The Pasley "HURRY HOME" July '07 Dive Reports

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riguerin

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Location
So Cal
Date:
Dive Location:
Buddy(ies):
Time:
Bottom Time:
Max Depth:
Vis:
Wave height:
Temp at depth:
Surface Temp:
Tide information:
Gas mix:
Top reason Pasley should hurry home:
Comments:
 
ScubaMilo:

You haven't read the report :D


Date: 7/10/2007
Dive Location: Shaw’s Cove, Laguna Beach
Buddy(ies): dir_bum
Time: 7:03am
Bottom Time: 116 mins
Max Depth: 38 fsw
Vis: 10-15ft
Wave height: 1-2+ft
Temp at depth: 66F
Surface Temp:
Tide information: Pushing , ~+3ft
Gas mix: 32%
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Long @$$ bottom times rule

Comments:

The original plan was to meet early at N. Crescent for a nice long Deadman’s dive with the doubles crew. Brian and I arrived at the planned time (6AM) and found Dave W. and Jeff already there. A quick conditions check revealed small scale surf out of the SW, tide pushing high, and a light surface texture from the mild eddy conditions. As we waited for Milo to arrive, the plans were changed at the last minute. The group decided to move to Shaw’s instead.

Brian and I paired up as a team. Milo was running video for Dave and Jeff, who wanted to get some practice running line. We dropped near the entrance to the Crevice. Brian and I hung back and watched for while as Jeff and Dave took turns running line toward the Arch. After approximately 20 minutes, we signaled that we were taking off and proceeded to make our way toward deeper water.

We eventually stopped at the statue of Shelly of Shaw’s for a short drill session. We performed a round of valve drills, followed by a couple rounds of ascent/decent drills under the watchful of eye of Shelly and large California Halibut that lay peacefully at her feet during the entire time … completely un-phased by our presence. We finished approximately 60mins into the dive, and then proceeded toward the backside of the reef for some fun diving. Little did we know that this would be the last time that we would see Shelly in one piece. :( We slowly tooled around the backside of the reef, poking around the nooks and crannies. We eventually turned the dive and started making our way back in at ~90mins. We surfaced after ~2 hours with mad amounts of gas remaining and just enough time for people to make it to work.

During the dive, we encountered the usual critters. Lots of aggressive nesting Garibaldi, several octopi, sheep crab, morays, cabazon, etc. Notably missing were the loads of Spanish Shawls that had blanketed the local reefs prior to last week’s south swell events.

I was saddened to learn of Shelly’s recent demise. She magically appeared out of nowhere several weeks ago; about the same time that Brain and I started training for Fundies. She was placed in the perfect spot, at the perfect depth, and perfect distance away from the reef. Since her arrival, she provided a stable visual reference for us to practice near. She was always there to welcome us in the wee hours of the morning, regardless of how poor the conditions were. In fact, she always seemed to return a smile of encouragement as we performed our repertoire of basic 5, S-drills, and valve drills for her. I think Tues morning was one of our best sessions ever. RIP, Shelly. You will be sorely missed.
 
Date: July 15, 2007
Dive Location: Fog wreck and F. S. Loop
Buddy(ies): Merry Passage
Time: 9:48 and 11:52
Bottom Time: 30 and 16 minutesMax Depth:
Vis: ten feet and one foot, hence the 16 minute dive
Wave height: Large and in charge
Temp at depth: 53.6 and 57.2
Surface Temp: Didn't notice
Comments: Ross-O took Merry and me out to the Fog wreck and the F. S. Loop this morning. It was a bumpy ride, especially later in the day. We had clear blue water at the surface, but that quickly changed to a hazy ten feet of vis on the Fog wreck. After freeing the anchor we headed off in search of the Wolfeel. I usually find him inside a rusty box in front of the large wall but today there was a large Cabezon in the box. I turned to call Merry over to see the Cabezon but she was busy with one of her own. She found one caught in the net covering much of the wreck. She used EMT shears to cut away the net and the fish scampered off. A minute later we saw him chasing down a school of Blacksmith. He must have been caught for quite awhile. He was hungry!
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I decided to circumnavigate the wreck and head back up. As I began to swim, Merry pointed her light at a pipe sticking out over the sand. There, peeking out through a rusted hole was Wolfie. We checked him out for a couple of minutes before heading to the anchor. We found some shells in the sand that Merry didn't have in her growing collection, so it was a great dive after all.
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We motored to the wreck of the F. S. Loop off the Los Angeles breakwall. The surface was very choppy, the current was ripping and there were hundreds of boats around us preparing for the start of the TransPacific yacht race from Pt. Fermin to Honolulu. We were more intrested in the submarine races. This little Hudson's dorid was ahead of the Tritonia festiva by several lengths.
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With vis of less than two feet and a strong current, we cut this dive short and called it a day. We stopped by Marineland on the way home to report our find for the Great American Fish Count, but Eric Frasco was already gone. Don Robarge was there to let us know about the poor conditions there today. Some day we may have decent dive conditions again. Maybe.
 
