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7-30-09 2 dives at the Yukon. Vis was 30-40'. The ride to the site was smooth. Temprature was in the low 50's. Very colorful wreck.

:banana::bounce2:
 
8 AUG 09 at Eureka oil rig with the Sea Bass boat. Beautiful day, nice and warm with some overcast but sun came out by 10 AM. Water was very warm, my dive comp recorded 54-F at 90-ft but felt only cool instead of cold and there's a nice bathtub thermocline at around 60-ft and at surface, it's like going to a spa.:eyebrow:

Viz was awesome!!! Easily 60-ft plus.

Very little wind and only rolling waves no more than 2-ft. Beautiful dive condition, except that I forgot to take my seasick pill and only did that first dive then skipped out the next two dives, chumming the fishies with my vomitus.

I was too sick to do the other two dives, but that first dive was more than worth it.

Didn't see any big pelagics and the sea lions were too busy sunning themselves to come down & play, but the massive anemonies, sponges, mussels, scallops more than made up for the lack of exotic blue water fish. Only saw some female sheepheads, a couple of Garibaldis and some sort of sculpins.

Saw a strange looking thing that could be a jelly fish. It's whitish and transparent, maybe a man's hand in size. The innards lit up like a blinking Christmas tree when you hit it with the flashlight. Weird in a hypnotic way.
 
One of the favorite prey of the Sunflower star, Pycnopodia helianthoides is the Rainbow nudibranch Dendronotus iris. They are not to be found at Marineland currently, but I saw severel dozen Sunflower stars today. I wondered why they were here until I realized that sea hares are mating now. There are piles of sea hare orgies everywhere in the kelp, and sunflower stars near every holdfast. I found one consuming breakfast.
My favorite part of the dive was finding a nudibranch, Facelina stearnsi on Our Lady of the Garden. I put the statue there nearly three years ago and have watched her grow into a healthy artificial reef. She has tunicates in her eyes, bryozoan, anemones and algae covering her body but today was the first time I've found a nudibranch on her.
While feeding Abby I was mobbed by a pesky orange fish. I'll get even with him tomorrow. A flatworm, Prostheceraeus bellostriatus was feeding next to Abby, but the surge prevented me from getting any decent shots.
Entry and exit were very easy in the less than one foot surf this morning. Water temperature was 52F at the Point, with six to eight feet of vis and a good amount of surge.

Click on HD
 
Casino Point, 9 AUG 09. Topside weather was warm, borderlining hot comes noon time. Surface water temp was 70-F and still 64-F at 50 to 60ft. The poor kelps are all laid down, brown and all that white rot on them.

Saw a giant black sea bass that was moseying through without stopping. This is my fourth sighting of giant black sea basses this year in less than two months.

There were some really big calico basses hanging about and some opaleyes were hunting something around one of the kelp roots. I saw a big male sheephead munching on a sea urchin (or at least it looked like a part of sea urchin was in its mouth).

Viz was about 30ft plus until the dozens of students descended and started stirring up silt.
 
We really had some amazing vis diving the Dive Park on Saturday.
My two great nephews and one of my other nephews did their Discover Scuba dives and had a simply wonderful time

I made two videos of the day.


 
Anacapa front side AND backside were sweet for both 6 SEP and 7 SEP 09. The Spectre boat was booked for both days for OW classes so the dive sites were not much more than 30-ft most of the time, but they were lovely. Saw multiple giant black seabasses. Zero or no current with minor surges. In the afternoon, wind kicks up some surface chops but at depth, everything is still groovy.

Superb viz, we're talking easily 50-ft or 60-ft. It's crazy to dive far away and still see the boat on the surface. Temp is also into the mid 60sF.

Sea lions were out en masse at their rookery on the far side of the island and were extremely active with the divers. We had a blast doing spins, sommersaults, tumblings, or whatever we can make our bodies swim and saw the sea lions mimicking us and storming us. Spectacular!!!
 
The Casino dive park was so nice last weekend, we decided to go again Saturday!

 
Veteran's Park in Redondo is the most popluar site nearby. You can find divers there each weekend and most nights when the surf is down. Palos Verdes has dozens of great dive sites, including Malaga Cove, Haggerty's, Flat Rock, Rocky Point, Honeymoon Cove, Christmas Tree Cove, Neptune Cove, Pt Vicente, Marineland (Terranea Resort), Archery Range, White Point, Cabrillo Beach and the Breakwater.
 
I had very little hope to be diving today due to yesterday's report of heavy swell and 0ft of vis at Marineland. Conditions at Christmas Tree had settled and only the foam remained of yesterdays swell. Visibility ranged from 10-15ft with the occasional pocket of 20ft. Guitarfish and Horn shark sightings. Temps dropped down to 60f, with a major thermocline at 40ft.
 

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