Wreckreational Diving

4/27/2008 - Fog Wreck And Ross-O Reef

What a great day. The ocean was flat, the Sun was shining and we were diving before it got hot. We were already under water by 7:45. The water at the Fog Wreck was green and dark, and the current was ripping. I turned on my light halfway down, expecting night dive conditions on the wreck. As we approached the bottom the vis opened up to a little better than fifteen feet. We spotted two Wolfeels right away. Merry freed a brown rockfish caught in the net. The net itself may be removed next weekend. It is off the wreck for the most part, but the lines attached to lift it are tangled all around the net. I moved one, and we ascended into the current again.
One of the two Wolfeels

Fuse panel

Metridiums

Lift line caught on a valve

Flabellina trilineata

Anemones

Some time after the first dive I lost the deflector to my housing, so all wide angle shots on the second dive were dark and had plenty of backscatter.
Our next dive was at a target Ross-O wanted to check out. He has a cold and had to remain topside. Merry and I felt bad for him, but that didn't stop us from diving. :)
Ross said it was probably a rockpile that nobody had ever seen, but we might like to explore. We saw the bottom from about fifty feet and the reef was incredible. It was a 20-25' tall structure covered in every color imaginable. Clouds of Blacksmith moved through the water column, chased occasionally by large cabezons. Sponges, sandbass, red gorgonian, lingcod, rainbow seaperch, black perch, rubberlips and anemones were everywhere. We only spent about twenty minutes on the bottom, but will definately go back. The reef was a small version of Hawthorne Reef, but the marine life was more concentrated. Merry and I named it Ross-O Reef.
The water column was filled with jellies large and small.
Water temp on the first dive was 52F with 48.6F on the second. I didn't even notice the cold water due to the beauty of the reef and the ripping current.
Lingcod near the anchor

Sponges, anemones and tunicates, oh my!

Merry goes exploring

The reef and fish

Safety stop jelly

I forgot to mention the Coke bottle Merry found yesterday. It was manufactured in Compton California at the Maywood Glass Company for the Coca Cola bottling company in Salt Lake City between 1951-58 and is in excellent condition. It is Evolution #9 from the link.