The Pasley Aug 06 Dive Report Thread
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Roughwaterjohn
Contributor
Thanks Ken, you 'should' have been there, you'd have taken better pictures! 
It was definitely an experience that will stay with me for many, many years.
John A.
It was definitely an experience that will stay with me for many, many years.John A.
Hi John,
I've been hearing & reading the reports about the GSB but I still haven't seen one.
Happy Diving
John
I've been hearing & reading the reports about the GSB but I still haven't seen one.
Happy Diving
John
Date: 8-27-06
Dive Location:Malaga Cove
Buddy(ies):Kathy & Brian
Time: 10 AM
Bottom Time: 70 min.
Max Depth: 16 fsw
Vis: 15 ft
Wave height: 1ft occ. 2 ft'er
Temp at depth: 71 deg.
Surface Temp:77 deg.
Tide information: coming in
Gas mix:air
Comments: This was a Reef Check survey dive. The entry was pretty easy over the rocks, we stumbled a little. We swam out to were we started the survey & continued the survey, we did 2 core transects & 1 fish only. We didn't see to many critters but we did see a Giant Kelpfish. We exited by the rocks with little trouble.
Happy Diving
John
P.S. We need to finish 11 fish onlys & 1 Urchin Sizeing soon.
Dive Location:Malaga Cove
Buddy(ies):Kathy & Brian
Time: 10 AM
Bottom Time: 70 min.
Max Depth: 16 fsw
Vis: 15 ft
Wave height: 1ft occ. 2 ft'er
Temp at depth: 71 deg.
Surface Temp:77 deg.
Tide information: coming in
Gas mix:air
Comments: This was a Reef Check survey dive. The entry was pretty easy over the rocks, we stumbled a little. We swam out to were we started the survey & continued the survey, we did 2 core transects & 1 fish only. We didn't see to many critters but we did see a Giant Kelpfish. We exited by the rocks with little trouble.
Happy Diving
John
P.S. We need to finish 11 fish onlys & 1 Urchin Sizeing soon.
Roughwaterjohn:Thanks Ken, you 'should' have been there, you'd have taken better pictures!
John A.
John, thanks to you and Kim for doing an awesome job of guiding today. We were surrounded by GSB's within the first 10 minutes of the dive. We were fortunate enough to enjoy there presence for at least another 45 minutes. What an incredible experience. I agree 100% ... it's one that will stay with Brandon and I for many, many years.
Also, thanks for the excellent job of post-dive guiding that put the group on some killer Huevos.
You rock, bro ! Thanks, again.
Roughwaterjohn:Thanks Ken, you 'should' have been there, you'd have taken better pictures!
John A.
I was on Vaca this week, so we went and played in Avalon for a day. Did three long dives (66, 89 and 70 minutes) and we had GSB on every dive. All I had was her little Sony purse cam - so my pics are more like bigfoot Video images... OY.
On dive three there was a pair by the SueJac, on the far side. I peeked through the top swim-through and could see them there.
We were leaning, all Petticoat Junction style on the hull watching the pair. Then they took off into the murk. When we turned around, sad... THERE THEY WERE! They had completely circled around and come back to us.
The pair was one about the size of 'Chica's bass, and a HUGE one nearly 50% larger. He stayed between Jaye and I as the two circled us for about 6 minutes. It was amazing.
Weird thing: On dive two we saw one with about 50' to 75' of line in its mouth. As it passed over me, I loosly grabbed the line to see if the hook had rusted out enough for me to pull out the line. NOPE. He spun around, not impressed, mouth agape. I reached for my shears, but he bolted.
I can only imagine the guy he broke off....
Same with a large Bat Ray on Thursday. About 10' of leader and a crimp coming out of its mouth. The clown this guy broke off can't tie a knot.
I'm working on getting down there on Saturday - I'd love to come dive there before they get a better idea and leave the area.
