The Pasley June 06 Dive Report Thread

[mark99]

Date: 6-3-2006
Dive Location: Catalina Island: Italian Gardens, W. Rock Quarry X2
Buddy(ies):Frank and Steven and a few others
Time:8:45, 10:45, 12:45
Bottom Time: :35, :56, :41
Max Depth: 82, 53, 45 fsw
Vis: 25 at IG, 50+ at Quarry
Wave height: 2-4 crossing, 0-1 at the island
Temp at depth: 55F below 60fsw, from 30fsw up, 60+F
Surface Temp: 64F
Tide information: low tide mid morning
Gas mix: air
Comments:
Went out on the Psalty V today, what a difference a week makes from the upchucking oil rig trip last week. The crossing had some swells but at the island it was virtually flat. We wanted to see the giant sea bass at Italian Gardens, and they did not disappoint. As you probably know, IG is mostly a sandy bottom and not much to see otherwise. The first giant circled around us for a couple of minutes, almost close enough to touch. A little later we saw a pair cruising by. Other than that, saw two small manta rays, and a number of the usual fish.
We headed around the corner to Long Point, but the whole area was filled with fishing boats, so we decided to head west and check out the rock quarry. The vis was especially good, and we saw most of the usual fish, lobster, eel etc. Of note, saw several butterfly fish, seemed odd for temperate water, but I'm told they are spotted sometimes at Catalina. Also saw a sculpin laying down in a crevice in the rocks, had an unusual reddish orange color.
Anyway, two very nice dives there and back to San Pedro by 3 pm.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Date: Saturday, June 3, 2006
Dive Location: Refugio Beach Reef, East of main beach at Refugio
Buds: Mo2vation, Headhunter
Time: 10:50AM
Bottom Time: 55 minutes
Max Depth: 22 stunning feet
Visibility at the Outer Reef: 20+ feet of niceness
[Vis at inner reef: 5 feet of spooky.]
Wave height: 1-2 feet, nothing really.
Temp at depth: 54F
Surface Temp: 57F
Tide information: Just past low tide.
Deco obligation: -5. The ocean actually expelled us 5 minutes early for insufficient nitrogen levels.

Refugio beach must have been 90F in the sun, while the water was 54F, and even 53F for a little at one point. While the hardier ReefCheckers had hit the beach around 8:15AM to start the surveys, sleep deprivation had me finally able to conjugate verbs correctly and assemble my gear around 9:45AM.
(The wind at the Gaviota campground was memorable. Wow. Sign at the ranger kiosk: "No refunds due to wind." OK....
Great place, though, and it was a fun afternoon/evening, hanging with so many friendly divers. Condos of too-Cute mud swallow nests; herons; frogs a'callin'; stars galore; and the wind was warm even though Reee-Lent-Less. )

(...some morning time passes....)

As we geared up in the Refugio parking lot, Ken, Christian and I saw the SMB of the survey teams about 100 meters down the beach. We walked as the sun sizzled.

We descended to get beneath the VERY THICK kelp bed inshore from the SMB, and entered a haunted-mansion-style reef ("...hurrrrry Baa-ack...."): Dark and misty (read: 5 foot viz), no sun penetrated the solid blanket of kelp overhead. Wacky surge swirled me into darkness, one hand up to ward off whatever solid object might be lurking in the darkness. I pulled myself between the kelp stipes and darting fish, along the rocks, only to have one rock be Jello-Squishy... ewww! The foot-long sea hare probably wasn't too thrilled to be squeezed, either, but it was a fast release. About 9 of its closest foot-long buddies were doing the Playboy Mansion Party in the rocks nearby, with masses of eggs everywhere!! Ken's wetnotes said it all: "Cue the '70s porno-movie music!" (Not that any of us would know that stuff...)

Finally, we stumbled out of the wacky dark-zone... and into rather clear blue water and some GREAT STRUCTURE!

The OUTER rocky reef at Refugio is pretty cool, made of flat rock formations tilted about 15-20 degrees off horizontal, away from the beach. The layers are pancaked, and the 1-2ft deep shelves under each ledge are PACKED with invertbrate life. Crazy-Mad-Wild PACKED. The brown Wart-necked Piddock and the pale speckled Scaleside Piddock (both boring clams with huge protruding siphons) are the most common. They were packed in everywhere, cheek-by-jowl. Corynactis, sponges, anemones, octopuses, nudibranchs, whelks and other gastropods filled the shadowed ledges. The tops and edges were carpeted in red and purple urchins. As in, "...where do I put my hand to prevent the surge from slamming me into this spiny barricade." YIKES! Hardly any kelp grows on this urchin barren, but the ruling invertebrate hordes make it a great dive. The ocean side of the rocks are carpeted in sea stars (Bat, Short-spined, and blue-nubby Great-spined.) More stars than I've ever seen together, anywhere.

