The Pasley April 06 Dive Report Thread

[divinman]

Went out with Sean, Simon and Peter.

Surf was 3-5
vis was 5-15
temp was better in my drysuit

Went to the secret gardens and then up the hill and back in.
Lessons learned? CHARGE YOUR FRICKEN STROBE....
Nice dive

Image gallery is here :http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/041306/
THIS IS WHY I HATE SPRING BREAK!!!

NARC'D?? NOT ME!

 

[divinman]

Date: 04/15/2006
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores/ The Secret Gardens
Buddy(ies): Sean
Time: 08:28
Bottom Time: 78 minutes
Max Depth: 111ft
Vis: 5-25
Wave height: 1-4
Temp at depth: 51f
Surface Temp: 59f
Gas mix: 28%

Date: 4/15/2006
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores/ Nudibranch nursery
Buddy(ies): Sean
Time: 12:47
Bottom Time: 57 minutes
Max Depth: 68ft
Vis: 3-15
Wave height: 3-4
Temp at depth: 50f
Surface Temp: 60f
Gas mix: 28%

Image Gallery http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/041506/

All images...except the tiny D. frondosus are un-cropped and have not been adjusted in Photoshop. That said, some could greatly benefit from both but occasionally I like to post them as taken to see how I am progressing as a photographer instead of an editor. Hope you all don't mind.

Comments:

Sean and I met early at the shores for a double tank dive to work skills and take pictures. Plan in hand, we headed out into the surf as the local dive club was setting things up for the Easter Egg hunt and pancake breakfast. Skies were clouding and rain seemed possible but the sea was mostly calm with only mild swell and easily manageable. We kicked out to about 100yrds past the big orange buoy and dropped in. We were both surprises that this far out the depth was still only 20ft. Must be and extremely low tide. Pointing the compass west we headed for the canyon and the draw that leads to the Secret Gardens. As we passed about 80ft I noticed a strange dark spot in the sand. As my eyes focused I could see the outline of an angel shark, well hidden, and signaled Sean. He stared blankly at the spot for several moments wondering what all the ruckus was about until *snap* he saw it. At this point the photo melee began. We slowly dusted our subject off and took the required 50million pictures. I am sure he/she was pleased that we finally moved on.

The second dive showed more sunshine but less visibility as we dropped in shorted and just poked around the detritus patch along the 60ft contour. This is where its at if you like to see nudibranchs. I counted 6 species and photographed 4. From there we headed back in and then out to the trucks. Nice dive, worth the second swim out.

Subjects seen today. Fringeheads galore! One attacked Sean's camera when Sean got too close. It was quite a show. Nudibranchs EVERYWHERE! Hermit crags, moon snails large and small, sheephead, sea lions, a sheepcrab that used Sean as a taxi for awhile, more nudibranchs, snails of many varieties. I really was a great day to be in the water.

Tomorrows forecast looks great. If you can, try and get out early for the best conditions.

Terry

Angel Shark

Sarcastic Fringehead

Kellets Welk

Dirona picta Nudibranch

Dendronotus frondosus nudibranch

Dendronotus iris Nudibranch

Snubnose sculpin

 

[mark99]

Date: April 15, 2006
Dive Location: Emerald Cove, Catalina Island
Time: 8:30 am, 10:45 am
Bottom Time: :35, :41
Max Depth: 50, 64 fsw
Vis: 40+
Wave height: <1 at 8:30, to 2-3 at 11:30
Temp at depth: 58F
Surface Temp: 60ish
Gas mix:Air
Comments: Took the Psalty V to the island with some friends this am. The crossing was a bit rough, maybe 3-4 ft swells and some wind chop. About the only place west of the isthmus that was reasonable was Emerald Cove, a couple other dive boats (including the Great Escape) shared the area. On the first dive we dropped down through thick kelp to a rocky bottom, followed it out and back at about 40 ft, most of the usual flora and fauna. Saw a few lobsters, a ray, shrimp, sea lion, ... The current was coming up on the way back, and picked up a lot on the SI. The second dive we did as a drift dive, good thing because the current was ripping along. It was kinda fun to hang a few feet up and zip along without moving.

The worst thing about the day was the very cold air temps between the dives, and everybody had about enough after the 2nd dive. Arrived back in San Pedro a little after 1, where the air was warm and the sun was shining.

 

[Grey_Wulff]

Date: 04/15/06
Dive Location: Yukon
Time: 09:00am
Bottom Time: 40 minutes
Max Depth: 89ft
Vis: 15 - 20ft
Swell height: 3ft
Temp at depth: 51F

While the visibility was not the best I've seen on the Yukon, this was for me by far one of the prettiest dives I've had on the boat. Due to the myriad of particles in the water, the dense covering of white anenomies covering parts of the superstructure and the darkness created by overcast skies, it was like flying over a ghost ship in a snow storm - totally surreal.

And to add to the snowy effect - did I mention the cold. It was bone chilling! One of the computers registered 49F! COLD, COLD, COLD.

Date: 04/15/06
Dive Location: El Ray
Time: 11:22am
Bottom Time: 24 minutes
Max Depth: 85ft
Vis: Probably 10 - 15ft
Swell height: 3ft
Temp at depth: 51F

With no buoy, several sets of GPS coordinates and a depth sounder, we located what we believed to be the El Ray and dropped into poor visibility only to find an undulating sea of sand. Fortunately, we were not to far away and a search pattern soon located the wreck. The superstructure has all but gone with just some of the kelp gathering gear at the front of the boat rising off the now barge-like remainder of the rest of the ship. We didn't stay down for long, in the gloom our three buddy team got separated and after a search we surfaced. Judging from how we came up around our surface craft the anchor must have come down amidships and just missed the structure.

