I've dived the rigs a number of times now. And for years, I hear about how rough it can get, etc. Sure, there's been swell and wind and stuff, but I've always been "what's the deal?" OK - I get the no bottom thing (250 to 650+ FSW) and I get the current thing (I've been out there when its ripping) but both of these are manageable with sensible dive planning and control.
But rough? Nah.
Oh baby. On Saturday, it got a little rough. And the thing is, I'm confident this was nowhere near as bad as it can get. But we got hammered, tossed, thrown about, bruised and thrown about some more. The wind was blowing pretty well, add that to the substantial swell and it made the deck and swim step on the Sea Bass a heaving, pitching, challenging mess.
It should be said early that Capt Richard and his crew were amazing. The pick-ups and drop-offs were perfect, safe, confident and executed with military precision. It makes it so much better to dive in conditions like that when you know the boat is in control and going to get you outta there quickly if things go just one more degree south. Tons of love to the Sea Bass.
We did the first two dives on Elly (one of the double rigs Ellen and Elly) and the third one on Eureka (I think....) Dette and I were the only ones with scooters. We would Giant stride off the deck with the scoots, then one of us (whoever was closest) would quickly kick back to the boat and grab the cam.
The key is dropping quickly, as when you get to about 15 feet or 20 feet things calm down considerably. The dives:
DIVE ONE (Elly)
Our objective was to get some scooter shots, as its been awhile since we've had good water to get some clear shots. There were several photographers on the boat, many with Macro lenses on - that means Brittle Star rain, as they brace for their shots above stuff inevitably gets knocked off and falls. The water looked blue (unlike the green water last time we were here) and as we dropped things opened up. After a quick strobe test, we quickly scooted to the far side of the rig, out of the rain and dropped to our planned depth and started shooting in the clean water.
The fish life was amazing. I've never seen so many fish on the rigs before. I was stunned. What a spectacle! We dropped pretty deep, shooting all the way down against some of the cool structure. At the bottom I handed Dette the camera and she snapped off some shots of me. I don't do this often, and I always forget how hard it is to be a good subject - body positioning, breathing, scooting very slowly, etc. OY! She makes it look easy, and I decided I'm much better on the back of the camera than on the front.
We ascended and hit the thermocline on the way back up at about 50-ish feet - and from 50 to about 35 the water got amazingly clear. Memo to self - spend more time dive two in that range!
We popped up to sea lions barking in the echoing riggage, and the boat quickly backed in to grab us. An excellent dive.
DIVE TWO (Elly)
After a very long SI (a filter stack was out on the Sea Bass, so filling took longer than usual) we geared up to head back in. I was going to shoot Wide Angle again, but this time we were going to start a bit shallower and move to the clear zone earlier in the dive.
We moved to the drop position and the seas were noticeably rougher. We jumped in, I cam back to grab the cam and we quickly moved to the center of the rig to drop.
With the sun a little higher I took us over to the east side so we could have the sun at Claudettes back on the way back up so I could snap off some silhouette shots.
On the SI, people were talking about a big cabezon that was on what Kevin Lee described as Neapolitan eggs (3-color, like the ice cream.) On our way down we saw the hubbub in a corner pillar we zoomed over to see 3 cameras and a video unit (and their assorted buddies) getting shots of the big zon sitting on the eggs. Not wanting to queue up at 110 feet we moved east on the cross bar, only to find a smaller Cabezon sitting.
I motioned to Claudette to get over behind it so I could get a Sheckler shot. If youve ever read California Diving News, youll see the homage in my composure of the shot. She get close, but I wanted her closer. She moved in practically lip to lip and I got the shot I wanted. When we looked up the queue was gone, so we went over to the much larger cabby on the eggs. As I was setting up the shot, a Sheephead got too close, and the big guy left the eggs to chase it away. I got some shots of it coming back, settling in and then motioned for Claudette to get close so I could put her in the shot.
On the way up we stopped on the East side on the Star braces and got some great shots of her hanging and hovering and playing.
We came up and things were even rougher.
Dive Three (Eureka?)
The SI was rough. Really rough. I had a full chewable Dram in me (best meds ever!) and I was still feeling a little oogy. I took another halfer the moment I came up.
I wanted to shoot Macro for dive three, so I was downstairs changing out the 10 dome port, port extension, 12-24 mm lens, 2X diopter, zoom gears, CF card, battery and the two long strobe arms. That meant taking all that stuff off the deathstar and pulling out and putting in a new batt, new CF card, two short arm sets, Focus light, focus light clamp, flat port, flat port extension and 105mm lens. I had to come back topside a few times because I couldnt keep my head down in the galley that long.
