The Pasley April 06 Dive Report Thread

[Robert Phillips]

Thanks for the friggen' incredible dive, Robb!! Don't forgot the moray. All the fish know Robb so well out at Deadman's, they act like the gang at Cheers when Norm walks in. No matter what they're doin', they stop and say in unison, "HI ROBB!"

Seriously though, you're an awesome diver, dude. Thanks for answering all my questions and for pointing out so many cool things! Too bad Ken wasn't there, he mighta had fun!

Thank you for joining me and making it a great dive!
The great thing about diving with you is everytime I look over at you you always have a HUGE smile on your face!

Yeah, I think Ken would have dug this dive. Maybe next time we have 20'+ of visibility!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Kenny may have, but he was diving OML with the National 'Dette. (too bad Ken didn't get an invite to OCal.... AHEM!!!... making me beg, dang you.)

After loaning my reg to a diver that left there's at home on Friday, I got to OML this afternoon, only to realize I left MY REG at home (never put it back in the gear box... me so lame...)

So our own Phil Max Garnertime was there to step up and save my butt. Buddy, you rule. Thanks so much!

Me and CD saw TWO (count 'em, two) of those wacky Dendronotus Iris nudis! One on a rock, and another crawling up the side of a big 'ol Tuber.

87 minute dive, max depth 68' (gotta love the 130...) Awesome. Nudis, octos, huge fishies, and more. She'll chime in with her dive report, I'm sure.

I'll post some pics later. Ike is in the shop, so I was with the Sony P&S.... so bogus.

Phil - you rule.

---
Ken

That's because I told you right where to find them.
How cool is that to find two of something that wasn't there before. They're probably the nudi of the month at OML. It seems that each month, there is a population explosion of one species.

 

[pasley]

Date: 02 Apr 06
Dive Location: Terranea Resort aka Old Marineland aka Long Point
Buddy(ies): Rickster & Kevfin
Time: 09:42 a.m.
Bottom Time: 32:20
Max Depth: 59 FSW
Vis: 20-30 feet Woooo Hoooo!!!
Wave height: 1-2 feet
Temp at depth: 54° SUUNTO
Surface Temp: 55°
Tide information: LOW 07 :21 a.m. 0.28 feet HIGH 1:59 p.m. 3.02 feet
Gas mix: 21% air
Comments: SANDEATERS dive We met up at old Marineland to bright sky’s and good visibility. Entered in off the point in what has to be one of my more inelegant entries in a long time. Seeing the ease of my entry, Rickster & Kevfin decided to try another location. They made a successful entry as well, although not more elegantly than mine. So once in the water we dropped down and I immediately saw something I have not seen in many dives…..the other divers. I could actually see both my dive buddies all the way down and more. So with good visibility we swam out to the west and hit the pinnacles at 60 feet then started working our way back towards the rocky beach. Spotted lots of nudi’s and octopus as well as the usual suspects and a 3 plus foot lingcod. Ricksters regulator malfunctioned and began a free flow that we could not get to stop. As he was loosing pressure fast we aborted the dive, executing the usual 3 minute safety stop. But it was a great dive.

I took lots of great picutes to see me through the comming 18 months of no diving. I tried to download them for your all here but the darn down load cable will not stay in my ear and I can't figure where else to stick it....... Wetrat, remember this is a family channel.

 

[wetrat]

......the darn down load cable will not stay in my ear and I can't figure where else to stick it....... Wetrat, remember this is a family channel.

But... but.... DANG! Harder to resist than a big hunk of stinky cheese. :mouse04:

 

[Rickster]

Thanks for the dive report, Mel. Sounds like you had a great time.........Oh yea, I was there
Thank you Mel, and Kevin, for the great water slide ride, then dive. It was exciting!

I stopped at Peace Scuba, here in Ventura on my way home, and the equipment guru, Paul, fixed my reg. in about 30 seconds. It was just a minor adjustment, tweek, tune-up type thing. Up and running again for the Wrinkles Dive sat.

See everyone there.

Rick

 

[miket]

Date: 02 Apr 06
Dive Location: Catalina Island - Italian Gardens (2 dives) and Sea Fan Grotto (1 dive)
Buddy(ies): Solo
Time: All day
Max Depth: 111 FSW
Vis: 20 feet+ (better in shallow)
Wave height: inches at most
Temp at depth: 55° SUUNTO
Surface Temp: 75-80°
Gas mix: air

Comments:
Topside conditions couldn't be better. Vis was a bit of a let down though. There was lots of fine particles in the deeper water, vis improved inside the dense kelp in shallower water. This was a Reefseeker's charter and was as good as it gets on the Cee Ray. There were so many cameras on the boat they needed to add a second rinse bucket.

