Thanks for coming out and sharing a great dive day with us Kenn
Did two dives at Lobos with the first being Great Pinnacles and the second at Thumbs Up. When we got to Lobos the water was flat and there were no waves crashing over the rocks. In fact we could not really see or feel the swells on the ocean. Phil Sammet was just finishing a tech dive, and pulled his anchor to let us anchor in the sand channel. Set the anchor by hand in 96 feet of water and headed up to start the dive. We stayed around 80 feet for 40 minutes taking in the beautiful hydro corals and spotted Victor the resident Sheepshead. He is massive! After surfacing and packing two sets of doubles and a couple single tanks in the boat, we squeezed ourselves into the boat and headed South for a scenic cruise. We kept watching out towards the ocean side for whales but were disappointed to not find any. Instead we came across a pod of about 40 Risso dolphins jumping and playing all around us. They were surfacing really close to the boat. All of us enjoyed the show.
After a long SI, we headed to Thumbs Up dropped the hook in 60' which I wound up tossing over the edge into probably 100' of water. After a little confusion of who was actually leading (Seems our discussion at the surface was more finger pointing then actually agreeing) I just started poking along the wall and everyone followed. We were shortly visited by a couple of Sea Lions, with one coming within two feet of me. We watched a nice size Vermillion get chased away by a pregnant rock fish. Then saw a couple Ling Cod, and a Cabazon. Tons of Blue, Perch, and other fish just hanging out in the water column. Kenn, slowly waving his light at me to gain my attention, signals me to turn due to air pressure. Instead I show the ascend some signal and we kick about another 40 feet until I find a cut in the rock to pass through. Once through, the anchor line is about ten feet to our left and we begin ascending up the line.
Once we are back in the boat we decide to take a tour again this time to Monastery. It is an easy boat ride over and Monastery was easily divable from shore. In the kelp a short distance away one of the crew spots an Otter. We ran the depth sounder over the trench a few times then headed back where, the mother and baby Otter were also waiting at the boat ramp for our return.
Got everything washed down, packed away for the ride home, and after a quick bite to eat on Cannery Rows cheapest burrito place, started the long journey.
I couldn't have asked for a nicer day or group of divers to spend the day with.