Date: 7/15/07
Dive Location: Vets
Buddy(ies): Angelique
Time: 9:18 pm.
Bottom Time: 50 Min
Max Depth: 95 fsw
Vis: 5-10 ft
Wave height: 1-2 feet
Temp at depth: 53F
Surface Temp: 68F

Talk about crowded…..YEESH. The parking lot was %100 full. Luckily, a space opened up when Angelique arrived. Could you imagine waiting for a space in order to dive!

It was a beautiful night and the wind was calm. The waves were almost non existent so entry was a piece of cake. With the conditions looking great top side, we were looking forward to a great dive. However, conditions below were not that good. We kicked out to the end of the pier and dropped down to about 70 feet. This was odd because we usually drop to about 40-50 feet at the end of the pier. I guess since we were near the bathroom stairs things are a little different there as compared the middle steps. Visibility was 5-10 feet but the thing that really sucked was the fact that there were not too many critters out tonight.

We searched and searched and only came up with a few things to see. It’s amazing how some nights you can have an UNREAL dive and other nights are just BLAND.

Below are some highlights from the dive:

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Here is a 2 second video of a Skate I took by accident….lol
http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m189/LLKZ16/Vets 71507/?action=view&current=af1138ac.flv
 
Hey all,

Date: July 12 - 15th
Dive Location: FL Keys, Tavernier and Largo
Buddy: Dannobee
Total bottom time: 10 hours +
Max Depth: 112
Vis: aver40, max 70-80
Wave height: Boat, silly people!
Temp at depth: toooooo HOTTTTTT Muey Caliente, no calor! 81F to 86 F
Surface Temp: even hotter and sweatier! too much humidity, hard to breathe without regulator in mouth, actually!

Gas mix: 32% on all wrecks
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: I'm moving to King City, and won't be able to see you if you don't get back here ASAP!

Finally, some major diving for me! 13 dives in four days... what a life... I would love to live in Fl, if it weren't for the frickin' humidity... the only time I wasn't sweating was when I was in the water, but I "think" I may have been sweating there too! ROFLMAO.....

Dive report: Florida Keys - Spiegal Grove, Duane, Eagle Wrecks, Molasses Reef, Pickle Barrel, Snapper's Ledge, Conch Wall, Pillar Reef, and a couple of others, I think??

Water temp - HOT HOT HOT!!!! 81F was the coldest, under the therms at the wrecks and 86F was average on the reefs. Lots o cool fish (have yet to id most) several nurse sharks, one with obvious knife cuts into his head (almost made me cry underwater), I screamed at a school of fish to get out of me way, only to find they were being chased by a nurse shark, that freaked out by little ol' me and hightailed it to under a safe ledge, where he panted! Could not believe all the cool coral formations (first coral dives since I was OW student in Thailand).

FIrsts I saw: Basket Star, flamingo tongues (no nudis...just couldn't find any), fire coral (OOOOUUUUCCHHH!!!!!), Nurse Sharks (not in aquariums), again, fish I can't ID... tooo cool!

Started with a .5mm skin, still too hot, so went to t-shirt, then just the bikini. Got fire coral scratches while trying to take pics upside down.... that jelly stuff from SP works really much better than I thought it would (THANK YOU GOD!!!) Benedryl works better for the bug bites, though.

lots o current on most of the dives, not as bad as ones I've experienced here, though. SO much fun.

