Date:
11/24/06
Dive Location:
Wreck of the F.S. Loop, off the breakwater near Angel's Gate, LA Harbor
Buddies:
Ross and Elaine
Time: 10ish AM
Bottom Time:
46 minutes
Max Depth:
75fsw
Vis:
10-15 feet... obnubilate
Wave height: Shore? What shore?
Temp at depth:
Sweet 61F
Surface Temp: mid 60s
Gas mix: regular
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: To remind all of us that we're really hoovers by comparison.
A slooow drive through heavy fog made for a relaxed start, but Ross and company were soon afloat and bound for the San Pedro Shelf and the Palos Verdes peninsula. 5 divers, 16 tanks, and a mountain of gear! It takes a lot to put land mammals underwater repeatedly.
Elaine, Ross and I slid down the line through clear surface water. Our smiles dimmed as did the light around 50fsw.. this was not to be a repeat of last weeks 40 foot viz on the inside wrecks. Dang. The anchor had splashed nicely onto the edge of the chaotic debris field that is the Wreck of the F.S. Loop.
Welcome to NUDIBRANCH RANCH! MacFarland's Dorid, Sea Lemons, Cadlina luteomarginata, Spanish Shawl, Hudson's dorid, Tritonia festiva, Monterey dorids, San Diego dorids, Triopha catalina... It's like a walk through the the Wild Nudi Park. "
And on your left you can see two Tritonia festiva's attempting to locate each others stomas for hermaphoroditic mating... it's a mechanical act they never tire of." (Doesn't everyone hear narration like this when diving? It keeps me cracking up...) Elaine framed up many pictures while Ross and I wandered over the debris enjoying the creatures but remembering the glorious 40 foot viz we had last week. It was Dark!! But warm.... 61-balmy degrees on a wreck that is 51F most of the year. The nudi's were probably panting in the heat wave! Last sweet surprise was a picture-perfect
swell shark egg-case, hung like a Christmas ornament on a gorgonia, with a perfect nudibrach egg spiral at the upper corner. And when lit from behind,
a perfect baby swell shark wriggling inside, no more than 2 inches long! Back up the line, out onto the deck, and batten down the hatches for the roaring drive to Hawthorne Reef.
Date:
11/24/06
Dive Location:
Hawthorne Reef, offshore from the end of Hawthorne at Palos Verdes Drive
Buddies:
Penny
Time: noonish
Bottom Time:
44 minutes
Max Depth:
80fsw
Vis:
30-40 beautiful feet
Wave height: Below the gunwales
Temp at depth:
Summery 63F
Surface Temp: mid 60s
Gas mix: regular
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Because sand is more fun when it's wet.
The Dive: Penny and I splashed in and floated downwards into a fluttering flock of
blacksmiths! There were so many it was dazzling, and they spread out and made room for us bubbling big-things. We found the anchor, reclining lazily on the rippled sand in the misty green light.
Sand stars raced about on errands. We finned toward dark sillhouettes which crystallized into beautiful reef structure, blanketed in
corynactis and kelp, anemones and limpets. This reef really has great rock structure!! In the great visibility, it was fun just to motor slowly around and between the towering pinnacles, many rising over 20 feet from the surrounding sand. Ross pointed out a large
swell shark sleeping whaaay back in a deep crevice. Fish surrounded us through out the dive. Penny was looking calm, collected and happy in her new dry suit as we hovered hither and yon pointing out pretty stuff to each other. A Tiny
Triopha catalina (Clown) nudibranch caught our eyes, along with a tinier
Facelina stearnsii next to it.
Spanish shawls fluttered on nearly every vertical ridge. Our deco-less bottom-time nearly exhausted, we finned to the anchor-line as I gathered the line back onto my fingerspool (This place was a maze.. having a line back was great security
Giving one last look at the distant rocks, my eyes snapped open, looking into the calm eye of a
Giant Black Seabass! Only modestly giant (perhaps 4 1/2 feet long), it's still a Darned Large Black Seabass!! I looked to get Penny's attention, but she was already entranced and smiling as the fish rolled slowly by, about 12 feet away. We lost sight of it as a mass of fluttering
blacksmiths came between us and the still nearby bass. Some time ya can't see the fish for all the fish!!
Sweet dive in a gorgeous place. Smooth ascent with stops at 40, 30, 20, 10. Sunshine welcomed us back on deck. Did I mention how much gear we had?
Deck? What deck???!?
Date:
11/24/06
Dive Location:
Wreck 27E, Palos Verdes Kelp beds
Buddies:
Scottfiji
Time: 3ish
Bottom Time:
61 minutes
Vis:
1 - 8 feet, sandy, swirly, opaque, surgey, silty, dark
Wave height: Way in the distance, they looked small.
Temp at depth:
Soft 63F
Surface Temp: mid 60s
Gas mix: regular
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Lobsters are fattening.
The dive: What's the wreck called? I dunno. But it's neat!
As Scott and I descended, I saw something big and white glowing directly beneath me. What is THAT? Concrete? Plastic? Hey, it's got spots... and...fur?? Hey! It's a lounging Harbor Seal, looking gently over it's left shoulder as us bubbling monkeys! We came down softly and the seal lingered for a couple of minutes in the dark silty water. It seemed much less skittish than most I've seen while diving... perhaps the dreadful viz slowed everything down? The seal wandered into our view three more times during the dive, each time slow and relaxed. We headed off on compass headings, seaching for the wreck. Time and sand passed. We turned left 90 degrees and continued. More sand and rock passed. We signalled and turned left again
realizing there is nothing as good as silty water when you want to hide an entire wreck! Hmmmm... let's regroup and talk this over like smart monkeys. We surfaced, finding that we had indeed boxed three equilateral sides of a square from the boat. Thick kelp separated us from the bobbing boat. We took a heading for the boat, descended, kicked forward for about 5 minutes, and ran smack into the wreck at minute 20 of the dive. Apparently Scott really did smack into it pretty hard at one point! The surge was comical... wildly forceful waves swooshed us back and forth next to the prickly and rusted old skeleton of the ship. We wanted to get close to see things, but then had to fend ourselves off the structure using both hands. It's a huge sprawling thing that we circumnavigated in 30 minutes of close examination. I sighed at the ever worsening viz... and then laughed to realize: "
HOLY Mackeral.. the sun is setting! No wonder it's feeling like a night dive!" We surfaced to see the sun's red ball vanish behind the distant fog bank. We had left the dock 8 hours earlier and the day had rolled by in laughter, friendship, and the joy of repetitive mechanical acts.
I love diving. Wonder what we'll see next time!
Thank you Ross for a fantastic day of diving and exploration. Thanks to dive buddies Elaine, Penny, and Scott for all the good fun.
Claudette
