The Pasley May 06 Dive Report Thread

[Peter McGuinness]

Out with Mike and Barbara on the Scuba Do today. The advertised 4 ft
swell was conspicuously absent - it was maybe a foot but only if it
stood on tiptoe!

Dive 1, The Ruby E
Depth 81ft
Time: 47 mins
Vis: a solid 15ft
Some surge at depth, but nothing unusual
Temp: 55F

This dive was cold, and notable for the largest D. Iris I have ever seen.

Dive 2: The NOSC Tower
Depth: 59ft
Time: 40mins
Vis: under 10ft
Lots of surge
Temp:57F

My first time at the Tower. Interesting dive, sort of a cross between the kelp forest environment and the silty bottom of the rest of wreck alley.

Is it just me or are there getting to be more metridiums everywhere you
look? I have a theory that the Yukon is repsonsible for this cold water
species invading San Diego; there were dormant canadian metridium spores
(or whatever passes for a baby metridium) in the holds of the ship when
it came down from up north, and they have multiplied ever since. Sonn
there will be nothing but white wherever we look - don't get between
them and their young; you have been warned!

Pictures at:

http://www.mcguinness-family.net/albums/diving/SanDiego//WreckAlleyMay_06/index.php


Peter

 

[TeqP]

Date: 05/14/06 – 05/19/06
# of Dives: 24
Dive Location: Various locations on the south side of Roatan, Honduras
Buddies: Various
Total Bottom Time: 22+ hours
Max Depth: 88’
Vis: 30 – 100+’ (depending on location)
Surface Temp: Warm
Temp at depth: 79 – 83F
Surface Conditions: A little rough the first day or two, then mostly glass

I had a great week of diving at CoCo View Resort in Roatan, Honduras. The weather was great all week, except for some rain one night. This is a resort that, like everyone has said, caters to divers. I would have been able to get in more dives, but I had a hard time convincing people to go for a night dive after dinner. The diving was very good all week. They have a nice little wreck right in their front yard and two great walls of coral and sponges to explore when not on a boat dive. All of the dive sites that we went to on the boat were nice with plenty to see on each dive. Although I was hoping to see some bigger fish, the life around the reefs was enough to keep me going. We did see some barracudas (3-4&#8217 and some Nassau groupers (75-100lbs), but I was really hoping to see some reef sharks (without having to pay for the Shark Dive). I did find it kind of funny that some people were getting cold when the temp dipped to 79F while wearing full suits. I thought the water felt refreshing from the 55F I had 2 Sundays ago at Marineland. Oh well, here are some pics from the trip. Hope you enjoy!
Now it’s time to start planning the next trip. Anyone up for the Red Sea, next year?

 

[wetrat]

Let's see.... 24 dives in a week, 83F water, INCREDIBLE pictures. We're not jealous or anything...

TeqP at the next Wrinkles dive ===> :kopfab:

Just kiddin' ya there Phil! Glad you had a good trip and thanks for sharing your fantastic pictures!

John

 

[headhunter]

Hey Phil,

Nice pics! Sounds like you had your share of fun even if you feel like everyone wimped out on you for the last dive every day.

Christian

 

[divinman]

Date: 05/21/06
Dive Location: P38
Buddy(ies): Kelly
Time: 0756
Bottom Time: 43 minutes
Max Depth: 128fsw
Vis: 20-25ft
Swell height: calm, some wind chop
Temp at depth: 49f
Surface Temp: 63f
Gas mix: 21%


Date: 05/21/06
Dive Location: The Nudibranch Farm
Buddy(ies): Tony
Time: 1233
Bottom Time: 55 minutes
Max Depth: 58fsw
Vis: 15-20ft
Swell height: 1-2, more wind
Temp at depth: 51f
Surface Temp: 62f
Gas mix: 21%

Gallery: http://www.scubapost.net/forums/Scorpionfish/052106/ (Dive Animals Picnic Album)

I am wiped out from all the sun and diving but it was well worth it. Conditions below 50ft remain in the exceptional range by my standards. Still tons of Iris out and the usual amazing life we find here off our coast.

Terry

 

[Robert Phillips]

Date: 5.23.06
Dive Location: Crescent Bay
Buddy(ies): Glycerin
Time: 8:46
Bottom Time: 60 minutes
Max Depth: 48'
Vis: 5-15' depending on location
Wave height: 0'-3'
Temp at depth: 58°
Surface Temp: 65°
Tide information: Dropping from a 4.0 to a 0.7 at approx 12:30
Gas mix: 32%
Comments: Maiden dive in the new Signature Series™ TLS350. It fits like a custom!
The extra bulk of the Zip Seals™ will take some getting used to as far as gearing up. I almost holed my right wrist seal as I was getting my harness on when a bit of it got caught on the cam of my back-up light bolt snap. I had ordered an extra set of seals with the suit but DUI did not pack them, so it was a good thing the seal survived!