It was rough.
On top, Dette was changing out two scooter batts and changing out our tanks - we brought 2 tanks each to make for quicker change outs so they could fill while we were in the water. (HIT PEOPLE this works better.)
She was working hard. I was working hard. The boat was a pitching mess.
It was rough.
So were done and were going in. We move to the back and jump in on Earls signal. The sea is throwing us all over the place. Dette was closer, so she kicked back to grab the camera. She was pretty scared of dropping it on the hand off. I could see that so I scooted out from under the rig back to the open ocean to grab it from her. She wouldnt let go of it! Were getting tossed and Im all GIMMIE! She released, I clipped on and we hightailed it back into the rig to get some protection from the bounce.
We drop into more baitfish than Ive ever seen before. So thick they blocked the sun. I moved over to one of the pylons to shoot some Nudis I spotted and the camera wouldnt focus. Unreal. All that hoopla and I cant shoot.
It was the best thing that happened! We spend the next 61 minutes mashing the trigger, zooming in and out of the baitfish. It was probably the most fun Ive ever had on a scooter.
After about 20 minutes inside the rig, we moved to the outside and did a complete tour around the outside of the structure. It was so clear in the 50 to 35 range. Amazing. Large schools of Bonito breezing right up to the outside of the rig to pick off wandering baitfish. Followed by a school of much larger Bonito. Soon I saw several sea lions out of the corner of my eye I looked over and it was a school of very large Yellowtail.
WOW.
We moved up to the sea lion level (about 30 and above) and played with the sea lions for the last 10 minutes of the dive.
At the 1 hour mark I went over to dette we had tons of gas left, but we probably should get going, as Im sure were among the last to get back on and it has to be rough up there.
She acknowledges and we do our stops and surface. Im stunned at how rough it had become. We could hardly see over the swells and chop to see the boat. It was hard being on the top of the water.
The boat signaled us and backed in. Despite the terrible conditions, we had the best exit of the day! Gotta give it up again to the Sea Bass.
I didnt even take down my gear. I stripped out of my DS, left it on the deck in a heap and went down to the V-berth and curled up on the dive bags and stuff for the rough ride back.
What a great trip. Scott Gietler arranged this, and cast the divers. Capt Richard said if it was any other group wed have come in after dive two. That says a lot to Scott and his reputation with the Sea Bass and the divers he selects for these trips. Many thanks to Scott.
And of course, to Claudette, I give huge props. You are strong, fearless, skilled and enthusiastic. You are a pleasure to shoot, the apex buddy and the most fun person to spend a rough day with! Thanks for making this trip unforgettable.
Some images below. Full Rigs gallery here with tons more shots from the day: Linky
Click on the bar at the top of the shot to make it larger.
Enjoy.
---
Ken
Strobe Check - we always do a strobe check on the drop. These are usually just throw-away shots, but sometimes they're keepers. I'm feeling her gangstah lean.
Shots of Kenji - its not easy being a subject, so I just started mugging for the camera. I was laughing so hard my mask was totally flooding (as you can see...) I then did some drive by zoom-zoom that she shot.
Dette scoots through a cloud - I motioned to her to scoot through the cloud, and as she sped off to make the turn I realized I didn't know if she was gonna zoom under the rising cross bar or thread the needle. Of course, she chose to thread the needle through the "V" at top speed!
Homage to Sheckler. If you get it, you get it.
Checking out the Cross Bar - there is stuff hanging from all of the cross bars. Often the stuff is hanging my mussle fibers, so it sways in the surge and swell like a speed bag in the Gym.
East Side Buddy - We moved to the east side of the rig toget the sun at her back, and I wanted to shoot against one of the many Star Braces. As we were shooting this Sheephead came over and hovered the whole time, generally being a pest. She finally turned and smiled at the camera with her big ol' buck teeth.
Corynactis Stop - these aggregating anemones are all over the rigs, in many colors from pink to coral to purple. They are among the most striking features we see down there. In this shot Claudette is just showing off her buoyancy chops.
EggaZon - this is the cabby on the tri-color egg mass. It chased away a sheephead and returned to the nest, settled in, and then 'dette moved in so I could get her in the shot with it.
.
.
.
.
.
Play Time! At the end of every scooter shoot, once I have checked off the list of shots I want, it turns into play time. Claudette goes off and improvises and I grab shots. Some of our fav shots have come during play time. Here are a couple of my favs from this trip.
School is out! - chasing the schools of baitfish with a scooter. It really gets no more fun than this on the rigs.
