The Pasley June 06 Dive Report Thread

[headhunter]

Date:
Dive Location:
Buddy(ies):
Time:
Bottom Time:
Max Depth:
Vis:
Wave height:
Temp at depth:
Surface Temp:
Tide information:
Gas mix:
Comments:

 

[LAJim]

19 dives so far with one to go tonight and probably 4 tomorrow before I reach 24 hours prior to flying. First day we got to CoCo maybe 2 in the afternoon. It was maybe 3 or 3:30 before our luggage arrived. No diving without orientation dive the next morning. I had spent the night on airplanes in and departure lounges so I wasn't in the best of shape anyhow. The orientation dive the next morning was pretty cool except for being a crowd scene. I went down to 86 feet and we saw the wreck plus two walls. That day and the next were slow due to rough seas but mainly because Judy and I were doing Advanced and Nitrox, and we had some classroom, dive briefings, de-briefings. Also we had to miss a drop-off dive after going to 122 on air for the deep dive. So we had a great time the first two full days but only did six dives.

We're running five a day now. Seas have calmed down. Dove Mary's Place this PM. Very nice site as was mentioned in another post. This is a smooth operation. If you want a little vacation with your diving this is the place to be. If you want a little diving with your vacation go elsewhere. We start the morning analyzing nitrox and end the day rinsing gear at 9.

Will be back in the world soon. This place is great. But I'm going to need a day to rest up.

Almost forgot. We did the shark dive yesterday. They let us swim with the sharks. 20 or so pretty large reef sharks casually swimming with us at 75 ft - until it was time for the feeding frenzy. Interesting trip out on a zodiac to an off-offshore reef. The only thing bad about the shark dive was it killed the whole morning with just one dive.

Jim

 

[dpbishop]

Date: 6/1/06
Dive Location: La Jolla Cove
Buddy(ies): N/A
Time: 6:00 pm
Bottom Time: 51m
Max Depth: 36
Vis: 15 ft
Wave height: zip
Temp at depth: 61
Surface Temp: nice
Tide information: up to the steps
Gas mix: air
Comments:

The beach report said 15' viz at the cove so I sneaked in an after work dive. Viz was good, although the surge seemed to pick up as the dive progressed. Dropped down at 12' and swam west to 36' then headed back. Usual cast of characters, lobster, crab, sheepshead, kelp bass, etc. Spent about 5 min. in the middle of a huge school of mackerel. Saw a couple of big Sea Hares that were wine red with purple spots. They looked like Disney cartoon dragons.

At one point I dropped into an 8' diameter, 8' deep hollow in the reef that a Garabaldi had claimed as his own; he really gave me what for! Buzzed me head a few times and head-butted me at least twice. Nothing like getting a smack-down from 12 inches of bright orange fish.

When I got back to the beach there was a photographer shooting a couple of swimsuit models under the cliff. A nice coda to a pleasant dive.

 

[wetrat]

Cool report David! N/A is always up for a dive, huh?

John

 

[Peter McGuinness]

Date: 6/1/06
Dive Location: La Jolla Cove
Buddy(ies): N/A
Time: 6:00 pm
Bottom Time: 51m
Max Depth: 36
Vis: 15 ft
Wave height: zip
Temp at depth: 61
Surface Temp: nice
Tide information: up to the steps
Gas mix: air
Comments:

I was out diving the cove with N/A only an hour later than you - and the swimsuit models were still there! That guy gets everywhere.

Peter

 

[LAJim]

24 dives total for me, 22 on nitrox. Boat dives were usually just under an hour with the DMs trying to limit us to 60 min to simplify the surface intervals before the drop-offs. I had a lot of run times between 55 and 61 min. and always came aboard with 500 to 800 psi - not bad for sometimes deep profiles and Al 80 tanks.

Did four night dives. Penetrated the Prince Albert most days and hit most compartments. Penetration dive on fishing boat wreck "Mr. Bud" last day.

Lots of eels - morrays out in the open. Ran into one in 4 feet of water between the inner bouy and swim platform one night.

Got to be pretty normal to be cruising along one of the walls on a drop-off and thinking about heading in at the right time to catch lunch or dinner.

We had a steady crew of night divers this past week, as well as a few people who were in the mode of two or three dives max.

Head to the airport in 90 minutes. Back in LA late tonight. I would definitely come back here.

Jim

 

[divinman]

Thursday was nice enough that I went back out this morning. With Catalina by my side I was ready to go. Here are the pictures.

The Album: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/060206/

Thursday day with the HORDE

Saturday morning with Catalina

The pictures:

 

[MaxBottomtime]

What starts with F and ends with U C K?




Firetruck!

Date: June 3, 2006
Dive Location: Marineland
Buddy(ies): L.A. County Fire Departmernt
Time: All day
Bottom Time: None
Vis: Limited in the fog and smoke
Wave height: 3-6'+
Comments: I had great plans of getting pictures of the new Yellow Snake Eel today. I brought along a box of frozen squid and arrived early in the morning to try for two dives. The conditions have deteriorated from mid-week. High surf, zero vis and red tide foambergs everywhere kept us out of the water. The excitement today was due to a family playing in the surfline, not recommended at a rocky beach, two free divers who couldn't get below three feet with their Jetfins and a small brush fire that started soon after the large family walked down to the beach. Several Fire Companies spent a couple hours knocking down a fire the size of a schoolbus.
I'm really hoping for less excitement and better conditions tomorrow. I like my dive sites to be boring.

All that excitement wore out poor Cyber.

 

[Peter McGuinness]

La Jolla Shores; Vallecitos point area.
Depth 100ft
Time 63mins
Surf: Some biggish sets but very tame, for all that - easy entry.
Surge at 50ft!
Vis: Patches of 25ft in the canyon but mostly 15ft, 5 - 10ft in the shallows.

Jackie and I checked out the vallecitos point area today - not aiming for any spot in particular, we just dropped into one of the draws there and meandered our way south.
There were very few fish around, but it seems to be seahare central today - lots of huge specimens, including a very charming embracing couple! We did find a mantis shrimp, who refused to be photographed, and a small Aeolidia Papillosa which posed for me but the potographer wasn't up to the task. We found navanax, hemphill's crab, fringehead, and some interesting and very beautiful anemones.

A very nice dive, even if there was surge at 50ft, which was a surprise considering the calm surface conditions. Good diving and good company - thanks, Jackie!


Here's a couple from last thursday:

and some from today:

More photos, of this dive and the cove last thursday, are here:

http://www.mcguinness-family.net/albums/diving/SanDiego//LaJollaJune_06/index.php

Peter

 

[mccabejc]

Damn, those amemonemonemones are gorgeous !!!