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No dive report yet, but I was able to see the bottom pretty clearly in Avalon while disembarking from the ferry, which I think is 6 m / 20 ft. So the vis is very good to excellent by my Monterey standards. Swell was 1 ft. at the Dr. Bill Point, so looks like a great time to dive.
Yep, as expected, at least 15 m / 50 ft. of visibility in the morning, maybe a bit less than that as noon approached and the tide was coming in with a small surge and 2 ft. swell. Toasty warm 15 C / 59 F, saw an eel and the usual hilarious collection of Garabaldi, but the highlight was clearly the majestic stands of kelp.
 
Three dives on the outstanding Scuba Cat on Sunday! First was at "Indian" rock, there's a lot of new growth between the rock and the pinnacle to the northeast. Lots of sargassum, it was like going through a dense forest, but that was cool. Again 15m / 50 ft. of vis. Then two dives next to each other, at Steps and the Quarry. Unfortunately, I lost one of my AquaLung "SureLock" weight pouches, which had half my lead in it. So much of that dive was spent managing that situation, and I missed the horn shark that the others saw. Luckily another diver had a spare weight pouch that fit, so I was able to make the second dive. Just wow. Huge schools of fish, the kelp stretching from the sand at 25 m / 80 ft., and tons of life in the rocks.

The mate and dive briefer Chelsea (sp?) was excellent. She described the sites concisely, gave good route advice, warned of hazards, and ably took care of the many equipment and other problems that come with a dive boat of 20 people. I have always had great crew on the Scuba Cat, but she stands out.
 
Oh, and one other note, if anyone is looking to try out a nice backplate/wing with an Atomics regulator, there is a shop that is teaching/guiding in that setup! They bring their big truck 'o gear to the Dr. Bill Casino Point and set everything up from there. The only potential downside is that you can't just rent, you have to go with their divemaster, which is $170 for a two-tank dive. Open Water is $500. But it would be worth it to me to get the experience without having to buy the whole setup. Curious what it's like for divers who have literally never been in a traditional BCD.

 
Oh, and one other note, if anyone is looking to try out a nice backplate/wing with an Atomics regulator, there is a shop that is teaching/guiding in that setup! They bring their big truck 'o gear to the Dr. Bill Casino Point and set everything up from there. The only potential downside is that you can't just rent, you have to go with their divemaster, which is $170 for a two-tank dive. Open Water is $500. But it would be worth it to me to get the experience without having to buy the whole setup. Curious what it's like for divers who have literally never been in a traditional BCD.

Chris and Nikki are good people and Chris is a fun dive guide for the point. Great people to ask for any info if you wanna dive with them or not. And yes they use BP/W for there guided tours. I have been there and watched people who have never dove them before come out of the water with... "Well these are awesome guess I'm selling my vest" many many times.
 
Took part of spring break to dive with new buddy @mentu13 , who was a pleasure. We went in the channel by Target Rock, right by Morro Rock. The tide was gently coming in all day, so our DM Jim had us arrive at noon so we’d be out right at high tide. Definitely not what I expected to arrive at noon!

There were a dozen otters feeding and dozing at the site, we put in at the edge of the kelp and went out and back on both dives. The scallops (no harvesting) are huge and bright orange. Saw a monkey eel, lovely stands of smaller giant kelp (shrimp scampi, anyone?), whole rocks covered with strawberry anemones, lemon Doris’s, sea cucumbers, and even a few fish. First dive had via of maybe 8 feet, second was up to 10, but that made all the difference.
 
Went out on Waterhorse on Sunday 16 October. Two tank trip to Scripps Canyon and then La Jolla Pinnacles. Still getting everything dialed in on my rEvo, but this was the first open ocean dive without a known anchor line (previous dives where at the Yukon where I knew I could get to a line). I dove wet in a 5mm with my new heated vest (new drysuit gets in early/mid Dec). Dive 1 saw the 3 rEvo divers drop first and then tied a line going out the canyon. Tons of lobster, which makes sense being in the MPA. Did get to see one octopus which is great. Averaged 70ft, 54F @ depth (avg), run time 69 minutes, vis at depth was pretty good maybe 30-40ft? Buoyancy was pretty good on the wall, I did have one instance where I was messing with something and ascended maybe 10-15ft before I caught it, otherwise though it was goo during the dive. Safety stop on the anchor line was surgery and occasionally periods of really low vis (red tide remnants). I was plenty warm on this dive in the suit + heater.

