Recap:
Saturdays dives were quite the mix. Very nice day, right cove was filled with classes, so we opted to dive the left.
Dive 1: Left cove. Buddied up with v_1matst; ScubaBruce, Windminstrel and Neckbone were the second group. Plan to descend to bottom, meet up and explore the right side wall. Well, with 0-1 vis, anyone beyond arm length was basically gone, so after waiting on the bottom for a couple of minutes and no sign of the others, v_1matst and I started our dive by Braille. Lots of particulates in the water, so it was like diving in a snow storm. Saw a horseshoe crab, starfish and a small flounder. Had to call the dive after 25 minutes, as my mask was continuously leaking. The dive flag getting wound around the lobster buoy didnt help matters, either.
Dive 2: Left cove, 2 groups. v_1matst and I would explore the right wall up to the point, then return the same way or go around the point to the other cove, depending on air. The others were going to check out the left wall. Vis was much better at the start, ranging up to probably 8 feet. Saw some starfish, a fluke, and a nice cluster of squid eggs, anchored to the bottom. Hit about 50 feet, temp at 57F.
Then, just like that, vis dropped to almost zero. Apparently, the mouth of the cove was holding all the really bad vis water, and waited for us to swim right into it. We surfaced and made our way over a small rock island at the point and explored the shallows surrounding it. We both had 1600 psi, so waste not, want not. Water was only about 8-10 feet deep, and a little surgy when we started, but the water was nice and clear, and we found a field of starfish, and a huge grouping of spider crabs. Plus tons of small fish. Not sure what they were.
However, as we made our way to east side of the island, the surge and wave action got crazy! Waves were getting big enough to almost break over our heads at the surface, so we decided to surface swim back to the wall, and make out way back to the entrance beach. Easier said than done. With the wave action, and the wind, for every minute of kicking, it seemed that we only made 10 feet of progress. And the one attempt at diving back down to escape the waves didnt work, as we were still in a shallow area, so we were just getting tossed around like everything else in the water. I think I burned off 200 psi just fighting to get down, so we quickly abandoned that idea. Did manage to notice a moon jelly and the tons of comb jellies. Anyway, after 15 minutes of fighting the forces of nature, we managed to reach the protected area of the cove, and were able to dive back down and made good progress back to the starting point. Needless to say, we were both wiped out. Need to get back on the cardio workouts.
Anyway, a good time had by all, despite the various hiccups that we suffered.