Again, great pix and story, BTW.
limeyx
Guest
Date: August 20, 2006
Dive Location: Palawan
Buddy(ies): Gina
Bottom Time: 30 mins
Max Depth: 129 (average 115)
Vis: 20-30
Wave height: none really
Temp at depth: 55 (not brrr for a change in the 400 thinsulate
Surface Temp: ?
Tide information: ?
Gas mix: 21/35 and 50%
Comments:
After our failed wreck dive in zero vis, we were somewhat limited in the sites we had available.
We were somewhat consigned to a 50 foot Palos Verdes dive (not a good use of 21/35) when Gina had the genius idea to dive the Palawan.
The Palawan is a 441 foot ship that was sunk off the coast of Los Angeles as an artificial reef. I'd heard the name before but never dived it (and with good reason, as depths range from 110 to 130 feet)
Firs though, we had to take a little boat trip past the "Haves," the "Have mores," and the "Don't even bother to ask how much we have's"
A (somewhat envious) look at the coast of Malibu/Santa Monica -- home of the $5M "shacks"
Things were somewhat better underwater though (although I had broken the test tube on one of my Salvo video lights so was down to a single light)
a pic of yours truly....in my nice new DUI 400 thinsulate -- why did no one ever tell me how good this stuff was ? (Oh, they did -- nevermind)
We had a little look inside some of the "rooms" on the wreck...
but the vis was pretty milky.
some of the video footage did come out though.
There were also large schools of really really tiny fish all over the decks. Not sure what kind of fish they are though.
We also saw some pretty nice sized ling cod. This is good as I was definitely missing the bigger fish (current dive goal: see a Mola Mola)
Unfortunately the camera battery died and could not be revived at the point we saw the biggest lings.
Vis was decent-ish (20-30 feet)
and there are plenty of swim-throughs on this wreck. You can go down inside one cargo hold and easily surface inside another (plenty of ambient light to guide you)
There were some odd "poles" on the boat (no no, not the ones we were diving with -- these kind)
and one more good-sized ling
We did a 30 minute bottom time at an average depth of about 115, decided to run the shorter deco and surfaced into blazing hot sun.
All in all, a very nice day of diving.
Dive Location: Palawan
Buddy(ies): Gina
Bottom Time: 30 mins
Max Depth: 129 (average 115)
Vis: 20-30
Wave height: none really
Temp at depth: 55 (not brrr for a change in the 400 thinsulate
Surface Temp: ?
Tide information: ?
Gas mix: 21/35 and 50%
Comments:
After our failed wreck dive in zero vis, we were somewhat limited in the sites we had available.
We were somewhat consigned to a 50 foot Palos Verdes dive (not a good use of 21/35) when Gina had the genius idea to dive the Palawan.
The Palawan is a 441 foot ship that was sunk off the coast of Los Angeles as an artificial reef. I'd heard the name before but never dived it (and with good reason, as depths range from 110 to 130 feet)
Firs though, we had to take a little boat trip past the "Haves," the "Have mores," and the "Don't even bother to ask how much we have's"
A (somewhat envious) look at the coast of Malibu/Santa Monica -- home of the $5M "shacks"
Things were somewhat better underwater though (although I had broken the test tube on one of my Salvo video lights so was down to a single light)
a pic of yours truly....in my nice new DUI 400 thinsulate -- why did no one ever tell me how good this stuff was ? (Oh, they did -- nevermind)
We had a little look inside some of the "rooms" on the wreck...
but the vis was pretty milky.
some of the video footage did come out though.
There were also large schools of really really tiny fish all over the decks. Not sure what kind of fish they are though.
We also saw some pretty nice sized ling cod. This is good as I was definitely missing the bigger fish (current dive goal: see a Mola Mola)
Unfortunately the camera battery died and could not be revived at the point we saw the biggest lings.
