The Pasley "Hurry Home" January '07 Dive Report Thread

[divekim]

Saturday Dive #1
Location: La Jolla Shores
Time: 8:14amdescent
Temp: 57
Vis: I say at least 10, 15 in some spots
Max Depth: 70feet
Bottom Time: 55 mins
Buddies: John A (RoughwaterJohn), Terry (Divinman), Rick (Riguerin), and Milo I don't know Milo's screen name

Of course once again we were the first ones in the water at this SB Wrinkles event, I guess thats cause we San Diego locals like to dive early, right? The conditions had definitely improved over Friday night. 1 ft surf and calm surface beckoned us out.

We decided on Vallecitos point for the first dive today, got to explore some of the new areas, the sand between descending and hitting the point to seem to be forever and very flat as opposed to the past. I won't go into great details, but John and I found lots of Octopus, Barred Sand Bass, a big Rockfish in one of the new rock crevices, Coonstripe Shrimp, Gobies and the like.

The best part of this dive for me was showing John A some of the new structure in what had become a very familiar place to us. Everything is now a new adventure.

Saturday Dive #2
Location: La Jolla Shores
Time: 11:35am descent
Temp: 57
Vis: 5-10 in this area
Max Depth: 65 feet
Bottom Time: 57 mins
Buddies: Terry and John A

So for the second dive just the 3 of us. Terry wanted to show John the new area's south and east of Vallecitos Point. Again there in no time and it stills looks new to me everytime. The shear walls just beckon you to explore. Terry showed me a Goulds snail on top of one of the walls and then I started to see them everywhere. They were out of their shells tooling around. Lots of different kinds of crabs on this dive and a very cute and quite big Frondosus Terry found.

The best part of this dive was the relaxation. Have you ever been on a dive where you just started to wander and think about stupid stuff. Mine was looking at the clay on my hands, going to clear my ears as I went to explore down further, stopping myself thinking "oh, I'll get clay on my nose" silly girl, your mask covers your nose.

We had a very nice leisurely swim back into 4 feet of water.

After the dive, we got comfy in the grass, with good company to enjoy lunch, the lovely Joanne, Steve and Becky, Christian, Ted, Mark, another Mark and his daughter, Joe, Venom, Ana, Josh, Milo, Rick, Steve, and I'm sure I'm missing someone, but thank you all for the wonderful conversation and tons of laughs.

Sunday boat diving #1
Location: The Ruby E
Time: 8:23am descent
Temp: my computer says 51 but it did die on the boat after
Vis: 20 feet east
Max Depth: 80 feet
Bottom Time: 44 mins
Buddies: Jen (ChickoftheSea) and Joe (Joe with 7 numbers after his name)

I was so stoked when we were going down the line and could see the boat halfway down, yes, it had been so bad last time we were here. The plan had been to take a good look around when we got to the boat so we could find the anchor line on the way back, that obviously was not going to be necessary.

We went on our merry way exploring, there were a lot of Spanish Shawls, all the different anenomes, every color of pink and white. A couple of Tritonia Festivas were hovering near Gorgonians. Lots of Painted Greenlings, a pair of them actually appeared to be having some sort of show down, nipping and sparring with each other.

About 30 minutes in Joe needed to get back to the line so I went over the boat, Marianne and Dan were there, motioned to Jen she should stay with them so she could get some more photos, I understand this was a good thing cause she got to see a new nudi!! Joe and I went up the line, he ascended to the surface, I watched him swim to the boat, and with 1500 pds left I went back down the line to find Jen, I knew where I had left them.

Yes, as I was going down the line I did think to myself, this is stupid Kim, you shouldn't be doing this alone, but you know what, 20+ vis and 1500pds left, yeah you know I'm going. Started my way across the boat, there's Jen, she needs to go up too. Okay, lets go. So back up the line, no biggie the schools of Blacksmith were just awesome to watch the second time up the line.

Sunday boat dive #2
El Rey
sometime after 10am
dive was about 45-50 mins
vis was about the same 15-20
temp, well, my computer died on this one apparently, this must be why it was telling me we only had 32 minutes of SI, something happened on the boat that made it reset

The plan on this dive was Marianne, Dan, Jen and I were hunting for nudi's. Okay, Dan wasn't hunting for them, he was just tagging along I guess. This was of course Marianne's last dive before leaving for Iraq, and well, I wanted to dive with her. I got to do her deco stop with her.

