The mob scene in the south area on Sat. (sonoma)

Things have always been a little high strung on the North Coast. Between CHP, DFG, rangers and lifeguards a pair of eyes may be glassing you even in remote places (especially on weekends in ab season). Introduce yourself to the local crew. Let them know who you are and what your doing before you do it. That way if they see you kick 1500yds. out to your favorite spot you will not insight a panic. Keep an eye on the bluffs (especially if your doing something different), if you see officials, give them an OK before a helicopter arrives. I know there's been a lot of turn over in the north area personnel this year but everyone is very friendly and good people. Say hello if you can but especially if you are doing something that might "worry" them. If our two mystery divers are out there please PM me.


It did make for a very peaceful day in the north area though:


"Saturday May 5 rescuers search for missing divers
Scotty Creek May 5, 2007 -------- Legions of rescuers launched a desperate effort Saturday after two scuba divers were reported missing at Scotty Creek. A film crew doing a commercial for Kawasaki saw two divers enter the surf and not return. They called 911 about an hour after the divers in black and blue dry suits and scuba tanks went in the water. An underwater "scooter" – used for transportation – washed up onto Gleason Beach at Scotty Creek. The film crew – not associated with the divers – found the scooter and figured the divers were in trouble.

Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputies responded with their boat – The Mussell Point – moored at Spud Point Marina. Sheriff's helicopter, Henry-One, responded from the Sonoma County Airport. Local Deputy Charlie Bone responded. State Park Rangers and Lifeguards responded. Bodega Bay Fire and ambulance was also on scene ready to help. Bodega Bay Coast Guard Station sent a lifeboat and a helicopter from Alameda Station. [CHP H-30 was cruising the coast as well]

Three Lifeguards entered the water, one at the south end of Portuguese Beach, two at Scotty Creek.

The boats watched outside of the rock line cruising the area. The helicopters flew overhead repeatedly scanning for any sign of the divers. State Park Rangers watched from the cliff tops. The Lifeguards swam north against the nearshore current. The other two lifeguard swam out toward several large rocks that are interesting to divers. Another State Park Ranger checked cars at Scotty Creek and at the nearby parking areas for an unaccounted vehicle.

State Park Rangers and Bodega Bay Fire called off the active search after 40 minutes. By then the divers would certainly be out of air. Helicopter Henry-One flew back to Sonoma County Airport. Shortly afterwards the Coast Guard helicopter was recalled to another search underway in San Francisco Bay. [H-30 went up to play in the north area]

Shortly after, the two divers walked out of the surf at Scotty Creek.

They were diving with a special air tanks and air that allowed just over two hours underwater.

They had lost their scooter and gave up finding it. The divers were unharmed and the rescuers had a live training exercise."

A good time was had by all.
Conditions: An upwelling affair. Vis 2+ ft. (perhaps less in the south area), hardly anything in the way of swell, but moderate gusts out of the northwest kicking up chop and mild to moderate long shore currents, surface temp 48, Russian north but primarily south with heavy siltation due to the rains (hence why an exposed south area beach for a dive? MF Eel's?).

"Special air tanks"? Doubles?

good to here things turned out for the best. especially after the past few weeks. divers dropping like flies as of late up here. but I have to say one thing. it sure makes for a better dive when you can shoot a ling right between the eyes, and the shaft comes out the tail. makes for a good KA-BOB.~ ~ ~ ~ :bigun2:

Great advice rtavernetti!

People are definitely on edge around here with so many deaths in so short a time. It really is a good idea to let someone know what you will be doing and a return time.

I usually leave a note at home for my folks so pretty much I won't end up like my aunt.

I wonder if theiy're going to be sent the bill? I am glad that it turned out well. That would be scary to see the divers go into the water, and then the scooter come up onto the shore.

rtavernetti:

Things have always been a little high strung on the North Coast. Between CHP, DFG, rangers and lifeguards a pair of eyes may be glassing you even in remote places (especially on weekends in ab season). Introduce yourself to the local crew. Let them know who you are and what your doing before you do it. That way if they see you kick 1500yds. out to your favorite spot you will not insight a panic. Keep an eye on the bluffs (especially if your doing something different), if you see officials, give them an OK before a helicopter arrives. I know there's been a lot of turn over in the north area personnel this year but everyone is very friendly and good people. Say hello if you can but especially if you are doing something that might "worry" them.

