July '05 Dive Reports

[James S]

"sheepheads were like puppy dogs, practically letting me pet them, killing these guys is pathetic"

I wonder if chickens, cows or pigs would run away? Hey I'm just screwing around with a sensitive subject....I dove yesterday with a friend and we found the same surgy, milky conditions at Leo. How are the stairs at El Mat? I've walked them many years ago with a board,but never with dive gear.

 

[scottfiji]

Stairs at El mat are in good condition, its just a long climb back up. more fun than the gym though. wetsand shows the south swell staying with us for a while.

there's no sport in spearing pigs or cows either, its too easy. chickens might be more difficult if your aim is off.

 

[Zaffy]

Date-7/24/2005
Location-Casino point
Time - Morning, morning and afternoon
Bottom time-45/42/55
Max depth- 94/87/75
Vis- 15-40
wave height- not much
water temp surface-68
temp at depth-57
tide - low durring first dive

Another www.divevets.com get together. Many thermoclines at various depths, vis was acceptable caparing to the mainland. Did some NAV skills and just cruised along to see the usual landmarks. Highlight: Being bitten by the same Garibaldi...4-5 times.




I don't know the details of this incident, you may be able to use the DAN benefits to replace your stolen equipment; https://www.h2oinsurance.com/program_details.asp

Terms & Conditions
https://www.h2oinsurance.com/insurance_sample_documents.asp?id=pc
https://www.h2oinsurance.com/insurance_sample_documents.asp?id=dp&i=1

Hey, I was there on the 24th as well. Vis was pretty good, but we ended up leaving around 2pm. when the surge started to get a bit much.

 

[scubacalifornia]

Date: Thursday, 7/28/05
Time: 1:03 PM
Dive Location: Laguna Beach - Treasure Island/Montage Resort
Buddies: Marshall Krupp
Bottom Time: 74 minutes
Max Depth: 43'
Viz: 15'
Wave height: 0'
Surge: 1-3'
Temp at depth: 59 degrees Suunto
Surface Temp: 63 degrees Suunto

This dive started off well - we'll call it diving Montage Resort style, and I could get used to it. After donning gear and exiting the parking structure, Marshall quickly thumbed us a ride on a golf cart to the north end of the boardwalk where the ramp goes down to Treasure Island. Riding on the back of a golf cart in full scuba - only in California.

We entered at T.I. on the right side of the large reef that extends out from shore. It's completely unsheltered and last time I was here the waves were 5'+. This time, no waves. Swam south, over the first reef, dropped and headed southeast. From that point forward, we were perusing reef structure for the entire dive until we surfaced just northwest of the parking garage. Lots of schooling fish, but also something a little bizarre. We found a number of dead lobsters, and one dead jellyfish. None of the bugs were eaten and a couple were fully intact and sizeable. Any ideas?

It's great to be on vacation and diving midweek. Tomorrow: Deadmans.
Over & out,

Kevin

 

[divinman]

Time: 7:05p
Visibility: 5-10 shallow, 10-15 deep
Slight surge shallow, Big surface swell making for a long kick out
Max Depth: 71ft
Surface Temp: 72F
Temp at Depth: 52F. Gotta love the 20 degree change!!
Total dive time: 1 hour 3 minutes.

Images are Here: http://photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/LJS072805/

Parking in the summer is not good......

Got there and suited up without having a stroke. Max, Sean and I headed into the surf that was chest to shoulder high ( in waist deep water) and started the kick out. Somewhere south and west of the blue buoy I decided enough was enough and we headed down for some cooler water and easier fining. Cruising over the sand a small blob waving in the distance caught my eye. I nearly spit out my regulator when I discovered not one but two gorgeous Dendronotus Iris nudibranchs' locked in a loving embrace. I snapped and snapped and snapped some more. I see these lovelies so rarely I wanted as many images as I could get. Finally I had to move away and get on with the rest of our dive so off we went again. Look!!! There's another one, I blurted through my reg and then just past that one yet another. This one was laying eggs. What a little beauty!!

Moving over the edge of the canyon and into better visibility we encountered too many octopus to count, large halibut, rock fish both big and small and fringeheads EVERYWHERE! In holes, in shells, out for a stroll. It was fringehead city!! Well, at least in the same area code anyway. Many many navanax were seen and photographed. Bat rays were just hints and shadows in the distance but their dust clouds were all too apparent.

Reaching our turn around pressure we headed in. Nice easy swim to the shallows. Surf had built up but our timing was impeccable and we strolled out between sets.

Back at my truck I found my corporate leash beeping at me so it was back to work. I didn't mind too much. The best part of the day was done!

Terry S.