Went with the SCUBABOARD.com Invasion 2 forces and dove with Conch Republic Divers and Blue Water Divers. Way fun groups and Excellent capts, put us were they said we were going, took into consideration the currents, and group experience every time. AWESOME!!!!! Just the way I would like to see all the boats here were run, unfortunately, we do need to be selective about which dive operation we use, no matter which state we are diving in, right? It was soooooo different NOT to need to wear a drysuit... I may have to become a WWW after all :D

oh, by the way, worst vis was 50 feet.... lalalalalalalallalalalaaa <raspberry> to you all! HA
 
Date: 2007-07-20 (Friday)
Dive Location: Fisherman's to Shaw's
Time: 18:37
Bottom Time: 104 minutes
Max Depth: 28 fsw
Vis: 10-15
Wave height: 1-2'
Temp at depth: 61-64
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: 'Cause Iraq sucks
Comments:

Nothing major to report on this dive. Nice, pleasant, and long tour of the various Fisherman's and Shaw's reefs. It seemed like there was a lot of dead stuff out: octopus, 'baldis, lobster, and an eel.

I hadn't been to Shaw's in a while. It looks almost like it's changed somewhat. I noticed there was a lot more sand in the shallow swim through, and the shallow reef looked significantly sparser and more exposed. The crevice looked different too. I also noticed that there were very few rays in sight, as well as Halibut. Perhaps recent large surf messed up the bottom? I'm probably just crazy....

So yeah. Pretty good conditions, great parking spot, jaw fatigue from my longest bottom time yet...in short, a nice time underwater.
 
Date: 7-21-07
Dive Location:Crescent Bay W. & E.
Buddy(ies):Robert
Time:8 AM & 2 PM
Bottom Time:82 min. & 71 min.
Max Depth: 32 fsw & 49 fsw
Vis: 12-16 ft
Wave height:1-2 ft
Temp at depth:67
Surface Temp:71
Gas mix:air
Top reason Pasley should hurry home:cause we want him to.
Comments:The first dive was a Reef Check survey & we swam out towards Seal Rock. We saw about 5 Seals while we were surveying.
The 2nd dive we went to the East side swam out about 200 yds then desended & headed out towards the end of the reef looking for the resident GSB we heard of but no such luck. Maybe if Robert would have gone w/o me he would've seen it.:rofl3:
We saw a school of male Rock Wasse & Pile Perch. We saw a Morey & a huge Sheep Crab with only 6 legs.

John
 
Date: July 21st
Dive Location: Staircase (Ven Co.)
Buddy(ies): Scott & Kevfin
Time: 8:00am
Bottom Time:32min
Max Depth:21'
Vis: 8'-15'
Wave height: 1'-2'
Tide information: low
Gas mix: 28% nitrox

Top reason Pasley should hurry home: I miss seeing him wear his black socks and dress shoes with his wetsuit:D

Comments:
Kevfin, Scott, and myself buddied up for a great Beach Crabs dive at The Staircase. The conditions were good and vis was from 8' in the shallows, to 15' at 21'. The Staircase is a shallow dive, with a beautiful mix of small pinnacles, rock structure, channels, and kelp. There are alot of different cracks and crevices for critters to hide, and for divers to explore. We seen an array of sealife, including a guitarfish, lobster, octopus, opaleye, black & yellow rockfish, blue rockfish, blacksmith, garibaldi, sheephead, rock wrass, seniorita, and a bunch others.

When conditions are right, this site is well worth diving.

See you at the next dive,
Rick
 
Date: 7/22/07
Dive Location: Shaw's Cove, Laguna Beach
Buddy(ies): Just snorkeling :-(
Time: 11:00 AM
Bottom Time: N/A
Max Depth: N/A
Vis: ~12 feet
Wave height: 1 foot max
Temp at depth: N/A
Surface Temp: comfortable for just a bathing suit
Tide information: low tide?
Gas mix: N/A
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Because I haven't dove with him in ages and always learn something new!!
Comments: Hey guys - remember me? It's been a while.... It's amazing how much you realize you REALLY miss diving when you're told you can't versus just not having the time/motivation. (Can't dive for 6 months thanks to a pulmonary embolism due to appendix removal surgery + being on blood thinners.) Went snorkeling today and Shaw's was beautiful! Saw two adult Garabaldi's protecting their spot on the reef and a Halibut hanging out on the sandy bottom. Great conditions and tons of divers out. GET out there and dive. No excuses folks because I've made enough excuses for every member on this board. LoL :) I miss you guys! Need a beach master?
-- Lexy
 

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