I haven't taken any pictures at MarineLand in over a year.
I haven't dived MarineLand at all in 2008, I don't think. Maybe once. I dunno.
I surely haven't had a great dive there in a long, long time.
Claudette heard a report from Tobin that Vets on Thursday morning was "dead flat calm" - so Chica and I got to thinking. I wasn't working Friday, so the plan was to go to MarineLand early and hope for some of that dead calm stuff.
FRIDAY 9/26
Chica and I drive down. There is a cover you see from PCH as you get close to MarineLand - and that cove is "the tell" - it faces approximately the same way as MarineLand and if conditions look good at the cove its usually good at ML.
As we came around the corner on the road and looked at the cove, we saw the ocean was not only flat, but there was also no swell to speak of.
This looked very promising.
We get to ML and walk to the edge of the cliff and peek down. SO MUCH KELP is there now! The water was dead flat calm, with ankle slappers at cobble beach. We brought wet suits and dry suits - the plan was if it was rough I'd leave the camera and we'd dive dry. If it was calm, I'd bring the camera and we'd dive wet.
We decided to dive wet. By bringing the scooters and the deathstar we add about 100 additional pounds to the trip up and down the hill. Its totally worth it - so we loaded two scooters, two backplates, two wings, 4 fins (the light Mantarays!) two 130's, YBOL and the deathstar into my folding cart (it should be noted here, this cart rules the pool. Learn more here from the Jane Fonda wannabe: 80's Linkola) Chica brought a small backpack and she muled down the regs, lights, hoods and gloves. We got into our wetsuits and schlepped down the path.
We arrive to see the ocean is still DFC. Its just past high tide - perfect timing. We dress and stroll in through the perfect Seattle entry. We motor 50 yards straight out past the kelp, take a heading, make a hard right (210 degrees) and scooter for the point at about 10 feet. At the 6 minute mark the cove bends a bit, so at that elbow we move to a 240 degree heading for another 2+ minutes and we're in the middle of the kelp just west of Long Point.
We drop and head south to the deeper water - about 60 - 65 feet. The water is CLEAR - like 30 feet of viz clear. I'm shocked. Chica and I haven't had these conditions here for well over a year. Its amazing.
11 species of nudis, octos, more fish than I've ever seen there due to all of the kelp (Bay Keepers urchin re-location program is totally, TOTALLY working. This place has been transformed) and tons of lovely rock structure.
At the 44 minute mark, I start to shiver. I'm getting pretty cold now. At the 63 minute mark, we have about 1000 PSI left. We emerged from the water at the 79 minute mark with 300 PSI. So basically, it took us 63 minutes to mow through the first 2400 PSI (while we were probably averaging well over 40 feet) and in the last 16 minutes we hoovered through 700 PSI in water that was less than 30 feet. An interesting study in body temperature and gas usage to be sure.
We pop up and are speaking to each other so fast we can't even hear what we're saying... "what a great dive" "OMG can you believe that" "I have no toes left" "where are my hands" "Did you see all those Nudis?"
We scooted back to the beach, literally walked out, packed up and started the schlep up the hill.
Then an amazing thing happened - we're about 1/3 the way up when someone in a Turner hard hat comes over on the other side of the chain link fence. He looks at us (me pulling the cart, dette pushing) and says, "you look like you could use a hand..." We smile and say, yeah. He says, "no - I'm serious. You want a ride back up the hill..."
I couldn't believe it.
So this guy in the hard hat, Brenden Murphy (AKA: Big Dog) from Turner Construction (he's kinda running the place) calls over Dave the Grader and they open a section of fence, and the four of us lift the fully loaded cart into the back of this robust 4-wheel drive diesel golf cart. Dave he Grader drives us past the steepest part of the hill and deposits us on the top side - not far from the parking lot. He calls over a couple of guys, they open the fence, we unload the cart and make the easy roll to the truck. Very nice of these guys, and I told them I'd give them thanks. So, thanks, guys. It was way hotter on Friday than Saturday, and the ride was much appreciated.
We're unloading back into the cruiser, still by ourselves (unreal) and we've already decided before we leave the lot that we're coming back again tomorrow....
SATURDAY 9/27 (Its so nice, lets dive it twice)
I had read that Mel was looking for a dive buddy for Saturday. So we decide to call Mel and see if he'd like to scooter MarineLand on Saturday. He says yes, so we agree to meet at the gate at 7:30 AM.
