La Jolla Shores - AM dive, Saturday June 18th
Info:
Warm morning with no wind and overcast skies
0.0 low tide on a 1.8 knot ebb.
1-2 breakers with an occasional 3 for variety
North running long shore current on the back side of, and in the surf zone
Very strong west running current into the canyon at depth
Visibility was a decent 10-15 in the canyon and 8-10 in the shallows
Sea surface temperature was 68 degrees
Bottom temperature is unknown (sorry, dry suit diver..forgot to check)
Max depth 87
Total bottom time 34 minutes, with full credit for the short bottom going to the current
Photos:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v116/krowsea/LJS 06-17-06/
(Fish I.D. needed. Please check out #s 29 and 30 and let me know if you what this is)
The Report:
Terry and I met up in a quickly filling up LJS parking lot for a quick dip in the pond. With gear on and trucks locked, we trudged our way over the freshly raked sand towards the ocean far off in the distance. An early morning low tide meant we had plenty of time to chat it up before hitting the water. Terry asked me if I had any preference for a dive destination this morning. Answering with an affirmative out that way (pointing west), down deep, underwater somewhere. With our dive plan now firmly established, we finally hit water and headed out.
The low tide meant we would hit the surf line out where it likes to play, rather than closer where divers can quickly walk past. The waves taunted us with curling foam fingers, but Terry and I, being the smart fellers we are, simply paced our entry. Moving forward during every lull, we were passed the surf without incident and surface swimming towards our drop spot. We dropped in well passed the orange buoy but not yet lined up with the end of the pier, pretty much in front of the lifeguard tower. We were hoping for 35 of depth, the ocean handed us 24.
Taking what was offered, we stuck to our dive plan, heading west and deeper. Terry spotted a Purple Globe Crab, so our photo shoots started early. Entering the canyon, we came across what I thing was a (Bat?) Ray skeleton. Terry took photos, but the distance needed to capture the image was too far for my internally flashed Olympus, so I moved on. We wandered around the slopes at depth fairly aimlessly, like a drunk at 2:00AM looking for his car in an unfamiliar parking lot. Unlike the drunk, we were having fun.
D. Iriss were out in force and littered the bottom singly and in various group sizes. We also came across a maternity ward of Iriss. It was a mass of egg laying D Iriss , all rolled into an orgy pileup of tremendous proportions. Miniature alcohol bottles and broken promises littered the ground around them. If Caligula fell to the fate of Karma, he came back as a D. Iris and was in that pile somewhere. Moving slightly upslope, we found numerous Octopus in a wide variety of sizes, a cute little Cone Snail with its mantle showing (blush), and a pair of Erileptus Spinosus hanging out on the detritus.
Hanging out at around 60 I (eventually) spotted a fish I hadnt seen before, and couldnt identify in the Coastal Fish book or Divebums I.D. when I got home. It was buried in the sand and flushed out as I approached to take a picture of something else. It only moved a few feet away, then stayed put as I snapped a couple of pictures. It was approximately a foot long, with a steeply sloped forehead, red eyes, and a short body-length dorsal fin culminating into a stubbed rounded tail. Its skin looked more snake-like, but it wasnt a Lizardfish and didnt appear to be any kind of Kelpfish or Greenling. Your help with identification would be greatly appreciated.
As we continued upslope, I noticed we werent making any progress. Trying to move upslope, I found myself moving deeper rather than shallower, with serious fin kicking keeping us in place, but only minimally moving us forward. Terry and I think the current was about 1 knot flowing down into the canyon, but it felt like 5 knots. We eventually made it up to 40, tired and using up way too much air. Even working along the slope towards the south in an attempt to get passed the current didnt help. Anything other than a full frontal assault took you back deeper and deeper. Lacking ice picks or anything else needed to claw our way out of the canyon, we eventually threw in the towel after arriving at 40 for the third time.
We had a nice, currentless safety stop at 15, surfacing to a calm ocean with no current and minimal swells. As we neared the surf line, the North running current picked up, trying to take us into the surfers, who were out in force this morning. We ended up kicking south/east to maintain an east course towards the beach. The low tide afforded us an early purchase for our feet, enabling us to remove our fins and timing our entry to avoid the surf, making the finale quit uneventful. It was a wonderful morning of diving, despite the current.
John A.
