I had a couple of friends from Texas along, who were happy to sit on the beach and watch our stuff and assist with the exit, which was nice. No chance of getting them in the water though... someone told them it was cold.
Gary and I made our entry as the sun was setting, and brought a bag and stick just in case. I made a few good grabs in the half hour window we had, but none of the bugs were quite big enough. I also found it more difficult at night, with a lobster in my right hand, secondary light in my left hand, and a slim chance of either banding a lobster in the dark with my left hand, or banding a lobster in the light with... well, The Force, I guess. I think either ambient light or a more coordinated effort might be best for now.
Okay, I know some of you are probably wondering about the "secondary light" thing. Without getting into specifics, I'll just say that despite a pre-dive check, my primary ran out of electricity fast as a result of user-error. Lesson of the dive: When you take the old batteries out, throw them away before trying to put the new ones in. :blush:
We saw both a winter skate and two torpedo rays, and they're definately slightly different. In addition to the spines and foreshortened tail on the rays, I think they lacked the pair of oscillated spots the winter skate had.
The fin straps were incredible, and I highly recommend them for everyone. Much easier to put on and take off, and while secure they were so comfortable I hardly noticed them.
It was Gary's first night dive, so I'll look forward to him posting a followup as well. Looks like we'll be going again after work tomorrow if anyone is interested!