We arrive at 7:30 and the only person in the lot is Mel. I can't believe, with conditions like this that people aren't queuing up to get in.
We gear up and are about to start down when Angelique comes in. She's diving here today too! So there are three of us this fine morning.
We get to the bottom, gear up and walk in to an even smoother entry than Friday (as if that were possible.) Same plan - scoot out 50 yards past the kelp, face right at 210, scoot about 6 minutes to the elbow, move it to 240, scoot another 3 or so minutes to the point.
As we're scooting to the point, the particulate matter is zipping by, and its pretty clear that the Viz isn't going to be pretty clear. Its still dead flat calm, but the water isn't as clear - maybe 10 to 15 feet of viz.
We drop and immediately the Nudi parade starts. We see nearly all the same species as the Friday, but we see a couple of more species - all told 13 over the two days.
Saturday was Nudi Love day... wow. Get a room, guys.
Mel wore a dry suit. I'd have to say he was the smart one. I was cold again at the 43 minute mark, but this time not shivering. I wrote a note to Claudette, who indicated she was freezing. My note said "I wasn't shivering this time, as maybe I never truly thawed out... "
Mel is a scooter pro. Dude is an athlete, in great shape, has excellent watermanship and took to it right away. Every time I looked over, there he was. In the heavy help and spotty viz at times, and with no can light, Mel was always easy to spot.
This was a shorter dive - only about 69 minutes of BT. We got to the exit and it was even easier than Friday (as if that were possible.) I walked out never breaking stride with the deathstar in one hand and the scoot in the other.
There were two people there - Peter C and a buddy from NoCal who were down for the day. They were just getting in as we were coming out.
We had to push the gear all the way up the hill unassisted on Saturday like a savage (thanks, Josh!)
When we got back up the hill we saw Phil and Merry. So there was positively a rush on the place on Saturday...
I'm telling you - if you dived anywhere else in SoCal on Friday or Saturday... from Leo to OCal - you missed the show. MarineLand was the place to be. Next weekend is the WOTAD (weird one-tide-a-day thing) so I'll surely be going back to ML again.
Major ups to Dette - world's best buddy. You are strong, fit, enthusiastic and you encourage me to be at the top of my game. You make this stuff look easy.
And thanks to Mel for Saturday. Some problems occurred before the dive that could have put a funk on things. Mel played through like a pro, was up for something new (I love that) and I, as always, enjoyed diving with him on the rarest of entries on calmest of days at this finest of shore dive spots. Lucky me.
Here are a few images. Full gallery here on DiveMatrix: ML Pix
Enjoy.
---
Ken
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
World's best ML cart - lightweight, tough, stable, folds small, hauls a ton. Love it. Wagons are nice, but the rigid handle on this makes is so much easier to control going up and down the hill - and the thin tires offer much less friction
Hermi Mania - while not the scene of a mass hemicide (as ML can be at times) there was still lots to be seen
Mini Tri-Linny - I don't know how dette saw this. There were several in the clump. This is a shot of the largest one - about 3/8" long
Love is in the air - some lemon love
Love is in the air #2 - some limbaugh love
Love is in the air #3 - Sandy love. Jaye looked over my shoulder and saw me processing this shot, and said, "Ah - Chihuahua / Doberman..." My wife is so twisted.
Furry Yellow Dorid - these things always crack me up. MarineLand is the only place I dive where its a lock to see these.
Lemon Lookin' - This guy was going all off road, and sort of stopped to "look" around
Yellow Lined Cadlina making a turn - Claudette saw this little guy banking into the gorgonia. He was way down in a crevice and it was just an interesting shot - gray muck on the right, bright red gorgonia on the left with a twisting white nudi in the middle
MarineLand Cling-on - this ocre star was nearly off the wall, just hanging on with his fingertips
Time for some Flava - here are a couple of shots of a Flavamaculata nudi. He's doing my fav nudi move, the Nudi Reach. Flava's are always small - this one was about 3/4" long. If you look closely, you'll see he has a friend along for the ride on his forehead
.
.
.
.
.
.
I haven't dived MarineLand at all in 2008, I don't think. Maybe once. I dunno.
I surely haven't had a great dive there in a long, long time.