Vis was decent-ish (20-30 feet)
and there are plenty of swim-throughs on this wreck. You can go down inside one cargo hold and easily surface inside another (plenty of ambient light to guide you)
There were some odd "poles" on the boat (no no, not the ones we were diving with -- these kind)
and one more good-sized ling
We did a 30 minute bottom time at an average depth of about 115, decided to run the shorter deco and surfaced into blazing hot sun.
All in all, a very nice day of diving.
Date: 8-27/06
Dive Location: Vets Park
Buddy(ies): HBBigTimeChica
Time: 8:40 PM
Bottom Time: 81 minutes
Max Depth: 67
Vis: Variable - 5' to 15'
Wave height: 2' and rising - but powerless
Temp at depth: 54 friggen degrees
Surface Temp: whatever
Tide information: Rising quickly
Gas mix: Goodyear
Fresh off her whirlwind tour of Cozumel, HBNoPlaceLikeHomeGurl and I decided to sneak a quick dive in Sunday night.
After some gear sorting and fills, we ended up splashing a little later than anticipated. Its been a long time since I've gone in this late. But it was pretty amazing.
First off, the ankle slappers we've been seeing for a month were replaced by some real waves tonight. No biggie - just a surprise.
And as it was a nice night, there was a serious crowd on the beach to send us off. Kids firing off questions (my fav: "is that a rocket launcher?"... we were in doubles), people waving, and all that. It was pretty funny. It was very sweet.
We get in, and drop, and its not pretty. Just ugly viz. As 'dette was in a lot of new gear (untried Al80 doubles, new reg set up, newly returned Drysuit with new seals, pockets, and stuff) she wanted to keep things shallow with a 60-ish max depth.
It was the right decision. Lots to see in the shallows tonight.
The Unkind Thermoline
I gotta say - the thermocline was a killer. 11 degrees. ELEVEN. It was 66 above, and 55 / 54 below. The 'cline was hovering at about 48 feet. My gauge was going between 55 and 54 below the 'cline. C'mon. That's a fine Welcome Home to HBTropicalChica after a week of 85 degree water. Unreal. It hasn't been that cold at 50 FSW for a long time. Just stupid cold. I'm really glad we didn't go to 100 - 110 like we usually do. Probably 25 degrees there. Puh-leese. An eleven degree thermocline is just wrong.
The Usual Suspects - and some surprises!
We saw all the usual suspects - zillions of octos, some kelpfish, Fringeheads, cusk eels, crabs of every size and color and all the stuff we always see. We dive this place 2 to 3 times a week, and have for a couple of years. So we kinda know what to expect.
And there were fun variants of the usual suspects Sunday night: a Fringehead in a sock. A SOCK! It was so funny. In a (what used to be) white gym sock, we saw him peeking out... as we approached, he retreated into the sock until all you could see was a fish-shaped lump mid-calf. Too cute! Of course we saw several Fringeheads in shoes. One in a Reebok, and another in a nicely vented Nike Aquasock knock-off (flow thru ventilation!) But my fav variant was at the end of the dive.
There was this biker wallet - black, basketweave back, etc. Sadly, no chain. It was sitting on the muck face down, basketweave back of the thing facing up. It was flat / open, facing down. We saw it (not knowing what it was) and as we went to it Claudette picked it up and turned it over. Inside it, tucked into one of the money flaps was a little octo! He was all flat, and kinda adopted the thing as his own little two-room home. He was moving from room to room as she held it. It was amazing. What a cutie!
4 Spanish Shawls hanging on just below the thermocline. I mean, you had to look through the shower door to see them. All in a line over about 10 feet. Its been a long time since I've seen a Fed Ex nudi at vets. They were out tonight in the cold.
And the not-so-usual suspects
The thing is, every once in awhile we see something new and completely unexpected. That's the thing with Vets - you just never know. I mean, you think you got it dialed in, and BAM - there's something you don't see every day....
