Sep 04 Dive Reports

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Scott, try harder!

You no make funny.

I see a big surface swim to humorland.

Sean

 

[scottfiji]

Scott, try harder!

You no make funny.

I see a big surface swim to humorland.

Sean

Now that's funny - because I really am planning a long surface swim tomorrow. Let's all hope it helps my humor.

For the record, I wasn't busting on you, I just momentarily felt bad for Jim being stuck way out in Upland, when the man obviously needed a dive today to escape the heat.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

scottfiji, didn't know what to think. No problemo!

back to dive reports:

Date: 09/01/2004
Dive Location: La Jolla Cove – Night Dive
Time: 9:38 PM
Bottom Time: 63 mins
Max Depth: 43 feet
Vis: 5-15 at depth feet
Wave height: 1 foot
Temp at depth: 63 degrees
Surface Temp: 68 degrees
Tide information: no info

Had a nice dive with Paul and David from scubaboard.com. Eventally found the rockpile, which produced a moray eel, some scorpionfish, a southern kelp crab, a treefish, some rockfish, and the biggest lobster I have even seen marching through the cove. Low surge. The rockpile had15 feet of vis.

pics:
http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/lajollacove09012004

Sean

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Date: 09/03/2004
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores – North Wall #1
Time: 4:26 PM
Bottom Time: 36 mins
Max Depth: 111 feet
Vis: 20-25 at depth feet
Wave height: 1-2 foot
Temp at depth: 54 degrees
Surface Temp: 68 degrees
Tide information: no info

Date: 09/03/2004
Dive Location: La Jolla Shores – North Wall #2
Time: 6:41 PM
Bottom Time: 52:40 mins
Max Depth: 110 feet
Vis: 20-25 at depth feet
Wave height: 1-2 foot
Temp at depth: 54 degrees
Surface Temp: 70 degrees
Tide information: no info

Comments:
Dove with Ryan, Simon and Craig; Ryan and me on the 1st dive. We dove a part of the North wall. Saw the usual suspects. Ryan and I rescued a Scorpion fish caught in a piece of a net. Hope he made it! We saw the usual fish including a sheep crap, some rock fish, lots of shrimp, painted greenlings, fringeheads, a cabazon, etc. Very nice set of dives!

pics:
http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/shores09032204

Sean

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Date: 09/04/2004
Dive Location: Los Coronados Inlands: Lobstershack
Time: 4:28 PM
Bottom Time: 55:20
Max Depth: 54 feet
Vis: 50-60 feet
Wave height: 1 foot
Temp at depth: 66 degrees
Surface Temp: 68 degrees
Tide information: no info
Comments:

Shaka Zulu and I went to Los Coronados on Saturday aboard the Ocean Express.
We had 19 divers on the boat. We had a nice day and mild waves on our way to Los Coronados. Due to winds and seas we did both dives at Lobstershack. We decided to swim to the north the 1st dive and south on the 2nd dive. We licked North to encounter ledges and rock formations. On our way north we penetrated a school of blacksmith and video this segment:

http://www.scubapost.net/videos/P1010020-n.avi

We explored the holes and gashes in the rocks to find several moray eels; one rock structure was home to two eels. The water clarity was great, the temperature was very nice.

Date: 09/04/2004
Dive Location: Los Coronados Inlands: Lobstershack
Time: 6:03 PM
Bottom Time: 47:40
Max Depth: 53 feet
Vis: 50-60 feet
Wave height: 1-2 feet
Temp at depth: 66 degrees
Surface Temp: 68 degrees
Tide information: no info
Comments:

We were limited to 50 minutes on our 2nd dive. We swam South along the boulders and ridges seeing a school of blacksmith cruising southward. Several blue banded gobies were darting about as well. We saw the usual suspects, but encountered another 6 or so Moray eels in our critter hunting.

pics:
http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/coronados09042204

Sean

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Date: 09/05/2004
Dive Location: Point – Ancient Sea Cliffs#1
Time: 8:50 PM
Bottom Time: 32:20
Max Depth: 94 feet
Vis: 15-25 feet
Wave height: 1-2 feet
Temp at depth: 57 degrees
Surface Temp: 63 degrees
Tide information: no info

Date: 09/05/2004
Dive Location: Point – New Hope Rock(west of) #2
Time: 10:48 PM
Bottom Time: 48:00
Max Depth: 94 feet
Vis: 10-15 feet
Wave height: 1-2 feet
Temp at depth: 66 degrees
Surface Temp: 66 degrees
Tide information: no info

Comments:
Current on top was fairly strong so we had to fight it a little to get to the anchorline.
We dropped down to some interesting structure. We went down sorta deep at first and made our way to higher terrain. We saw several interesting creatures including a lingcod, rockfish, crab, huge nudibranchs and little ones, lizardfish, treefish, shrimp, painted greenling, Specklefin Midshipman, rockfish, abalone, scorpionfish, an octopus. a nice giant kelpfish, salema, and more. It was a fun 2 dives with Shaka Zulu and other DiveAnimals on the Panga

pics:

http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/ancientsea09062004

Sean

 

[divinman]

Really great shots Sean. Thanks for the reports and images.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Very nice pics Sean, color looks better than the real thing...............

