Adventures Of ScubaBob

Looooong Dives at Crescent Bay

Date: 07/17/2009

Time In: 10:26am / 1:19pm

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Site: N. Crescent - Inner Dead Man's Reef/Pinnacles

Viz: 10ish

Surge: Yeeeee-haaaaaaa that's what's on the other side of the viz!

Water Temp: 57-64°f (SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 50' / 32'

Bottom time: 88 / 109 min.

Buddies: Ruth "45 minute dive - BLEH!" Harris

I met up with Ruth to get a couple dives in at Crescent Bay. The side goal, of course, was 200 more minutes on Ruth's Dive-a-thon minute meter. I can maybe squeeze 200 minutes over two dives out of my HP100's. Ruth can easily do a 100 min dive on a 100. Solution? Ruth used my 100's and I had the luxury of diving with her and Larry's HP130's. Yeah-baby - who needs doubles (double 130's, however...).

The plan for our first dive was the front side of Dead Man's. We swam out and dropped down right on the edge of the reef. Keeping the reef on our right we quickly hit dead henge, and more importantly our first target, Dudley of Dead Man's. Viz far from being ideal for wide shots, and since I had my diopter on, I quickly snapped a few pics and moved on (no camera for Ruth today.)

My internal compass went haywire, and instead of heading in the general direction of seal rock, we ended up heading towards the deep end of Dead Man's. A little deeper than planned, but we still managed to squeeze out a decent 88 minute dive.

The dive-a-thon has a daily max of 200 minutes. That left 112 minutes for dive #2. Ruth wanted to hang around the pinnacles that lie between N. Crescent and Seal Rock. We dropped down at the edge of the reef, and within a minute of kicking hit the first large pinnacle - almost literally. The surge was strong today, and viz varied from 5-10'. With the large urchin population on this reef - you really have to be weary of where the surge is moving you. As we combed along the reef, Ruth came across a nudibranch that neither of us could ID. I tried to ease my way in for a pic, but with the combination of the surge, viz, extremely small DoF of my diopter, and Ruth having to hold some algae growth out of the way for the shot - all of my ID shots ended up in the trash can.

We continued around the reef, making at least one full loop around the pinnacle. As I was turning over rocks looking for the shy inhabitants of the reef, I came across a large flatworm. These are more commonly seen on deeper reefs like La Jolla Shores, so the find was a pleasant surprise in 30fsw at Laguna Beach. We made our way back inside the reef, where the surge and viz was even more of a challenge. We ended up getting separated in the shallows, but ended the dive safely and managed to come pretty close to the 200 minute goal.

Christmas Tree Worm

Dudley Lies here, Dudley of Dead Man's that is

Club Tipped Anemone

Limacia cockerelli

Mexichromis porterae

Peltodoris nobilis

Polyclad Flatworm

Labor Day Dives

Date: 09/05/2009

Time In: 8:51am / 11:24am

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Sites: S. Crescent, N.Crescent - Seal Rock

Waves: 1-3'

Viz: 10'+ / 15'-20'

Water Temp: 73-75°f, thermocline to 68°f at 33'(SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 36' / 35

Bottom time: 82 / 69 min.

Buddies: Rob C, Ice, Richard G, Bob W

Met up at South Crescent today for a couple dives. Ice drove down from LA for his very first OC dive, so the expectations were set high. I suggested a couple different dive plans and we agreed on South Crescent for dive #1 and Seal Rock for #2. We entered in to 75 degree sub-tropical water - nice! The beach has definately suffered some errosion during the last several weeks.

We descended into two groups, Rob C, Richard G, and Bob W led Ice and me along the reef. On the way to the reef we were treated with a large school of rubberlip perch swimming over a white sandy bottom with a beautiful blue water background. Wait, where are we again?

The strong surge quickly reminded us we were indeed in Laguna. I noticed an octopus take cover under a small kelp plant and went in for a closer look. I was treated to a very colorful demonstration of the creatures camoflauge ability before it took cover further up the reef. The next stop was a small lobster trap (I think) that had been disassembled sometime after it had been abandoned. Hidden in the bait compartment was a small curled up octopus. As I pointed the little guy out he lunged from his compartment and took cover beteen my BP and wing. I pointed to Ice and he took some quick shots before my 8 legged friend went back to the trap. As I was getting ready to get some video footage, the octopus again went on the move. First stop was on my mask, and the he quickly moved back under the cover of my wing. I had Ice confirm that he had moved on before we did. A very interesting, and comical, encounter.