Right after descending, I motioned lets go this way, Jen saw me, I don't think Marianne did. After going around the cutting arm of the El Rey I noticed Marianne wasn't with us. Left Jen there and went back, oh, she's with Dan, he had descended after us telling us he would catch up. I went back to Jen, she was of course right were I left her, she looked up where's Marianne, I said "it's okay, Marianne is with Dan" she shook her head, having apparently understood perfectly what I said.

Again I saw a lot of Spanish Shawls and Greenlings on the wreck, we made it all the way around, and to the other side, Jen needed to go back, deco time to do. So we followed the wreck to the line, there's Marianne doing her stop, Dan passed us to explore some more. Christian, Mark, and Joe, were also at the line getting ready to ascend up the line, so we girls stayed back and did some blue water ascents. We had too much fun.

The best part of this dive was spending, I don't know, 10-15 minutes floating at 20-25 feet with my 2 favorite girls in the world, goofing off under water. Somersalts, pirouettes, hand signals, playing with the rope, and just generally having a very good time. Apparently everyone on the boat knew we were having a good time as well as they watched us dancing and being silly during the stop.

I had a wonderful weekend. I especially want to thank Marianne for being able to make the boat dives today. I for one will miss you terribly, you will be in my thoughts everyday until you get home. You know who to call the day you get back.

Kim

 

[Mo2vation]

Date: 1-7-07 (the rare Sunday dive for me)
Dive Location: Old MarineLand
Buddy(ies): HBDRSGurl
Time: 10:00 ish
Bottom Time: 65 minutes
Max Depth: 64 FSW
Vis: 20-ish
Wave height: 2 feet
Temp at depth: 55
Surface Temp: Who cares - drysuit
Tide information: Rising to high tide
Gas mix: Yokohama
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Friggen cold here - Oh, and we miss you.


I was going away for the weekend (Jaye has Monday off) but something came up, so I'm hanging out. Decided to throw in a Sunday dive. We selected OML.

Picked up 'Chica and the thermo on the Cruiser said it was 35 outside. When I got to her place, it was 40. We drove to OML, munching a breakfast of Panera 4-cheese soufflé and her slugging a Diet Raspberry Snapple. We pull into OML and the water looks good, not a cloud in the sky, some good friends in the lot - its gonna be a good day.

We suit up and climb in at the point without incident. We kick and drop. Its looking pretty decent. Not great, but not too shabby. I look at the temp - its 57. Hmmm... we need to get deeper - so I signal to take us to about 50+ FSW. Now it starts to become NudiLand!

We saw 7 species today. I pulled a pretty cool in-yo-grill Fed EX shot. I took some time on this one - and while I was working Feddy Kruger, waiting for the surge to field goal his rhinophores through his oral tenticals, Chica was able to track down a tiny (maybe 1/2") Yellow Dorid on a pink shell. I took it from her and put it on a rock to get a better shot, and the surge blew the shell over and upside down, launching the Nudi... so the little guy made a break for it!

While I was shooting him, 'Chica spotted a very small (3/4") Trilineata. I got some pretty decent shots of this little guy. As I was shooting him, she found an Octopus trying to pry his lunch out of a Welk shell...

You're getting the idea how the morning went. I'd shoot, she'd spot. I'd move, shoot, she'd spot. It was sort of like that all morning.

We then came across MarineLand Jesus - planted about half-an-hour earlier by Phil and Jeff out by Ted's pinnacle. I had too much lens for the shot (shooting the 105 today) so we got a close up of his chipped head!

I got a shot of another Octo (didn't post it.) There was a HUGE cabezon with a head bigger than a basketball, sitting on a rock about 2 feet from him... just waiting to grab him if he came out of the hole. As there was no back door, this standoff would last for days... so I shooed away the 'zon and got the shot. Again, too much lens. He was a big octo, and there was lots of him to see, but all I was able to get was his eye and part of an arm. $*&^%^%+

We agreed to head back at about 2000#. I look down, I'm at about 2100, so we start to head back. Some more shots, and we surfaced and kicked to cobble beach - exited without incident. 'Sall good!

Thanks for a great dive, 'Dette. So much to see and shoot. I feel very fortunate to do the stuff we do together.

Here are some pix. Enjoy.

---
Ken


Fed Ex Facial. I like this shot. Here's the full size.