Josh and I dropped down at the buoy marking Deadhenge and explored the mystery in progress. The macrocystis hold fasts are doing nicely and I 'relocated' some urchins from the structure. Sand bass love this place. There must have been 6 or 7 dozen just hanging around the structure doing their thing.

After checking out the 'Henge, we made our way over the reef structure between Deadmans and Seal Rock, spotting a nice size sheephead and what I think was a Copper rockfish.

Josh signaled turn pressure so we made our way back to the beach and came across a large (40'') California halibut that let me drop down and touch it. He swam off into the murk towards the west but we came across him again further east so he circled around. Josh spotted an octo hanging out on a rock as we got closer to shore.

We surfaced in 12 feet of water right at the beach and made our way to the sand through some crystal clear water.

Thanks for the dive Josh!

Robb

 

[Peter McGuinness]

OK, this started as a LJ Shores dive but when I got there, all intent on
getting out and mucking around in the detritus patch just like a *real*
niudibranch hunter, weeell, let's just say the surfers were having way
too much fun, so I went to the cove instead. It wasn't too bad,
actually; I got a parking spot close enough that I didn't need to hail a
cab to take me to the entry point, and the surf looked very benign
compared to the wild excitement on the other side of the bay. Not many
babes in bikinis but that's what you get for going over to the cultured
side of town.

Oh yes, the dive.

Depth 48 ft
Time 62 mins
Temp 62 f
vis; what? be serious, will you - this was the cove, after all.
surge: oh, yes. definitely.

Notes; As I got in, there was a buddy pair getting out - or maybe I
should say there were two divers, one of them supine in the water being
hauled out by the other- to the rather obvious delight of "the other". I
asked the intrepid rescuer about conditions, and received a glowing
report of diversions and delights which would warm the heart of many a
jaded diver, so I entered full of enthusiasm and vigour.

I think my interlocutor was from Kansas, or perhaps Montana.

Every time I dive the cove, I am reminded that the international
headquarters of the braille institute is in La Jolla, and as if that
wasn't bad enough, my strobe cable decided tonight would be a good time
to die.

Hey, ho; roll on the holiday weekend, things can only improve!

Peter

 

[HBDiveGirl]

OK, this started as a LJ Shores dive but when I got there, all intent on
getting out and mucking around in the detritus patch just like a *real*
niudibranch hunter, weeell, let's just say the surfers were having way
too much fun, so I went to the cove instead. It wasn't too bad,
actually; I got a parking spot close enough that I didn't need to hail a
cab to take me to the entry point, and the surf looked very benign
compared to the wild excitement on the other side of the bay. Not many
babes in bikinis but that's what you get for going over to the cultured
side of town.

Oh yes, the dive.

Depth 48 ft
Time 62 mins
Temp 62 f
vis; what? be serious, will you - this was the cove, after all.
surge: oh, yes. definitely.

Notes; As I got in, there was a buddy pair getting out - or maybe I
should say there were two divers, one of them supine in the water being
hauled out by the other- to the rather obvious delight of "the other". I
asked the intrepid rescuer about conditions, and received a glowing
report of diversions and delights which would warm the heart of many a
jaded diver, so I entered full of enthusiasm and vigour.

I think my interlocutor was from Kansas, or perhaps Montana.

Every time I dive the cove, I am reminded that the international
headquarters of the braille institute is in La Jolla, and as if that
wasn't bad enough, my strobe cable decided tonight would be a good time
to die.

Hey, ho; roll on the holiday weekend, things can only improve!

Peter

The Best... absolute BEST! dive report in the Category of "Most Fun to Read While Not Mentioning a Single Marine Organism, Plant, or Topographical Feature."

I really was right there with you, Peter. I loved it. Thank you for capturing one of those unforgettable scenarios that occur in every shore-diver's life.

Welcome to the No-babes-in-bikinis, Cultured Surge-by-Braille Zone, (stocked with Intrepid Adventurers from the Heartland) (...and one vigorous strobe-free photog jonesing for a dive) ..... Priceless!

You've got major-league shore-diver JUICE!!

You made my morning.. Thanks, Peter.
(And.. you even got parking! Boat-divers just can't appreciate those kind of thrills...)