We had hopes of being able to take the crevice to Shaws, up the reef and back over. This plan never took shape as we could see a blinding wall of bubble wash shoot out of the crescent side of the crevice. The Crescent reef provided plenty of action, including a brief visit by a harbor seal. We exited after 82 minutes of bottom time - which unfortanetly had been a little bit too toasty for Ice in his drysuit.

Richard, Rob C and I opted for one more dive. I left behind the video camera and decided to just enjoy the freedom of free hands on this warm water day (ok - so this also meant the fish were going to enjoy a small urchin snack). We descended at the end of the inner reef and swam towards the first large pinnacle. The reef was teaming with life. Rob requested me to rally the troops for some photo ops. I banged my knuckles on a rock and within seconds I was surrounded by dozens of garabaldi, calico bass and other fish. As we worked our way to seal rock I picked up a couple tasty urchin samples that I offered up to the fish that were brave enough to approach me. We passed by the south side of seal rock and a couple sea lions jumped in to to see what was generating all of the bubbles below. We continued on for another couple of minutes, before returning for another pass. This time, Richard and Rob noticed that the sea lions (unlike me) were curious and intrigued by their noise makers. A few more minutes of sea lion action and we headed back towards the north crescent reef. I headed back in a few minutes early, ascending after 70 minutes. Rob and Richard completed another 82 minute dive. 164 minutes underwater - not a bad dive day in Laguna Beach! A worsening cold has kept me out of the water for the rest of this Labor Day weekend - I hope others have continued to enjoy it!

Rob's pics from the dives:

http://www.our-sea.com/Diveblog/CrescentAlbum09_05_09/Crescent09_05_092.html

Independence Day Dives

Date: 07/03/2009

Time In: 8:54am / 11:45am

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Site: N. Crescent - Dead Man's Reef

Waves: 1-2', occas. 3'

Viz: 10'+ in the shallows, 15'+ deeper

Water Temp: 54-55°f deep, 61-63°f surface(SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 65' / 64'

Bottom time: 59 / 52 min.

Buddies: Rob C

Rob C drove up for two dives in Laguna to start the Independence holiday weekend off right. By 7:15, we were taking some of the final parking spots at N. Crescent. We chatted with a couple of the DMR regulars, then got suited up and headed out to the DMR dropdown point. As we arrived we saw a circle of bubbles from Flo and his buddies, we descended and headed southwest past them down to the backside of the reef.

Since my last dives here on Memorial Day weekend, the invertebrate life, especially nudibranchs, has exlpoded. We started seeing ton's of spanish shawl's, and then some Porter's Chromodorids, Clown dorids and finally came across an area that was covered with Hermissenda's. While more common in La Jolla, I had not seen any Hermissenda on DMR since last spring. Another nudi highlight was seeing a Polycera Tricolor, another more uncommon (I've only seen two at Dead Man's in the last year, and the most recent was spotted by Ruth a couple months ago) nudi for Laguna.

For our second dive, we planned to head back to hermissendaville, and continue around the point of the reef and back in instead of completing a 4th surface swim for the day. We fought a small current on the second trip out, but within 20 or so minutes we were at the drop point. We started right about where we had hoped and continued to take advantage of the nudi explosion, finding more of the same from the first dive, including another P. tricolor! I took more video, and kept snapping away until I filled my memory card (I knew I should have formatted it first today!)

Nudi List for the day:

Polycera tricolor

Doriopsilla albopunctata

Polycera atra

Peltodoris nobilis (lemon dorid)

Flabellina iodinea (Spanish Shawls)

Triopha catalinae (Clown Dorid)

Chromodoris macfarlandi (Macfarland's chromodorid)

Mexichromis porterae (Porter's chromodorid)

Cuthona divae

Flabellina trilineata

Hermissenda crassicornis

Chromodoris macfarlandi (Macfarland's chromodorid)

Cuthona divae

Flabellina iodinea (Spanish Shawl)

Hermissenda Crassicornis (Horned nudibranch)

Peltodoris nobilis - Lemon Dorid / Noble Dorid

Polycera atra (Black dorid)

Polycera tricolor

Triopha catalinae (Clown dorid)

Trivia solandri

Mist Again

Date: 06/20/2009

Time In: 9:49am

Dive Location: San Diego, California

Dive Site: La Jolla Shores

Viz: 5-10' in the shallows, 15-20'+ deeper

Water Temp: 61-63°f at 75fsw, 68°f @ surface!(SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 75'

Bottom time: 63 min.

