scuba e
Guest
I took a buddy from Chicago (met he and his father on Roatan) for some kelp diving yesterday. Boy did he luck out.
He has never dove kelp and his only cold water dive was his checkout a few hundred dives ago. He has done both Caribean and Indo but wanted something different and he got it.
We dove the king Neptune out of Avalons Catalina Scuba Luv. Reports were opimistic. We were not let down. The first dive was at twin rocks and we were told we may sea some Black Seabass. We hit the water and found his weighting was dead on (lucky guess) and after a minute getting accustomed to the restrcitive movement of the wet suit and the shock of cold water on the face we went down.
He relaxed quickly and his eyes were wide and bright at the new sites. Within minutes we saw a small (60lb) BSB. Kept moving above the thermocine at 45fsw toward the east rock and found the first grown one. Followed him the the others. We saw at least a dozen on this dive and at one point we sat in a sand shute while being ogled by 7 in the 250-400lb range. Jackpot!
Vis was 60', water was 64f above the thermocline and we had a dolphin soundtrack playing off in the bluewater the whole dive. We found a couple more on the way back to the boat 30fsw. When we boarded the boat it was obvious he was hooked.
Second dive was an hour west to The Ismus reef south of Bird rock. This proved to be the dive of the trip. Off the wall we were treated to 80' vis! But along with the vis was 53f temps. A batray glided from the shallows overhead and into the blue. Great vis and good life but it was cold and he really wanted to see a Leopard shark. SO over the top we go. Temps back up to 64f. Vis around 60'. Lots of life. Lots of bugs and a small Moray. The sun came out and lit up all the reds, purples and yellows. Just a beautiful dive.
Alan, a very solid diver from the Seatle area, joined us on the dives and had found 3 large horn sharks in about 15'. All 3 in arms reach and all about 20" long. Both guys were really excited, till I opened my mouth on the boat. I said "those were really big horn sharks." To which the responce was "those werent Leopards?" with an obvious mask of dissapointment. I should have known they thought they were leopard and kept my mouth shut.
Our last dive was Blue car way back at the quarry. This was a more typical Catalina dive with 20 to 30' vis. Temp still at 64. The guys were really comfy with the kelp now so we stayed about 15 to 20fsw and played with the now known and more typical sized horn sharks. We trekked thru the thickest of the kelp and called it a day.
I made it clear to the guys that they got pretty lucky, moreso with as bad as this year has been. Great vis, good temp and very good kelp growth. Never did see the Leopards but the bass and dolphin songs made up for it.
Things have been great over there the last few days. Time to go!
He has never dove kelp and his only cold water dive was his checkout a few hundred dives ago. He has done both Caribean and Indo but wanted something different and he got it.
We dove the king Neptune out of Avalons Catalina Scuba Luv. Reports were opimistic. We were not let down. The first dive was at twin rocks and we were told we may sea some Black Seabass. We hit the water and found his weighting was dead on (lucky guess) and after a minute getting accustomed to the restrcitive movement of the wet suit and the shock of cold water on the face we went down.
He relaxed quickly and his eyes were wide and bright at the new sites. Within minutes we saw a small (60lb) BSB. Kept moving above the thermocine at 45fsw toward the east rock and found the first grown one. Followed him the the others. We saw at least a dozen on this dive and at one point we sat in a sand shute while being ogled by 7 in the 250-400lb range. Jackpot!
Vis was 60', water was 64f above the thermocline and we had a dolphin soundtrack playing off in the bluewater the whole dive. We found a couple more on the way back to the boat 30fsw. When we boarded the boat it was obvious he was hooked.
Second dive was an hour west to The Ismus reef south of Bird rock. This proved to be the dive of the trip. Off the wall we were treated to 80' vis! But along with the vis was 53f temps. A batray glided from the shallows overhead and into the blue. Great vis and good life but it was cold and he really wanted to see a Leopard shark. SO over the top we go. Temps back up to 64f. Vis around 60'. Lots of life. Lots of bugs and a small Moray. The sun came out and lit up all the reds, purples and yellows. Just a beautiful dive.
Alan, a very solid diver from the Seatle area, joined us on the dives and had found 3 large horn sharks in about 15'. All 3 in arms reach and all about 20" long. Both guys were really excited, till I opened my mouth on the boat. I said "those were really big horn sharks." To which the responce was "those werent Leopards?" with an obvious mask of dissapointment. I should have known they thought they were leopard and kept my mouth shut.
Our last dive was Blue car way back at the quarry. This was a more typical Catalina dive with 20 to 30' vis. Temp still at 64. The guys were really comfy with the kelp now so we stayed about 15 to 20fsw and played with the now known and more typical sized horn sharks. We trekked thru the thickest of the kelp and called it a day.
I made it clear to the guys that they got pretty lucky, moreso with as bad as this year has been. Great vis, good temp and very good kelp growth. Never did see the Leopards but the bass and dolphin songs made up for it.
Things have been great over there the last few days. Time to go!
