The Pasley "HURRY HOME" July '07 Dive Reports

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: July 22, 2007
Dive Location: Marineland
Buddy(ies): Merry
Time: 9:30
Bottom Time: 1:06
Max Depth: 65'
Vis: 15-20'
Wave height: 0-1'
Temp at depth: 64F
Comments: We had warm water, 64F at depth, good vis of 15-20 feet, flat surface for easy entry/exit and enough small cobbles in the water to make donning/doffing fins easier so we could walk out.
As for the dive, four of us swam out to the Point in search of the statue at Ted's Pinnacle. It eluded us once again. With the good vis and bright Sunlight we could see animals everwhere. Merry found two Mexichromis porterae nudis and several other species. While she was looking down at a rockfish a small Batray cruised by. She missed it. After over an hour under water we made our way back to the cove.
The walk up to the parking lot is a bit strenuous, especially on a hot day. The new trail is twice as long as the old one. I began sweating around 7:30 and finally stopped around 3:00.

 

[LLKZ16]

Date: 7/22/07
Dive Location: Vets
Buddy(ies): Scott
Time: 8:57 pm.
Bottom Time: 1 hr 30 Min
Max Depth: 93 fsw
Vis: 10-15 ft
Wave height: 1-2 feet
Temp at depth: 58F
Surface Temp: 67F

What a great dive last night! The wind was up slightly and there was a little rain but the waves were tiny.

Scott and I met up around 8:15 and the parking lot once again was packed. We geared up and headed out to the middle stairs. Entry was a piece of cake so we finned out almost to the end of the pier and dropped down into excellent visibility. After we gathered our bearing we ran right into a nice sized thorn back ray. After a few pictures, we headed out to the canyon.

When we made our way down, we noticed that the visibility at around 95 feet was just OK. It seemed that the bottom was getting mucked up more then normal which made it kind of hard to focus and get a good picture on the subjects we found. I think out of eighty pictures, only a handful came out OK.

With only a minute of non deco left, we started to make our way up the canyon. There was a ton of critter out last night. On my report last week, I mentioned that the dive was a bit bland but this time it was the complete opposite. We found a few very curious Juvenile Giant Kelpfish and a couple of Fringe Heads out in the open. We saw a few nudis but they were very small.

As we were hanging out at about 30-40 feet for a long time taking pictures it seemed like everything was coming to us. At one point a nice sized lobster came by to check us out (see video).

I can’t wait to see the pictures Scott took. Overall, we had a great dive so get out while the visibility is still great!

Below are some highlights from the dive:

Check out this video of Scott chasing a lobster:

 

[Lexy]

Date: Saturday, 7/28/07
Dive Location: N. Crescent
Buddy(ies): Just snorkeling but ran into some ole' friends who were diving
Time: 7:00 AM - 11:45 AM
Bottom Time: N/A
Max Depth: N/A
Vis: reports of 10-12 feet. On the surface I'd say 8 feet at best
Wave height: Yellow flag. Early AM -> 2', with the occasional 4', Late AM -> back down to 2', even with the 4' still divable. Just watch your timing.
Temp at depth: N/A
Surface Temp: N/A
Tide information: N/A
Gas mix: N/A
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Because it's 80 degrees in Laguna right now.
Comments: Beautiful day at Crescent. Parking at 7 AM was nuts. Lots of classes out this morning. Kicked out to seal rock and then tried to vaguely remember how to get to Deadman's. Wind swell accounted for a consistent 1-2' chop but not enough to get sea sick . After the classes ended, saw lots of divers enjoying N. Crescent. Just a few groups going to S. Crescent. All in all, most divers were reporting favorable conditions and had that glowly "I just finished a good dive" look. LoL Enjoy your weekend!

 

[Jake]

Date: Saturday, 2007-07-29
Dive Location: Reef Point, Crystal Cove
Buddy: bruce3
Time: 0947
Bottom Time: 56 minutos
Max Depth: 37 fsw
Vis: 10-15, heavy particulate
Wave height: 1-3'
Temp at depth: 71 degrees (!!!!!!) above 30fsw, 66 degrees below 30 fsw
Gas mix: Air to the max!
Top reason Pasley should hurry home: Shark week starts today

bruce3 was kind enough to offer to lead at Reef Point, a spot I hadn't tried out before. Entry was easy, as was the exit. The reef itself is very interesting, and was teeming with life. I'm definitely looking forward to going back as soon as I can.

The water was absurdly warm. As soon as I dropped I had to remove my gloves to keep from overheating. The thermocline drop of 5 degrees was very welcome when we hit it.