Buddies: Rob C

Lelaina and I loaded up the car with dive gear and bbq stuff and headed to La Jolla. The plan was for Rob and I to get a couple dives in and Lelaina to enjoy the San Diego sunshine (???????). Leaving the windshield wipers on intermittent was an unwelcomed accompanyment to the ride down the I-5.

We arrived and setup our beach area, in hopes that this was just June gloom and not another mis-calculation by the local weather people. Rob and I suited up and entered right in front of the main lifeguard tower. The seas were flat with an occasional 3' roller, the chop from last weekend was thankfully gone.

We descended into about 23fsw, headed west to 30', then took a left turn until we hit about 65'. Along the way we came across an area with at least 10 Hermissenda crassicornis, Horned Nudibranch. We watched them criss-cross each others paths, climb twigs, and just munch away.

At about 65fsw, we hit a small wall and took a right turn. The wall was covered with Fringehead, blennies, piddock, and other sand-wall natives. I saw a small bat ray cruise by below us, so I followed slowly for about 15' and stopped. Within 10 seconds a huge plume of sand dust was coming towards me - either the small bat ray warned others of intruders, or there was some serious sand hunting up ahead. Rob joined me and saw one large bat ray cruise above the wall. A few feet into the cloud, and we saw another large ray scooping up the sand in search of breakfast.

We explored a little deeper before our personal decompression cop (Rob's Suunto) gave us a nudge and we headed upslope. At about 45', I noticed an eye sticking above a mound in the sand. I signaled Rob and we circled around to see what kind of flattie was hiding in the sand. As I got closer I realized it was a large halibut. We continued in and surfaced in about 12fsw, we were still about 50yards north of the lifeguard tower, so we kicked south-east to avoid the surfers and larger sets.

As we were on our dive, the weather had deteriorated a bit. It was still drizzling and the wind had picked. Lelaina had tolerated enough of the less than ideal beach conditions, so we packed up and called it a day. A great day for diving apart from missing our goal again (secret gardens), but the bbq will have to wait until next time!

My Lion's Share - La Jolla Shores

Date: 06/14/2009

Time In: 8:54am / 10:48am

Dive Location: San Diego, California

Dive Site: La Jolla Shores

Viz: 5-10' in the shallows, 15-20'+ deeper

Water Temp: 57°f at 85fsw(SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 85' / 74'

Bottom time: 64 / 58 min.

Buddies: Rob C

I recently found that spending an entire weekend at the Scuba Show, dry, sans bubbles, while stellar dive conditions were just outside the door (no - not in Long Beach Harbor, a little further than that) can ACTUALLY be considered a form of torture. Bubble therapy was definately needed. With another bout of southwest swell, Laguna was out for my road to recovery. San Diego it is! I drove down to La Jolla and met Rob C. in the main parking lot. Prime parking was easy to find before 8am on Sunday morning (thanks June gloom!). We made plans to dive straight out from the main lifeguard tower. Tide was really really low on Sunday morning. The surf was frequent at 1-3', with the occasional overhead rogue wave. It took a little effort, but was definately worth it. Viz was not nearly as stirred up in the shallows as it was last time I was down here. We dropped into about 20' just short of the lifeguard buoy and found 10-15' viz.

As we worked our way west, we stopped for a few photo ops. The first thing I noticed were several decorator crabs hiding amongst the sand dollar fields. The first was a WELL decorated adult, but there were also many not-so-decorated crabs.

Upon closer look were several Three-lined Aeolids and we also came across several groups of Black Dorid's.

We stopped at the first wall at about 55'. Besides the normal residents (Blennies, Sarc. Fringeheads, Octo's) everywhere I looked I could see nudi eggs. I found a couple Cuthona Divae, more trilineatas and spanish shaw's. Rob also saw a tiny San Diego dorid before we decided to head further west.