Did someone say, "nudibranchs"? Oh good.... Glad you asked!
Doriopsilla albopunctata's were everywhere, about every 10 inches. The 'zilla 'tata's came in about 10 different shades of yellow or orange and were lovely.
The shadowed ledges were stuffed with Hiltons Aeolids (Phidiana hiltoni) sporting thick pink and brown cerrata, (remember that goofy 31-Flavors color-theme of yesteryear?) After seeing exactly one in over 400 SoCal dives, I enjoyed seeing at least 30 or 40 on this single reef.
Sea Lemons, Hermissendas, Navanax, Monterey Dorids, and a single FedEx rounded out the Nudi roll-call.

Most of the reef we explored was flat, tilted-table-shaped, perhaps 4 to 5 feet off the sandy bottom. But the outside west-end rose up higher around one pointy pinnacle, shooting up 20 feet off the bottom. 20-foot viz. Very nice! Cool looking ReefCheck transect line was a clear sign: "Scientific work in Progress." (I sooo missed the boat today...)

We all rolled out onto the baking beach for an al fresco lunch on picnic tables piled with gear. I love the smell of wet neoprene in the hot sun.

Second dive sucked as we decided to enter in front of the parking lot then follow the 22fsw contour line toward the reef to find its west end.

We found sand...
...crabs...
...little flatfish...
...more sand... (...what is this? Vet's?)
....and current that kept pushing us back.
Funniest moment?? A foot-long live sea-hare was literally rolling around on the sandy bottom in the surge. I went limp, rolled supine, and let the surge swing me.... we all needed a laugh! Ken was scribbling and pointed to the hare: "Musta misbehaved and gotten thrown outta the orgy!" We were desperate for fun. Dive Sucked. Called it a day as our psi sputtered down, my ears refused to clear after the second "pop-up-and-see-why-we-aren't-there-yet", and then the viz fell to yuck. Minute 33. Thumbs.

Thankfully, I was buddied with Mo2vation and Headhunter, who could have fun diving a padded room.. at least for the first 30 minutes. Thank you both for a great explore-and-find First dive, and a mercifully-short Second dive!

Sooo time to go home. Drove through 100F in Thousand Oaks, and home to 80F in the South Bay. Ahhhhhh.....

Not quite the sublime diving experience I had last weekend on the Great Escape for 3 days. 13 dives: Ship Rock, Farnsworth, 40-80 foot viz, 12+ hours U/W, 60-fsw avg... An awesome time. But that's another story.

Hey! Have you checked your reef lately?

Cheers,
Claudette

 

[SeaDana]

As always, Claudette, I love reading your recaps!!!

 

[Grey_Wulff]

Date: 04/06/06
Dive Location: Main Wall, La Jolla Shores
Time: 08:42
Bottom Time: 48 mins
Max Depth: 71ft
Vis: 5-10ft
Wave height: 2-3ft
Temp at depth: 63F
Surface Temp: 63F
Tide information: Approaching low tide
Gas mix: 21%
Comments: Real poor visibility made finding the Main Wall difficult. Lots of nudibranchs about, one very large halibut, a dead sheep crab and lots of baby flatfish. Real warm dive with constant temperature all the way down.

Date: 04/06/06
Dive Location: North Wall, La Jolla Shores
Time: 11:27
Bottom Time: 44 mins
Max Depth: 75ft
Vis: 10-15
Wave height: 2-4ft
Temp at depth: 54F
Surface Temp: 62F
Tide information: 1 hr after low tide
Gas mix: 21%
Comments: Cold water was rising from the canyon with the incoming tide creating a thermocline at 30ft. A chilly 54F at depth. Two huge bat rays ferreting around on the North Wall, accompanied by numerous sheephead all looking for a quick meal.

Grey_Wulff

 

[divinman]

Date: 06/05/06
Dive Location: South Wall of La Jolla
Buddy(ies): Janet and Coree
Time: 19:45
Bottom Time: 52 minutes
Max Depth: 63ft
Vis: 8-10
Swell height: 2-4ft, heavy surge in the canyon
Temp at depth: 54f
Surface Temp: 68f
Gas mix: 21%


Album: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/060506/

Well I still haven't gotten around to getting a sync cable for the 8080 so I took the old 4040/pt10 out of retirement last night. Man point and shoot is soooo much less to haul around and set up. The pictures aren't as good but I snapped a few anyway.

Terry

 

[Peter McGuinness]

Dive Location: La Jolla Shores
Buddy(ies): JAckie P
Time: 7:30pm
Bottom Time: 75mins
Max Depth: 55ft
Vis: varied up to 10ft or so.
Wave height: Well, that depended on where you got in!
Tide information: High

Comments:
The shores last night was an absolute riot of life! After entering in front of the lifeguard tower, reconsidering and then re-entering closer to Vallecitos, we dropped into some pretty milky water at 35ft. Vis wasn't great but there was just masses to see! We came across so much stuff in a tiny area, the dive plan got ignored and we just stayed close to where we dropped and eyeballed the incredible profusion.

We found a huge halibut, and then a sea mouse:

Then there was the usual crowd of H. Crassicornis but this time mobbing a clump of gooseneck barnacles:

and after that we found the LION NUDIBRANCH!!

it just went on and on...fringeheads, octos, D. Picta.... and in the shallows, Jackie charmed a brown shrimp into sitting on her arm and taking a ride!