Welk for Lunch!!! Cool full size here. I love Octo's skin!

Yellow Edged Cadlina Lovin

Yellow Dorid Chase Down. Old Yeller, looking for love! I like this one. The guy in the back looks like he's on a flying carpet...

This is the Yeller on the pink shell, making a break for it. Their rhinophores are clear at the bottom... who knew? Full size here

The little Trilineata HBEagleEye found. Full size here. I like this pic, a lot. Check the Jetsons looking Rhinophores.... again, I say - who knew!?!?!

Little Stearnsi I spotted under a ledge. I had to freehand this one (no brace - it was shot with me achieving neutral buoyancy in the surge, with no hands on the rock and no resting the camera on anything... my LEAST favorite way to shoot with this friggen telescope) so its not as clear as some of the others. Who knew they had almost the same jetsons rhinophores as the Trilineata...

Rush Nudi. When I got there, his Gill ring was pulled in... I waited and waited, but he was quite happy hoofing it without pushing it back out. So I snapped one pic and moved on. A pretty clear original here. I love their rhinophores!

Lemonhead. I know - been here, seen that. But you gotta love those raging mothra rhinophores! They're like radar receivers! No more Lemonheads - I promise...

The big guy

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[divekim]

Very nice shots Ken, love getting a really close look at the rhinophores, they really do look like Mothra on the Lemon...

 

[divekim]

Obviously the Wrinkles weekend that started for me on Friday night just was not enough diving, I had to get some more in.

Location: La Jolla Shores
Time: 6:38am descent
Temp: 56
Vis: 15-20 foot
Max Depth: 70 feet
Bottom Time: 62 mins
Buddies: ChickoftheSea and Divinman

I know I know, another dive report from Kim, is this girl ever dry....this morning's sea welcomed us with ankle slapper waves, a light wind making a little texture, high tide meant the walk was not as far, easy relaxed swim out. Plan is to hit Vallecitos point from V Street, swam out a little North in order to catch it to the south at depth.

After descending Terry found a crab with barnacles on it sitting in the sand, they look so funny with little feather arms on top of them feeding. Also found an Armina just cruising thru the sand, very cute. We continued west until we hit the contour at about 45 feet and turned south to hit the point.
Several Lobster and Octopus have taken up residence in the barren sand walls that are now part of the area. When viewing the walls this morning I started to notice the color changes in sand at the base of them and how it is starting to get undercut. I'm thinking these walls are going to be changing again real soon.

Right after hitting the southern end of the point were most of the life is living now we spotted several Barred Sand Bass cruising around, a very nice sized Rockfish was sitting in the sand, many more Octopus, Blue Banded Goby's, Black Eyed Goby's, Ronquils, a couple of small Sculpins hiding in holes, Sea Stars, Painted Greenlings out in force, Terry even found a pair of them mating. Stearn's Aeolids were the nudi of the day again, they seemed to be all over the southeastern section of the point. Jen and I found an area that had at least 6 of them in the same square foot. A couple of Porostomes were also seen, one was slowly slithering down the wall. Lots of what look like Kelp Crabs but they are the color of the sand were all over the point after we turned and headed east, I couldn't count how many were there.

We hit our turn around and ascended about 20 feet for the swim in. Did it mostly at the depth of 45 feet which was pretty cool, don't think I have done that yet from this site. Finally surfaced in about 10 feet of water to a beautiful blue sky and shining sun.

Thanks for this dive this morning, it was as usual an awesome time. I'm loving the good vis, need to take advantage of it while we can.

Kim

 

[Jake]

Date: 2007-01-16
Dive Location: Inspiration Point, Corona Del Mar
Buddy(ies): Yossarian, Bruce3
Time: 19:59
Bottom Time: 64 minutes
Max Depth: 17ft
Vis: 15-20 (hard to measure)
Wave height: flat
Temp at depth: 54

First lobster dive of the season. Came across maybe half a dozen of them in the open, with all of them being too short. I grabbed one and was super happy when he looked like a keeper, but he was probably a centimeter or two shy of legal. He clamped down and gave me a nice painful spine in the hand. Hooray! Gardening gloves next time.

Conditions were generally really nice. I hadn't been out since early December for a number of reasons, so it was great to get in when things were so good. It was hard to judge the viz, but I'd guess it was 15 plus, possibly even better than 20.