Went deep to try and find Giant Black Sea Bass but they were not around, then in about 80-90 feet of water I spotted a nice male Pacific Electric Ray cruising the bottom. Got some good video of this guy.


- Click for video -

Second dive was mostly shallow in the dense kelp since it had better vis. Dive was beautiful with the regular cast of critters.

Last dive of the day was at Sea Fan grotto where I did another shallow dive. I explored all the nooks and crannies of the Grotto, swimming in the big cavern, looking thru the holes in the ceiling. The somewhat crappy vis did help create some dramatic lighting. Beam me up scotty!

I saw a good sized Horn Shark and fed an Abalone some kelp, I had never done that before and was surprised at how fast an Ab can move. I got a quick video of the Ab munching down the Kelp below.


- Click for video -

I am busy editing down the 20 minutes of footage I shot. I got some nice video of the Grotto and the thick kelp canopy with sun beaming thru it. A gallery of frame grabs from yesterday's trip can be found - here -.

Overall a great day for diving, the sun was with us most of the day, and everything ran pretty smooth. The lunch was pretty gross. Some kind of Broccoli Chicken Casserole, the Cee Ray is fun, but the food is always pretty much a low point. I know cooking on a boat isn't easy, but every other boat I have been on seems to be a bit more tasty. With the Peace, Spectre, and the Encore (no longer diving) having the best boat food I have had.

The bigest bummer was that I dropped my mask and watched it it bounce off the edge of the camera bucket right into 100 feet of water. Thanks to DM Jan for a quick search, but alas, my mask was lost to the deep. Oh well, I wanted a new one anyway.

Cheers,
MikeT​

 

[JMdiver]

Date: 4-2-06
Dive Location: Old Marineland
Buddy(ies): Joe
Time: 10 AM & 12 noon
Bottom Time: 31 & 36 min.
Max Depth: 41 FSW
Vis: 20+ft
Wave height: 2-3ft
Temp at depth: 52 & 55 deg.
Surface Temp:61 deg.
Tide information: low
Gas mix:air
Comments:Unlike Rickster & his group we took the easy way in from the cove. There was so many divers there that we passed a pair of divers coming back as we were heading out to the reef underwater. The first dive was pretty unadventfull not to many critters but the vis. was good. The 2nd dive was better, after we swam out to where we dropped down we swam at a 60 deg. heading & came across the 1st reef & continued pass it to the 2nd reef & then turned right.
We saw 2 octopi, 4 lobsters, 2 white seabass & a hermit crab. There was the usual critters also. The water was a little chilly so we ended the dive a little early.

Happy Diving
John

 

[Mo2vation]

Date: 4-2-06
Dive Location: Old Marineland
Buddy(ies): 'Dette
Time: Just before 2:00
Bottom Time: 87 Minutes (gotta love the 130) then another 10 "toptime" on the swim in!
Max Depth: 68 FSW
Vis: 20+ft Point, Less as we got closer
Wave height: 1 - 2 feet (
Temp at depth: 54 - 55 deg Suunto
Surface Temp:61 deg.
Tide information: High tide 2:00 PM-ish
Gas mix:air
Comments:
Rocked. HBDC has been custodian of my 2nd 130 for a couple of weeks. I get there, and both of my tanks are in her ride... and she's all rigged up. I ask her what's the scoop - Guess the lady rolled in with a new Worthington 130... Bit the bullet and stepped up to a real tank. NICE! So we both had mad gas.

Tide this day was rising to 2:00, and then pretty flat until dusk - so we had great conditions. We slid in at the point, completely without incident, and had a super mellow dive.

'Chica did a masterful job of having us avoid every possible pinnacle, and drove us right to the sand so we took our time closely examining the small rocks we came across.

Tons o' Nudis. Just tons. And on the sand, at 60-some feet, we found a wacky Pinwheel mucous spinning worm thing DrB described in another thread. Very cool. I found a sizable octo. They're so easy to find now - I just locate the pizza boxes and beer cans, and look in the hole. This guy was completely unafraid of me, so I got up in his grill and got a good shot.

Even though the dive was so long, we were moving so slowly that we only made it about 2/3 of the way to cobble beach. I was sure we would be right on it when we popped up. I was really surprised how far we still had to kick in.

