1/18/2009 - First Dives of 09 - SeaBass Style
Date: 01/18/2009
Dive Location: El Segundo & Palos Verdes, California
Dive Sites: El Segundo Hyperion Pipe / Wreck of the Avalon (stern) / Hawthorne (Fav PV Spot)
(better pics than mine)
Was originally planning to hit La Jolla this weekend. The swell reports for west facing beaches, and the huge smiles on the faces of the surfers really put a damper on the idea as the week progressed. I checked with Scott G. to see if there was still any open spots on their Sunday SeaBass boat to PV. It was sold out - as these charters should always be, but I was able to buy a spot from Anastasia - who was getting over a bad bug. Saturday rolled around, but the big swell from the west never did.
Sunday morning I boarded the Sea Bass to many familar faces, including some new ones, and some I only knew by name or bulletin board nickname. As we set off, everyone was very hopeful based on reports from Saturday. As we neared the breakwater - all we could see was a glassy ocean waiting for us to have at it. Heading North, we could see the swell breaking on the rocks, but things definately did not appear too bad.
Our first spot was a large drainage pipe off El Segundo. Scott had dove the pipe in '08 and reported tons of life, including an abundant nudi population - music to our ears. The water looked a little green before we jumped in, but being off lovely El Segundo - I wasn't expecting much. Viz on the pipe was dismal. Unfortanetly, so was the fish life. The pipe however, was massive. I really wasn't expecting much, but this thing was large. On the North side of the pipe, there were sections that provided a large wall (the pipe) to one side, and a rocky reef to the other - with about 5' gap in between. I could definately see the potential here - but this just wasn't the day. I searched a little through sand, and saw nothing, back to the pipe, notta, save for a coonstripe shrimp or two in the rocks nearby. Hopped over to the other side of the pipe and came across several large ling cod. The big find of the dive was a bright red sculpin. I was already below 1000psi at that point, so I took a few shots (and this guy was not wanting to pose), and then headed up the line. Some pics from the dive:
Bright Red Sculpin on the sewage pipe
Bay Goby - I think - thought it was a regular black-eyed goby at first?
Coonstripe Shrimp
We headed back to PV to find more green water. The ocean was still flat - glass - but something was stirring things up. We anchored on the stern of the Avalon. Same story - bad viz - no nudi life. This is PV right? What happened? I explored the stern section of the wreck for the first time, and a little of the nearby rocky area. Came across a handfull of Spanish Shawls as I headed back to the wreck to search for the line. Did I mention the viz sucked? I ended up in huge school of Perch and then I realized, "I'm in a huge school of Perch!" It was pretty cool, but it didn't help in finding the anchor line, so I ascended into the green goo for some hang time. Avalon pics:
Spanish Shawls
Last stop was Hawthorne reef. Some discussion was going on about heading around the corner to OML - but a final decision was made to stay there - fine by me - this is my favorite PV spot. We dropped down, still crappy viz, but, alas, Nudi's! When I was here in November the reef was crawling with Lemon Dorid's, and I even came across my second ever (both in 2008!) Simnia snail. Did I mention I love this site? The Lemon's were still there, but not in the same abundance. No Simnia either, but it was still a good dive, it actually felt like a gold mine after the first two sites. Surge and viz were still working against me - but managed to get a few salvageable pics (afraid to look at the video without taking some Bonine first - weeeee!) Pics:
Lemon Dorids - not as many as in November - but still quite a few on the reef
Mating Cadlina luteomarginata - Bound to see more of these next time :)
Cadlina limbaughorum
Purple Cowrie? (I think this was an old shell with years of growth)
California Sea Cucumber
You gotta start off the new dive year eventually, but I guess you can't always start it off with stellar conditions (I know most of you did - don't remind me.) You can, however, start it off in great company - and that I did. Another great Sko-T charter. Check.
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