It was a pretty cold 54, but the hooded vest with the 7mm kept me nice and comfy for the hour. Who needs a dry suit?

We had the great fortune of having a monster of a bat ray stay with us for a number of minutes. I think we blinded him though; he kept bumping into the reef, getting tangled in kelp, and didn't jet off like they normally do, even when he wasn't bumping into stuff. Next time we'll aim to his periphery so that we don't cause it to injure itself on the surroundings in case the light was causing him problems. That aside, it was magnificent to be so near to such a large and beautiful animal. It was quite wonderful.

Besides that, lots of fish out, played with an un-shy octopus, and came across a 1-2' bowling ball of a sea hare. Multitude of thorn back rays also. Cool!

Great first dive of 2007!

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Date: 1-7-07 (the rare Sunday dive for me)
Dive Location: Old MarineLand
Fed Ex Facial. I like this shot. Here's the full size.

Ken, this picture is amazing. The most gorgeous FedEx face yet. I LOVE this picture and all it tells about this beautiful animal. I love the alternating flame-colored ceratta, the purple tentacles, and the red rhinophores with while cores. Thank YOU!!!!

Welk for Lunch!!! Cool full size here. I love Octo's skin!

This is the first time I've seen an octopus packing a lunch for later! What a fun find and a terrific picture.

Yellow Dorid Chase Down. Old Yeller, looking for love! I like this one. The guy in the back looks like he's on a flying carpet...

Great action picture. Lovely skin and texture details. Great find!

This is the Yeller on the pink shell, making a break for it. Their rhinophores are clear at the bottom... who knew? Full size here

I like the harmonious curves of the dorid and the shell. Intriguing color combination, too. Gastropodius artwork!

The little Trilineata HBEagleEye found. Full size here. I like this pic, a lot. Check the Jetsons looking Rhinophores.... again, I say - who knew!?!?!

No way!!! This nudi had to be less than 1/2 inch long. That's not a camera you have... it's a microscope!!!

Little Stearnsi ... Who knew they had almost the same jetsons rhinophores as the Trilineata...

Impossible shot of a tiny jewel. What an interesting background in this lovely picture.

Lemonhead. I know - been here, seen that. But you gotta love those raging mothra rhinophores! They're like radar receivers! No more Lemonheads - I promise...

Please don't keep this promise... don't let this be the last in-the-grille lemonhead pic. The fat face, fireplug rhinophores, and marvellous skin are perfect everytime. They're only boring when shot straight down from above.

Thank you for the intense photographing, the tenacious removal of silt and debris from the images, and your effervescent enthusiasm. You bring beauty out of the water for all of us to enjoy.

Thanks

'Dette

 

[divekim]

Top Reason Pasley should hurry home: for the hugs

Location: La Jolla Shores
Time: 6:26am descent
Temp: 57 at the surface and 58 at depth
Vis: 25+ easy
Max Depth: 110 feet
Bottom Time: 57 mins
Buddies: ChickoftheSea

So after Mikey reported they found the Gardens I was extremely curious and decided we needed to do this again but this time we will do the surface lineups instead of following the topography we had grown to know so well and no longer exists. No surf, no surge, a little texture with the off shore breeze, not a cloud in the sky, just an absolutely beautiful morning to go diving. Definitely warmer in the water than on land where my computer was telling me it was 38 degrees while we geared up.

We swam straight out from the Lifeguard tower then I lined up with the 3rd palm tree to the boxy white house, didn't swim out past the pier and I wasn't going for depth as that really didn't matter to me. Once we descended we swam about 270-290 the entire way out. So this used to be the southern edge of the draw, it does not look like a draw. Went over the striped rock ledges and continued west, hit the detrius, but this is not the bottom of the draw. Just north there is a sand wall about 10 feet high and it runs west and around in a circle like a bowl eventually pointing south. There is a large sand patch we went west across and hit the other side of the bowl to verify what we were seeing. My thought at this point is that on the other side of this bowl is where Sean and I were and since it is shallower that the bottom of the Gardens it would make sense that they were not there.

After surveying the semi bowl we swam south while at 100feet over a striped bare rock slope with new sand with ripples at the bottom, we came upon the Gardens within a couple of minutes, excited that they are there, but in my view they just aren't what they were. The entire slope has been debrided of the majority of sand and looks like bare rock ledges and crevices. The features such as the Sheephead cave and large crevice at the southern edge are gone or unrecognizable. It seems to me the top of the Gardens is now at 100 feet where it used to be at 80 feet, so it is somewhat smaller up and down slope. It is the same size area running north and south.