As Rob was searching for one of the deeper walls, I stopped short, noticing a translucent blue/white bulbous object as I was examining the kelp. Could it be? YES! A Lion Nudibranch (Melibe leonina)! Another nudi first for me, compliments of La Jolla Shores! I snapped a couple stills and then got Rob's attention (I think it was one of those wooooo-hooooooo's through the reg). I filmed the nudi feeding a little (will post soon), and then signaled Rob to move in for some shots. A couple divers passed by. In my excitement I pointed my find out to them. I'm not sure if they knew what it was at first, as they didn't seem too impressed - or they might have just been wondering while I was so ecstatic about something not so uncommon at the shores.. (IT WAS A NUDI FIRST FOR ME!)

We worked our way in and ended the dive in 7fsw, giving us enough leeway to time the exit.

We quickly changed out our tanks, as Rob had to be at Birch by 1pm. We had less than an hour SI, so we knew were going to be limited on depth and bottom time. We started a bit north of where we had seen the Melibe. Heading back in the same general direction. Along the way, Rob came across what appeared to be a large white sea cucumber (not living?). We took a few pics for id, including a discoloration that could be seen inside the creature - not sure if it was the innerds or another organism.

Nearby I saw a couple Hermissenda. One was feeding on what first appeared to be the leg of a brittle star, but after looking at the pics I think it may have been a worm or sea cucumber. I'm not aware of hermi's eating anything other than the flora? It may have been that the other creature was just in close proximity to whatever the Hermissenda was working on.

We took a turn south, and eventually more southeast, noticing that we were quickly burning through our no-deco time. We startled a bat ray, which took flight in a cloud of muck, startling us in return. We enjoyed the swim back in, easily fulfilling a short obligation and a much longer safety stop, which seemed to pass very quicky as we casually searched through the many critter hiding spots the Shores possess. Again we surfaced in 7fsw, as the sun was starting to come out and the beach was starting to fill up. Can't wait to return - with more time, and nitrox!

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

Lobster

Horn Shark

Dirona picta

A PEACEfull day at Santa Cruz

Date: 03/28/2009

Time In: 8:26am / 10:43am / 1:43pm / 3:38pm

Dive Location: Santa Cruz Island, California

Dive Sites: Gull Island South / GI West / Ruby Rock / Quail Rock

Viz: 25-40'

Water Temp: 53-55°f(Suunto)

Max Depth: 71' / 67' / 86' / 64'

Bottom time: 42 / 44 / 37 / 46 min.

Buddies: Rob C, Richard G

Scott Gietler sent out an e-mail late last year asking if there would be enought interest to do a charter to Santa Cruz Island on the Peace Dive boat out of Ventura. I was super excited to go, as I've never been on the Peace, nor had I been to Santa Cruz before. It seemed like an eternity waiting for the trip to arrive, but we finally boarded the Peace for the trek to Santa Cruz on Friday night. I was joined by my buddies Richard Goddard and Rob Casagrand.

The Peace is a decent size well laid out dive boat. There is a large engine/compressor cover on the dive deck perfect for the large number of camera's Scott's trips tend to attract. Inside the Galley are two large tables and a small recharge station that was put to good use. After using the carts to tote all of our gear (my little ford escape was PACKED) to the boat, we set up our rigs, got our bunk assignments, and called it a night.

We got our wake-up call shortly after 7am. I slept so well and was so warm in my bunk that I really did not want to get up, but I forced myself to get into my drysuit undergarment and make my way for the stairs. As I enjoyed a cup of coffee and an english muffin the captain and crew anchored off Gull Island. The sun was shining and the ocean was flat - no wind, a negligable swell. After a short briefing, we were off for our first dive. As I descended I could tell that the angle of the sun, the depth and the kelp canopy was going to make this a dark dive. No worries, I brought my own sun as I switched on my HID lights and camera. Right away I could see how rich the reef was nudi food, so I began my search. Right away I started seeing super small nudis including Aegires', some small cadlina and sea lemon's. I figured if things were going to stay this small - this was going to be a frustrating day! As I continued on, the nudi list expanded including a Polycera tricolor and a Porter's hanging on a piece of kelp as well as a large Navanax - this was getting more manageable from the zooming and focus standpoint. Finally I came across a nudi first for me, a Philidiana hiltoni - Hilton's nudibranch. These guys were HUGE! And there were several of them all over the reef.