Sea Lion Spin! - its always a blast to spin and play with the doggies. In this shot Claudette is looking for the guy that was just there, while another one drops in for some fun.
.
.
.
.
.
But rough? Nah.
Oh baby. On Saturday, it got a little rough. And the thing is, I'm confident this was nowhere near as bad as it can get. But we got hammered, tossed, thrown about, bruised and thrown about some more. The wind was blowing pretty well, add that to the substantial swell and it made the deck and swim step on the Sea Bass a heaving, pitching, challenging mess.
It should be said early that Capt Richard and his crew were amazing. The pick-ups and drop-offs were perfect, safe, confident and executed with military precision. It makes it so much better to dive in conditions like that when you know the boat is in control and going to get you outta there quickly if things go just one more degree south. Tons of love to the Sea Bass.
We did the first two dives on Elly (one of the double rigs Ellen and Elly) and the third one on Eureka (I think....) Dette and I were the only ones with scooters. We would Giant stride off the deck with the scoots, then one of us (whoever was closest) would quickly kick back to the boat and grab the cam.
The key is dropping quickly, as when you get to about 15 feet or 20 feet things calm down considerably. The dives:
DIVE ONE (Elly)
Our objective was to get some scooter shots, as its been awhile since we've had good water to get some clear shots. There were several photographers on the boat, many with Macro lenses on - that means Brittle Star rain, as they brace for their shots above stuff inevitably gets knocked off and falls. The water looked blue (unlike the green water last time we were here) and as we dropped things opened up. After a quick strobe test, we quickly scooted to the far side of the rig, out of the rain and dropped to our planned depth and started shooting in the clean water.
The fish life was amazing. I've never seen so many fish on the rigs before. I was stunned. What a spectacle! We dropped pretty deep, shooting all the way down against some of the cool structure. At the bottom I handed Dette the camera and she snapped off some shots of me. I don't do this often, and I always forget how hard it is to be a good subject - body positioning, breathing, scooting very slowly, etc. OY! She makes it look easy, and I decided I'm much better on the back of the camera than on the front.
We ascended and hit the thermocline on the way back up at about 50-ish feet - and from 50 to about 35 the water got amazingly clear. Memo to self - spend more time dive two in that range!
We popped up to sea lions barking in the echoing riggage, and the boat quickly backed in to grab us. An excellent dive.
DIVE TWO (Elly)
After a very long SI (a filter stack was out on the Sea Bass, so filling took longer than usual) we geared up to head back in. I was going to shoot Wide Angle again, but this time we were going to start a bit shallower and move to the clear zone earlier in the dive.
We moved to the drop position and the seas were noticeably rougher. We jumped in, I cam back to grab the cam and we quickly moved to the center of the rig to drop.
With the sun a little higher I took us over to the east side so we could have the sun at Claudettes back on the way back up so I could snap off some silhouette shots.
On the SI, people were talking about a big cabezon that was on what Kevin Lee described as Neapolitan eggs (3-color, like the ice cream.) On our way down we saw the hubbub in a corner pillar we zoomed over to see 3 cameras and a video unit (and their assorted buddies) getting shots of the big zon sitting on the eggs. Not wanting to queue up at 110 feet we moved east on the cross bar, only to find a smaller Cabezon sitting.
I motioned to Claudette to get over behind it so I could get a Sheckler shot. If youve ever read California Diving News, youll see the homage in my composure of the shot. She get close, but I wanted her closer. She moved in practically lip to lip and I got the shot I wanted. When we looked up the queue was gone, so we went over to the much larger cabby on the eggs. As I was setting up the shot, a Sheephead got too close, and the big guy left the eggs to chase it away. I got some shots of it coming back, settling in and then motioned for Claudette to get close so I could put her in the shot.
On the way up we stopped on the East side on the Star braces and got some great shots of her hanging and hovering and playing.
We came up and things were even rougher.
Dive Three (Eureka?)
The SI was rough. Really rough. I had a full chewable Dram in me (best meds ever!) and I was still feeling a little oogy. I took another halfer the moment I came up.
I wanted to shoot Macro for dive three, so I was downstairs changing out the 10 dome port, port extension, 12-24 mm lens, 2X diopter, zoom gears, CF card, battery and the two long strobe arms. That meant taking all that stuff off the deathstar and pulling out and putting in a new batt, new CF card, two short arm sets, Focus light, focus light clamp, flat port, flat port extension and 105mm lens. I had to come back topside a few times because I couldnt keep my head down in the galley that long.
It was rough.
