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

[divekim]

Top Reason Pasley should hurry home: nudi's, nudi's, nudi's, nudi's, nudi's,

Location: Nudi Grotto right off the Point Loma Kelp Beds
Time: 9:04am descent
Temp: 57-58 most of the dive
Vis: 25-30
Max Depth: 90 feet
Bottom Time: 58 mins
Buddies: Jen, John L, Sean, and Dan the boat driver

Location: Nudi Grotto right off the Point Loma Kelp Beds
Time: 11:21am descent
Temp: 57-58 most of the dive
Vis: 25-30
Max Depth: 95 feet but spent most of it at 60
Bottom Time: 52 mins
Buddies: Jen, Sean, and Dan the boat driver

My first trip to this spot was done diving wet and I was freezing my butt off after just 30 mins and did not do the second dive, I've been talking about this spot ever since and been wanting to get back here since I got my drysuit and finally made it.

The first dive Jen and I pretty much hung out near the boat anchor circling a rocky structure and scouring it top to bottom and even thru a semi swim thru. Unfortunately you will not see photos of the 12 diff nudi's we saw on this dive as Jen's camera was not working. She gave the camera the appropriate hand signal and I returned her hand signal to the camera of course, we gave the camera the same hand signal several times when we saw something that really needed to have a photo taken.

So, we saw 2 different Lingcod, what we think was a Cabezon which would be the first one I've seen, Scorpionfish, lots of Lobster, Rockfish of diff types, Greenlings, Blacksmith, Treefish in every size and brightness, Sculpins lots of tiny Sculpins, Sponges of all varieties and colors, and the nudi's, Spanish Shawls, Trilineatas, San Diego Dorids, Clown Dorids, Hermissendas, Noble Dorid, Yellow Edged Cadlina's, Yellow Spotted Cadlina's, Limbaughs Cadlina's, McFarlands Chromodorid's, Porters Chromodorid's and Porostomes. On dive #2 I also saw a few Festivas making the total count 13. Some of these were the tiniest I have ever seen. There would be several in the same little spot and then the next spot, just amazing the # of them there are.

The second dive was Sean, Jen, Dan and I and this time we headed away from the anchor line to a very long wall structure, it was actually tiered from about 60 feet to about 100 something. There were actually Metridiums on this wall, absolutely beautiful. Dan and I headed back early as we were both on air, took a very leisurely swim back the way we came, had stopped in about 30 feet of water and to my right a huge rock wall structure coming out of nowhere the top being in about 40 feet of water, well if we're gonna burn some time I'm gonna do it over the rock. The same life we had seen on the last 2 dives. Made my way back towards Dan and up to 20 feet, here come Jen and Sean up the line. I meandered thru the kelp for a bit and then did my stop, had plenty of air so I stayed to keep Jen company for her time as well.

This is just an incredible spot, the amount of life is just amazing. Thanks Jen for signing me up before I had a chance to make up my mind, I owe you one girly.

Kim

 

[Mo2vation]

Date: 1/20/07
Dive Location: Anacapa Island
Buddy(ies): HBNumbToesGurl
Time: 4 dives – all day long, baby!
Bottom Time: Whatever – about 4 hours
Max Depth: We may have reached 60 feet. Don’t remember
Vis: Excellent – some places 40+ some less
Wave height: Whatever – Boat Diving
Temp at depth: 55 to 57
Surface Temp: Whatever – Drysuit
Tide information: Rising fast and furious (8’ swing!!!)
Gas mix: Pirelli
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: You may have dogs over there, but our doggies here are more fun!!!

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The Magician hadn’t completed their repairs so the BFB Charter was postponed. Bummer. I called HBAlwaysUp4ADive and suggested we head to Ventura and get in 4 dives in what was going to be a glorious weekend. She was into it, so we headed up to the Spectre again.

I need to say right here: I love the Spectre. You know that wasn’t always the case, but I have grown to that boat. Its stable, its comfy, Cap’t Ted rocks, the BBQ TriTip is the best dive boat lunch in SoCal, it’s a great value, FAST fills, everyone gets a bench and a proper dive station, and my last 4 trips on that boat have been outstanding.