Claudette heard a report from Tobin that Vets on Thursday morning was "dead flat calm" - so Chica and I got to thinking. I wasn't working Friday, so the plan was to go to MarineLand early and hope for some of that dead calm stuff.
FRIDAY 9/26
Chica and I drive down. There is a cover you see from PCH as you get close to MarineLand - and that cove is "the tell" - it faces approximately the same way as MarineLand and if conditions look good at the cove its usually good at ML.
As we came around the corner on the road and looked at the cove, we saw the ocean was not only flat, but there was also no swell to speak of.
This looked very promising.
We get to ML and walk to the edge of the cliff and peek down. SO MUCH KELP is there now! The water was dead flat calm, with ankle slappers at cobble beach. We brought wet suits and dry suits - the plan was if it was rough I'd leave the camera and we'd dive dry. If it was calm, I'd bring the camera and we'd dive wet.
We decided to dive wet. By bringing the scooters and the deathstar we add about 100 additional pounds to the trip up and down the hill. Its totally worth it - so we loaded two scooters, two backplates, two wings, 4 fins (the light Mantarays!) two 130's, YBOL and the deathstar into my folding cart (it should be noted here, this cart rules the pool. Learn more here from the Jane Fonda wannabe: 80's Linkola) Chica brought a small backpack and she muled down the regs, lights, hoods and gloves. We got into our wetsuits and schlepped down the path.
We arrive to see the ocean is still DFC. Its just past high tide - perfect timing. We dress and stroll in through the perfect Seattle entry. We motor 50 yards straight out past the kelp, take a heading, make a hard right (210 degrees) and scooter for the point at about 10 feet. At the 6 minute mark the cove bends a bit, so at that elbow we move to a 240 degree heading for another 2+ minutes and we're in the middle of the kelp just west of Long Point.
We drop and head south to the deeper water - about 60 - 65 feet. The water is CLEAR - like 30 feet of viz clear. I'm shocked. Chica and I haven't had these conditions here for well over a year. Its amazing.
11 species of nudis, octos, more fish than I've ever seen there due to all of the kelp (Bay Keepers urchin re-location program is totally, TOTALLY working. This place has been transformed) and tons of lovely rock structure.
At the 44 minute mark, I start to shiver. I'm getting pretty cold now. At the 63 minute mark, we have about 1000 PSI left. We emerged from the water at the 79 minute mark with 300 PSI. So basically, it took us 63 minutes to mow through the first 2400 PSI (while we were probably averaging well over 40 feet) and in the last 16 minutes we hoovered through 700 PSI in water that was less than 30 feet. An interesting study in body temperature and gas usage to be sure.
We pop up and are speaking to each other so fast we can't even hear what we're saying... "what a great dive" "OMG can you believe that" "I have no toes left" "where are my hands" "Did you see all those Nudis?"
We scooted back to the beach, literally walked out, packed up and started the schlep up the hill.
Then an amazing thing happened - we're about 1/3 the way up when someone in a Turner hard hat comes over on the other side of the chain link fence. He looks at us (me pulling the cart, dette pushing) and says, "you look like you could use a hand..." We smile and say, yeah. He says, "no - I'm serious. You want a ride back up the hill..."
I couldn't believe it.
So this guy in the hard hat, Brenden Murphy (AKA: Big Dog) from Turner Construction (he's kinda running the place) calls over Dave the Grader and they open a section of fence, and the four of us lift the fully loaded cart into the back of this robust 4-wheel drive diesel golf cart. Dave he Grader drives us past the steepest part of the hill and deposits us on the top side - not far from the parking lot. He calls over a couple of guys, they open the fence, we unload the cart and make the easy roll to the truck. Very nice of these guys, and I told them I'd give them thanks. So, thanks, guys. It was way hotter on Friday than Saturday, and the ride was much appreciated.
We're unloading back into the cruiser, still by ourselves (unreal) and we've already decided before we leave the lot that we're coming back again tomorrow....
SATURDAY 9/27 (Its so nice, lets dive it twice)
I had read that Mel was looking for a dive buddy for Saturday. So we decide to call Mel and see if he'd like to scooter MarineLand on Saturday. He says yes, so we agree to meet at the gate at 7:30 AM.
We arrive at 7:30 and the only person in the lot is Mel. I can't believe, with conditions like this that people aren't queuing up to get in.
We gear up and are about to start down when Angelique comes in. She's diving here today too! So there are three of us this fine morning.