The life, Sean I am happy to report I did see one large Fringehead in a hole very curious as they usually are. The Gorgonians, well, there are Gorgonians, the Pink and Red ones look like striped tree branches to me. The Purple fans are covered with sand and eel grass or laying on their sides. There was one yellow fan covered with Zoanthid Anenomes and we also saw one Orange one.
There were 2 batches of Squid eggs hanging on to 2 different Gorgonians as well. I saw several Porostomes but no other nudi's. There is probably more life than I saw as I was more interested in covering the entire area than hunting for critters.

The big test was hitting the 60foot contour on the way back, this would in my mind confirm we were actually at the Gardens. Heading due east up slope actually required the use of the compass as it has been built up on the southern edge making you feel that you need to go in that direction to go shallower. We did indeed hit the 60foot contour and boy was I happy. We found a very cute little Hermit Crab, Jen found a couple of small Fringehead in holes right next to each other having a battle. She also found a beautiful Hermissenda on a blade of grass. I motioned to head back to shore, when we hit 50 feet, Oh My, Jen, Look, a huge Giant Black Sea Bass glided right in front of us, he couldn't have been 10-15 feet away as he headed south out of our sight

Okay, what more could I ask for on this dive, absolutely nothing, except that this was one of the most beautiful swim in's we've had in a very long time. You could clearly see the surface and the ripples on the water all the way from 40feet deep. Made me want to swim on my back all the way in.

Thanks Jen for braving the cold air and diving this morning. This definitely deserves a repeat trip tonight.

Kim

 

[Mo2vation]

Date: 1-17-07
Dive Location: Vets Park
Buddy(ies): HBTourGuideGurl, John (Giles45Shop) and LAJim
Time: 5:00 ish
Bottom Time: Dunno - left Vytec at home. Probably 45 or 50 minutes
Max Depth: Dunno. Probably 50 or 55 feet. Maybe 60.
Vis: 20 - 25. Very clear
Wave height: 2 feet
Temp at depth: 54 - 55 I guess. Who knows
Surface Temp: Who cares - drysuit
Tide information: Rising to very low high tide
Gas mix: Firestone
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: You can do what I do, but I can't do what you do. We're all very proud of you, man. Hurry home!


After a wacky day of clear blue skies, blasting rain, clear blue skies, SNOW and more clearness, we decided to carry on with our dive plans unchanged. I was to meet ‘dette and John (SB handle: Giles45Shop) at Vets. He’s in town for a week and wanted some locals to show him around for a mid-week night dive. Chica hooks him up with her HP100 and we’re ready to roll.

It was John’s first night dive, one of his first ocean dives, and as I was to later learn, it was his 25th total dive!!!

We get to Vets, and we’re greeted by our own LAJim – making his third foray into the sea in his newish DUI TLS350 Drysuit.

As I’m gearing up, I remember I left my Vytec in the table. I just changed out the impossibly scratched cover for a new one, and forgot to toss it back into the bin. OY. I hate diving without a depth gauge. Fortunately I know the topography of Vets well enough to pin my depth within about 5 feet – and I know my gas consumption well enough to pin my bottom time within a few minutes, and as John is new we’re going to stay above 60. It’s all good… just weird.

The sea is very mellow. Sky is clearing. No wind – it’s a perfect night for a visitor to fall into Vets. We get through the 1 – 2 foot powerless surf without incident and kick out further than we usually would because of the inviting and accommodating flat top ocean. I adjust my mask and look down to check the cam for leaks, and I see it is exceptionally clear… this is going to be a good dive.

We drop, reconnoiter and head out. HBKindnessToStrangers is leading this one and paired up with John, I’m paired up with LAJim. You know Vets – if you’re not aware of your kicking and don’t have your buoyancy nailed you will soon be PigPenning the place (traveling in a dust cloud.) This was the 4 of us for the first 20 minutes. The surge was pushing us around, Jim is new in the drysuit, John is new, it’s a group of 4, we’re shallow… you get the idea. Not a good night for shooting pictures. Pics from the first half were just loaded with silt.