Dive One – Underwater Island
Pretty cool. I like this spot. ‘Dette and I are the first in (what else is new??!!) and as we drop, we realize its going to be a very clear dive. We find the headstone that marks the spot where there is a very large crack in the rock that is home to an Octo. He's been there the last few times she and I have dived this spot. We saw lots of Fed Ex nudis (and one teeny skinny Mexichromis), lots of fish, Octos all over the place, Zebra Gobys. smooth seas, no current. It just rocked.

My sync cord is shorting, and my strobes are misfiring. I missed a ton of great shots and I was getting a little pissy. Dette put a hand on my shoulder, calmed me down and we came to the surface pretty energized. Thanks for the nudge, 'Chica.


Dive Two – “Sea Lion Spot”
This spot was on the south corner, just over the hill from the Landing / Light House (you could see the lighthouse peeking over the top of the island.) We pull up, and Cap’t Ted says, “there are a few Sea Lions on the shore. You’ll want to get in the water quick so they come to the boat…”

I was changing lenses (from 105mm Macro to 12-24mm Wide Zoom) so I could try to get some Sea Lion shots. I put on the single sync cord and was going to have to shoot with only one strobe. Shooting wide angle with one strobe makes as much sense as diving the Doria on an AL80… I know this is going to end bad. So I'm going back into the water with a bad attitude.

Its taking me awhile to get it together, so I suggest to HBSeaLionGurl that she splash, and I’ll be right over. She does. I get it together, and follow a few moments later. I drop and can’t believe what I’m seeing.

I’ve been buzzed by Sea Lions zillion of times. I’ve dived with them maybe half-a-zillion times. I’ve boated to the islands specifically to do a “Sea Lion dive” a couple of dozen times. Nothing could prepare me for this dive.

This was 46 minutes of bedlam! Sea Lions were so thick they were blocking the sun. If you look at the first pic below, you’ll count over 50. Remember, I’m not using a 180-degree lens there… so there were probably two to three times that many Sea Lions all around us. And they stayed with us. Diving, spinning, barking, tugging fins, picking up rocks off the bottom, dropping the rocks and doing it again, throwing around Kelp leaves, one flew by ‘dette and dropped a fish bone in front of her. They were playing and playing. Grabbing each other, blowing bubbles, diving and spinning. And the most amazing part – we didn’t see another diver. There were probably 26 or 30 people on this boat… where’d they all go? WHO CARES!!! After about 46 minutes of running around and firing off shot after shot (and huffing and puffing) I wrote a note to ‘Chica: “enough…. Lets go get lunch…” We were both pooped after all of the underwater gymnastics. What a dive!!


Dive Three – Cathedral Cove
After an excellent lunch and a relaxing SI, we did dive three. This was the snoozer of the day – which is to say it was only a great dive and not an unforgettable dive. We landed on a very small rock, did about 4 or 5 laps, counted 6,427 Spanish Shawl (“Fed EX&#8221 Nudis – many of them laying eggs. Shot some neat wormy things in full plumage. At about minute 40 we both got kicked and silted by a pack of students as they blasted by. We look at each other, say “enough” and we called it. Not a bad dive, but just a very small area to work in. We started naming the rocks, we saw the same ones over and over again...


Dive Four – South Side Arch Rock
By now the sun is getting lower, and the current is picking up. We’re a little out of the groove, so we wind up in the back of the queue (only one gate was open because of the current and the high number of students on the boat.) We call over to Dennis (DM) and ask if we can drop from the Port gate – he said “Sure”, so we did. We descend onto the blue rock landscape that is this site.

This was the shark dive. Two nice Horn sharks (one medium, one really big) and a swell shark snoring in a cave. I mean snoring… as in his nose rising and falling like a cartoon with every breath. Too funny!

‘Dette spotted an Octo that took over an abandoned Scallop shell that was still attached to the top of an overhang… he jammed his big butt in there and just had one eye and his siphon peeking out! She also spotted a teeny, tiny San Diego Dorid. As I was shooting that, I looked over and saw an Octo peeking up from a cleft in a rock, wondering what I was doing. He saw me see him, and he went back down. Then he poked back up. I called over Claudette, as this was going to be fun.

