8/18/2007 - Dog Days Of August

Divebum Don Robarge invited us to join him for an early morning dive at the Portugese Bend Archery Club. 8:00 wasn't early enough. Although the Weather Channel called for fog, it was sunny, clear and blazing hot hauling our wagons down the steep, dusty trail. The water was calm and clear, but I was going to jump in no matter what.
Merry, Don, Drysuit Greg Cooke and I made the short surface swim to the caves where we split into two buddy teams. Merry and I hung out at the Gorgonian field for several minutes before slowly making our way back to the beach. Along the way we saw ten Hopkin's Rose nudibranchs. I thought I must have been at Shaw's Cove! I also spotted a coffee bean snail and Laila's cockerelli. We stopped to check out the large number of fish following us when I caught a glimpse of a large shadowy figure. It was a three foot male Sheephead. I shouldn't mention this because of the hunters who might read this report, but then again, real hunters don't take Sheephead.
Don and Greg made an hour dive while Merry and I stayed down for 100 minutes. They watched from the beach as we followed our dive plan to the letter. Don laughed as our bubbles went through the small kelp bed and we finally popped up in four feet right at our planned exit point. Not bad for my first beach dive here. Merry was beside herself with excitement at all we saw. I even found a PVC pipe for Evil Jeff!
I'll be diving this site more often when the temperatures cool a bit, or when we can get in at sunrise.