I Was Wrong... Summer is Here!

drbill

The Lorax for the Kelp Forest

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• Sep 5, 2013

• #1

Mother Nature's timing sometimes bewilders us human beings. Recently I posted about summer being over and in response our water temperatures jumped up about 4-6 degrees F! On my night dives where I was getting 66 F at max depth (50 fsw) a week or so ago I'm now getting 72 F. In fact, I'm heading down to the dive park again tonight to cool off and enjoy the "munching" and "mating" show.

 

D

davidbaraff

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• Sep 5, 2013

• #2

As one who is going diving on 9/27 at Casino Point, let me just say thanks for the update! You had me worried...

If I go out on a dive boat (King Neptune or the CDS boat) do I still stand a reasonable chance of seeing GSB at that time of the year? Or is it already too late? (I usually come right before or after the Jazz festival -- this year it's right before.) I've never seen the GSB in October, but hoping they'd be around for a late September trip.

 

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Bopper

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• Sep 6, 2013

• #3

Good news. I've heard that higher temps tend to cause algae blooms to die off and therefor increase visibility. Anybody know if there's some truth to this?

 

OP

drbill

The Lorax for the Kelp Forest

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• Sep 6, 2013

• #4

Last year we were filming lots of giant sea bass in September. This year I've only seen two (but ewveryone else seems to be seeing them... I guess I should dive during the day!)

Higher water temperatures mean low nutrients so phytoplankton (and algae including giant kelp) die off from "starvation." Last year we had surface temps of 77 F for weeks and the kelp had largely disappeared. This year we've had frequent pulses of cold water replenishing nutrients and allowing the kelp at the south end of the dive park to remain luxuriant.

 

blue steal

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• Sep 6, 2013

• #5

Hope the weather and ocean conditions hold for a while. I am going over Wednesday & Thursday for some of that "warm" water diving.
It's been chilly over here on the mainland at OML.

 

OP

drbill

The Lorax for the Kelp Forest

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Location

Santa Catalina Island, CA

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• Sep 6, 2013

• #6

Can't count on any conditions holding this summer... temps have been up and down, but so far so good the past few days.