He was poking up out of the hole, then retracted back into the hole – then up, then down, then up, then down…. Like a jack in the box on a spring! I would slink over on my belly and get a shot, then back kick away until he’d pop back out. We played this game for about 5 minutes. We would have played longer, but the current was building moment by moment and I couldn’t hold position very well and the shots were getting worse and worse.

We released and literally sailed back to the boat on the blasting current, grabbing the swim step on the way by!
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What a great day of diving. Sea Lions, Nudis, flowering worms, silly Octos and more! Thanks Chica for yet another cool dive day. You are the bestest.

Some pics below.

Enjoy.

---
Ken



This is what it looked like most of the dive.

When we got away from the crowd, some would always come back to get us to play!

Play with me! Play with me!!

'Chica taking a breather, while three more try to get her to roll with them some more

The thoughest thing was trying to isloate one or two in clean water. The Sea Lion throng kept the place good and silted for most of the dive.

Floater!

ZOOM!!!!!!!!!!

Fed Ex Nursery. Zillions of Fed Ex, Dozens laying eggs. Nice full size image here.

Mini (1") Mexi. Full size here.

Mini (3/4") Sandy. What's with all the teeny Nudis on Anacapa on Saturday? Sharp Original here. Lil Cutie!

Octo Peeking from the Scallop Shell... I love this shot.

Moby Goby. Very tight Full size here.

Gotta love a Shark Skin Suit!! This is the little one. Full size here. Who knew the bumps had shapes?!

One of several beautiful Worms in full flower that we saw. Neat Full Size Here.

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Remember, if you get the Red X Of Death, just right click and hit “Show Picture.” If the pic doesn’t show up, hit f5 to reload the page, and try again.
If it still doesn’t work, you can always go here for the full gallery.
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[divekim]

Love those shots Ken, sounds like a wonderful time. Looking forward to my first time at Anacapa, just hope the weather and conditions hold.

Kim

 

[jetfixer]

OMG! Ken, that first shot is unreal!

What do you that call that? A school? Swarm? Jeez! That must've been surreal. I've seen the doggies out there as well but never in those numbers. Thanks for the awesome pictures and sharing your dives. I really enjoy reading them.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Its taking me awhile to get it together, so I suggest to HBSeaLionGurl that she splash, and I’ll be right over. She does. I get it together, and follow a few moments later. I drop and can’t believe what I’m seeing.

I’ve been buzzed by Sea Lions zillion of times. I’ve dived with them maybe half-a-zillion times. I’ve boated to the islands specifically to do a “Sea Lion dive” a couple of dozen times. Nothing could prepare me for this dive.

Ken, your pictures and description are perfect! IT was Silly with Sealions!! I'm so grateful for your skilled camera work. You had so much to do to switch over from macro to WA, from double to single strobes. And all the while, there was the massive herd of young sealions, (chaperoned by 5 or 6 adults,) swimming back and forth along the side of the Spectre. All their heads were out of the water, all their round eyes pleading with us to "Please get in the water RIGHT NOW!" I was the first geared up, and when you said "go on ahead, I'll catch up with you quickly.."... Well, I gleefully hit the water about 10 seconds later.

And dropped into the maelstrom!! I flinched several times as I descended from the surface, as there were so many sealions directly underneath me that I thought I was going to land on one... or four!! As I settled to a hover over the sand at 24fsw, I was buffeted back and forth several times by the forcceful wake of zooming puppies!! They really blotted out the sun, raised an unholy cloud of brown sand, and made me physically dizzy rushing by my mask and head on all sides. The barking and bubble blowing made me think of kindergartners released to recess... It was happy glorious bedlam.

I couldn't wait for you to get down there and get in the middle of all this. And when you descended, they just swarmed you. Like a flock of birds leaving my tree, they buried you in golden fur and swirling bubbles and a brown smoggy silt ball. Then they swirled back over me and the game was on!! One sealion would make intense eye-contact with me.. I would do my best barrel roll while maintaining eye contact... and it would do the same! I spun.. the sealion spun! It twirled right, I went left.. and when I finished the turn, it was staring into my eyes ready for more. Finally we were both breathless and it would bolt for the silvery surface and air while I settled to the sand, panting frantically into my reg. And up would come another one!!!! I could only rest for so long before another pair of big soft brown eyes would win me over and I'd start the spin session again. When I looked over at you, Ken, you were doing the same. I'll never know how you got all those fabulous pictures while playing so hard.

