIG boulder about the size of a full sized truck. I spend my entire hour long dive swimming around this rock. It was chock full of marine goodness including tons of nudibranchs, tiny sea stars, schooling fishes and more.

After a nice hour on this spot I headed back to the boat and we headed over to the pipeline. Snacks eaten "call of nature" answered we were again back in the water. This was a shallower site and as expected the visibility was less and the surge was more but still a nice dive. I found a small anchor wedge in the rocks and now it is my kayak anchor! Found the usual suspects of fish here including a variety of rockfish, big sheephead, ling cod and more. I spent most of the dive hanging in the water column taking pictures of the kelp. At 40 minutes, the slow leak in my drysuit finally managed to wet me to the point of chilling me so I decided to head back to the boat for some dry clothes and sunshine. Beautiful afternoon and the sun finally did burn through just as I was stowing my gear.

Thanks to Byl and Scott for another day of diving.

This is where I spent all of dive one.

 

[JMdiver]

Hi Divinman,
Nice shots as usual & that's a good shot of a copper rockfish.

Happy Diving
John