We get to the bottom, gear up and walk in to an even smoother entry than Friday (as if that were possible.) Same plan - scoot out 50 yards past the kelp, face right at 210, scoot about 6 minutes to the elbow, move it to 240, scoot another 3 or so minutes to the point.
As we're scooting to the point, the particulate matter is zipping by, and its pretty clear that the Viz isn't going to be pretty clear. Its still dead flat calm, but the water isn't as clear - maybe 10 to 15 feet of viz.
We drop and immediately the Nudi parade starts. We see nearly all the same species as the Friday, but we see a couple of more species - all told 13 over the two days.
Saturday was Nudi Love day... wow. Get a room, guys.
Mel wore a dry suit. I'd have to say he was the smart one. I was cold again at the 43 minute mark, but this time not shivering. I wrote a note to Claudette, who indicated she was freezing. My note said "I wasn't shivering this time, as maybe I never truly thawed out... "
Mel is a scooter pro. Dude is an athlete, in great shape, has excellent watermanship and took to it right away. Every time I looked over, there he was. In the heavy help and spotty viz at times, and with no can light, Mel was always easy to spot.
This was a shorter dive - only about 69 minutes of BT. We got to the exit and it was even easier than Friday (as if that were possible.) I walked out never breaking stride with the deathstar in one hand and the scoot in the other.
There were two people there - Peter C and a buddy from NoCal who were down for the day. They were just getting in as we were coming out.
We had to push the gear all the way up the hill unassisted on Saturday like a savage (thanks, Josh!)
When we got back up the hill we saw Phil and Merry. So there was positively a rush on the place on Saturday...
I'm telling you - if you dived anywhere else in SoCal on Friday or Saturday... from Leo to OCal - you missed the show. MarineLand was the place to be. Next weekend is the WOTAD (weird one-tide-a-day thing) so I'll surely be going back to ML again.
Major ups to Dette - world's best buddy. You are strong, fit, enthusiastic and you encourage me to be at the top of my game. You make this stuff look easy.
And thanks to Mel for Saturday. Some problems occurred before the dive that could have put a funk on things. Mel played through like a pro, was up for something new (I love that) and I, as always, enjoyed diving with him on the rarest of entries on calmest of days at this finest of shore dive spots. Lucky me.
Here are a few images. Full gallery here on DiveMatrix: ML Pix
Enjoy.
---
Ken
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
World's best ML cart - lightweight, tough, stable, folds small, hauls a ton. Love it. Wagons are nice, but the rigid handle on this makes is so much easier to control going up and down the hill - and the thin tires offer much less friction
Hermi Mania - while not the scene of a mass hemicide (as ML can be at times) there was still lots to be seen
Mini Tri-Linny - I don't know how dette saw this. There were several in the clump. This is a shot of the largest one - about 3/8" long
Love is in the air - some lemon love
Love is in the air #2 - some limbaugh love
Love is in the air #3 - Sandy love. Jaye looked over my shoulder and saw me processing this shot, and said, "Ah - Chihuahua / Doberman..." My wife is so twisted.
Furry Yellow Dorid - these things always crack me up. MarineLand is the only place I dive where its a lock to see these.
Lemon Lookin' - This guy was going all off road, and sort of stopped to "look" around
Yellow Lined Cadlina making a turn - Claudette saw this little guy banking into the gorgonia. He was way down in a crevice and it was just an interesting shot - gray muck on the right, bright red gorgonia on the left with a twisting white nudi in the middle
MarineLand Cling-on - this ocre star was nearly off the wall, just hanging on with his fingertips
Time for some Flava - here are a couple of shots of a Flavamaculata nudi. He's doing my fav nudi move, the Nudi Reach. Flava's are always small - this one was about 3/4" long. If you look closely, you'll see he has a friend along for the ride on his forehead
.
.
.
.
.
.
Thanks to all who gave us dive site advice. I gotta say that the hike is brutal. Something we do not have on the North Coast. The cart makes perfect sense for SoCal diving. How come we didn't get the cart memo? I can see why drysuit diving is harder down there with warmer air temperatures and longer hikes. I was cooking by the time I got to the water and put my drysuit top on and jumped in the water to cool off. Ryan (MTBRIDER) and I brought scooters with us but choose to leave them in the truck since he has a long body Gavin and my Mako would have had to be carried by hand. No thanks. Instead we surface swam it. 