Then the coolest thing happened – Claudette and Jim saw what was going on. Jim immediately gave me the bottom 2 to 3 feet of the water column – he moved up a bit to swim near me, but over me instead of next to me. Claudette took John and moved ahead about 20 feet (it was so clear, I could still read the logos on their suits&#8230 This gave me about 20 feet of undisturbed horizontal freedom in one direction, about 50 miles in the other, and about 5 or 6 feet of vertical space. I was now shooting in a clean room, with the only silt being my own when I would get pushed into the bottom. The pics from the last half of the dive were some of the cleanest I’ve shot at Vets in months. Gotta love Team Diving!!!!

We saw the usual suspects – tiny baby Octos, three species of Nudis (Fed Ex, Dendy and the famous Vets Fakeyssenda), lots of purple swimming crabs, pages of flatties, teeny baby rockfish, a very cool baby Kelpfish (maybe 2 inches long), a baby red shrimp, the army of samurai Mole Crabs some sheep crabs, etc, etc. It was a clear, clean night.

We came up and exited without incident. For one of his first ocean dives, and his first night dive, John rocked the place. Lots of visitors have been rolled in 2 foot surf, but John handled it like a mastah.

Many thanks to LAJim, Giles45Shop and my very bestest dive buddy, HBDiveGirl.

Some pics below.

Enjoy.

---
Ken


Little Shrimpy. This is the first red shrimp I've shot at Vets. In fact, I don't ever remember seeing one there before. He was about 1.5" long... a total baby. Hiding amongst the shells. He popped out for a moment and I was able to snap this. Very cool Full Size here. Love the hairy legs!

The classic Vets Fakey slipping behind a Barnacle Volcano (Barcano? )

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Dendy #2 - check the smooth skin and that Statue of Liberty torch Rhinophore!!! I love the color and skin on these guys. I could spend an hour at 35 feet rolling in the sand shooting these amazing animals. The Full Size really shows off the Rhinophore

This little octo was maybe 2 inches across his head... look at the shell he's clinging to for a size reference. My fav part are his little pink suckers on his tiny arm in the middle of the pic. Lil Cutie! You really see them in the full size.

A couple of very fuzzy Baby Kelp Fish pix. He was moving too fast for this big lens - but I put them here so you can take a peek. Kelpfish are my fav fish, and I've only seen a couple of them that were this young.

Another Dendy. Love the color on these guys. Have I mentioned how thrilled I am everytime I see one? This one was a phatty juicy specimen. Check the skin in the full size here.

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[Mo2vation]

Date: 1-18-07
Dive Location: Super Secret Top Secret Spot
Buddy(ies): HBHoodedVestGurl
Time: 9:10-ish PM
Bottom Time: 83 Minutes
Max Depth: 26 feet
Vis: 20 - 25. Very Clear - best viz there this season!
Wave height: angle slappers
Temp at depth: 55
Surface Temp: high 50's at exit. WIND... burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Tide information: Rising to high tide at 9:51, glorious slack, falling a bit on exit
Gas mix: Bridgestone
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: The lobster hunting in Iraq is probably as good as it was here last night...

'Chica and I wanted to dive. With the gear still soaked from Wednesday night, I had this wacky idea: lets go lobstering! New moon, favorable tide, its been several weeks since we've grabbed some bugs... lets go for it.

We roll into the super secret top secret spot, park and walk over to check out the conditions. There are essentially no waves. I mean they're breaking at about 5 inches....

We gear up and go head in. This time its 'dette's turn to forget something... a compass. No worries, I figger with the mellow water movement and the incoming tide, the water will be clear enough that we'll be able to split up and she'll still be able to track me. We kick out and drop to the best viz she and I have had here all season. Just beautiful!

Its always surprising how liberating Lobstering is. I've gotten to the point of task loading myself significantly on every dive - Drysuit, layeting DS Undies, Dry Gloves, managing depth and Deco, always a big camera rig (sometimes two cameras), sometimes doubles, always wetnotes, full pockets of stuff, a weightbelt, etc. Lobstering is just different. Wetsuit, single tank, light, bag, lets roll. Shallow, essentially no deco, no camera, no drysuit, no weight belt... its just a different kind of event. Its not diving, I know (Its Hunting) but its kinda cool to mix in a lobstering trip every so often.

