First independent dive - Otter Cove, 2/12

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Jak Crow

Contributor
Messages
680
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106
Location
Livermore, CA, USA
# of dives
500 - 999
As most divers that were in the water last weekend knew, it was probably some of the best diving to be hand in a while. My friend and I decided for my first dive after getting my cert would be Otter Cove, which is just down the street from Lover's Point. I had read that it has some of the best diving in the bay, with a chance to encounter otters and seals.

We arrived about 10am and the water was glass and clear as far as you could see from the top of the stairway to the beach. For our first dive We decided to enter from the right side of the beach, go out to the last rock on the surface out in the cove, drop down there and head 0 to 330. It was a beautiful dive. Almost no surge entering the water, and clear so watching the sea grass swaying in the waves was nice. The grass continues out to about the 10ft dept, then it gives way to iridescent sea weed and the start of some kelp. We got to the rock, dropped down, and we were greeted to 30 to 40ft visibility. It was unexpected and fantastic. The cove is a mix of rocky outcroppings and sand flats, which isn't what I expected, but obviously there's a great chance for a mix of life. As were were heading 330, we came across some kind of probe that looks like a small torpedo, which we originally mistook as some kind of pipe. It had a phone number on it, but we didn't write it down. Since I this was my 7th dive, I we had to turn around because of my air level. I also used this dive to test the underwater enclosure of my gopro camera for the first time.

For the 2nd dive, we were going to hit the wash rock again, but swim out a bit further before dropping down. We also intended to find the probe again and get the phone number off it. Visibility had dropped a bit, down to 25 to 30ft I think. However, as we were swimming out. We were surrounded by 10 or 12 seals who were interested in us, which distracted us off our original plan. We decided to drop down sooner to watch the seals. This dive ended up being the best one because of the seals. It was great, and I had my camera with me this time and caught several shots of the seals while we were swimming and diving. We had such fun watching the seals we forgot to look for the probe.

The only issue with this beach dive is the beach entry is a lot round, smooth stones, so you have to be careful entering and exiting. On my first dive, I had my hard sole boots on. On the second, I used my softer sole boots which made it easier.

This really is a great dive spot. We will be going back to it on our next dive since there are some features we missed and we want to get the phone number off the probe.
 
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Awesome your first post certification dive was in such nice conditions. Hopefully you will have many more fun filled underwater days to come.
 
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