fnfalman
Contributor
Went out on the Peace boat to front side of San Miguel. The dive sites were outside of Wyckoff and Oil Spring. One dive at Wyckoff and two dives at Oil Spring. Conditions were definitely rough. Fogged in all day and 4-ft swells at times. Water was both green and filled with salps & jellyfish for the first 40-ft, but cleared up decently at depth (70-90 ft).
I slept in and skipped out on the first two dives but did the third dive (second at Oil Spring). Water was definitely nippy - saw 50-F at 80-ft and I had my summer half hood on. A bit of ice cream headeache but not too bad. Didn't see anything exotic there but the topography was dramatic. Massive boulders jutting out, lots of colors. Lots of big fish. The hunters had a field day with large ling cods and vermillions. Horned Aeolids were out of the wazoo. Everywhere you turn, there they were. The other two abundant nudies were the white spot yellow dorid and the noble dorids. I saw a noble dorid that would have filled my palm. A nice treat was some sprinklings of purple hydrocoral. And I saw the biggest starfish ever!!! It was white with red dots. That sucker from tip to tip must have been easily TWO FEET or more!!! I saw it from twenty feet away, descended down and spreaded my arms to see how big it was. And yes, it was a starfish and not a sun star which can grow into a massive thing.
Then on the fourth dive, we headed to Talcott Shoal. The condition calmed considerably, surface was about as flat as a pancake. However, water was also green and surgey at the bottom. Temp was a hair warmer at a balmy 56-F.
However, Talcott Shoal was where I saw my several firsts. The first "first" was a wolf eel. I've seen plenty of moray but not a wolf eel, so it was a pleasant surprise. The sucker was barely 2-ft long and it was just sitting on the rock eyeballing me like it's hungry or something. After about half a minute, it swam off towards my buddy so he got a treat as well.
The second "first" was a skate with two eyes on its wing. I've seen photos and videos of it before but this was my first time live. Not too big, the wing is maybe a foot wide at most. It just sat there while the three of us hovered above it, oohing and ahhing.
The third "first" was a Hopkin's Rose. There were plenty of white spot yellow dorids and noble dorids at Talcott Shoal, plus a few San Diego dorids but I didn't see anything else. As I was about to make the ascension, I saw another white spot dorid and a noble dorid to my left. It wasn't anything new but for some reasons I decided to investigate. I was eyeballing the white spot dorid and lo and behold!!! Right next to it a few inches away was a Hopkin's Rose. I was so excited, I almost peed in my wetsuit!!! After a minute of admiration, with the tank running low, I made the ascension happier than a clam.
So, the only difference between today's outing and a winter outing was the air temperature. Winter air temp would have been cooler but otherwise with the fog and the water temp it might as well have been winter diving. SWEET!!!
PS There were six Halcyon BCs on board with four of them the Infinity model.
I slept in and skipped out on the first two dives but did the third dive (second at Oil Spring). Water was definitely nippy - saw 50-F at 80-ft and I had my summer half hood on. A bit of ice cream headeache but not too bad. Didn't see anything exotic there but the topography was dramatic. Massive boulders jutting out, lots of colors. Lots of big fish. The hunters had a field day with large ling cods and vermillions. Horned Aeolids were out of the wazoo. Everywhere you turn, there they were. The other two abundant nudies were the white spot yellow dorid and the noble dorids. I saw a noble dorid that would have filled my palm. A nice treat was some sprinklings of purple hydrocoral. And I saw the biggest starfish ever!!! It was white with red dots. That sucker from tip to tip must have been easily TWO FEET or more!!! I saw it from twenty feet away, descended down and spreaded my arms to see how big it was. And yes, it was a starfish and not a sun star which can grow into a massive thing.
Then on the fourth dive, we headed to Talcott Shoal. The condition calmed considerably, surface was about as flat as a pancake. However, water was also green and surgey at the bottom. Temp was a hair warmer at a balmy 56-F.
However, Talcott Shoal was where I saw my several firsts. The first "first" was a wolf eel. I've seen plenty of moray but not a wolf eel, so it was a pleasant surprise. The sucker was barely 2-ft long and it was just sitting on the rock eyeballing me like it's hungry or something. After about half a minute, it swam off towards my buddy so he got a treat as well.
The second "first" was a skate with two eyes on its wing. I've seen photos and videos of it before but this was my first time live. Not too big, the wing is maybe a foot wide at most. It just sat there while the three of us hovered above it, oohing and ahhing.
The third "first" was a Hopkin's Rose. There were plenty of white spot yellow dorids and noble dorids at Talcott Shoal, plus a few San Diego dorids but I didn't see anything else. As I was about to make the ascension, I saw another white spot dorid and a noble dorid to my left. It wasn't anything new but for some reasons I decided to investigate. I was eyeballing the white spot dorid and lo and behold!!! Right next to it a few inches away was a Hopkin's Rose. I was so excited, I almost peed in my wetsuit!!! After a minute of admiration, with the tank running low, I made the ascension happier than a clam.
So, the only difference between today's outing and a winter outing was the air temperature. Winter air temp would have been cooler but otherwise with the fog and the water temp it might as well have been winter diving. SWEET!!!
PS There were six Halcyon BCs on board with four of them the Infinity model.