This was the densest and largest group of sealions I have ever had the thrill of diving with. What a great experience! What wonderful photographs and memories!

Thank you for a fantastic day of diving, and spectacular photographs. From Moby Goby to the Sealion Aquarium, from eiderdown worm tentacles to pugnacious cephalopods, from shark-skin gents to frangible FedEx's, we dive through worlds of wonder and you bring it back in photographs.

It's a shared surprise everytime. Thank you.

*****
'Dette

 

[Divmstr223]

Wow Ken...your photography skills are amazing!! The visibility looked really good and I hope it stays the same for this coming weekend.

 

[divekim]

Top Reason Pasley should hurry home: To see the new canyon landscape before its gone

Location: Out and Down, oh head North
Time: 6:18am descent
Temp: 58 degrees
Vis: 25+
Max Depth: 92 feet
Bottom Time: 58 mins
Buddies: well this is dawn patrol so must be Divinman and ChickoftheSea

Met at 5:30am on V Street, low tide, 1 foot waves maybe 2foot set waves, a little surge and a slight south running current, beautiful clear sky and a light off shore wind, all in all very nice for diving.

Descended in about 80-90 feet of water just below Vallecitos Point, plan was to explore North this morning and we did. The landscape is already starting to change, the sandstone is starting wear away exposing a rock base in the first area we hit. The Barred Sand Bass and Lobster obviously approve as they are plentiful in this area. Jen and I followed the contours at about 80-85 feet while Terry followed up slope from us. The landscape started to turn to clay, more smooth and more ledgy. The slope here is very steep with a detrius patch at the bottom covered with kelp and grass and other debris.

Lots of cracks and crevices are starting to form. This area must be changing daily, as you leave the clay and hit sandstone you can see the changing colors of the sand going downslope giving the distint impression that it is wearing away already. There are lots of Kelp Bass, Senoritas, Perch, and more Lobster all throughout. Soon we came upon a large what looks like a canyon. As I turn to my right there is a steep draw coming down like a huge crack in the bottom then straight in front of me is this huge sandstone slope that runs from about 60-90 feet deep. It was actually such an awesome sight to me I tapped Jen's arm, covered her light and pointed it out to her, like look at that, we're in the grand canyon, that was my feeling.

Terry motioned it was time to head upslope a bit and as we did I came across the cutest little fish, turns out it is a baby Rockfish. I've never seen one before and at first I thought it looked a lot like a baby GSB but not the right colorings. We found another one on the way back in. A very large Sheepcrab with a baby Scorpionfish were just a couple feet away sitting on the sandstone ledge. We ascended a bit and explored the top of the canyon until we hit our turn around.

Another swim back in the water column watching the sand pass 20feet below you and watching the sun rise thru the water 30 feet above you was very cool in my opinion. Quite uneventful swim in yet utterly beautiful at the same time. In about 10 feet of water it looked like someone had decided to chop and toss a salad right in front of us, so I started to flutter kick to just get in so I could stand up, ended up popping up right next to a surfer, hmmm, that would mean we are a little north of where we started, right about the Lifeguard tower.

Was a beautiful dive. The vis was incredible and the landscape just awesome. Thanks for coming out this morning and diving.

Kim

 

[orangelion03]

I thought you had to go to Santa Barbara Island to see that many sea lions!!!

What a thrill! I can imgine that I would have been laughing so hard I would have spit out my reg! Thanks for the typical great shots Ken! The viz looked outstanding that day.

Man, do I miss going out on a boat! I'm currently saving my pennies for DM course and a dry suit so I have to make to with ham sandwiches and beach dives...

On the positive side, I spent a weekend in Dublin Ireland :beer:

 

[Mo2vation]

I thought you had to go to Santa Barbara Island to see that many sea lions!!!

