When I can't be bothered driving to Monterey I sometimes just dive the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and look at tunicates and hermissenda. Last night was pretty fun.
We started on the east side of the wharf about 8pm, a few hundred yards from the beach. My Intova failed, as I suspected it would (I think the spring switch is wearing out, works okay at 40', not at the surface), so I switched to my older UK light. We descended to about 20' and the visibility is nothing. I can barely read my gauges when I hold them to my face. My buddy and I are touch contact only; I can't see her hands at all.
This was her first time at the wharf, and I'd warned her vis was usually bad, so she figured that yes, I really did dive this. We sit for a minute or two to see if we somehow caused it then I thumb it. We moved to the west side, which was considerably better, almost a foot of vis. Unfortunately, by this time my stupid UK light was out of batteries (I so rarely use it that I must have forgotten to change the batteries). We hang out until it's dim enough that my gauges are hard to read then go home.
So... 25' for 0:16. On the plus side, our tanks have enough gas to do it again. The funniest thing was a school of fish swam up to us and one just ran into my buddy's mask, full tilt. I guess they couldn't see anything either.
We started on the east side of the wharf about 8pm, a few hundred yards from the beach. My Intova failed, as I suspected it would (I think the spring switch is wearing out, works okay at 40', not at the surface), so I switched to my older UK light. We descended to about 20' and the visibility is nothing. I can barely read my gauges when I hold them to my face. My buddy and I are touch contact only; I can't see her hands at all.
This was her first time at the wharf, and I'd warned her vis was usually bad, so she figured that yes, I really did dive this. We sit for a minute or two to see if we somehow caused it then I thumb it. We moved to the west side, which was considerably better, almost a foot of vis. Unfortunately, by this time my stupid UK light was out of batteries (I so rarely use it that I must have forgotten to change the batteries). We hang out until it's dim enough that my gauges are hard to read then go home.
So... 25' for 0:16. On the plus side, our tanks have enough gas to do it again. The funniest thing was a school of fish swam up to us and one just ran into my buddy's mask, full tilt. I guess they couldn't see anything either.
