The Pasley May 06 Dive Report Thread

[LAJim]

11 Dives so far.

Max Depth on air: 122 ft.

Max Depth on EAN-32: 102 ft.

Viz: 80 - 100 at the remote sites. Typically 50-60 allong the walls and wreck near CoCo.

Bottom Temp: Always about 82 F.

Ocean is very rough. Boat typically pitches 30 to 45 deg. on the way to the dive site. We have to gear up completely in large swells then act like paratroopers when the skipper calls, "Get off my boat". Immediate drop. Once below 30 ft. little surge and great conditions. Safest way back into the boat is to crawl up the center well. Then drop off dive on one of the walls followed by wreck penetration of Prince Albert and shallow swim back for great food. Rinse and repeat.

Many remote dives are wall dives some with tunnels. Some of the walls clearly drop 1000's of feet, very close to vertical. Feels like skydiving.

Almost every dive is below 80 and with fairly short intervals sometimes. 80% of the guests here are on nitrox. Using air only to go deep.

Island tour in ultra-light sea plane was cool. Shark dive tomorrow AM.

I say check it out.

Jim

 

[TeqP]

Many remote dives are wall dives some with tunnels. Some of the walls clearly drop 1000's of feet, very close to vertical. Feels like skydiving.

Mary's Place and Calvin's Crack were very cool dives.
Glad to hear you are having a great time. Did they let you dive the day of your arrival? Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Phil

 

[riguerin]

Date: 5/31/06
Dive Location: Shaw's Cove
Buddy(ies): glycerin
Time: 7:13 AM
Bottom Time: 78 Min
Max Depth: 45 FSW
Vis: 15+ Ft
Wave height: 1 Ft
Temp at depth: 54 F
Surface Temp: 63 F
Tide information: Low Tide, 7:25 AM PDT, -0.39 feet
Gas mix: 21%

Comments: Hooked up with Josh for another early AM dive in Laguna this morning. We wanted to sneak this dive in before the next pulse of South ground swell arrives later this week. The surface conditions were near perfect; bright sunny skies, light NE offshore breeze putting a little texture on the surface, small scale residual SW swell. Josh brought his camera along today, hoping to snap some good pics.

We dropped in approx 20fsw where we encountered some light surge (~2ft) and fairly decent vis (~15ft). We headed out toward deeper water, and cut over toward S. Crescent via the big pass in the reef. We stopped and poked around the wall looking for some good photo subjects for Josh. We found a baby octopi hiding in a big scallop shell; a shy little California moray (cute little tiny guy); some friendly lobster; etc. Josh had some pics left from his recent oil rig dive, so he filled up the card fairly quickly. We continued to work the back side of the reef on a W heading. As usual, we saw lots of invertebrate - tons of octopi; sea hare galore; some nudies (including a huge San Diego dorid) … as well as a couple good sized cabazons. We also had to fight off a couple pumped up garibaldi looking for a fight … “beat it, we’re bigger than you”. We eventually made the turn and started working our way back. After making the turn toward the North, we poked around the ledge. We found the same big fish (looks like a white sea bass) in one big hole and a decent sized moray in another. Toward the end of the dive, we saw the silhouette of big sheep crab making its way over a rock. This guy was hoofing it. We stopped and watched it for a little while … laughing at it when it crashed head first into another rock and paused for a moment as though to be thinking, “duuuuuh , what do I do now ?” We finished the dive in the sandy shallows, where we finally started the ascent from about 10fsw. Despite adding a couple more pounds, I was still a little too light at the end of the dive. I’ll get it right eventually.

Overall, it was a really nice long dive with plenty of cool stuff to see. We managed to almost get 80 mins of bottom time, despite the fact that I had another crappy fill; HP100 @ 2996 psi at start of dive. Thanks again, Josh.



p.s. LAJim, YOU SUCK !

 

[wetrat]

Date: 5/31/06
Dive Location: Marine Room, La Jolla Shores
Buddy(ies): California Diver
Time: 7:15 pm
Bottom Time: 51 Min
Max Depth: 124 FSW
Vis: 15+ Ft
Wave height: 1-2 Ft
Temp at depth: 54 F
Surface Temp: 63 F
Gas mix: EAN 30%

Had a great dive with Tyler last night! I had never been to the Marine Room and the walls were awesome! Steep, with lots of points and weird cracks! All the local species were hanging out and a little red octopus crawled up onto my glove and just sat there. It was a really relaxing dive after a long day at work - we just took our time gearing up and swimming out. It was a beautiful warm evening in La Jolla too. Thanks for a great dive Tyler!!

John