Catalina 8/2 and 8/9

[drbill]

Shudder... "shooting" giant sea bass. Tee hee. We've had a noticeable drop in giant sea bass sightings at Casino Point the past few weeks. My guess is that they have paired off and are seeking privacy for their trysts since most of the ones seen earlier were transiting through the park on their way to somewhere else. Warm water episodes like this often drive them down to deeper depths. A few years ago when I filmed them for Japan's public TV station (NHK) we were seeing them at 90-100 fsw in September.

 

[fnfalman]

This is the first time in seven years that I haven't seen a giant black seabass yet, but then this is the first time in seven years that I haven't gone diving as regularly as I have been either.

 

[Leejnd]

Well considering I usually seem to be some sort of GSB repellent, we may not see any at all. But if we do, I assure you the only "shooting" we will be doing will involve strobe flashes!

 

[SKMoss]

LeeAnne,

Please let us know how it goes. The WAVES Project has a special trip planned next weekend.

 

[Leejnd]

It was great! We visited three sites - Goat Harbor, Isthmus Reef, and Crane Base. Sadly my buddy and I were the only two on the boat who didn't see any GSBs...had we gone down the slope at Goat Harbor about 20 more feet we would have seen them. And the vis was rather spotty...the warm temps killing off the kelp is leaving lots of decaying kelp detritus floating around.

But it was still a great day diving.

Water temps were widely varying! At Goat Harbor the water was a toasty 68-70 degrees. Isthmus caught us by surprise -- thermoclines everywhere, dropping down to as low as 54 degrees (brrr! At that point I was sure missing my hood). Crane was kinda in the middle -- 63 to 67.

I'll post some photos in a new thread.