Claudette
(Dry since Sunday...gasp... but it IS practically Thursday )

 

[riguerin]

Date: 5/24/06
Dive Location: Shaw's Cove
Buddy(ies): glycerin
Time: 7:12 AM
Bottom Time: 66 Min
Max Depth: 49 FSW
Vis: 12-15+ Ft
Wave height: 3 Ft
Temp at depth: 54 F
Surface Temp: 60 F
Tide information: Pushing. High tide @ 8:07 AM, +3.95 Ft
Gas mix: 21%

Comments: I finally recovered sufficiently from last weeks surfing injury to attempt a first dive in my TLS-350 ... actually, my first dry dive ever in open water. I hooked up with Josh, bright and early this morning, at Shaw's. Josh also recently got his first dry suit, and had already racked up a handful of dives prior to today. It was fitting that I did this first dive with him, as we had recently done our first dry dives ever at the DUI DOG demo day in Long Beach. Before suiting up, we checked out the conditions. There was a bit of water moving around, due to some remnant background southern-hemi; but it looked quite doable. We broke out the suits and checked them out. He didn’t say anything, but I could tell by the look in his eye that he had pee-valve envy So, we went about the business of suiting up; a new and different routine in a dry suit. Upon finishing, I locked up the Pathfinder and was about to slam the back door shut, when a thought popped into my head, "Hey, what did I do with the car keys ?" I would normally have put them in the wetsuit key pocket before pulling it on. "$&*% me, I left them on the front seat when I was suiting up. Damn that was a close call !" I already had my rig on and was plugged into the suit. Rather than waste time to de-kit, I decided to crawl through the rear (in full gear), and unlock one of the back doors. After a brief and very awkward moment ... mission accomplished ! Keys safe and secured. We're ready to go diving.

We finned out to the drop site and descended in approx 20 fsw. There was a little bit of surge (~2-3ft), but vis was surprisingly decent; around 12-15ft. It was fairly bright and sunny by this time and consequently quite a bit of light penetrating throught the water column. Once near the bottom, we quickly got neutral then started heading out toward the back side of the reef and deeper water. For the first part of the dive, it felt like I was hyper-aware of the suit ... being careful to avoid any strange movements or attitudes that might get me into trouble. It didn't take long, however, to get the hang of it. Josh looked pretty comfortable ... his buoyancy/trim looked good. By the time we reached the end of the reef and turned West, my attention started to shift from the suit to the cool stuff around us. We started exploring the nooks and crannies along the mini walls. We encountered a white sea bass, some bugs, sheep crab, some of invertebrates (octopi, sea lemons, San Diego dorids, sea hares, etc). Upon reaching the turn pressure, we reversed direction and navigated a reciprocal course inbound. We pretty much saw more of the same stuff on the way in. At one point, my attention was drawn to a strange pastel colored object. It was a left over from the LSS Easter egg hunt. I picked it up and dropped it into my dry suit utility pocket. We finished the dive over the sand, where we encountered several flat fish on the way to shore.

Up until this point, my first dry suit dive seemed to be a resounding success. We're in approx 15fsw and just a few minutes from the end of the dive. I'm thinking, "Man, this stuff is cake !" Then all of sudden, it starts. I'm starting to feel a little light. There's no more air in BCD to dump. No problem. I raise my upper body and left shoulder to allow the last remaining bit of air to vent from the suit. Nothing comes out. I right my body more, pushing down on dump valve. Nothing. My mind starts racing, "I'm starting to go up ... it's not time ... I must swim back down. What's heck is going on here ... not enough weight ... re-adjusted cummerbund too tight ? Must vent air ... Oh, no, some air is trapped below waist. I can feel air gurgling toward my feet. Oh $it, I'm done ! Bye Josh ... bye Rick." I started my ascent from approx 10fsw, arching my back up and trying to stay as horizontal as possible to slow the ascent. My fins broke the surface just ahead of the rest of me. Not exactly, the ending I would have scripted, but what the heck ... it was still a great dive ! :laughing: Thanks for the dive, bro.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Dive Location: Dump site off Pt. Fermin
Buddy(ies): Ross-O
Time: 9:17
Bottom Time: 25 minutes
Max Depth: 113'
Vis: 5'
Wave height: 4'-monsterous
Temp at depth: 51F
Comments: The ocean wasn't cooperating with us today. The seas were angry, but we had a new site to check out, so Ross and I jumped in while Elaine and Merry guarded the boat. Once under water, the ocean was calm, but dirty. We found pilings, possibly light towers and a few Vermillion rockfish amidst the Corynactis anemones. With the sea being so rough and the vis so poor, we left the bottom after about 20 minutes. When we surfaced, Merry and Elaine were wearing life jackets. There were a few BIG swells while we were down.
We skipped the rest of the diving and headed to the Cabrillo boat launch for another round of nudibranch roulette. This time we found a couple dozen Triopha maculata, dozens of Melibe leonina, two Polycera atras, two Janolus barbarensis, one possible Dendronotus frondosus and some tiny shrimp-like critters.