Aegires albopunctatus

Cadlina flavomaculata

Navanax inermis

Polycera tricolor

Philidiana hiltoni

The entire dive probably saw me move no more the 15 feet across the reef. As we motored around to a different side of the small island (rock) for the second dive, breakfast was served. Dive two provided more of the same as well as many more nudi species.

Flabellina trilineata

Mexichromis porterae (Porter's Chromodorid)

Diaulula sandiegensis (San Diego Dorid)

After our second dive we motored around to the west side of the island. It was supposed to be about an hour to the next site, but ended up being a little further when we had to bi-pass the intended site due to strong surge. Our third stop was Ruby Rock. The plan was for a wall dive off of the island. We dropped to about 85' and found a rich reef just waiting to be explored, change of plans! Right away I found a T. Festiva crawling on the sand. This was only second my sighting of this nudi - and I knew they were more common at the northern islands.

Tritonia festiva

My next find appeared to be strange looking shrimp. I have yet to get an id on it, but after looking closer I now think it was a hermit crab in a strange dwelling.

Hermit Crab?

As I continued along the reef and a very large nearby rock, the nudi finds continued..

Navanax inermis

Peltodoris nobilis - Noble Dorid - Sea Lemon

Doriopsilla albopunctata

The fourth and final dive site was at a place called quail rock. This site was a really nice upslope that prodided tons of places for critters to hide. I was amazed by the numbers and variety of sea cucumber at this site (sorry - no photo's). Of course, the nudi and macro quest continued, though I gave up about half way into the dive as the surge got stronger..

Triopha Catalinae - Clown Dorid

Goby

Trivia Snail

Unknown Snail

Polycera Atra (Black Dorid)

What a day! After packing up my gear and hanging out on the upper deck for a bit I hit the bunk again, and didn't realize how tired four dives can make you! Thanks to everyone for a great trip!

Nudi tally for the day (17!!!!): Aegires albopunctatus, Flabellina trilineata, Polycera atra, Hermissenda crassicornis, Triopha catalinae, Diaulula sandiegensis, Cadlina Luteomarginata, Peltodoris nobilis, Navanax inermis, Tritonia festiva, Mexichromis porterae, Doriopsilla albopunctata, Philidiana hiltoni, Flabellina iodinea, Cadlina limbaughorum, Polycera tricolor, Cadlina flavomaculata

Shaw's Double Dose

Date: 03/10/2009

Time In: 10:04am / 1:02pm

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Site: Shaw's Cove

Viz: 15-20'

Water Temp: 57-59°f(Suunto)

Max Depth: 41' / 49'

Bottom time: 87 / 62 min.

Buddies: Ruth, John Lawton

After diving Dead Man's yesterday with Ruth, she could tell I just hadn't had enough bubble time - so she invited me along for a dive or two at Shaw's the next morning. John Lawton was coming up from San Diego and she was going to lead a "get re-acquainted with Shaw's Cove" dive. I drove up a few minutes after nine (what me early? never!) and saw Ruth and John chatting. All the really close spots were coned off or occupied by construction vehicles, so we ended up parking across from another construction site (don't know if the Cliff Drive residents ever get any peace and quiet!) I parked and we talked for a bit before getting suited up and heading down the steps.

We got to the bottom of the stairs and found complete Lake Laguna conditions. We knew as the tide went down the bigger sets (maybe 3') would require a little more timing, but for now I swear we could have walked in blind-folded. We kicked over to reef and dropped down just before the entrance to the crevice. Ruth had already informed me, but it was still hard to believe that all of the smaller rocks were just covered with sand. No shallow nudi hunting for the end of the dive *sigh*. I followed Ruth and John into the "foyer" and noticed one of the smaller then normal Hopkin's Rose turnout. They've been sparse since summer - but the numbers definitely seem thinner than normal.

Again I followed my buddies through the archway and up "star wars" canyon. No lightspeed today though, it was more like a Nile cruise... I took my time, a rarity in this channel, checking out all the life along each side. When I came out the other end (I noticed a light canon shining back at least once to make sure I was still there :) we lingered for a bit and then all headed back to the Shaw's side to visit Shelley. Along the way, Ruth started pointing out several super super tiny nudi's on the kelp. She had tentatively id'd them as F. trilineatas (three-lined Aolid's) but I really couldn't tell. I took about 10 pics hoping for something to come out. The DOF on my video camera with my diopter is super small - so this was like hitting flies with grains of sand. After a quick visit to Shelley we headed back down the reef. We surfaced in about 6' of water. John and Ruth could have lasted a little longer, and the conditions would have been perfect to search for kelp fish in the shallows, but I was running on fumes after nearly 90 minutes.

