Lobos report May 4

[KRL1973]

Arrived around 10:30 and found ourselves team #1 and had the cove to ourselves until about 2pm when 2 more teams arrived

Vis in the cove was 10-15ft steadily improved with depth to 30-40ft at 80fsw.
Surge followed similar pattern, fairly heavy from 20-35fsw but hardly noticeable beyond that. Water was especially cold. My suunto favor read 50F but it has always read about 3-5 degrees higher than any of my buddies puters.

In middle reef saw a 'tunnel' thru a big rock almost big enough to swim thru (tall enough but not wide enough) lingered there and a huge rockfish floated around inside it. I think he was making it know I was not welcome to join him so moved on.
53min, max 61', avg 31'

2nd dive shot past hole in the wall and lone met. trying to keep warm and found myself farther + deeper than have been previously in a field of boulders sloping up to my left up to a very large rock/sm pinnacle that stood proudly out on it's own and checked it out for a while. It was especially lush with life and had a loose school of blues hoovering well above it. Anyone recognize this spot? Does this rock/pinnacle have a name? I'd like to re-visit this spot.

Got down to just 8 min NO Dec time on this dive, hadn't done that since cozumel.
49min, Max 87', avg 49'

Hung out for a bit at end of a dive in the shallow end of the cove hoping a lone otter there or one of the numerous harbor seals with pups might come out to play. Surge was reduced there with a bit better vis as well, alas the seals with their pups were curious but kept a respectful distance from us. The otter was bit more daring but still couldn't see it underwater, only from the surface.

Topside was sunny, warm, and just a slight breeze. -Perfect to warm back up after a cold dive.

Sorry you all couldn't be there. I lucked out when I set up this vacation day from work to dive a week ago.
-ken

 

[Ben_ca]

2nd dive shot past hole in the wall and lone met. trying to keep warm and found myself farther + deeper than have been previously in a field of boulders sloping up to my left up to a very large rock/sm pinnacle that stood proudly out on it's own and checked it out for a while. It was especially lush with life and had a loose school of blues hoovering well above it. Anyone recognize this spot? Does this rock/pinnacle have a name? I'd like to re-visit this spot.

-ken

Sounds like Seamount BAUE Map Link

 

[KRL1973]

Sounds like Seamount BAUE Map Link

Checked out the link and the main map at BAUE and Yes, I believe that Seamount has to be it.

Thanks Ben!

 

[mikeguerrero]

Ken,

Let me know if you dive during the weekday for Lobos, I will join you. I don't work until 6pm M-Th, so if I leave the cove by 3pm I can dive lobos.

MG

 

[Guy Alcala]

Sounds like Seamount BAUE Map Link

Can any of the BAUE people confirm that the location of Lone Metridium shown on the map was determined by GPS and not by estimate? When I was out there, the depths (61' at LM, 72' at the base of the wall it sits on) put it north of the map location. And the distance from it to Sea Mount (or what I believe was Sea Mount) seemed to be too short as well, if the map is correct.

Guy

 

[Gombessa]

Can any of the BAUE people confirm that the location of Lone Metridium shown on the map was determined by GPS and not by estimate? When I was out there, the depths (61' at LM, 72' at the base of the wall it sits on) put it north of the map location. And the distance from it to Sea Mount (or what I believe was Sea Mount) seemed to be too short as well, if the map is correct.

Guy

Guy,

I believe I guestimated the location of LM on the printable version of the BAUE map (you'll notice it's not a landmark on the online map). The way I determined it was triangulation of navigational headings from HitW (300 degrees) and Sea Mount (0 degrees) over several dives, but it may very well be off. If you have proper GPS coordinates for LM, send them over and I can update the printable map.

Kenn

 

[Guy Alcala]

Guy,

I believe I guestimated the location of LM on the printable version of the BAUE map (you'll notice it's not a landmark on the online map). The way I determined it was triangulation of navigational headings from HitW (300 degrees) and Sea Mount (0 degrees) over several dives, but it may very well be off. If you have proper GPS coordinates for LM, send them over and I can update the printable map.

Kenn

Thanks, Kenn. I don't have GPS info yet, but hope to take the Navimate out there whenever I get to borrow it from Francesca. I eyeball-guesstimated 005 to Sea Mount from the map waypoint of LM, and we wound up arriving along the right side of it, assuming that we were in fact at Sea Mount. IIRR, top and bottom depth there was 81'/88' or 89'.

I suspect the correct location of LM is on the feature more or less covered by the 'e' in 'Lone' on the printable map, or else on the small reef due north of that. _That_ assumes the position of HitW is correct. Given the depths we saw at LM and (what I believe) was Sea Mount, there's no way it could be located as shallow, something less than 50', as it is shown on the map.

I haven't dived Lobos all that often, so I'm still learning my way around the various features. But unless there's _another_ lone metridium sitting well up on the side of a reef out there, Fofo and I were definitely at it.

Guy

 

[Gombessa]

I suspect the correct location of LM is on the feature more or less covered by the 'e' in 'Lone' on the printable map, or else on the small reef due north of that. _That_ assumes the position of HitW is correct.

Looking at the map, you might be onto something. The lack of bathymetry at the edges makes everything a bit of a guess, but let me know if you're able to get any more concrete data. Depending on the tide, the sea floor at LM is indeed about 70', so the mark at 50' seems a bit shallow.