Date: 1/10/08
Dive Location: Vet Spark
Buddy(ies): HBDiveChica - when only the best will do
Time: 5:45 PM
Bottom Time: 77 minutes
Max Depth: 118
Vis: Not too bad
Wave height: Knee
Temp at depth: 55 to 56
Surface Temp: whatever - dry suit
Tide information: LOW (-0.5)
Gas mix: 29%
Best moment: The Pee Valve working
Things to do differently next time: Shoot more Octos...
Comments: NICE DIVE!
============================================
We threw out the invite. You should have been there. An excellent night for a dive.
Knee slappers, clear water, TONS to see, and fun fun fun.
Claudette's report is here: Linkity
This was the first dive with my newly installed Pee-Valve. Highlights of that great adventure here: Linkage
Here's the Profile and Dive Info
We splash through the modest surf and point the scoots to 280 degrees and head out. The gas is lean tonight (only 29%) so the plan is to go to 110, and if we see something interesting we push to 120.
On the way down, at about 80 Claudette saw a Red Tipped Dorid and I found a smallish Sarcastic Fringehead in a bi-valve. He was so colorful. You can see on the profile we stopped there for a bit to get the shots before continuing to head down the canyon.
We hit about 118, but there wasn't much to see, so we started coming back up. Lots of Pipe fish out. And, fortunately, lots of kelp - which is weird for Vets. The Pipe fish aren't meant to be hanging out in the sand - they're kind of meant to be in the kelp and the grass, looking all branch-like. So it was good to finally be able to compose and shoot one where it actually belongs.
As we came up the canyon we started seeing all kinds of nudis (8 species total this dive) and other stuff.
I found this funny little Octo (maybe the size of a quarter) hiding behind a leaf that blew in from one of the trees in the park (not even Kelp... a LEAF!)
We came across this very nice and very clean and very big Angel Shark. I saw it first and kinda hung there, waiting for the squeal to emit from my buddy (she makes this endearing squeek when something neat surprises her underwater.) I didn't need to wait long! That was cool... seeing something big! Of course, I had on the 105mm - so not even his eye could fit into the telescope.
We eventually came up to the canyon lip - the slope, and we spent the bulk of the back half of the dive scanning the slope for fun things (that's all that time on the chart above at 40 - 46 FSW.) Claudette found a kelp leaf with THREE different species of Nudis on it - including one I've never seen or photographed before. This new one is a Polycera hedgpethi. I'm so fired up. Hundreds of dives at Vets and we're still finding new stuff!
Also on the slope I found this wacky CLEAR shrimp. I see them all the time, but this one was especially animated. I've always wanted to shoot one (how do you shoot something that's CLEAR? At Night?!?!?!?!?!) The shot isn't very good (technically) but it is accurate in its colors.
By minute 70 we were getting to about 900 PSI so we headed up the canyon. I put us up way too fast in the pushing tide - it took NO TIME to go from 40 to about 14 feet (see the chart, above...) so I slowed us way down, backed off to about 20 and hung out for another 5 minutes.
Claudette called me over to see this baby BABY Bat Ray... very nice.
We surfed the scoots to about 4 feet, watching the Bioluminescence as we came in - there is a thick, blue comet trail the scooter leaves as you scoot in at night - its really quite lovely.
We walked out and were greeted by three other SoCal's! How cool.
Excellent dive, fun night. And I installed and dived the Pee Valve I've had sitting around for over 2 years. I saw a new Nudi. I shot a clear Shrimp!
Thanks, 'dette. Only with you.
Here are some pics. Enjoy.
---
Ken
Sarky
The Clear Shrimp hanging with some Dendy Eggs
Speaking of which - a Dendy. The only one we saw. Eggs all over the place, but I only saw one of these little guys.
My silly leaf-hiding baby Octo.
Hermi (Hermissenda crassicornis)
Fakeyssinda (Flabellina pricei)
Bay Pipe Fish (or as Claudette called it after the dive in her Narc'ed stupor, a "Pipe Bayfish...") and his little snail buddy
Red Tipper - here's another shot of it from the side. He was so small, I couldn't get a really good tight shot.
