2/02/08  Deadman's Reef, North Laguna Beach

 

Surf:  1-2' with an occassional 3-4'

Swell:  moderate to heavy

Surge:  moderate to heavy in the shallows

Viz:  10-15' at best...murky in parts

Temp:  55-58'

Max Depth:  52'

BT:  60'

 

Upon looking at Wetsand and seeing that tides were going out, we knew that our only option at diving was North Laguna.  Due to the very low tide reading, we decided that Deadman's would be our best option for depth and viz. 

 

On arrival at North Cresent Bay loop, we ran into Jeff R. and Mike S. from SOCDC who had just completed their dive and gave a brief dive synopsis.

 

John and I were able to pull into the 'prime' spot on the loop and we quickly donned our gear.  As we were getting ready, we could hear the surf increasing in its size.  We made our way down the stairs, sized up the surf, and made our entry without incident.  Kicked out to our drop down point and easily found 'Deadhenge' that took us right to the reef.  Viz throughout the dive was about 10-15', murky in parts, even a bit of red tide at depth in the shallow region near the southern wall.  Very odd, for it was quite cold.

 

The usual suspects were noted with an increased amount of Zebra Goby's, Blue Banded Goby's, and Black Eyed Gobys.  I managed to find 4 Two-Spotted Octopi; dozens of cleaner shrimp scattered throughout the reef but no Moray's; Bugs; Giribaldi; Blacksmith; Seniorita's; giant male Sheephead; JV Sheephead; Kelpfish; Spanish Shawls; and a single Thornback Ray in the sand coming back towards shore.

 

Coming back in was a challenge, for as we got shallower, the surge kicked up quite noticeably.  We cruised over the inner reef, exploring what we could attempting to conserve our air.  *both John and I had short fills on our tanks -900PSI.  After what appeared to be a long struggle, we finally surfaced in 4' of water.  Surf had picked up quite a bit as well during our dive.  We managed to get our fins off and walk out without incident.

 

Dive Safe!

 

Jan