Dive 2 surface interval of 53 minutes had us explore T-rock, which was a new site to us. Current on the reef was the sneaky strong type. Didn't really notice it but it pushed us west (out) noticeably. Far more schools of fish than over at Scripps but otherwise a mild rock reef. Averaged 56ft, 55F (@ depth), run time 43 minutes. Due to current we didn't get back to the line and surfaced maybe 50-75 yards away from the boat and so got a nice long surface swim. I was noticeably colder that dive as well, but dives 2 and 3 are always colder than dive 1. Buoyancy was okay, still working on the small changes depth changes without adding/inflating, but working on it.

Good day of diving!
 
Dive Site: Casino Point
Date: 2023-02-18
Conditions: Calm on the surface, ripping current and some surge under the water
Water Temp: 14 C / 57 F
Visibility: 15 m / 50 ft.
Dive Buddys: Heidi
Comments:

I was very happy to be back in Catalina and the swell forecast was for excellent diving after a winter storm earlier in the week. We rented tanks and weights from Catalina Divers Supply, which has much more extensive facilities than previously now that they are set up at the point. Unfortunately, it's a pretty cumbersome process. We were able to do our gear waiver online beforehand, but we had to check in at the shop, then go next door to get tanks and weights, which you then have to carry over to the steps. The shop doesn't open until 8, so on the holiday weekend there was a line of 40 people waiting to get gear (I counted). I do appreciate that they have more variety of weights now, and a fully stocked shop so you can avoid having to walk back into town if you forget a tether or something.

We kitted up, there wasn't much current at 7:30 based on the position of the buoy lines, but by 8:30 it was starting to pick up. We changed our dive plan once we got in because it was pulling us toward the harbor so vigorously. Kelp was at a 45 degree angle. We learned that if you can't see the kelp, there is definitely current. Had never seen that much current with a lake-like surface. Nice dive, lots of fish, successfully navigated along 12 m / 40 ft to the left and back to the buoys.

Got a 32% nitrox fill that was about 20% short (199 bar / 2750 psi) instead of 237/3440. The trailer is gone, replaced with an actual shed, but no OCA, just regular air or Nitrox.

For the second dive, we knew there was a negative .5 m / 1.8 ft tide coming at 2:30, so we hustled to get in. The current picked up a bit more but we decided to head toward the swim platform. Didn't make it due to air limits, but got back to the buoys just fine again. Some very experienced buddies in our group also set out for the swim platform but ended up at the Sue Jac (!) on the opposite side of the park.

We were too late to get back in normally on the steps. The later opening of the shop was unfortunate in this case. Of course the surge picked up while we were on the surface, we should have waited at the buoys for at least several minutes to gauge our exit. My buddy got pushed past the steps and wedged backwards into the rocks. My rescue training mostly kicked in, I shouted at her to keep her reg in her mouth, managed to give it to her. I also shouted to our buddies who were already out of the water for help. Unfortunately while I had my reg in, I didn't have my mask on, which wasn't ideal but we were on the surface so it was OK. I waited for an incoming surge, let it carry me in towards my buddy, grabbed firm hold of her BC, and we both got sucked back out as the surge retreated. From there we probably should have taken a few minutes to calm down, but there were folks on the steps who helped get us exit. Definitely much scarier than I would prefer but it all worked out.

Variations of this relatively difficult exit repeated themselves for the next 45 minutes, even as a steady stream of divers entered the water.

Dive Site: Steps, Hen Rock
Date: 2023-02-19
Conditions: Still no swell, less current
Water Temp: Same
Visibility: 20 m / 65 ft.
Dive Buddys: Same
Comments: We went out on the Scuba Cat with a basically full load of 22. Since they are only doing 2 tank dives (we asked) the schedule is a little later, meet at 8 for a 9 a.m. departure. Aluminum only tanks on the boat. Crew was great as usual, Mark, Jerry, and Captain Nate, plus DM Rain. They are extremely experienced, Mark caught that my wetsuit wasn't zipped, saved my dive. The Scuba Cat is a very comfortable custom dive boat, stable, great snacks and lunch. Wish I could be there every week.

