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Posted in Unspecified
Cleao Street Barge, South Laguna
Surf: 1-2'
Swell: minimal
Surge: minimal
Viz: 8-15'
Max Depth: 48'
Bottom Time: 75"
Temp: 60'
Met up this morning with Rich and his group
http://www.southcoastdivers.com for a morning dive at Cleo Street to
dive the barge. I felt like a kid a candy store, for this was my first
time diving the barge.
Surf entry was a little dicey, not because of the surf, but because
of all the rocks. Once we got past the rocks and surf zone, we made our
way out to the drop down zone. We initially dropped down into what
appeared to be about 15' of viz. Very nice. Beautiful reef below us.
Headed S/E until we hit about 42-45' then hung a left and quickly found
the barge. Viz was still holding pretty good at about 47-48'. So much
life to be found on the barge: Scallops, Tunicates, Gorgorians,
Sheephead (mostly female, but did spot one very large male), Girabaldi,
cleaner shrimp, baby spanish shawls, a beautiful JV Giant Kelp Fish (which
I don't normally see in Laguna), Black Eyed Gobys, Blue Banded Gobys,
Cabezons, Scorpionfish, Surfpeatch, Opaleyes, Bat Stars, Ochre Stars,
and of course BUGS! Unfortunately, none of the legal bugs were within
reach. Well, unfortunately for me, fortunately for them. After
exploring the wreck for about 45-50 minutes, Chris and I decided to head
to the reef to look for some bug. We weren't disappointed. I had one
in my clutches when I realised that I let go of my dive light. Ugh!
The bug got away, zipped towards Chris and up and over his should he
went. At that point, I decided to head for the surface in search of my
light. The downside was, I was experienceing a reverse block, so could
go up as quickly as I had hoped. By the time I got to the surface, I
could not see my light floating anywere, even though the surface was
pretty smooth. I concluded that the swell must have taken my light
towards shore somewhere. WIth that, I dropped back down and joined up with
Chris again. Chris spotted a nice sized Horn Shark resting on the reef.
We looked around somemore for bugs, but I was beginning to get
chilled diving we, so decided to head for shore.
Like the entry, the exit was dicey as well. Torn between taking fins
off (which I normally do) or leaving them on, I decided to leave them
on in case I miss my footing on exit. Hmmm...exiting the surf with
fins on, Split Fins no less is not an easy task as well as dodging the
rocks. I was just about out when I lost my footing. Alberto was on shore
and came over to assist me. Muchas Gracias! Next time...Fins off
before exiting. I knew better and didn't go with my gut feeling.
All and all, a great dive. Lots to see...and to explore!
Jan
5:22 PM - 11/17/2007 -
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