Again, it was cold, cold, cold!

Grey_Wulff

 

[Peter McGuinness]

Date: Sat 15th April
Dive Location: The Yukon
Buddy(ies):Barbara Llloyd
Bottom Time: 39 mins
Max Depth: 99ft
Vis: 10ft
Gas mix: EAN 32

A cold and murky day to dive the Yukon but notable for the fact that this was my first "real" drysuit dive. It was a little stressful at first but I got that under control well enough to settle down and get a few halfway decent shots with my strobe in manual mode (another source of stress/taskloading).

Plently of lessons learned- 30lbs is way too much weight being one of them, also even a thick neoprene suit needs extra insulation with the temps we have been having recently.

Here are some pictures:
A large Metridium:

Hermissenda Crassicornis (one of many)

and another

and a rather sweet baby metridium

The remainder of the images are here:
http://www.mcguinness-family.net/albums/diving/SanDiego//YukonApril_06/index.php

 

[JMdiver]

Hey guys love the pictures.

Happy Diving
John

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: April 16, 2006
Dive Location: Marineland
Buddy(ies): Merry
Time: 9:03
Bottom Time: 53 minutes
Max Depth: 63'
Vis: 10-12'
Wave height: 1-2'
Temp at depth: 49F
Comments: The surf at the Point was flat enough for Merry to make her first entry there. I led the way, while Easter Jeff followed Merry to make sure the one foot surf didn't rip her apart. She did great!

We dropped down near Ted's Pinnacle, where we found a Swell shark napping.

I saw some fresh Dendronotus iris eggs on a tube anemone, so I knew one of those hairy beasts was nearby. Merry spotted him climbing up a tuber headed for the salad bar. We watched for awhile, but it was cold and we didn't want to spend the entire dive at 60 feet.

Among the critters we spotted were octopus and the usual nudis including Mexichromis porterae

Flabellina trilineata

Triopha catalinae

Cadlina limbaughorum

plus lots of Hermisenda crassicornis, Cuthona divae and one very tiny Tritonia festiva. I didn't get many good pictures today. Maybe it was because I was laughing too much at the sight of Easter Jeff striking a pose.

 

[LAJim]

Date: April 16, 2006
Dive Location: Marineland
Buddy(ies): Claudette, Carlos, Brian
Time: 9:20
Bottom Time: 61 minutes
Max Depth: 44'
Vis: 15+' and dark
Wave height: 1-2'
Temp at depth: 50F

This dive was in part a scouting trip for Reef Checkers Claudia, Brian, and me. It was also the first Marineland dive for Brian and me. To quote our Govenator, "I'll be back". Entered at the Cobbles and did the long surface swim up toward the point. Dropped in 25 to 30 and worked the pinnacles back, usually in 40'. Gratuitous Nudi-ty the whole way with Claudette introducing each performer with her 10 wt canister. Brian had an Al 80 and thumbed at 45 min to follow the bubble trail on the surface. When I hit 350 psi at 61 min I joined him. Shorter swim back with the rising tide.

Lots of fun. Will be a challenging Reef Check site due to the walk, swim, entry, etc. A more fundamental question is whether the existing dstribution and frequency of species on our protocol lends itself to a good time series of transects. Something to think about.

Jim

 

[JodiBB]

Date: April 15-16, 2006
Dive Location: Catalina Island, Casino Point
Buddy(ies): AOW class
Time: We had several times, 9:00a, 11:00a, 7:45pm
Bottom Time: Ranged from 25 minutes to 45 minutes depending on the dive
Max Depth: Ranged from 42' - 104' depending on the dive
Vis: About 60'
Wave height: Negligible
Temp at depth: 59 degrees
Surface Temp: Didn't take it, sorry....
Tide information: First day...negligible...Second day--higher current in the AM and then levelled out by noon.
Comments: This was for my AOW class. The conditions were wonderful and the dives couldn't have been better. We did the following dives: Deep (saw the Su Jack as well), Navigation (did our triangle nav with only being a total of about 1 foot off!), Night (saw a great morey eel, caught (and released lobster) and saw lots of Scorpion rockfish!), Wreck (saw the triple wreck) and Fish ID (okay, this seems stupid to some but our instructor made it fun and made us look for real Easter eggs...the fish smelled the eggs and chased us all over the dive park. Then she also brought out the peas and we were SWARMED by fish all over the place! It was a great dive!).

Great experience all around!

 

[miket]

Date: April 16, 2006
Dive Location: Marineland
Buddy(ies): James and nzdiver(Eric)
Time: 10:15am
Bottom Time: 52 minutes
Max Depth: 50'
Vis: 8-10'
Wave height: 1-2'
Temp at depth: 49F

Such a beautiful day today. You could easily see Santa Barbara Island from Palos Verdes today.

We entered at the point and kicked out a bit before decending. Saw pretty much everything noted in the above posts about Marineland today, except our group also got buzz-bombed by a smaller female Sea Lion. James also spotted a large lingcod in about 45' or so. The vis was a bit of a downer, but the calm conditions and beautiful sunny day made up for it.

- MikeT