Steps was great, ton of kelp, got back right to the anchor line. Hen Rock had a lot of sargassum, kind of hard to see the life there. Always hard to believe that red abalone can get that big! Most of our group saw a turtle, a number saw a couple horn sharks. We missed the stern line by a few feet, ended up overshooting and surface swam back a decent few hundred meters. Oh, well, next time.

On the way back to the dock we saw splashed in the distance, kind of looked like flying fish. But it was hundreds of dolphins. I am not exaggerating here. Just looking down in one spot from the upper deck I sometimes had ten in view at a single time. They filled the area several hundred meters on each side. Truly, I have never seen anything like it. This was a true megapod. Great way to end the dive.
 
ACE Wreck - 18-March-2023

Dive 1- ACE Wreck
Avg Temp - 53
Min Temp - 50
Max Depth - 116 ft
Avg Depth - 82ft
Dive Time - 46
Vis - 15-20

First time using Riviera out of Dana Point a bit smaller than the San Diego dive boats but workable. Unfortunately when we arrived on the dive site, a local fishing charter was already there. After some ..... "discussions"... from the captains we tied off on the mooring ball and the fisherman dropped anchor. We waited somewhere around an hour give or take, and the fisherman left. And the pool was open. The drop down the line was relatively uneventful, apparently some of the other divers missed one of the junctions in the line and ended up in the sand off the wreck. This wasn't terrible as we had a few classes onboard the boat so they were able to do their thing. Wreck a nice smaller wreck with lots of white metridiums and smaller fish (scorpoin fish so don't place your hand on anything). Vis was okay at about 20ft maybe? Temp at the wreck was a balmy 50 but it was a good test dive for my seaskin Ultra. It worked flawlessly, just used the suit, a pair of snowboarding base layers, and a super thin DUI fleece. Current on the wreck was pretty minimal and made for a nice dive. Coming back up the line the current was RIPPING mid water column. Wasn't too bad past 20 ft, but man that 20-90ft, the current was just going.

One of my ears starting bugging me late in the dive and decided to sit out the next dive. We were told the visibility picked up some had improved to 30+.

The previous mentioned delay unfortunately meant we were hard pressed for time and had to rush back to San Diego for some prior engagements. No one's fault, just unfortunate.

All in all, it was good day. Drysuit stayed dry, rEvo worked great.

 
Dive Site: Casino Point
Date: 2024-02-17
Conditions: Cloudy topside, 1-2 ft swells, mild current toward the harbor, a few feet of surge
Water Temp: 15ºC / 59ºF
Visibility: 10 m / 30 ft
Dive Buddys: Evila and Ro
Comments: We were lucky to go during a spate of good weather and calm conditions. These two dives bookended a low tide, so there was a decent amount of junk in the water. The recent storms have done a number on the kelp but there is a decent amount still around.

Saw a huge pink gorgonian inside the Kismet, that was neat. Second dive we aimed for the swim platform but overshot into the mooring area. Oh, well, we had a sea lion play with us for a bit. Compared to Monterey, Catalina is rich with fish and the extra vis and temperature make a big difference.

Day 2 on the Scuba Cat

Dive Site: "Indian" Head rock
Date: 2024-02-18
Conditions: Once again, cloudy topside, 1-2 ft. swells, a few feet of surge
Visibility: Improved to at least 15 m / 50 ft.
Comments: Shallower site down to 15 m / 50 ft. in a couple spots but typically around 10 m or less. Some lovely abalone.

Dive Site: Sorry, I forget the name of this one.
Date: 2024-02-18
Comments: Tons of blacksmith hanging out in a school. Some bull kelp. In the shallows we saw two horn sharks and a bat ray. We were around 4 m / 13 ft. so it was a bit tricky even with relatively gentle surge. Saw what kinda looked like a clownfish but with a big white racing stripe and later learned it was a juvenile sheepshead.
 

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