Chocolate Lobster Dive 25Sep04

[PhotoTJ]

It was yesterday, Ana. Yep I did it.

 

[JDog]

DIW - Doing It Wrong
Chocolate lobster dive mayhem.
The horn sounds and we are off in search of lobsters!
5 seconds after dropping down to the bottom dive buddy is now lost, I can see maybe a foot or 2 sometimes,after a few minutes we surface meet up go down. Now I am REALLY trying to stay with my buddy and this time it takes about a minute and then, gone AGAIN. Great, what do you do well I'm 15 feet of water there are 300 other people in the water and now, this is no BS I am holding my compass 6 inches from my mask and sometimes I still can't read it, but I am trying to hang in there, and find one of these things, I don't want to get skunked AGAIN. I am determined, I am feeling a little weird, oh crap I am now getting seasick- you have GOT to be kidding. I try to put in on the back burner- but no go, I can't see anything I am pawing the sand like an idiot looking for a plastic encased chocolte lobster, am now I want to puke. Time to call the dive. What a loser! Another year and still no lobster.

On the other hand it was a great day, I like doing the fundraising thing and helping out the Aquarium. It was a perfect day of sun and fun with a little breeze to boot. And I met up with Xanthro and his wife we laughed about the great vis and we are thinking of new plan of attack for next year.
They say the 3rd time is a charm, and I plan on being there.

 

[jengineer]

Well i am glad the divers took my advice and came with a good attitude. When we got there we fouind out that one of the police authorities had planetd the lobsters the night before at 1700 (5pm) from a boat. We were told they went all the way out the the edge of the rock jetty wall and in line with the side of the concrete lifeguard/ranger station. I am thinking woohh, that is farther out than we have ever planted. In years past we tend to not go as far out as the end of the wall and we plant midway between the start of the parkling lot and the ranger station. I am thinking humm lobsters far and wide I think more folks will get skunked.

So here I am swimming, swimming, swimming, why the heck didn't I bring the scooter?? We set the floats according to the coordinateds we were told, Hey this is farthr out than we have ever been. Is sure hope no-one come out this far cause there are no lobsters at the anchor points! I swim back in one hand on the compass and one hand slightly dragging in fromnt of me feeling the ridges in the sand. Hey if they are 90 degreees and I have to vent the BC/dry suit every 5 minutes I must be getting shallower. I run across lobster 25 yellow (hey did anyone get that one?). I was extremely tempted to pocket it, I think I should have.

When we were pulling in the floats the viz was staring to clear up to maybe 6 feet. I still saw no losters though.

Yeah I will probably do it again next year. Maybe they will let us make the serach area slightly smaller

je

 

[jetfixer]

DIW - Doing It Wrong
Chocolate lobster dive mayhem.
The horn sounds and we are off in search of lobsters!
5 seconds after dropping down to the bottom dive buddy is now lost, I can see maybe a foot or 2 sometimes,after a few minutes we surface meet up go down. Now I am REALLY trying to stay with my buddy and this time it takes about a minute and then, gone AGAIN. Great, what do you do well I'm 15 feet of water there are 300 other people in the water and now, this is no BS I am holding my compass 6 inches from my mask and sometimes I still can't read it, but I am trying to hang in there, and find one of these things, I don't want to get skunked AGAIN. I am determined, I am feeling a little weird, oh crap I am now getting seasick- you have GOT to be kidding. I try to put in on the back burner- but no go, I can't see anything I am pawing the sand like an idiot looking for a plastic encased chocolte lobster, am now I want to puke. Time to call the dive. What a loser! Another year and still no lobster.

On the other hand it was a great day, I like doing the fundraising thing and helping out the Aquarium. It was a perfect day of sun and fun with a little breeze to boot. And I met up with Xanthro and his wife we laughed about the great vis and we are thinking of new plan of attack for next year.
They say the 3rd time is a charm, and I plan on being there.

What a great day! Weather was awesome and so was meeting all the other fellow chocolate lobster hunters. I was thinking this was going to be the easiest dive ever and as it turned out, one of the toughest. But what a great no visibilty excersize. This was my first year and unlike my divebuddy J-dog (which I lost immediatley) I was lucky enough to happen across one of the delicious creatures while doing my impression of a flatfish. Mask in the sand, arms extended doing sweeping motions. Warding off seasickness and vertigo and the panic of trying to find one of these famously elusive creatures. I WILL NOT GO BACK TO THE BEACH EMPTY HANDED!!

I would like to thank all of the volunteers that make this event such a success. It is a very organized and fun event and all of the proceeds go to a great cause. We did tour the aquarium after the festivities and enjoyed it very much. Nice to meet you Daniel (Xanthro) and where is the snakedr????? Now, back to devising the plan of attack for next year..........scooters-check.....night vision goggles to spy on the salters-check.........