On top, Dette was changing out two scooter batts and changing out our tanks - we brought 2 tanks each to make for quicker change outs so they could fill while we were in the water. (HIT PEOPLE this works better.)
She was working hard. I was working hard. The boat was a pitching mess.
It was rough.
So were done and were going in. We move to the back and jump in on Earls signal. The sea is throwing us all over the place. Dette was closer, so she kicked back to grab the camera. She was pretty scared of dropping it on the hand off. I could see that so I scooted out from under the rig back to the open ocean to grab it from her. She wouldnt let go of it! Were getting tossed and Im all GIMMIE! She released, I clipped on and we hightailed it back into the rig to get some protection from the bounce.
We drop into more baitfish than Ive ever seen before. So thick they blocked the sun. I moved over to one of the pylons to shoot some Nudis I spotted and the camera wouldnt focus. Unreal. All that hoopla and I cant shoot.
It was the best thing that happened! We spend the next 61 minutes mashing the trigger, zooming in and out of the baitfish. It was probably the most fun Ive ever had on a scooter.
After about 20 minutes inside the rig, we moved to the outside and did a complete tour around the outside of the structure. It was so clear in the 50 to 35 range. Amazing. Large schools of Bonito breezing right up to the outside of the rig to pick off wandering baitfish. Followed by a school of much larger Bonito. Soon I saw several sea lions out of the corner of my eye I looked over and it was a school of very large Yellowtail.
WOW.
We moved up to the sea lion level (about 30 and above) and played with the sea lions for the last 10 minutes of the dive.
At the 1 hour mark I went over to dette we had tons of gas left, but we probably should get going, as Im sure were among the last to get back on and it has to be rough up there.
She acknowledges and we do our stops and surface. Im stunned at how rough it had become. We could hardly see over the swells and chop to see the boat. It was hard being on the top of the water.
The boat signaled us and backed in. Despite the terrible conditions, we had the best exit of the day! Gotta give it up again to the Sea Bass.
I didnt even take down my gear. I stripped out of my DS, left it on the deck in a heap and went down to the V-berth and curled up on the dive bags and stuff for the rough ride back.
What a great trip. Scott Gietler arranged this, and cast the divers. Capt Richard said if it was any other group wed have come in after dive two. That says a lot to Scott and his reputation with the Sea Bass and the divers he selects for these trips. Many thanks to Scott.
And of course, to Claudette, I give huge props. You are strong, fearless, skilled and enthusiastic. You are a pleasure to shoot, the apex buddy and the most fun person to spend a rough day with! Thanks for making this trip unforgettable.
Some images below. Full Rigs gallery here with tons more shots from the day: Linky
Click on the bar at the top of the shot to make it larger.
Enjoy.
---
Ken
Strobe Check - we always do a strobe check on the drop. These are usually just throw-away shots, but sometimes they're keepers. I'm feeling her gangstah lean.
Shots of Kenji - its not easy being a subject, so I just started mugging for the camera. I was laughing so hard my mask was totally flooding (as you can see...) I then did some drive by zoom-zoom that she shot.
Dette scoots through a cloud - I motioned to her to scoot through the cloud, and as she sped off to make the turn I realized I didn't know if she was gonna zoom under the rising cross bar or thread the needle. Of course, she chose to thread the needle through the "V" at top speed!
Homage to Sheckler. If you get it, you get it.
Checking out the Cross Bar - there is stuff hanging from all of the cross bars. Often the stuff is hanging my mussle fibers, so it sways in the surge and swell like a speed bag in the Gym.
East Side Buddy - We moved to the east side of the rig toget the sun at her back, and I wanted to shoot against one of the many Star Braces. As we were shooting this Sheephead came over and hovered the whole time, generally being a pest. She finally turned and smiled at the camera with her big ol' buck teeth.
Corynactis Stop - these aggregating anemones are all over the rigs, in many colors from pink to coral to purple. They are among the most striking features we see down there. In this shot Claudette is just showing off her buoyancy chops.
EggaZon - this is the cabby on the tri-color egg mass. It chased away a sheephead and returned to the nest, settled in, and then 'dette moved in so I could get her in the shot with it.
.
.
.
.
.
Play Time! At the end of every scooter shoot, once I have checked off the list of shots I want, it turns into play time. Claudette goes off and improvises and I grab shots. Some of our fav shots have come during play time. Here are a couple of my favs from this trip.
School is out! - chasing the schools of baitfish with a scooter. It really gets no more fun than this on the rigs.
Sea Lion Spin! - its always a blast to spin and play with the doggies. In this shot Claudette is looking for the guy that was just there, while another one drops in for some fun.
.
.
.
.
.