Thanks to Ruth and John for a great dive! Also thanks to Ruth for sharing her extra knowledge of Shaw's - including several moray eels, her pet Abalone and the Giant Green Anemone. Twisting John's arm for a dive #2 was not successful, so we said our goodbyes and both Ruth and I strapped on HP80's for a second dive. We wished John could have stayed for the second dive, but all was not lost, I know I made a new friend and looked forward to diving with John again in the future.

Entry for Dive #2 was still easy, even after a several foot drop in tide (1 foot per hour) had elapsed since high tide. The plan was to head out the reef and search for some pink urchins that Ruth had seen. We saw the usual mass of Tube Dwelling Anemone's, but much of the end of the reef was covered with sand. We circled around some of the smaller rocks at the end of the reef, coming across two seemingly lost nudi's, a solitary Hopkin's Rose and a Spanish Shawl, and then headed back in. Dive #2, though a bit shorter, was still a very nice relaxing dive with plenty to look at. Exit was as easy as entry (the occasional 3's looked bigger, but really didn't pack much punch), and we were definitely left wanting to return for more! The true highlight of the day was finding a Zebra goby that decided he wanted a life as a model instead of as a runaway. I was able to get some closer shots then I normally can. Ironically, Ruth also came across a willing zebra, as we had both tried so hard with two separate zebra gobies at Dead Man's on Monday with no luck.

Flabellina iodinea (Spanish Shawl)

Flabellina trilineata (Three-lined Aolid) - For ID purposes only - BAD focus

Giant Green Anemone

Blue Banded Goby

Zebra Goby

Moray Eel - to prove to John that they were there :)

Dead Man's Reef 03/09/09

Date: 03/09/2009 09:19am

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Site: N. Crescent (Dead Man's Reef)

Viz: 15-20'

Water Temp: 54-55°f / 57°f surface (Suunto)

Max Depth: 67'

Bottom time: 54 min.

Buddies: Ruth

Planned to meet up with Ruth at N. Crescent at 8am this morning for a visit to Dead Man's. I received a text shortly after 6 from Ruth stating that it was dumping rain up North. I looked outside and despite being dark and gloomy - there was no rain - so we decided to chance it and hope the rain would miss Laguna.

After checking out conditions and chatting about the dive plan we finally got suited up (with only a few sprinkles from a very ominous looking set of clouds.) Surface conditions were decent. 1-2 footers with an occasional 3. As we kicked out the wind chop appeared to pick up, so it was a somewhat bumpy swim out. Ruth's only other visit to DMR was on the front side - so for this dive I was going to show her the deeper side of the reef, and hopefully a decent nudi turnout.

We descended into ~50' and worked our way down to deeper water. Viz was in the 15ish range to start - not bad but a little dark with the cloud cover. We had descended about 30 yards east of a small boat with divers - so I was hoping that would keep fishing boats of of the area. We started finding spanish shawls - but it appeared that the slug population was not yet back in full force.

Flabellina Iodinea

Within a few minutes, I found a Noble Dorid (rhinophores down in a rock crevice) and showed it to Ruth. While searching for P. atra (black dorids) I came across a small Aegires. While Ruth was positioning for a shot (these guys are tiny!) I came across a small clown dorid.

Aegires albopunctatus (White-spotted Dorids - I know - the white spots are impossble to see!)

Triopha catalinae (Clown Dorid)

Next on the Nudi list was a beautiful Cuthona divae, which I later found out was a slug first for Ruth - awesome! I found another one of these guys a little later in the dive

Cuthona divae

Cuthona divae #2 (with eggs)

As we started to work our way up the reef Ruth found a large Moray. Atop the reef in about 25fsw she found another one that she was able to coax out of it's crevice for a bit (until I came over - convincing him that 2 divers was 1 too many.) Viz was definately pushing 20' atop the reef - and looked amazing with the sun finally out and shining down on the kelp.

We surfaced atop the reef after 54 minutes. The kick back in flew by as we discussed the critter finds and didn't have to battle the wind chop. We called it a day - but promised to visit Dead Man's again very soon! Great dive Ruth!