Click to expand...

but to be honest rtavernetti, I do dive without a gun from time to time. and just recently picked up a camera. I mention this because Im impressed with the squid on your avatar.is this your doing with a camera, and where. you also make some good points on diving the sonoma coast. with the support teem, ie. coastguard and rangers. I have been glassed several times and next time ill give the OK. and shake some hands. regards.

So, best way to dive the North coast is to find all the hiding officials and people around and let each and every one of them know what you are up to? What is the best way to identify the people on the beach that will be there when you return?

The divers did nothing wrong and there is nothing out of the ordinary about their dive profile. I can do 1 hour on a single tank in shallow water, and 2.5 hours on a set of doubles.

If I'm not waving my arms, I'm OK. The officials on the North Coast have binoculars and cameras with high powered zoom lenses (shhhh). They should be able to figure out who needs help and who doesn't. Spotting folks on the bluff's would be nearly impossible. They are usually in camo or drab outfits, trying to blend in (shhh).

I don't really think that there is much you can do to change diving on the North Coast. More important is to remind people to not dive it when the swell model is big. There was a post on Deeperblue.net a few weeks ago that with the big minus tide and big swells there would be a few deaths in the next 2 weeks. Really a sad state when someone can so accurately predict the future.

Mark

rtavernetti:

Things have always been a little high strung on the North Coast. Between CHP, DFG, rangers and lifeguards a pair of eyes may be glassing you even in remote places (especially on weekends in ab season). Introduce yourself to the local crew. Let them know who you are and what your doing before you do it. That way if they see you kick 1500yds. out to your favorite spot you will not insight a panic. Keep an eye on the bluffs (especially if your doing something different), if you see officials, give them an OK before a helicopter arrives. I know there's been a lot of turn over in the north area personnel this year but everyone is very friendly and good people. Say hello if you can but especially if you are doing something that might "worry" them. If our two mystery divers are out there please PM me.


It did make for a very peaceful day in the north area though:


"Saturday May 5 rescuers search for missing divers
Scotty Creek May 5, 2007 -------- Legions of rescuers launched a desperate effort Saturday after two scuba divers were reported missing at Scotty Creek. A film crew doing a commercial for Kawasaki saw two divers enter the surf and not return. They called 911 about an hour after the divers in black and blue dry suits and scuba tanks went in the water. An underwater "scooter" – used for transportation – washed up onto Gleason Beach at Scotty Creek. The film crew – not associated with the divers – found the scooter and figured the divers were in trouble.

Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputies responded with their boat – The Mussell Point – moored at Spud Point Marina. Sheriff's helicopter, Henry-One, responded from the Sonoma County Airport. Local Deputy Charlie Bone responded. State Park Rangers and Lifeguards responded. Bodega Bay Fire and ambulance was also on scene ready to help. Bodega Bay Coast Guard Station sent a lifeboat and a helicopter from Alameda Station. [CHP H-30 was cruising the coast as well]

Three Lifeguards entered the water, one at the south end of Portuguese Beach, two at Scotty Creek.

The boats watched outside of the rock line cruising the area. The helicopters flew overhead repeatedly scanning for any sign of the divers. State Park Rangers watched from the cliff tops. The Lifeguards swam north against the nearshore current. The other two lifeguard swam out toward several large rocks that are interesting to divers. Another State Park Ranger checked cars at Scotty Creek and at the nearby parking areas for an unaccounted vehicle.

State Park Rangers and Bodega Bay Fire called off the active search after 40 minutes. By then the divers would certainly be out of air. Helicopter Henry-One flew back to Sonoma County Airport. Shortly afterwards the Coast Guard helicopter was recalled to another search underway in San Francisco Bay. [H-30 went up to play in the north area]

Shortly after, the two divers walked out of the surf at Scotty Creek.

They were diving with a special air tanks and air that allowed just over two hours underwater.

They had lost their scooter and gave up finding it. The divers were unharmed and the rescuers had a live training exercise."

