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4/18/2009 - Snap My Picta - La Jolla Shores 04/18/2009

Date: 04/18/2009

Time In: 6:31pm / 8:54pm

Dive Location: San Diego, California

Dive Site: La Jolla Shores

Viz: 5-8' in the shallows, 10'+ deeper

Water Temp: 50-56°f(Suunto)

Max Depth: 81' / 79'

Bottom time: 44 / 39 min.

Buddies: Rob C

Made the trek down to La Jolla for a pre-sunset dive and a night dive. Met up with Rob C shortly after 5pm and grabbed two spots in the still very full main parking lot. We quickly assesed the very manageable conditions and the got suited up (dry!) and headed out for the first dive. We thought about trying for Secret Garden but after fighting a bit of a surface current we decided to drop in 20fsw and head west.

We followed the sand dollars out towards the canyon to a wall at 80'. Not nearly as much nudi action as I expected - but did see several Spanish Shawls, some Lewis' Moon snails, and of course lots of the San Diego regulars. I was a little overweighted, which I think messed up my SAC rate. On the way back up to shallower waters we saw a horn shark and several rays (round and thornback). I also saw an Armina hunting in the sand but didn't have enough air time to get a decent shot.

As we kicked in the sun was setting and the we noticed the surf had died down a bit more. Viz was dismall in the shallows, so besides getting a workout kicking back on the surface, we weren't missing much underwater.

For our second dive we kicked straight out from Vallecitos and dropped in about 20 fsw. Our plan was to head for the mini-wall at about 50'. While searching for the smaller stuff on the way out I came across a huge Dirona picta - my first! The surge was pretty strong here, but we managed to get a few shots. At one point the poor little guy climbed up on some fauna and ended up getting blown off by the surge. After about 30 seconds of A over rhinophore tumbing, the little nudi regained his hold to the sand and moved on.

We continued on and somehow missed the little wall, turning around at 80fsw to head back in. Saw another horn shark, more rays, shrimp, crabs etc. Not as much rare life but still a great dive. Saw a hermissenda and another nudi too tiny to id (and focus on!) just before heading up. Based on the improvements in conditions seen yesterday - I'm guessing those diving the shores Sunday were in for a treat!

Yellow Rock Crab