scuba_luv
Registered
High tide at 7am, we drive up just before 7. I dove with Android (aka Dear Husband 
)The walk out to the jetties area was not bad, even with all our gear. We had to wade through all the snorkelers, though, to get deep enough to dive.
We finally got under the water and saw we had great vis (~30 ft) and lots of fish. We went down to about 30ft and saw a flounder, a crab, two toadfish, plenty of nice rocks. We saw a very healthy community of hermit crabs crawling around, too. Very little current, even out a little farther.
Then I see these four fish behaving very strangely. None was bigger than about 4 inches and they see to be trying to swim away from each other, but keep getting jerked back together. I swam closer and they began to flee (they were small fish, so they weren't able to flee very fast). Then I realize they are all attached together with monofilament fishing line. There's also a bit of the fishing line trailing beside me, so I grab it and reel them in.
Well, they fight a little, as fish on a line will do, but I get them close enough to realize all it will take is a few swipes with my dive knife to set them free. I cut loose the guy on the right, then the guy on the far left. The middle two are pretty tangled, but another swipe with the knife in the right place sets the third fish free. Then I just have to hold the little fish that's left in my right hand, work the hook out of it's mouth with my other, and voila - he's free! I've just freed four fish from a bait rig 30ft down! Stuffed the bait rig in my BC pocket and go on diving.
We stayed down another 15 mins or so, just watching all the sealife.
Saw another group go by and one diver sends his fin crashing down on a rock that just barely shelters a toadfish. We tried to stay out of their way. We didn't let them bother us though - the day was too fine.
After we finally came up (40 min dive) we got to shallow water but instead of walking we floated around the curve of the beach until we absolutely had to get out of the water and walk back to the car. It was a great start to our vacation.
Sad that a little more than a week after we dove the area Dennis came through and rearranged the beach.
I want to thank SeaYoda and Superbugman for their most excellent advice. We wouldn't have had the chance to dive here if it weren't for their information. Thanks guys!
~Kelley
)The walk out to the jetties area was not bad, even with all our gear. We had to wade through all the snorkelers, though, to get deep enough to dive. We finally got under the water and saw we had great vis (~30 ft) and lots of fish. We went down to about 30ft and saw a flounder, a crab, two toadfish, plenty of nice rocks. We saw a very healthy community of hermit crabs crawling around, too. Very little current, even out a little farther.
Then I see these four fish behaving very strangely. None was bigger than about 4 inches and they see to be trying to swim away from each other, but keep getting jerked back together. I swam closer and they began to flee (they were small fish, so they weren't able to flee very fast). Then I realize they are all attached together with monofilament fishing line. There's also a bit of the fishing line trailing beside me, so I grab it and reel them in.
Well, they fight a little, as fish on a line will do, but I get them close enough to realize all it will take is a few swipes with my dive knife to set them free. I cut loose the guy on the right, then the guy on the far left. The middle two are pretty tangled, but another swipe with the knife in the right place sets the third fish free. Then I just have to hold the little fish that's left in my right hand, work the hook out of it's mouth with my other, and voila - he's free! I've just freed four fish from a bait rig 30ft down! Stuffed the bait rig in my BC pocket and go on diving.
We stayed down another 15 mins or so, just watching all the sealife.
Saw another group go by and one diver sends his fin crashing down on a rock that just barely shelters a toadfish. We tried to stay out of their way. We didn't let them bother us though - the day was too fine.
After we finally came up (40 min dive) we got to shallow water but instead of walking we floated around the curve of the beach until we absolutely had to get out of the water and walk back to the car. It was a great start to our vacation.
Sad that a little more than a week after we dove the area Dennis came through and rearranged the beach.
I want to thank SeaYoda and Superbugman for their most excellent advice. We wouldn't have had the chance to dive here if it weren't for their information. Thanks guys!
~Kelley