What a dive - I can't wait to get back in!

remaining pictures are here:

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


Peter

 

[scottfiji]

Three of us did 2 dives last night at Redondo Canyon. I explored a new area, and found lots of cool critters! I'm always finding new stuff there, how exciting.

the facts: 90ft max depth, small waves, 1-2ft vis in the shallows, 54-66 degrees

photos:

octo, looking angry; we saw many large octopus on our dives!

Juvenile swell shark; we saw at least 10 swell sharks, wow! I never saw a juvie before
Isn't he a little cutie??

Longnose skate - my first skate sighting!

California sea slug, a relative of the sea hares. This species and sea hares are not nudibranchs.

Two crabs, right up against each other

plainfin midshipman; we saw two of these characters

pipefish, or "here's looking at you kid"

Dive buddies

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Great photos Scott!!!
It's amazing how much there is to see in no vis.

 

[riguerin]

Date: 6/9/2006
Dive Location: N. Crescent, Laguna Beach
Buddy(ies): glycerin
Time: 7:18 AM
Bottom Time: 66 min
Max Depth: 43 min
Vis: 8-12+ ft,
Wave height: 2-3ft
Temp at depth: 60F
Surface Temp: 65F
Tide information: Pushing - High Tide 9:07 AM, +3.36 feet
Gas mix: 21%
Comments :

Met Josh at Shaw's Cove this morning. This morning, we had classic eddy conditions topside; cloudy, foggy , S winds ... coupled with a light rain. The tide was filling in and there was evidence of some remnant S swell. Surf was approx 2 ft in the cove, with an occasional 3-4ft set that would sweep across the reef. The conditions looked diveable, albeit marginal. We decided to head to N. Crescent to seek a little more protection. Conditions at N. Crescent were only slightly better. We decided to take advantage of the window of opportunity and suited up.

We made our entrance through some 2-3ft shore pound unscathed and finned out to the drop area. We descended in approx 26 fsw. On the bottom, we encountered approx 3-4ft of surge and around 10ft of vis ... the bottom was getting churned up as the set waves began to shoal around the reef. We headed out toward deeper water before making turn toward the W. As we got out into deep water, the conditions improved slightly. There was still a pronounced but slightly reduced surge. We had a few pockets were vis improved to around 15 ft or so. We poked around the rocks trying to avoid collisions with the reef and each other.

As far as critters go, Crescent rarely disappoints. We got buzzed by a sea lion early in the dive, who didn't hang out for long; saw tons of octopi of various colors and sizes ... including one pair of adults who where entangled in a little lovers embrace until we came along and interrupted ; a really friendly Calif. moray ; and most of the other usual cast of reef characters.

After making the turn and reversing our tracks, we finished the dive by cruising over the sand toward the beach. Wow, the bottom was virtually unrecognizable due to all the sand that had been moved around from the past week of S ground swell. There were some fairly pronounced undulations in the bottom contour. As we got closer to the beach, we were treated by a pleasant surprise ... STING RAY CITY ! Screw Grand Cayman ... they're right here ... lots and lots of them !!!! There were about 5-6 large bat rays as well as several other smaller varieties (couldn't make out the species). Every time we'd move forward a few feet, they'd move forward just out of visibility ... leaving us in a cloud of silt. We nudged forward ... they nudged forward ... and so on .. and so on. This little little cat and mouse game continued for the last 10 minutes of the dive. We finally surfaced in approx 15 fsw, just outside the surf line. The exit was uneventful for the most part, except for a brief few seconds where I was caught in a little rip after removing my fins ... no biggie. There were some nice little surfable waves breaking in the middle of the bay on the walk back.

Overall, and fun dive despite less than ideal conditions. Thanks Josh.

 

[Jake]

Date: 6/9/2006
Dive Location: Shaw's Cove
Buddy(ies): better half
Time: 16:48
Bottom Time: 45 min
Max Depth: 47 fsw
Vis: 8-12 shallow, 5-8 deeper
Wave height: 1-3ft
Temp at depth: 65 shallow, 59 deeper (don't forget that hood!)
Comments :

GF hadn't been out in a while and wanted to dive Shaw's for familiarity. We basically had a very similar experience to riguerin. Conditions deteriorated rapidly the further out we got, as well as colder. Surge was heavy, especially closer to shore and particularly near the crevice; man was water shooting out of there!

At about 45 fsw or so, we really couldn't make out the reef anymore, so we decided to turn and head back in early. Once viz got a little better, we headed east towards the other reef and ended up playing in the sand between about 12-20 fsw. Lots of really big hills from the recent swell, which was actually kind of neat to look at. Saw a number of juvenile bat rays and some monster halibut (or is that halibut(s)?).

In any event, it was diveable, but not all that fun. If anyone heads out this weekend and conditions are marginal near shore, I'm betting that they'll be worse further out. The current is moving pretty rapidly around the end of the reef.

In any event, I think tomorrow morning should see a minor pause in the south swell before starting to build again in the afternoon. Maybe I'll try Marineland for the second time....