SPKelpDiver
Contributor
So I posted the other day asking about GSB sightings at the Casino. Yesterday I had a chance to make one dive at the Casino. Visibility sucked for the dive park with a cloudy 20 feet in the shallows and a very murky 10 feet at depth. I headed over to the Sue Jac and saw a couple large bat rays swimming through the kelp on the way.
After 10 minutes or so inspecting the wreck I headed back the way I came, sticking to the intense thermocline hoping to find some Giant Sea Bass. I eventually made my way to the small wrecks in front of the stairs. When my air started getting low, I headed to the east reef walls hoping I'd atleast spot Oscar, but no luck. I did find a moray eel in the shallows. Over all, very average dive but very relaxing.
Later that day before the boat ride home, my girlfriend and I suited up to do some free diving at the Casino. She had just bought a dry case for her phone so she could take pictures, which was depth rated to 100 feet. It's basically a plastic bag that is vacuumed sealed. She wasn't wearing gloves so she could operated the touch screen, and all the fish in the park thought it was a bag of peas, and one very large kelp bass was apparently very hungry. She was so fixated on her camera phone that she never noticed the grumpy looking bass swimming up and bumping her bag. After a bump or too, the damn thing came right up to her hand and bit her finger! I laughed my ass off and so did she. Grumpy must have had a taste of blood and liked it, because he stalked her for another 10 minutes after that.
She got out of the water and I stayed in to do some deep free dives. She was approached by a couple that were considering snorkeling but never had. The woman was kind of afraid of fish though, and of all days they asked her..."Do the fish bite?"
My deepest free dives before yesterday 45-50 feet. I have never had a depth gauge to say for sure. I have been doing a lot of free diving this summer and I wanted to set a personal record. After some trial runs in 50 feet I decided to see if I could hit the Sailboat wreck in front of the stairs. I knew that if I hit the sand under the dive park line I could say that I had actually hit 70 feet on a free dive (conservatively, possibly 80). So I swam near the outer buoy and began to relax myself. A few quick deep breaths and I began my descent. It felt like the bottom would never come and I had to ward off the tension that I could feel building so I didn't waste any precious oxygen. I finally made it to the sand and spun around to observe my surroundings. As I turned around I saw them! Two Giant Sea Bass swimming in circles around each other. This vision totally relaxed me and I stayed with them for 15 seconds or so before I begin kicking back to the surface. When I made it to the surface I didn't even need to gasp for air, it was actually easy. What an amazing moment, spiritual even. My deepest free dive to date and I land right on two giant sea bass in bad visibility. I am a lucky man.
After 10 minutes or so inspecting the wreck I headed back the way I came, sticking to the intense thermocline hoping to find some Giant Sea Bass. I eventually made my way to the small wrecks in front of the stairs. When my air started getting low, I headed to the east reef walls hoping I'd atleast spot Oscar, but no luck. I did find a moray eel in the shallows. Over all, very average dive but very relaxing.
Later that day before the boat ride home, my girlfriend and I suited up to do some free diving at the Casino. She had just bought a dry case for her phone so she could take pictures, which was depth rated to 100 feet. It's basically a plastic bag that is vacuumed sealed. She wasn't wearing gloves so she could operated the touch screen, and all the fish in the park thought it was a bag of peas, and one very large kelp bass was apparently very hungry. She was so fixated on her camera phone that she never noticed the grumpy looking bass swimming up and bumping her bag. After a bump or too, the damn thing came right up to her hand and bit her finger! I laughed my ass off and so did she. Grumpy must have had a taste of blood and liked it, because he stalked her for another 10 minutes after that.
She got out of the water and I stayed in to do some deep free dives. She was approached by a couple that were considering snorkeling but never had. The woman was kind of afraid of fish though, and of all days they asked her..."Do the fish bite?"
My deepest free dives before yesterday 45-50 feet. I have never had a depth gauge to say for sure. I have been doing a lot of free diving this summer and I wanted to set a personal record. After some trial runs in 50 feet I decided to see if I could hit the Sailboat wreck in front of the stairs. I knew that if I hit the sand under the dive park line I could say that I had actually hit 70 feet on a free dive (conservatively, possibly 80). So I swam near the outer buoy and began to relax myself. A few quick deep breaths and I began my descent. It felt like the bottom would never come and I had to ward off the tension that I could feel building so I didn't waste any precious oxygen. I finally made it to the sand and spun around to observe my surroundings. As I turned around I saw them! Two Giant Sea Bass swimming in circles around each other. This vision totally relaxed me and I stayed with them for 15 seconds or so before I begin kicking back to the surface. When I made it to the surface I didn't even need to gasp for air, it was actually easy. What an amazing moment, spiritual even. My deepest free dive to date and I land right on two giant sea bass in bad visibility. I am a lucky man.
Wish I could have been there to share it with you buddy.