We immediately spot lobster. In fact, we saw zillions. The problem was they were all small. I always enter the water with my lobster bag rolled up and attached to my left D-ring. There is one sure way to NOT catch a lobster: its to unfurl the bag before I have the bug in-hand. It makes more sense to operate like that (have the bag ready) but it just doesn't work! It happens nearly every time - see phatty, deploy bag, move in and farm him. You'd think I'd learn by now. Here's the scoop:

After about 40 minutes of short, short, short, short (I think I measured about 3 or 4... just to get my eyes back) and passing on probably 30 or more, I finally spot an eye-popping Lobzilla back in a hole. He's much larger than any I'd seen all night - so I know this is it. I make the mistake of unfurling the bag. I made the double mistake of calling over Claudette so I had an audience.... I know, I know. I suck.

I grab buggy. I grab the tool. I measure him... its a tie. NO WHAY. Tie goes to the bug. I measure him again, really field goaling his eyes with the device... he's like 1/8" short. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? $&$%%$(%^ :furious: This is unreal. I go put him back into the hole and slink away.

On the upside, as we were moving deeper, we stumbled on this really cool reef area I'd never seen before. Urchins, lots of kelp, fishies, more shorts, a sweet large halibut, and of course tons of Fed Ex Nudis. This place is just stupid with Fed Ex - 2, 3, 4, 5 on a rock. Eggs, whole families of Fed Ex. Just silly numbers.

The slack tide was beautiful - all the kelp standing straight up, no surge, no movement. Just clear water, great viz, a new reef, lots of life and my fav buddy.

We tried reefs at every depth from 6 feet to 26 feet. Just a parade of shorts.

A terrible lobstering trip, but a great, great night dive. Just gorgeous. Clear skies, zillions of stars, very dark because no moon, no waves, flat clear water. I could ask for nothing more.

Except maybe a few bugs.

We walked out without breaking stride, doffed the suits in wind that had come up. Friggen cold. I start the truck as we're getting into dry clothes (HBDayAtTheSpaGurl brings a big container of warm water for the post-lobster rinse and warm up... can't beat it!) and fire up the heater and get the seat heaters raging. We're back in, blasting the iPod for a mellow, warm, LOUD, rockin' drive back at 11:30-ish PM.

Thanks for a great dive, 'chica!

---
Ken

 

[riguerin]

Date: 1/18/2007
Dive Location: Scripps Canyon
Buddy(ies): Sean, Volker
Time: 7:15 PM
Bottom Time: 51 Min
Max Depth: 111 FSW
Vis: 20-30 Ft
Wave height: 2-3 Ft
Temp at depth: 56 F
Surface Temp: 58 F
Tide information: Pushing. High Tide - 9:38 PM PST, 3.87 Ft
Gas mix: 32%
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: The big reward for a long hike and surface swim

Comments:
It's difficult to put in words the feeling of hovering along a sheer wall that plunges off in to the deep abyss. Words like, "exhilaration", "awe", and "respect" come to mind. Add the element of darkness, and the feelings take on a whole new level of magnitude. It's almost surreal. The other day, I was fortunate to have been extended an invitation to do a shore dive at Scripps Canyon. I couldn't refuse.

We were blessed with some pretty good conditions. There was some new NW swell energy starting to show. The entry was pretty uneventful. On the kick out, Sean was kind enough to recount a report of seal that washed up at Children's Pool earlier that day ... it was bitten in half. Thanks, dude ... just what I wanted hear right now. Thanks to some good line ups and Sean's handy-dandy depth finder, we dropped just a few yards from the canyon rim. After exchanging OK's, we plunged over the edge. Approximately 5 minutes into the dive we had settled in at depth. Everything was going according to plan when BAM ... my brand new 21W Salvo can light shut off. ^*(^ not again ! I spent the rest of the dive on my trusty back up, comfortable nestled between Volker in the lead, and Sean brining up the rear. Great team diving !

It's amazing how much more prolific the marine life is at Scripps versus LJS. There tons of fish, sponges, anemones, and nudies. The highlight of the eve were the harbor seals that cruised in for a couple easy snacks that were being illuminated by our lights. On the swim in, we came across several more cool critters such as some small rays, sand crabs, and the pipefish.

Things got a little interesting on the exit. We had to deal with a little rip and some waist high sets. Everyone survived ... most with both fins. Sorry, Sean

In summary, the dive was TOTALLY SICK ! I've been replaying those images over and over in my mind today. Thanks for the invite, Sean. It's certainly an experience that I won't soon forget. Looking forward to another opportunity in the near future.