Sat 11/18/06 on Cypress Charter

So, I'm booked into the Cypress Charter boat on Saturday for a 3-tank trip.

I don't suppose any SB lurkers will be on the boat?

This will be my first boat dive in NorCal, been doing shore dives since moving here one year ago.

Vicente -

My wife (Stacy) scheduled a dive with Cypress Charter for Nov 18 for my Bday (Nov 19th). My group will consist of 7 people. Most of us are still pretty new. I'll be the asian guy in the DUI drysuit. My wife will be the caucasian woman in a DUI drysuit.

Hey - noticed that you're from Davis as well. So am I. Small world.

Minh

Cool. We are a little group of 4 from UCD. See ya there!

Wave to me from the boat as you cruise out past the breakwater. I'm shore diving tomorrow.

Wave to you at Breakwater? Can just make out the Breakwater, not individual divers.

Anyhow, diving went really well. Minimal waves and decent visibility from 30-40 feet I think, water temp about 54-55 according to my dive computer. First 2 dives in Carmel bay, 3rd in a spot along the way back "Pink House" I think it was called. I was a bit surprised by the surge action at 60 feet. I guess it's because even these deeper spots are so close to shore that it's so severe.

The folks at Cypress had a DIN adapter and were able to fill my tank, but not to more than 3200 or so. Ah well, I came back with 1200 or more anyhow. Although if I had the HP-80 rather than HP-100 it might have been more of an issue for me. They were also good enough to give me a fill on the way back, so I've got a full tank for my next shore dive.

Nice to meet Minh and birthday party.

Nice to have seen the Davis contingent in full force. Some pictures are at
http://web.mac.com/kennedyim/iWeb/Diving/Monterey Nov.html

Lobos out past Cannery point was great on Friday. Surge was strong in Stillwater on Saturday but surface conditions were great.

"Wave to you at Breakwater? Can just make out the Breakwater, not individual divers."

Gee, I could see you pretty well when you went by...

Where does it go out of? What type fo dive is it?

Kris,

The boat left from the fisherman pier (not too far from Breakwater). It's just a boat dive. The boat goes out, anchor, and divers jump in. Then when the diver surface, we do a little swim back to the boat where the crew helps the divers get back in. There were no divemasters (guides) on the dive. In our group, we paired up in buddy teams. However, one team was with three divers since our group adopted a really nice diver (Tom?) who turned out to be very helpful.

My first dive wasn't that great and only lasted 17 minutes. My wife was having problem descending in her new drysuit. Also - the surge was really strong, and we kept on fighting it. My tank (LP steel 80) only had 2400psi. The second dive was much better with a lot less surge. They also filled my tank to about 2600 psi. Our third dive, lasted quite a bit longer since this time, my tank was filled to 3000psi and we learned not to fight the surge.

It was also great meeting so many divers from Davis as well. BTW - if anyone is from the Davis area, we have a mailing list started. Just PM me if you want to be on the list.

Minh

I don't know where fisherman's pier is? I grew up 20 miles south of San Francisco, certified in 74 in Monterey Bay. I have not been back there since 81, currently live in the FLorida Pan Handle. If you ever get ouot this way let me know.. I dive a lot of the springs often, Plan to go to Cypress this week. You can only get to it by boat. I live about 9 miles from Vortex www.vortexspring.com