New Nudi for me! This is the Polycera hedgpethi.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Dive Location: Vet Spark
Buddy(ies): HBDiveChica - when only the best will do
Time: 5:45 PM
Bottom Time: 77 minutes
Max Depth: 118
Vis: Not too bad
Wave height: Knee
Temp at depth: 55 to 56
Surface Temp: whatever - dry suit
Tide information: LOW (-0.5)
Gas mix: 29%
Best moment: The Pee Valve working
Things to do differently next time: Shoot more Octos...
Comments: NICE DIVE!
============================================
We threw out the invite. You should have been there. An excellent night for a dive.
Knee slappers, clear water, TONS to see, and fun fun fun.
Claudette's report is here: Linkity
This was the first dive with my newly installed Pee-Valve. Highlights of that great adventure here: Linkage
Here's the Profile and Dive Info
We splash through the modest surf and point the scoots to 280 degrees and head out. The gas is lean tonight (only 29%) so the plan is to go to 110, and if we see something interesting we push to 120.
On the way down, at about 80 Claudette saw a Red Tipped Dorid and I found a smallish Sarcastic Fringehead in a bi-valve. He was so colorful. You can see on the profile we stopped there for a bit to get the shots before continuing to head down the canyon.
We hit about 118, but there wasn't much to see, so we started coming back up. Lots of Pipe fish out. And, fortunately, lots of kelp - which is weird for Vets. The Pipe fish aren't meant to be hanging out in the sand - they're kind of meant to be in the kelp and the grass, looking all branch-like. So it was good to finally be able to compose and shoot one where it actually belongs.
As we came up the canyon we started seeing all kinds of nudis (8 species total this dive) and other stuff.
I found this funny little Octo (maybe the size of a quarter) hiding behind a leaf that blew in from one of the trees in the park (not even Kelp... a LEAF!)
We came across this very nice and very clean and very big Angel Shark. I saw it first and kinda hung there, waiting for the squeal to emit from my buddy (she makes this endearing squeek when something neat surprises her underwater.) I didn't need to wait long! That was cool... seeing something big! Of course, I had on the 105mm - so not even his eye could fit into the telescope.
We eventually came up to the canyon lip - the slope, and we spent the bulk of the back half of the dive scanning the slope for fun things (that's all that time on the chart above at 40 - 46 FSW.) Claudette found a kelp leaf with THREE different species of Nudis on it - including one I've never seen or photographed before. This new one is a Polycera hedgpethi. I'm so fired up. Hundreds of dives at Vets and we're still finding new stuff!
Also on the slope I found this wacky CLEAR shrimp. I see them all the time, but this one was especially animated. I've always wanted to shoot one (how do you shoot something that's CLEAR? At Night?!?!?!?!?!) The shot isn't very good (technically) but it is accurate in its colors.
By minute 70 we were getting to about 900 PSI so we headed up the canyon. I put us up way too fast in the pushing tide - it took NO TIME to go from 40 to about 14 feet (see the chart, above...) so I slowed us way down, backed off to about 20 and hung out for another 5 minutes.
Claudette called me over to see this baby BABY Bat Ray... very nice.
We surfed the scoots to about 4 feet, watching the Bioluminescence as we came in - there is a thick, blue comet trail the scooter leaves as you scoot in at night - its really quite lovely.
We walked out and were greeted by three other SoCal's! How cool.
Excellent dive, fun night. And I installed and dived the Pee Valve I've had sitting around for over 2 years. I saw a new Nudi. I shot a clear Shrimp!
Thanks, 'dette. Only with you.
Here are some pics. Enjoy.
---
Ken
Sarky
The Clear Shrimp hanging with some Dendy Eggs
Speaking of which - a Dendy. The only one we saw. Eggs all over the place, but I only saw one of these little guys.
My silly leaf-hiding baby Octo.
Hermi (Hermissenda crassicornis)
Fakeyssinda (Flabellina pricei)
Bay Pipe Fish (or as Claudette called it after the dive in her Narc'ed stupor, a "Pipe Bayfish...") and his little snail buddy
Red Tipper - here's another shot of it from the side. He was so small, I couldn't get a really good tight shot.
New Nudi for me! This is the Polycera hedgpethi.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
,we usually find about 20 completely new organisms. (Not including the Very Rare Pipe Bayfish:11doh