A good time was had by all.
Conditions: An upwelling affair. Vis 2+ ft. (perhaps less in the south area), hardly anything in the way of swell, but moderate gusts out of the northwest kicking up chop and mild to moderate long shore currents, surface temp 48, Russian north but primarily south with heavy siltation due to the rains (hence why an exposed south area beach for a dive? MF Eel's?).

Click to expand...

Well I sort of regret opening my big mouth so this is probably not worth reading. My comments should be taken as from the peanut gallery and not the top of a soap box. They are not directed at the aforementioned situation. Mark you are absolutely right. No one did anything wrong, I did not mean to imply it, and people should dive in what ever way works best for them. In retrospect my comments may not be so good. If you are an unfamiliar person and say your are going to do something unusual someone may give you a hard time about it. The majority of divers they deal with are not the most reliable in our water. If you are way the heck out there, in rough conditions, rip's, around rocks taking swell, you might be presumed to be in trouble even if you are simply going about your business. This is especially true of areas frequented by less experienced divers. Officials are prolific at certain areas and times of the year. All I was saying was that a simple: "Hey, my friend and I are two very experienced divers from Monterey. There's a fishing boat on the 120ft contour about 1000yds on the outside. We've dove in may times before and know the water well. So if you see two divers way out there thats us." The response you will likely get is "thanks for letting us know" and then they can continue on their patrol and not waste the entire day on you. I'm not saying you have to make a public announcement, I just think its courtesy if someone crosses your path.

The reality is that if your up here enough they will learn your car long before your face. In many ways that’s good because you are often in the water when you get reported. An investigating ranger or lifeguard may simply see your car in the pullout and recognize it as belong to someone he's seen doing the same thing before. They have the keys to access most of the private property along The One so, while you may have no hope of seeing the warden who called you in, the big white 4X4 that arrives a top a near by cliff is hard to miss. You give them a big OK, he's not that worried about you. Surfacing from your dive 85min later you may wonder if he will still be there or not. But at least you don’t have to stress that you are going to find 3 more white trucks and a helicopter banking circles over your head.

This is all just garbage for the sake of conversation. It’s a part of the local etiquette/culture/politics that is irrelevant except for a few circumstances that apply only to a small handful of people. I’m not telling anyone how to do their thing.

The politics up here are funny. Especially in the south area where you have so many different agencies competing for responses and rescue time. As mark said the divers did nothing wrong. Assumptions were likely made due to the location selected for the dive. Another local diver sent me this last weekend: “Only divers that are visually impaired are allowed at Scotty Creek. Didn't they notice the seeing eye dog tethered to the vehicle?" Its not a dive site anyone would typically select as the heavy siltation keeps settlement on substrate to a minimum. The vis looked to be effectively a muddy zero. That may be why they could not recover their scooter after dropping it on the entry. Perhaps there is something grand in there that I don't know about. The beaches are packed with people, there’s officials all over the map, and the idiot factor is off the charts for the kite flying, taffy chewing, pinwheeling buying general population on the beaches in that area. They didn’t do anything wrong, assumptions were made based on the cliental that like the spot. I am surprised with two people hoovering up the bottom in such a small area that all that man power didn't stumble over their jacuzzi.

As for other forums ability to predict the future, its like this every year we have rougher conditions on the opener and closer of Ab season. Some people do dive when the swell is big. Certain places have a toilet bowl entry you can only enter and exit when the walls are draining water. However many people up here on those days should not be in the water but try anyway. Last weekend was no exception. A guy greats me on the exit and asks, “do I have to swim that far to get abalone, what do they look like, how fast do you have to be to catch them after you pop them off, when do they die.” He was dead set on going despite the location and conditions. Even after the Ecology of the Pacific Red Abalone talk that usually turns most people into sympathizers. No gloves, no booties, no hood, overweighed, no floatation, surf suit. Things did not go well. People make their own choices. Rough days with the masses in the water have historically not had a good track record and that will likely continue well into the future (unless the new regulation suggestions are implemented). It is what it is, so long as I don’t have watch.

Sheesh. I better go get some work done.

So what happens if those guys do get in trouble? At least one set of guards is not paying attention to them.

The real way to do it is to always have someone on shore who knows your dive plan and alerts the authorities if there is a problem. We know that isn't going to happen.

Rhad