 

[Peter McGuinness]

La Jolla Shores 29th July
Somewhere just beyond the white swim buoy.
Depth : 77ft
Time 58mins
Temp at depth: oooh boy! I need a drysuit - now!

Inspired by Terry's superb pictures (ok: I was jealous, I admit it - ok?) I went out at about 5:00pm this evening. What a wonderful dive! I dropped into about 30ft just about 25yds beyond the white bouy and started cruising the sand westwards, looking for signs of life. It took precisely two minutes to find a group of 5 Dendronotus - they were not being as familial, shall we say, as Terry's group but there they were. I was surprsied at the size of them: one individual was at least 4 inches long.

After I had had enough of snapping them, I took of for the canyon and found octopus, fringeheads, sea hares, the place seemed to be teeming with life. Plus there was a constant overhead of fish - thousands and thousands of fish. Just amazing.

I stayed until I was so cold my teeth began chattering, then came back in, finding more dendros on the way out, they eseem to be always at about 30ft on the flat sand.

Such a wonderful dive. A lifeguard asked me about the vis as I was walking back to car park; 'about 10ft' 'pretty bad diving today, then?' Yeah, and it's just sand at the shores.

Pictures are here:

http://www.mcguinness-family.net/albums/diving/SanDiego/ShoresJuly05/

Peter

 

[scubacalifornia]

Date: Friday, 7/29/05
Time: 4:44 PM
Dive Location: Laguna Beach - Deadman's Reef
Buddy: Ron Hawkins
Bottom Time: 73 minutes
Max Depth: 56'
Viz: 20'+
Wave height: 1'
Surge: 0'-3'
Temp at depth: 57 degrees Suunto
Surface Temp: 66 degrees Suunto

If you didn't go to Deadman's today, you missed out! It was the kind of day that reminds me why I like diving this site so much, and I haven't seen conditions this good in months. Red tide appears to be completely gone and no dead creatures today. I did see one lonesome jelly on the way out, a big boy sheep crab, a calico rockfish, spanish shawls, and all the other locals. Get out and dive!

Kevin

 

[ckaspar]

Date:7/29
Time:7:45pm
Water Temp:55 F
Air Temp:75F
Wave height:2-3 but really slow and weak
Viz: Terrific 25-30ft easy

The red tide appears to be gone! Did not even get a single dark cloud out there. Unfortunately we were in the water just about dusk so day animals were going to sleep and night animals were still waking up.

Saw a ton of spotted sand bass, a few stingrays, 1 octo and a few scorpions fish.

Terrific dive! I knew it was going to be a good dive when we were on the shore and could see through each breaking wave very clearly.

When we kicked out we could easily see the bottom.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date:July 30
Dive Location:Marineland
Time: 10:55 and 1:37
Bottom Time: 52 and 47 minutes
Max Depth: 51' and 45'
Vis: 15-20'
Wave height: 0-2
Temp at depth: 52F
Surface Temp: 54F
Tide information: Low
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments:Finally got to meet the elusive MissyP. She brought her friends Dan and Doug up to enjoy the rocky entry and hill climbing Palos Verdes is famous for. We were joined by Greg Cooke (Drysuit Greg) who wishes he wore his drysuit today. Our first dive was to the platform known as Headhunter Reef. The same halibut was here today, but has shrunk from an estimated twelve feet long down to a little over two feet. We found seven Facelina stearnsi nudibranchs on the same spot laying eggs. I've only seen them in pairs before. My lens was fogged, so I got shut out on dive one. On dive two over on the main reef my housing was OK, but Dan's was foggy. Naturally, we saw lots of nudis, octopus, baby Treefish and the usual assortment of colorful critters.

 

[Kayak Diver]

Date:July 30
Dive Location:Buchanan Reef - kayak dive
Time: About 10 AM
Bottom Time: 59 minutes
Max Depth: 53'
Vis: 20-25ft
Wave height: very low
Temp at depth: 52F
Surface Temp: Cool
Tide information: Low
Gas mix: Nitrox (33%)

Carlos (Dive California) and I paddled out to Buchanan Reef today. There was a small wind chop, surface swell, and current, but nothing to complain about. It was really nice on the water. We anchored in about 53 ft water depth, in the sand to the west of the reef. We swam down the anchor line, made sure the anchor was secure, and then swam east to the reef. We then slowly swam south or south east until our air was about half out and then turned around and headed back north. We stumbled across our anchor line while ascending and followed it back up to the kayaks. I was really surprised how clear the water was today. It was just incredible down there. We saw a lot of big fish, nudibranchs, a big horn shark...there was a lot of life out. Buchanan is a very beautiful reef, and I look forward to returning for another dive.