PS. Thanks for taking the time to share them with us.

 

[scottfiji]

Date: 06 Sep 04
Dive Location: Malaga Cove
Time: 3:35 PM
Bottom Time: 83:00
Max Depth: 27 feet
Vis: 10-14 feet
Wave height: 1 foot
Tide information: High tide 3:00PM

Comments:

Very little surf.. did an easy rock entry in front of the resort. Went slow, and the attack-garibaldi took full advantage, buzzing me whenever possible. Found a large, active octopus that came out from his rock and free swam, shooting some ink at me a couple times when I did a hot-pursuit. Lots of senoritas, rock wrasse, opaleye, female sheephead, island kelpfish, and a shy rockpool blenny who lived in a hole in a wall (literally), I though it was a baby moray-eel at first. Thousands of large furry hermit crabs around. A few curious lobster. Oh, and a beautiful baby garibaldi, about an inch, lots of blue spots.

Scott

 

[Chavodel8en]

My only addition to the dive report: As a rule, I generally add about a foot to any big animal I see, so as far as I'm concerned, that bat ray was about 4'. I think I saw a 2' gulf grouper, but the book says they're very rare in California -maybe mis-ID, but it did have those line on its face. Initial and terminal sheepheads. I know that seeing garibaldis & sheepheads are probably like seeing cats and dogs to you socal divers, but to a norcal guy, they're downright exotic.

another difference i saw is that the kelp at the park was all diagonal. In nocal all the kelp i see is straight up and down. Until the next time im down there...

Date: 9/5/2004
Dive Location: Catalina Casino
Time: 10:39 am
Bottom Time: 44:40
Max Depth: 56 ft
Vis: 25+
Wave height: 0
Water temp: 68 deg.
Surface Temp: 77 deg
Tide information: Dunno...

Date: 9/5/2004
Dive Location: Catalina Casino
Time: 12:29 am
Bottom Time: 33:00
Max Depth: 44 ft
Vis: 25+
Wave height: 0
Water temp: 68 deg.
Surface Temp: 86 deg
Tide information: Dunno...

Comments: Took the 6:15 ferry from Long Beach to Catalina. As usual, the early boat was nowhere near full. Lots of room to spread out. Very few divers on this trip compared to past trips. Was directed to stow my dive gear (sans tank) outside along the railing on the stern. Still haven't figured out why most divers lug their tanks with them instead of renting at the Casino. I suppose tank rental is included with class fees, so why spend another $10....When we arrived I waited for about 20 minutes until the Catalina Baggage & Storage place opened, then stored my gear there. Took a walk down to the Casino, saw only one class there, grabbed a locker, had a long talk with a guy who was accompanying his girlfriend in her OW class, then headed back to meet 'Chavodel8en' from Oakland, here on vacation with his girlfriend. Great guy. Hope to dive with him again soon. We walked back to the Casino, rented some tanks, and put our gear on. Had to throw some snorkelers over the railing as we walked down the steps. Anyway, we dropped down, and headed along the breakwater, thru the kelp (Dr. Bill's recommended "canyon route". Excellent). Chavodel8en let me drive and navigate, which was fun. Was surprised at the number of huge schools of fish. Not sure what kind, but it was a blast swimming thru them. Lots of sea bass (I think), garibaldi (of course), and some tiny fluorescent blue banded gobys. Got to the end of the breakwater and did a u-turn, and headed back past the stairs toward the beach. Since we are such powerful, macho swimmers, we had to throttle back to keep ourselves from going outside the park boundaries. At one point I was hearing a very loud boat engine, and looked up and saw one passing over us. We were at about 30 feet depth, but it still caught our attention. We headed back to the stairs, and surprisingly we navigated to exactly the location where the floats are, and headed up. Finally met Dr. Bill !!! (BTW, hope your chest cold is better, Dr. Bill). Second dive we had to cut a bit short because I had to take the 2pm ferry back, but saw my first bat ray (about 3' wingspan). Very cool. Wish I could indentify all the other fish we saw. And again, we navigated back to the exact point of the floats.

Anyway, on the trip back the ferry was almost empty, and I had the boat to myself. Saw a flying fish take off from under the boat. Cool.

I think this rated as my favorite dives to date. Although I say that after every dive. But this one I mean it.

(And I say THAT after every dive, too...)

Thanks, Chavodel8en, and I hope you guys had a great day. Next time you're back in town, let me know and I'll be more than glad to hook up and do some diving.