Anemone

Sea Star Morning Stretch

Rigs to the Left, Reef to the Right

Let's see, what have I been doing the last 6 weeks since my last dives in PV? Packing, moving, unpacking, working, more packing and unpacking. Yep, no diving! Severe dry gill syndrom! I received an invite from Ruth Harris to join her and Larry for her 300th dive (and first) on the Oil Rigs. I didn't make any immediate plans - until I got a friendly reminder and "nudge" from Ruth last week, so I talked to Rob C and we decided to sign-up. I called Kyaa, and before you knew it, Sunday March 1st was upon us and we were boarding the Sundiver Express, the dive boat formerly known as Island Time - sorry no fancy symbols. The trip turned out to be a great one, with conditions that made March 1st 2009 almost seem like the first day of summer. The trip also reminded me of a very important lesson - details to follow..

We arrived early Sunday morning and found a boat full of eager divers, ready to set out for the rigs (many for the first time.) Among the group were the notorious Dive Matrix Duo - Ken and Claudette. I'd never met either Ken or Claudette, but of course have loved their stories and photo diaries they have shared with us over the years. Soon thereafter, Mike Bartick walked down the ramp, multiple DSLR rigs in tow. With Bart and Ken aboard - I almost considered just leaving my video camera behind! Haha - not likely - I'm far too addicted.

Rob and I were amongst the first ones in the water at the Oil Rig Eureka. We kicked over to the rig (calm surface conditions eliminated the occasional need sometimes present at the rigs to giant stride, grab camera, and descend.) After dumping the air from my wing, I dropped below the surface, turned to face down and gave a kick down towards the pilings. After about 5', I quickly returned to the surface. What? My gear is usually dialed in. 8 lbs with my XCEL wetsuit, 16 lbs with my DC drysuit. I checked my weight, I had 10 lbs to compensate for the vertical surge. I hung my head and headed over the boat and Kyaa graciously handed me 4lbs of hard lead. Rob also requested some extra weight. Wow - the day's starting off great. I figured the LP steel 85's that I BELIEVED we were diving with wouldn't have required much extra lead over diving with my Steel HP100s, and the extra 2 lbs should have more the compensated for that. Oh well, Another dump of air and I was able to kick down to the pilings. My weight still didn't feel right, and I finished the dive after 25 minutes. When I got back to the boat I realized my BIG mistake. The LP steel 85 that I thought I was diving was in fact an AL 80. ARGH! I hate aluminum tanks! Lesson re-learned. Bring my own stuff (including my tanks - I ALWAYS DO THIS), and inspect my gear closely before the dive. This should have been a no brainer.

The Rigs dives were great - these were my first two dives on Eureka, and bring my total Oil Rig dives to 4. The rigs are amazing - if you haven't dived them - do it! The life on the rigs is hard to describe. I was picturing in my head some of the shots I wanted today. I swear I spent half of the dive just staring in awe holding my camera to my side.

The last dive was at a site picked from Ray's long list of near-shore favorites (Red Tank - if you feel like you are diving in the shipping lanes - you found the spot.) The temp here was a couple degrees colder then on the rigs - but was well worth it. Several nudi's were amongst the rocks and reef structure. I came across what I thought were Janulous eggs, but I could not find the nud's themselves amongst the kelp. The dive was cut a little short due to NDL and air supply time, I would have really liked to explore more of the reef. Ray promises to visit many more near-shore sites - including advanced sites like the rigs. I know I'm looking forward to it!

Nudi's seen: Doriopsilla albopunctata, Flabellina iodena, Dendronotus robilliardi, Diaulula sandiegensis, Cadlina limbaughorum, Chromodoris macfarlandi

Some pics from the trip (all taken with my video cam in still mode)

White Anemones

Cabezon

Cabezon / Sheephead Wide Angle Attempt (I so wanted this to happen - argh!)

Chestnut Cowrie

Corolla Calceola (Sea Butterfly) - Watch Video!

Club Tipped Anemones - just a few of these on the rigs :)

San Diego Dorid

Doriopsilla albopunctata

Vermillion Rockfish

Rob C on the Oil Rig Eureka

The Sundiver Express Buffet (Ruth and Larry re-energizing!)

Best Seats in the House (Ken & Claudette - SoCal scooter photog critter finder Extraordinaires)