What a thrill! I can imgine that I would have been laughing so hard I would have spit out my reg! Thanks for the typical great shots Ken! The viz looked outstanding that day.

Man, do I miss going out on a boat! I'm currently saving my pennies for DM course and a dry suit so I have to make to with ham sandwiches and beach dives...

On the positive side, I spent a weekend in Dublin Ireland :beer:

It was quite a day of diving. Cap't Ted rocks. What a great time!

Right place, right time. Its never lucky to be good, but it IS good to be lucky.

---
Ken

 

[divekim]

Top Reason Pasley should hurry home: I'm not sure I can keep writing reports, it's easier to show it to you

Location: Scripps Canyon south branch
Time: 6:59pm descent
Temp: 58
Vis: as far as the light would shine
Max Depth: 109 feet
Bottom Time: 55 mins
Buddies: Jen and Nate, Dan and Cat in the lead

Was a beautiful night for a dive last night, 1 foot waves, calm surface conditions, the wind is blocked from the cliffs, clear skies, and lots of stars. While picking up tanks I ran into Nate who was excitedly telling me about his dive at the shores and how he wanted to go diving again, I mentioned we were going to Scripps.

Meeting at the parking lot and loading up the cars with gear and people we made our way down, we geared up, and headed for the long haul, the hill down is about 1/8 mile the walk down the beach was close to 1/4 mile. Kicked out with a perfect line up and with Dan's handy dandy depth finder we were right at the cable for our descent. Now I had a first right off the bat, I hit 45feet and my left ear wouldn't equalize, I literally had to kick back up 15 feet before it would, I was a little worried for a moment, but seemed to clear up just fine.

We began our swim thru the canyon and shining my light to the left I could clearly make out the other side of the canyon, easily 30 feet between them here, very cool. Nate kept shining his light to the abyss and looked at me like can we go down there, anyone who knows Nate knows he prefers deep dives, but he stayed with Jen and I and actually looked at critters. Being able to see both canyon walls and the abyss sort of took my breath away and my attention from critter spotting. To watch the ledges jut out from 80 feet down to who knows how deep, sometimes seeing canyon wall across the abyss and sometimes not.

I did have another first for the night, unfortunately it hid back in the hole before Jen could see it, I was clearly disappointed as she assured me it was okay that she had missed the Swell Shark I had just been watching. Lot's of Lobsters hiding under all the ledges, Blacksmith, Rockfish of the following Calico, Vermillion, Rosy or Honeycomb, and Brown, Sheephead, Scorpionfish of diff colors and sizes, Coonstripe Shrimp, Brittle Stars, Sponges, Gorgonians including a very large patch of Golden Gorgonians looking like their own little garden. Several Yellow Edged Cadlinas including one pair mating, Trilineatas, Spanish Shawls, and one Yellow Spotted Cadlina. As we turned one corner I looked down feeling a presence and a very large Harbor Seal had just turned between me and the canyon wall and whizzed away to the abyss, I did not see it again, it did startle me, it was bigger than me. There was one thing Jen showed me, looked like a little lump, I'm not sure what it was, very bumpy but could have been a nudi of some sort.

We hit our turnaround and made our way to the top of the canyon to swim back over sand, not much in the sand, a lot of Rays, a little Thornback Ray, Lobster, a couple of baby Scorpionfish, and Brown Shrimp. Continuing a bit north and east we saw Dan and Cat coming up the canyon and heading in as well, we followed them for about 2 seconds until Jen stopped to try her Lobster nabbing skills as I yelled at her to stop, she had her dry gloves on. Around 20 feet I could no longer see Nate's light behind me and assumed it was intentional, I know he has a back up, then around 10 feet no light from Jen as well, okay guys, I know you're there, but where, I started laughing so hard that by 8 feet I could not longer stay submerged and popped up to finish the swim in, shortly after followed by my buddies with Jen laughing she was gonna pull my fins, but....

It was an incredible dive with awesome vis, seeing the canyon that way was more than enough payment for the trek back up the beach and up that hill to the cars.

Thanks for coming out and diving with me, Dan thank you for being our guide, sorry we didn't keep up, I want to see the Moray next time.

Kim