Three highlights:

> The largest shark (a mature leopard) I've ever seen in our waters. It's tough to say how large it was exactly given mask magnification, but I would put it at approximately 6 feet long, with a very solid body. Again, it's tough to judge, but the head looked to be perhaps a foot or more across. This was a very big animal, and it moved surprisingly fast through the low grass. It was one of the most incredible things I've seen whilst diving in SoCal.

> I wasn't able to get a positive ID because of the viz, but it looked like a large barracuda swam by. The fish was 2-3 feet in length, arrow shaped and silver, but I was unable to get a clear view of its face.

> A juvenile leopard shark that swam right in front of our faces while we were heading in towards shore. He was a little guy of about a foot long, and was just stunning in the bright sunlight.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Merry and I arrived at Marineland early, hoping to get in the water before the weather got too hot. At 7:30 I was already sweating. After putting on my heavy, leaky, bulky backup drysuit I needed to pour water over my head twice before heading down the long path. My regular drysuit has been in for repair at Diving Concepts for nine weeks now. They don't answer emails nor return phone calls to Pacific Wilderness. I wonder if I'll ever see that suit again.
The new path at Marineland is twice as long as the old road. On hot days, it feels like ten times as long. The USGS should change the name of this site from Long Point to Long Haul. We swam out to the point and dropped through a thermocline. The temperature at depth was 54F, ten degrees colder than last week.
We headed to Ted's Pinnacle to check out Our Lady of the Garden and the statue formerly known as Jesus. The plaster washed away from him. All that remains is the concrete and sand screw from his inside. The green anemone in the water bucket of the Lady is thriving. The statue has an urchin on a leg and encrusting sponges covering it. It's nice to see it has become an artificial reef. The Jesus Blob had a Batstar on it.
On our way back to the cove we saw several rockfish, rubberlip surfperch, senioritas cleaning an olive rockfish, a school of mackerel and a sheepcrab. Among the nudibranchs spotted today were San Diego dorids, Spanish shawls, sea hares, Porter's chromodorids, Laila's cockerelli, Cuthona divae, Hermissendas, White spotted porostome, Yellow edged cadlina, Yellow dorid and Hudson's dorid. I found two Porter's dorids mating in a field of Vancouver phoronid.
The water had a lot of particulate matter today, although the visibility at the point was good, about twenty feet. The surf was down so entries and exits were easy, although we heard a few divers had some trouble. Denis Gunn managed to carry his scooter 3/4 of the way up the hill. Some innocent bystanders were recruited to carry it up the rest of the way. There were also a few people using carts today.
It took a long time, but we finally made it back up the hill where everyone enjoyed the donuts Merry brought. The parking lot was overflowing. There were fourteen cars in the ten space lot, with a few more parked on the street.
Merry and I arrived at Marineland early, hoping to get in the water before the weather got too hot. At 7:30 I was already sweating. After putting on my heavy, leaky, bulky backup drysuit I needed to pour water over my head twice before heading down the long path. My regular drysuit has been in for repair at Diving Concepts for nine weeks now. They don't answer emails nor return phone calls to Pacific Wilderness. I wonder if I'll ever see that suit again.
The new path at Marineland is twice as long as the old road. On hot days, it feels like ten times as long. The USGS should change the name of this site from Long Point to Long Haul. We swam out to the point and dropped through a thermocline. The temperature at depth was 54F, ten degrees colder than last week.
We headed to Ted's Pinnacle to check out Our Lady of the Garden and the statue formerly known as Jesus. The plaster washed away from him. All that remains is the concrete and sand screw from his inside. The green anemone in the water bucket of the Lady is thriving. The statue has an urchin on a leg and encrusting sponges covering it. It's nice to see it has become an artificial reef. The Jesus Blob had a Batstar on it.
On our way back to the cove we saw several rockfish, rubberlip surfperch, senioritas cleaning an olive rockfish, a school of mackerel and a sheepcrab. Among the nudibranchs spotted today were San Diego dorids, Spanish shawls, sea hares, Porter's chromodorids, Laila's cockerelli, Cuthona divae, Hermissendas, White spotted porostome, Yellow edged cadlina, Yellow dorid and Hudson's dorid. I found two Porter's dorids mating in a field of Vancouver phoronid.
The water had a lot of particulate matter today, although the visibility at the point was good, about twenty feet. The surf was down so entries and exits were easy, although we heard a few divers had some trouble. Denis Gunn managed to carry his scooter 3/4 of the way up the hill. Some innocent bystanders were recruited to carry it up the rest of the way. There were also a few people using carts today.
It took a long time, but we finally made it back up the hill where everyone enjoyed the donuts Merry brought. The parking lot was overflowing. There were fourteen cars in the ten space lot, with a few more parked on the street.