Little blue shrimp. I don't remember seeing these before. I would have shot them. Very cool. Cobalt blue shrimp about an inch long on several of the Kelp leaves we saw. I can't wait to return with a cam this week.
A Sweet Potato Sea Cucumber.... Never seen one of these wacky things. I call over HBIKnowWhatEverythingIs and flash her a stoopid look. She grabs the wet notes and writes it down. I'm all... "OK". Too funny. You know the moment I got home I got online to double check. Who knew. But every Pic I see looks just like that silly thing we saw.
But the star of the show was an huge, slow, thick, blue gray Electric Ray.
We were cruisin' at about 60, and I looked over and saw the tail and its back. Seeing as I'm 0-for-5 on trips to Farnsworsh, I've only seen these in photographs. WOW. Amazing. It was moving down the canyon. We got to stick with it for about a minute or two - we were kind of hovering over it. Recognized the round body, lobed tail and cool color. Got a great look at it.
It was cold. Its was dark. Viz was maybe 12 feet. It was quiet, and I'm trying not to get too close to the thing as I've heard conflicting stories about its electrical powers (you gotta have contact, you can be within 6", you can get zapped a foot away, etc... ) so I'm thinking I don't want her and I to get zapped (what do I know)... so I know I'm on edge. She's on edge because the gear was a little combative last night...
And at this moment we get completely buzzed by a sealion. I mean full on 90 MPH drive by, with pause in our face and underwater bark.
She and I both just shutter and completely heart-stop jump. Then we started to laugh. The ray slinked off into the distance. HBSeenTheseBefore said it was a giant eRay... just a huge one. I concur - looked pretty dang big to me.
For the rest of the dive I was snickering about the Sealion buzz and subsequent Ken freakout.
The exit was uneventful, stand up and walk out.
I love that place. You just never know what you're gonna see there.
Thanks for a great dive, 'Chica.
---
Ken
Dive Location: Vets Park
Buddy(ies): HBBigTimeChica
Time: 8:40 PM
Bottom Time: 81 minutes
Max Depth: 67
Vis: Variable - 5' to 15'
Wave height: 2' and rising - but powerless
Temp at depth: 54 friggen degrees
Surface Temp: whatever
Tide information: Rising quickly
Gas mix: Goodyear
Fresh off her whirlwind tour of Cozumel, HBNoPlaceLikeHomeGurl and I decided to sneak a quick dive in Sunday night.
After some gear sorting and fills, we ended up splashing a little later than anticipated. Its been a long time since I've gone in this late. But it was pretty amazing.
First off, the ankle slappers we've been seeing for a month were replaced by some real waves tonight. No biggie - just a surprise.
And as it was a nice night, there was a serious crowd on the beach to send us off. Kids firing off questions (my fav: "is that a rocket launcher?"... we were in doubles), people waving, and all that. It was pretty funny. It was very sweet.
We get in, and drop, and its not pretty. Just ugly viz. As 'dette was in a lot of new gear (untried Al80 doubles, new reg set up, newly returned Drysuit with new seals, pockets, and stuff) she wanted to keep things shallow with a 60-ish max depth.
It was the right decision. Lots to see in the shallows tonight.
The Unkind Thermoline
I gotta say - the thermocline was a killer. 11 degrees. ELEVEN. It was 66 above, and 55 / 54 below. The 'cline was hovering at about 48 feet. My gauge was going between 55 and 54 below the 'cline. C'mon. That's a fine Welcome Home to HBTropicalChica after a week of 85 degree water. Unreal. It hasn't been that cold at 50 FSW for a long time. Just stupid cold. I'm really glad we didn't go to 100 - 110 like we usually do. Probably 25 degrees there. Puh-leese. An eleven degree thermocline is just wrong.
The Usual Suspects - and some surprises!
We saw all the usual suspects - zillions of octos, some kelpfish, Fringeheads, cusk eels, crabs of every size and color and all the stuff we always see. We dive this place 2 to 3 times a week, and have for a couple of years. So we kinda know what to expect.
