JUN 05 Dive Reports

[Peter McGuinness]

He shall remain nameless, but for the crowd's sake, it was not Peter. It was someone with hotter avatars.

Christian

Definitely not me: my diving is best described as 'unhurried' I chose my avatar as a pyjama slug for a good reason.

Peter

 

[scottfiji]

Date: 04 Jun 2005
Dive Location: Palawan Wreck Santa Monica Bay
Date: 04 Jun 2005
Dive Location: Avalon Wreck Santa Monica Bay
Time: 9:51 a.m.
Bottom Time: 30:40

Red tide in full bloom.

Bernard and I were on the boat with Melvin, great vis on both dives. I didn't want to dive the palawan, but I did anyways, which I will never do again (do a dive I didn't want to that is) - a diver should never do a dive they are not 100% prepared for.

Saw a few small fish on the palawan, the Avalon was much better. Large schools of rubberlip perch and other fish were around the bow, there were lingcod, cabezon, and a huge plainfin midshipman. We followed the anchor line back up and had a nice safety stop in red tide soup.

Melvin, chris - it was nice having lunch with both of you afterwards!

photographs:
http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/Palawan20050604

Scott

 

[Diver_Jan]

Sunday Night, June 5th 7:15pm

Woods Cove, Laguna Beach

Suft: 1-2'

Swell: moderate

Surge: moderate to heavy ~nausiating at times

Temp: Toasty 64' Suunto

Viz: 10-15' Pretty darn nice!

Met up with Jennifer and Brian this evening. Since it was going to be high tide, we made our way over to Woods. From the top of the stairs, it looked doable. To make sure, we made our journey down the multitude of steps. Viz looked great with minimal surf. Quite a few people out and about on the beach. Many photographers taking 'Engagement' pics. Hmmm...I hope someone has told those poor folks PRENUP! Ok...back to my report. Entered the water without incident. Dropped down and immediately starting searching the cracks, crevices, over hangs, walls, and everything in between. Spotted many beautiful JV Girabaldi's with their brilliant blue spots; 4 2-spotted Octopuss; a horn shark; a JV Lingcod; a Moray Eel; Tree Fish; Rock Wrasse; Kelp Fish; Opal Eye; Surf Perch; Blacksmith; tons of HUGE Bugs; cleaner shrimp; spindle stars; a small bat ray; lots of purple sea urchins; boa kelp too.

Surge was a big part of our dive. Lots of it. All three of us were a little nausiated for a bit, but overcame it but making our way into not so surgy areas. Lots of eel grass. I think seeing in swish back and forth adds to the nausea.

Even with the heavy surge, we had a great dive. I can't believe that water temps have improved in such a short time. I was plenty warm enough tonight in my 7mm. Hmmm..Is it too late to cancel my order for my drysuit??? LOL

 

[Mo2vation]

Bernard and I were on the boat with Melvin, great vis on both dives. I didn't want to dive the palawan, but I did anyways, which I will never do again (do a dive I didn't want to that is) - a diver should never do a dive they are not 100% prepared for.

Saw a few small fish on the palawan, the Avalon was much better. Large schools of rubberlip perch and other fish were around the bow, there were lingcod, cabezon, and a huge plainfin midshipman. We followed the anchor line back up and had a nice safety stop in red tide soup.

Melvin, chris - it was nice having lunch with both of you afterwards!

photographs:
http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/Palawan20050604

Scott

I've been invited a couple of times to go with some people on this dive, but timing hasn't worked out. Was it the site, or just a thing?

Thanks!

K

 

[scottfiji]

I've been invited a couple of times to go with some people on this dive, but timing hasn't worked out. Was it the site, or just a thing?

Thanks!

K

Hey Ken
I had dove the site once before off that boat with nitrox, an extra 19cubic foot bottle, and a buddy I've dove with many times before, and a written dive plan. Since I had no advance notice the other people on the boat wanted to do the dive, I brought none of those with me. I just think for me, personally, if someone does not feel 100% about doing a dive, they shouldn't do it, they should go with their gut feeling. I did the dive anyways, and it was my decision, but in retrospect I think people should go with their gut feeling instead of peer pressure. Did that answer your question?

 

[Mo2vation]

Hey Ken
I had dove the site once before off that boat with nitrox, an extra 19cubic foot bottle, and a buddy I've dove with many times before, and a written dive plan. Since I had no advance notice the other people on the boat wanted to do the dive, I brought none of those with me. I just think for me, personally, if someone does not feel 100% about doing a dive, they shouldn't do it, they should go with their gut feeling. I did the dive anyways, and it was my decision, but in retrospect I think people should go with their gut feeling instead of peer pressure. Did that answer your question?

Never need a reason - I'm with you on that 100%. I just wasn't sure if the site was a dog or if there was a thing.

