Another dive report.

[socaldiver]

Well, I got laid off from the job last Friday, ain't that a shame!! At the time, I only had 3 weeks to go before my trip to Maui (glad I paid for the trip a couple months back ). What a dilemma though, look for a job and say "by the way, I can't start til Ocotber because I am going on a diving vacation" or just go DIVING. Well anyway, here are my dive reports, hehe.

Tuesday, 9/4 went to Laguna Beach with my dive buddy, we did a one tank dive at Moss Cove. Surf up a little so it made for a somewhat difficult entry and exit. We did a surface swim out about 50 yards and then descended in about 25 feet of water. We headed on a northerly course to the reef and observed an abundant amount of marine life. Water temp was 68 degrees. Quite a bit of surge so vis was about 20 ft. The surge was brutal so we decidd to call the dive after being down for about 30 minutes. Still a nice dive.

Yesterday, 9/6 went to Catalina on the Express. Casino Point was dive 1. We decided we would go straight out from the point to deeper water. Water temp was 70 on the surface, 68 at about 25 fsw. We again headed at a notherly direction went around a wall of kelp while descending to 57 fsw. WOW! I was wearing my 2 pc 3 mil and we hit a thermocline that made me wish I had on the 7 mil. Water temp was at 59 degrees. We QUICKLY turned around and headed back on the otherside of the "wall" and to shallower water. We played hide and seek with some BIG BUGS that I think were sticking their tongues out at us. We ended the dive 32 after 32 minutes.

The trailer at the Point is closed during the week during the winter season so we had to hike down to the green pier to get our tanks refilled, ate lunch and headed back past the Point to Descanso Beach. We entered the water and did a surface swim about 20 yards then descended to 20 feet and headed west along the rocks and kelp. Very nice dive, saw a nice variety of marine life and many BUGS. this is an area that is huntable so when the season opens, watch out bugs. They were everywhere. We hit a max depth of about 35 fsw and water temp was a balmy 67 at depth. Ended dive after about 40 minutes. Nice, very nice. If you haven't tried Descanso Beach before I highly recommend it because it is different from the Point.

Well, better get back to the job hunting now. Only have 13 days and a wake up before Maui. :egrin:

 

[Ladydiver]

Hey Socal,

Sorry to hear about your job situation. I am sure you will find something, and at least you will have Maui to take your mind off things.

Sounds like you had a pretty cool dive. Jobs come and go, but diving is forever.

Good luck in the job hunt.

 

[socaldiver]

I actually was not upset over it. I was actually planning on quitting by the end of the year and, God forgive me for saying this, thinking of moving to southern Florida to become one of them there WWW's. Eeek!, I said it. It is a tough call though because I love diving socal. To me there can't be a better place to get wet, BAR NONE!

 

[divernva]

Socal,

Sorry to hear about your employment situation. I'm sure something will turn up! In the meantime... stay as wet as possible!

Hey, I never got to post a dive report from my trip to Catalina... You're doing a great job with your reports! But the diving was great! So here the highlights.

The first day, I did two tanks at Casino Point. It was mid-week and not many people there, so the trailer closed down at 2PM. I got a late start, but it was enough diving to acquaint myself with the area. Manuevering through the kelp was pretty cool. A little worried about finding my way back to the exit so wasn't very adventurous.

The second day, I hopped on a boat (King Neptune run by Scuba Luv) for a few dives. On the first dive they found a group of sea bass, and we followed them around a bit. They were huge (5-6ft)! We were able to swim as close as 5-10ft. One actually swam directly at me... not from the side, directly head on. Luckily it decided to veer away, cause I probably would have sat there and let it crash into my mask. We swam through kelp forests on the second dive and found some good lobster. Each dive was pretty shallow and we were down there well over an hour on each dive. They run a great boat... can't judge the space since there were only 4 customers. DM was from VA, I can understand why he stayed out there!

On the last day, I did 4 tanks at Casino Point. Mostly just puttering around and practicing different techniques, but did get some exploring in. I didn't have a map, so I couldn't find the Cousteau monument. Found a few bugs behind the kelp and in the crevices, saw a stray sea bass (big, but not as huge as the previous day), flounder on the sea floor, octopus and the garibaldis. Defintely a lot more than I expected from an UW park.

Water was in the mid 60s, so lugging the 7mm suit out there was worth it. Nitrox would have been a nice option at the trailer, but probably too much of a hassle. The hike from town was a dreadful! I should have rented one of those wheel barrel carts, but decided to stay with my backpack style gearbag.

Overall a great couple of days of diving! I met an instructor from Del Mar on the boat trip and he offered to take me diving in San Diego... My girlfriend and I stopped by La Jolla over the weekend and the temptation to call this guy was incredible! She didn't bring her gear and we were trying to catch the romantic sunset...


Good luck with the job hunting! Hey maybe you'll turn into a cave diver down in Florida.

Ken

 

[socaldiver]

Glad you liked your visit. Now you know why I just am so ecstatic talking about the diving off Catalina, but a 7 mil in mid 60 temps?, Argh, hehe. Those giant sea bass are huge suckers aren't they? I got a pic of one about 6 ft long few hundred pounds and it was exciting.

I am staying as wet as possible. Going on a boat dive 9/16, then it is off to Maui for some of that warm water stuff for 10 days.

Thanks for the encouragement, not really worried about finding a job though. My dilemma right now is where I want to go to work. I was offered 3 jobs today, all doing basically the same thing. One is here in socal, one is in Ft Myers, Fl and the other is in HONOLULU. OUCH!!

Told all of them I was going to be on vacation til first of month and would advise when I get back, hmmmmmmmm, decisions, decisions.

Anyway, thanks for your report, it sounds great.