And there were fun variants of the usual suspects Sunday night: a Fringehead in a sock. A SOCK! It was so funny. In a (what used to be) white gym sock, we saw him peeking out... as we approached, he retreated into the sock until all you could see was a fish-shaped lump mid-calf. Too cute! Of course we saw several Fringeheads in shoes. One in a Reebok, and another in a nicely vented Nike Aquasock knock-off (flow thru ventilation!) But my fav variant was at the end of the dive.
There was this biker wallet - black, basketweave back, etc. Sadly, no chain. It was sitting on the muck face down, basketweave back of the thing facing up. It was flat / open, facing down. We saw it (not knowing what it was) and as we went to it Claudette picked it up and turned it over. Inside it, tucked into one of the money flaps was a little octo! He was all flat, and kinda adopted the thing as his own little two-room home. He was moving from room to room as she held it. It was amazing. What a cutie!
4 Spanish Shawls hanging on just below the thermocline. I mean, you had to look through the shower door to see them. All in a line over about 10 feet. Its been a long time since I've seen a Fed Ex nudi at vets. They were out tonight in the cold.
And the not-so-usual suspects
The thing is, every once in awhile we see something new and completely unexpected. That's the thing with Vets - you just never know. I mean, you think you got it dialed in, and BAM - there's something you don't see every day....
Little blue shrimp. I don't remember seeing these before. I would have shot them. Very cool. Cobalt blue shrimp about an inch long on several of the Kelp leaves we saw. I can't wait to return with a cam this week.
A Sweet Potato Sea Cucumber.... Never seen one of these wacky things. I call over HBIKnowWhatEverythingIs and flash her a stoopid look. She grabs the wet notes and writes it down. I'm all... "OK". Too funny. You know the moment I got home I got online to double check. Who knew. But every Pic I see looks just like that silly thing we saw.
But the star of the show was an huge, slow, thick, blue gray Electric Ray.
We were cruisin' at about 60, and I looked over and saw the tail and its back. Seeing as I'm 0-for-5 on trips to Farnsworsh, I've only seen these in photographs. WOW. Amazing. It was moving down the canyon. We got to stick with it for about a minute or two - we were kind of hovering over it. Recognized the round body, lobed tail and cool color. Got a great look at it.
It was cold. Its was dark. Viz was maybe 12 feet. It was quiet, and I'm trying not to get too close to the thing as I've heard conflicting stories about its electrical powers (you gotta have contact, you can be within 6", you can get zapped a foot away, etc... ) so I'm thinking I don't want her and I to get zapped (what do I know)... so I know I'm on edge. She's on edge because the gear was a little combative last night...
And at this moment we get completely buzzed by a sealion. I mean full on 90 MPH drive by, with pause in our face and underwater bark.
She and I both just shutter and completely heart-stop jump. Then we started to laugh. The ray slinked off into the distance. HBSeenTheseBefore said it was a giant eRay... just a huge one. I concur - looked pretty dang big to me.
For the rest of the dive I was snickering about the Sealion buzz and subsequent Ken freakout.
The exit was uneventful, stand up and walk out.
I love that place. You just never know what you're gonna see there.
Thanks for a great dive, 'Chica.
---
Ken
Mo2vation:
Great report.
It's funny: I've only been to Vets maybe 4-6 times, and every time I'm there, I get skunked. I see a sheep crab or two trying to kill me in the 6 foot visibility, and nothing else. Blast all you people and your good luck! I read your report, and now I'm gonna try it again and get skunked otra vez.I do enjoy the crowd doing the send off though; last time I was there I had a crowd of curious kids following me from the parking lot to the water. One asked me if I had ever seen dolphins and sharks fighting. Hilarious. With all the interest from the crowd, whomever sets up a low cost dive shop on the sand there stands to make an average amount of money!