Thanks

Ken

 

[SNOBORDJON]

Date: June 04, 2005
Dive Location: Crystal Cove
Time: 8:29 a.m.
Bottom Time: 66:20
Max Depth: 46
Vis: 5-15’
Wave height: 1-2 ft
Temp at depth: 63 Suunto Degrees
Surface Temp: 64 Suunto Degrees
Gas mix: Air (21%)

Comments:
First dive at Crystal Cove. Met up with J. Bird (snobordjon), Kara (Eyasha), Thomas (scubainspired), J. McCabe, and Steve (stoddu).
The viz was around 5-15'. The surge was not too bad, maybe 1-2’ in some spots.
It wasn’t low tide, so we tried an entry closer to the rock 'island'. John said there were some rocks, but didn't mention the boulders that got in the way. After most of us ran into some rocks we finally made it to deeper waters and swam to a little beyond the rock 'island'. On the way out, I spotted a dorsal fin that turned out to be a dolphin about 15-20 yards from us. Saw it a few more times then it was gone, heading north. We dropped down onto some rock structure and made sure everyone was OK in about 17-20'. J. Bird led the dive with the rest of us behind. John was going at a nice clip, then finally realized that we wanted to actually investigate the structure and not race to see who runs out of air first . Once we started exploring you could see a ton of sheephead, sand bass, garibaldi, 1 large crab (sheep crab?) and a few bugs. The rock structure is very nice with many areas to explore. Kara spotted a small jelly which is the first I have seen in SoCal (very cool). Thomas and Steve decided to head back so the rest of us continued to explore. Kara also spotted a nice Spanish Shawl. You could feel the water get cooler around 35’ or so. John and Kara spotted a ray. John signaled that he was low on air, so we made our safety stop and surfaced a little further away from the shore than I wanted, but it made for a relaxing swim to shore.

Nice report Phil,
The only thing I want to add to the report is that if you like sheephead, this is the place to go! I think I will, from now on, dub the area...Sheephead Cove. or maybe Boulder entrance cove.
Its also important to add that it was quite overcast and dark out. The dive site would have been even better, and more colorful if you mix in a little sunlight!

John

 

[Stryker]

Dive #1
Date: 6JUN05
Dive Location: Heisler Park, Laguna
Time: 5:10PM
Bottom Time: 75 minutes
Max Depth: 38
Vis: 10-12
Wave height: 1-3ft
Temp at depth: 64 Degrees Suunto
Surface Temp: 64 degrees Suunto

Comments:
Despite conditions being sub par, this was my first time at Heisler and I have to say that those of you who are coming to the Wrinkles dive, you will not be disappointed.... The waves were a little rough on the way out, but once underwater, there very little surge and lots to see.... Saw a couple octos, and MANY large bass.... Saw a small nudibranch that I have no idea what its called.... Then showed Missy P her first Moray.... overall was a really great dive...

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Dive #2
Date: 6JUN05
Dive Location: Heisler Park
Time: 8:53PM
Bottom Time: 74 Minutes
Max Depth: 41
Vis: 10-12
Wave height: 1-3ft
Temp at depth: 62 degrees
Surface Temp: 64 degrees

Comments:
Was an easy entry.... ended up being a pretty good dive... watched an octo start to snack on a brittle star.... Saw a couple of thornback rays.... Missy found a dollar.... what a place to find money eh? After about 10 minutes of looking, ran into the Moray again.... Since it was dark he was a little more willing to come out of his hole, but not all the way... All I can say is, I cant wait for the wrinkles dive..... I am hooked on heisler...

 

[MissyP]

Dive #1
Dive Location: Heisler Park, Laguna
Wave height: 1-3ft
Temp at depth: 64 Degrees Suunto

..showed Missy P her first Moray.... overall was a really great dive...
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Dive #2

Dive Location: Heisler Park
Time: 8:53PM
Bottom Time: 74 Minutes

Missy found a dollar.... what a place to find money eh? After about 10 minutes of looking, ran into the Moray again.... Since it was dark he was a little more willing to come out of his hole...

Loved the Moray- nice way to 'celebrate' my 50th & 51st dives
1-3 ft waves...ha! I'm still rinsing the sand out of my gear after our tumble in the surf... Pretty good bioluminescence too - we were glowing everytime we'd move... Tons of garabaldi, kelp bass, spotted & barred sand bass, rockfish, blacksmith, sheephead, sardines, zebra perch, rockpool blennies, painted greenlings, etc..

I was disappointed with the vis & the surge in some areas, but finding a dollar down there was pretty cool.. That's 1/3 of an airfill

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I arrived about 30 minutes before Jeff Shaw did, just in time to catch the last of the whitecaps and to catch a whiff of the red tide. Yuck. We each stayed dry. :-(
These images are unedited. This is really how bad it looks tonight.