The exit was a stand up exit. Complete no brainer. This is why dry gloves rule. Nearly 100 minutes of not moving in low / mid 50's water and I was able to shoot and clip off just fine, get out and have warm, dry hands. This was one of the driest, most comfortable dives I've ever had. Just perfect.

When we got topside, someone had a puppy waiting for us... little cutie.

Some fuzzy resized pics below.

As said in an earlier post - no dive without Phil Garnertime stepping up with the assist.

---
Ken

 

[Kevfin]

Date: 02 Apr 06
Dive Location: Terranea Resort aka Old Marineland aka Long Point
Buddy(ies): Rickster & Kevfin
Time: 09:42 a.m.
Bottom Time: 32:20
Max Depth: 59 FSW
Vis: 20-30 feet Woooo Hoooo!!!
Wave height: 1-2 feet
Temp at depth: 54° SUUNTO
Surface Temp: 55°
Tide information: LOW 07 :21 a.m. 0.28 feet HIGH 1:59 p.m. 3.02 feet
Gas mix: 21% air

Thanks for the dive report, Mel. Sounds like you had a great time.........Oh yea, I was there
Thank you Mel, and Kevin, for the great water slide ride, then dive. It was exciting!

I stopped at Peace Scuba, here in Ventura on my way home, and the equipment guru, Paul, fixed my reg. in about 30 seconds. It was just a minor adjustment, tweek, tune-up type thing. Up and running again for the Wrinkles Dive sat.

See everyone there.

Rick

Melvin and Rick,

Thanks for helping make this a great dive. Since I was an OML Virgin, I was glad the entry didn't hurt too bad (ouch, that sounds horrible).

Rick was cool and knew how to go with the flow. (yeah, bad pun, but I couldn't resist)

Melvin, you will be missed. You'll be in my thoughts and prayers until you get back.

I look forward to diving with both of you again.

Kevin

 

[wetrat]

Date: 04/03/06
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores/Cabezon Cruiser
Buddy(ies):Terry (Divinman) and Tyler (California Diver)
Time: 7:05 pm
Bottom Time: 56 minutes
Max Depth: 131ft
Vis: Probably 30 give or take
Wave height: 4 to 6 (inches!)
Temp at depth: Aeris 51F
Surface Temp: 58F
Gas mix: EAN 30%

Met up with Terry and Tyler for an insane night dive. Terry had a head cold all week, had decided not to join us, but at the last minute just couldn't resist. It's a good thing too, 'cuz conditions ROCKED!!! We geared up amidst a fiery pink sunset and waded in. The water was so clear we could see our boots in chest deep water, and with the surface temp up to 58F and zero surf, it felt like we were wading into a pool. On the kick out, Tyler had a minor problem with his wing. As Terry fired up his HID and dropped down a few feet to fix it, we could see what a gorgeous blue color the water was. We knew it was going to be an epic dive.

At the lineups, we popped in our regs and floated into the abyss. Down, down, like astronauts floating through space until we found the canyon slope. A horn shark was swimming toward us and made a wide circle around us as if to avoid confrontation. We finned southeast, deeper and deeper until we hit 130 fsw and the cabezon cruiser appeared. Later I learned that Tyler could find that little wreck every time, even with his eyes closed. Awesome. We poked around and checked out the HUGE sheephead trying to hide under the floorboards. After several minutes we reluctantly started back up the canyon wall. It was on the return leg of the dive that Terry and Tyler introduced me to the addiction that is La Jolla Canyon. We saw several hermissenda, a beautiful navanax, and many other big juicy nudis Terry rattled off the names of but I can't remember now. We saw sarcastic fringehead, several freeswimming red octopus and some delicate little octopus babies about a half inch long. We saw several thornback rays and some of their tiny babies too. About every few feet we would see something incredible. As we finned over the rim of the canyon and back across the shallows, the neoprene in my wetsuit decompressed and the warmer water felt almost like a jacuzzi - aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! I really didn't want to end that dive. I was completely lost in the experience, like I was really part of the undersea world and not just a visitor. When I hit 300 psi I had to thumb the dive and we stood up in four feet of water with huge grins on our faces. After we had departed I just by chance met up with Terry and Tyler at a La Jolla gas station. We just stood there and talked some more, still mesmerized by the experience we had just shared. This is one that will definitely stand out in the log books.

Thanks for an absolutely incredible dive, gentlemen. You guys are first-rate divers to the core.