Looking to do Friday night beach dives in Malibu

[weiland]

Leeanne - keep us posted - I'm definitely in. It's been a while since I've done a night dive.

greg

 

[Leejnd]

Well those extended forecasts sure do change! It's now showing sunny for all of next weekend. YAY! I'll keep watching, and hopefully this weather report will stick.

Greg, so glad to see you here! I'd love it if you showed up on Friday! I miss diving with you.

 

[geoff w]

Geoff - thanks for being our spotter! Sorry you can't dive with us on the 6th - that is, if we end up diving. We'll wait for more info...

I will be around on the 6th if diving happens, not leaving now until Saturday AM, so I'll be able to get wet and blow bubbles underwater

This afternoon the waves were still decent size, but not many surfers parked on my street. It was blowing pretty good this afternoon - plenty of whitecaps. Diveable, but not looking like an easy entry through the surf right now, and nothing near 45 ft viz. I'll have a better update tomorrow afternoon

 

[Leejnd]

Well it looks like I'm going to have to blow off this Friday. My daughter has to have oral surgery on Friday morning, so I'll have to be home to care for her that night. Sounds like it's unlikely that it'll clear up by then anyway, if the waves are still looking so big - but of course you never know what might happen. We've all seen it go from huge surf one day to ankle-slappers the next, right?

Anyway, let's push it out a couple of weeks (as I'm going to be out of town next weekend.

So now we're looking at April 20 for our first Malibu Friday Night Dive. I'll post more details as we get closer - map to the location, tide chart etc.

 

[geoff w]

This morning started with slight Santa Anas, but wind calmed down now. Big Dume cove had no waves when the dog and I walked around the block. Too early to tell now, since lots of whitecaps yesterday afternoon, but today looks like it might be decent diving later. Anyone still considering it?

 

[Leejnd]

Damn! I'd love to go, but my poor daughter just had her wisdom teeth out and she is in a lot of pain. I'm going to have to stay home to take care of her.

I hope some of you do go diving tonight! I would absolutely be there if I could. Fortunately I WILL get some diving in this weekend - we're going out on Peace on Sunday. Can't wait!

So hey, I'm still hoping for April 20. I heard from Vince (Vcblklion) that he can't make it that night , but is anyone else up for it? I'm bringing the post-dive beer!


---------- Post added April 6th, 2012 at 04:03 PM ----------

Well I got a call from Peace - cancelled for Sunday, not enough divers. And apparently none of the other local (Ventura) dive boats are going out on Easter Sunday. Fortunately I was able to snag a couple of spots on the Raptor for tomorrow - two dives on the East side of Anacapa, at common GSB hang-outs. I'm grateful I'm going to at least be able to get wet this weekend! And with my new fish-eye lens, I'm hoping I'll be able to capture a few decent shots of those beautiful behemoths.

Anyway, I would love to hear if y'all are still interested in April 20! If the free beer isn't enticing enough...howzabout homemade chocolate chip cookies? :blinking: I know it's a couple weeks out, but I just wanted to make sure we have some interest. If we can drum up enough, I'll try to make this a regular Fri thang.

 

[DeerCreekers]

You had me at "free beer".....cookies are just a bonus. Just got back into town from 8 days of Cozumel and cenotes so the home waters sure will feel cold.

 

[Leejnd]

You had me at "free beer".....cookies are just a bonus. Just got back into town from 8 days of Cozumel and cenotes so the home waters sure will feel cold.

"Cold" doesn't even describe what that water felt like on Saturday! BRRR! It was the coldest water I've ever dived in, in SoCal: 52 degrees at depth. So I applaud you for even being willing to jump into the local waters after spending 8 days in that balmy, crystal-clear bathwater in Coz. You deserve the cookies just for that!

Saturday was fun - as cold as it was, it just felt great to get back in the water. I wasn't real thrilled with the dive sites, but it wasn't the boat's fault - we were supposed to dive the East end of Anacapa, but there was too much current & surge there and we had 6 OW students onboard, so we went to the backside. I've never really had a good dive on the backside - there's just not a lot of life back there, mostly jumbled rocks covered with brittle stars and urchin barrens. I know some people have had great luck with seeing large pods of bat-rays, but we didn't see any. I did have a chance to try out my new camera, so here are a few shots. The camera is an Olympus E-PM1 mirrorless camera in the Olympus housing. (Not very interesting subject matters, but that's all there was down there!) Warning: I'm still very much a newbie at underwater photography and this was the first time using this camera, so don't expect anything to be near the quality of some of the forum regulars in here (Max Bottomtime's photos will make mine look like they were taken by a Kindergartener!)

Given the lack of actual moving life, I amused myself by shooting gorgonian fans

I like shooting anemones - they don't move, and some of them have some very vibrant colors

I just liked the composition of this abandoned lobster trap

This was about the only fish we saw!

All these photos were taken with a Panasonic Lumix 8mm Fisheye lens, so I was very surprised at how good the shots of the Hermissendas came out - they were tiny specs in the overall image, and they still looked this good! Makes me very excited about trying out my Macro wet lens.

Charlie insisted I take this shot...he liked the vibrant green

So, this is the Raptor Gnome. Several months ago the Raptor was at this dive site (they called it "Channels") and hid this gnome in one of the sandy channels. They challenged us all to find it, and offered a prize to whomever could get a snapshot of it. Charlie spotted him just happily sitting there, so I snapped a couple shots, and got a free beer for my efforts.

 

[geoff w]

...Anyway, I would love to hear if y'all are still interested in April 20! If the free beer isn't enticing enough...howzabout homemade chocolate chip cookies? :blinking: I know it's a couple weeks out, but I just wanted to make sure we have some interest. If we can drum up enough, I'll try to make this a regular Fri thang.

I'll try to make April 20. Depends on how much I get ready before we leave for Maui on the 22nd for a week. If you want to do earlier in the week, that works too, or this week. Forecast is supposedly for swell to pick up a lot later this week, and one buddy said rain expected Tuesday-Thursday.

It looks like glass out there now. Bummer I had to miss nice diving this past weekend due to family holiday get-togethers

Your Anacapa pictures looked great, especially for a new camera! But boat diving here is way too cold to dive wet - dry is the only way to go

 

[stevensamler]

Hello , LeeAnne and group I would like to join in if I could always enjoy meeting new people especially divers. Please keep me informed and i check this post often thanks Steve.