Date: 8/30/2006
Dive Location: North Crescent Bay, Laguna
Buddy(ies): Glycerin
Time: 6:52 AM
Bottom Time: 141 MIN
Max Depth: 41 FSW
Vis: 10-20 FT
Wave height: 1-2+ FT
Temp at depth: 63 F
Surface Temp: 67 F
Tide information: Low Tide 6:07 am +2.17 ft
Gas mix: 21%
Comments: I hooked with Josh bright and early this AM at North Crescent Bay. It was still dark out when we arrived. Topside conditions were overcast with mild eddy conditions. Surf was running 1-2 ft out of the SW and the surface had a slight bump on it. We had originally planned to dive Deadman's, but revised the plan due to some equipment issues that delayed our entry. We decided to dive the shallower inside reef.
We dropped in approx 20 fsw, where we encountered some moderate surge (~2-3 ft) and marginal vis (~10 ft). We picked up the reef line and started working our way SW toward deeper water and Seal Rock in a nice slow and relaxed pace. We eventually the turn at 65 min and started working our way back. We finished the dive with nice relaxed swim over the sand right up to the beach. We made an uneventful exit. Vis was patchy throughout the dive. It was very good (~20 ft) in some of the shallower spots, such as on top of the reef and in the sandy shallows ... mixed with suspended particles in others.
We saw lots of the usual suspects, but in particular, lots of fish ! In fact, we had our very own entourage of numerous Senorita Wrasse & small Garibaldi follow us around for nearly the entire dive. At one point in the dive, we got swarmed by them ... they were all in our faces and very excited. A look down at the bottom revealed why. There were numerous remains of recently cracked open urchins scattered all about. It looks like someone has been feeding these guys on a pretty regular basis.
Overall it was a really fun, relaxed, and long dive. This was the first time I've taken my new X8-130 (thanks Beach Cities SCUBA) out on a local shore dive. Josh had his too. We both set a new bottom time record of two hours and twenty one minutes. Thanks for a great dive, bro !
Dive Location: North Crescent Bay, Laguna
Buddy(ies): Glycerin
Time: 6:52 AM
Bottom Time: 141 MIN
Max Depth: 41 FSW
Vis: 10-20 FT
Wave height: 1-2+ FT
Temp at depth: 63 F
Surface Temp: 67 F
Tide information: Low Tide 6:07 am +2.17 ft
Gas mix: 21%
Comments: I hooked with Josh bright and early this AM at North Crescent Bay. It was still dark out when we arrived. Topside conditions were overcast with mild eddy conditions. Surf was running 1-2 ft out of the SW and the surface had a slight bump on it. We had originally planned to dive Deadman's, but revised the plan due to some equipment issues that delayed our entry. We decided to dive the shallower inside reef.
We dropped in approx 20 fsw, where we encountered some moderate surge (~2-3 ft) and marginal vis (~10 ft). We picked up the reef line and started working our way SW toward deeper water and Seal Rock in a nice slow and relaxed pace. We eventually the turn at 65 min and started working our way back. We finished the dive with nice relaxed swim over the sand right up to the beach. We made an uneventful exit. Vis was patchy throughout the dive. It was very good (~20 ft) in some of the shallower spots, such as on top of the reef and in the sandy shallows ... mixed with suspended particles in others.
We saw lots of the usual suspects, but in particular, lots of fish ! In fact, we had our very own entourage of numerous Senorita Wrasse & small Garibaldi follow us around for nearly the entire dive. At one point in the dive, we got swarmed by them ... they were all in our faces and very excited. A look down at the bottom revealed why. There were numerous remains of recently cracked open urchins scattered all about. It looks like someone has been feeding these guys on a pretty regular basis.
Overall it was a really fun, relaxed, and long dive. This was the first time I've taken my new X8-130 (thanks Beach Cities SCUBA) out on a local shore dive. Josh had his too. We both set a new bottom time record of two hours and twenty one minutes. Thanks for a great dive, bro !
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