Date: 10/06/2006
Dive Location: South Wall, La Jolla Shores
Buddy: Kim and Jen
Time: 6:00ish am splash
Bottom Time: 58 min.
Max Depth: 104 ft.
Vis: 15 to 20 ft.
Wave height: 1 ft. with occasional 2 ft.
Temp at depth: Aeris 54F
Surface Temp: Aeris 57F
Tide information: + 4.0 ft. and receding, slight surge shallow
Gas mix: 21%
There was a gorgeous full moon out this morning as I pulled up behind Jen on Vallecitos at about 5:20 am. Kim was gearing up on the other side of the street, none of the ugly guys I usually dive with were there, so I had the dive goddesses all to myself. Jen proposed we do the south wall, which I had never done, at least on purpose, so we swam directly out from Vallecitos against a slight onshore wind chop. We dropped to 38 fsw perfectly on the edge of the canyon.
Rolling out of the ol’ rat’s nest at 4:30 am is never easy, but dawn dives totally rock. It’s like a shift change - the nocturnal critters are clocking out as the diurnal critters are clocking in. We saw a juvenile horn shark right away, and several octopus. We got a charge out of one little octo, only about an inch long. He had one tentacle wrapped around a tiny egg sack (not sure what kind), and was trying to free it with all his might. As we hovered over him enjoying the show, he tenaciously kept working away, and changed colors to let us know how furious he was about the interruption.
We continued poking around on the wall checking out the critters, including a couple Spanish Shawls, a small Spotted Cusk Eel, lots of gobies, a sleepy lobster, and a Sheep Crab. At about 3 minutes to deco, as the beautiful blue-green light started to bathe the canyon, we started back. Just over the edge of the canyon we spotted a gorgeous Banded Guitar Fish, and were buzzed by a very Seussian looking cormorant. As we made our way across the sand, we saw a couple pipefish and a Sheep Crab hunkered next to an engine block anchoring a buoy.
Due to Kim’s excellent navigation skills, we surfaced in six feet of water directly in front of Vallecitos, and exited the surf zone without incident. We doffed our gear and headed to Starbucks. Thanks for a superb dive this morning ladies! It was a great start to my birthday. Kim even gave me a DAN mat. I love my new DAN mat!! It’s the pinnacle of beach mat technology.
Oh yeah, and by the way, I must still be pretty good looking even though I’m 45 today. A gorgeous 27 year-old lady in a Mercedes was checking me out as we sat at a stoplight on La Jolla Village Dr. OK so maybe she was 72. She was still checking me out, I swear.
John L.