FrankPro1
Contributor
Excellent dive at Long Point today. A few days earlier I went for a kayak/free dive session from Marineland to Neptune's Cove. Conditions then were stellar and today was no different. We decided to not even scope conditions first. We just suited up and headed down the trail to the point. Conditions were flat as could be and entry was easy. As soon as we kicked out I noticed really how good conditions were. Right outside the kelp line in 30+ feet of water we could see fish darting back and forth over the reef at the bottom. My ear was still giving me some issues, so we decided to descend closer in at a depth of 40ft, then kick out to find the pinnacles. Visibility was patchy at depth ranging from 15-25ft. We past some unfamiliar reef sections, settling down at a series of large boulders in 65ft of water. Here we found various types of Rockfish, Sheephead and the other normal reef suspects. Nudibranchs sightings included Spanish Shawl, Hermissenda crassicornis, Hopkins Rose, Yellow Dorid, Yellow Spotted Cadlinas, Limbaugh's Cadlina, Diaulula nobilis, White Spotted Porostome and San Diego Dorids. Quite a Nudi festival! We then descended alittle farther down to another reef and soon lost track of the time taking photos of various nudi's and reef life. Charlie was also enjoying taking stills this dive because he finally chose to take my old Olympus out. After reviewing his shots it seems he has an impressive eye at composing stills. His results were some of the best I've seen out of my old Oly 3mp camera and this is his first time using a camera underwater! Before we knew it, we were reaching close to our NDL's, so we decided to ascend upwards into the 50ft zone. Here we found a very large pinnacle which I've never seen before. I soon found a photo friendly Tree fish and began snapping shots. It seemed like only a minute before I felt a hand grab my shoulder. Charlie was there big eyed and gesturing me to follow him around the corner of the pinnacle. As we rounded the one side of the pinnacle my eyes settled on something which I've searched for at Long Point for quite a while. It was the Lady of the Garden! The famed statue which Phil Garner placed there. I cheered through my regulator and felt a wave of happiness go over me. I've finally seen her with my own eyes! Finding the statue may not be much for most divers, but during my transition from Free diver to scuba diver, I've always seen pictures and heard stories of her. One of my goals after getting certified was to find her. Well it only took about a year, but I finally saw her. I can see why Phil placed her at the side of this pinnacle. I've seen alot of different reef structure at Long Point, but the pinnacle at her location is fantastic. Completely blanketed with various Club tipped anemones and squirming with gobies. Lots of nudis and rockfish also claim the pinnacle as home. Again we were reaching close to our NDL's so we ascended up to the 30ft zone. After a few minutes I only had 700psi left in my tank and we decided to head in "Charlie with his behemoth Steel 120 had over 1400psi left". On our way back to shore I got dangerously close to empty "250psi", so Charlie offered me his reg and we made a short swim into the shallows. After a buddy breathing ascent we reached the surface and we surprised a group of kayakers heading around the bend. By far this was the best Long Point dive I've had to date. I hope there will be many more like it in the future.
Here are some pics from today:
Here are some pics from today:
