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Blue Whales Off Redondo Beach

Evil Jeff Shaw joined us for a special treat this afternoon. The Blue whales have moved closer to shore. Many were within a mile of the Redondo Beach breakwater.

Tanks for the dive...

I received an email from divebums.com sent by 'Callie' asking if anyone wanted her old tank she was getting rid of. I said yes with the intention of converting this old pile of rust into a bell.

I've made bells from Alum, but never an old 72 and I was curious to hear what it sounded like.

Callie and I made arrangements to meet at the shores for a quick tour of the point and exchange the tank.

Hearing Callie was a new diver, I was worried about the usual problems, but Callie displayed some fantastic skills for a very new-ish diver.

Our dive was fun filled 50 minutes at max 54' with min temp of 51deg.

Here are a few pics from the dive.

'The Shores' 9/4/2010 - same old

I couldn't help myself... had to go back for more

Few more photos of flying iris (how to you make a nudi plural? irises?)

Also found a curious white egg shaped 'thing' could be a bit of plastic for all I know. ID help appreciated.

-Mike

ID hlp???

Big D Iris-palooza

La Jolla Shores has been INVADED this week by D. iris. I don't mean 10, or 50...Oh No!
I mean several hundred, perhaps 1,000's over a sq area at least 200'. Crazy numbers.

And these critters were not just satisfied to be terra-firm. Oh No, they went 'waterborne'. It was like it was raining iris's. Crazy.

At any point during the dive I had a minimum of 5 iris within arms reach. Frick'n everywhere.

Along side the iris invasion was an army of Aeolidia papillosa. Hundred's of these guys as well.

Fricken Crazy I tell ya.

Got some good pics of the swimmers (I love LR3)

Thanks T and Marla for another sweet dive, and a perfect cup 'o coffee afterward :)

-Mike

Album Here

More Fun On Haggerty's Crane

We headed out this morning with hopes of any visibility after a week of swells. Scott and Margaret Webb were on the crane, so we headed around the hill to Buchanan's Reef. We spotted a fried egg jelly at the surface, then anchored. As we were gearing up a set of large swells rolled by. We decided that the day probably would not get better, so we pulled anchor and limped back toward home. As we passed the Avalon we saw Frank O'Donnell's Boston Whaler anchored at the bow of the wreck. We called Margaret and she reported fifteen feet of vis at the crane, so we raced there.
As soon as we approached the bottom, Merry began snapping away at a small salp chain, Pegea confoederata. There were also a few solitary ones around.

The two moray eels were nowhere to be seen today so we looked at bryozoans, nudibranchs, garibaldis with nests and another fried egg jelly, Phacellophora camtschatica during our safety stop. It was getting windy so we settled for one dive. Frank came by to check out No Pressure. It was good to see him back out on the water.

Mexichromis porterae

Triopha catalinae

Bryozoan

Close-up

Bryozoan with tunicates

Corynactis covered tires

Fried egg jelly, Phacellophora camtschatica

Dive #1500

I made dive number 1500 today, just as the conditions were worsening around Palos Verdes. We've had such nice conditions all week that I was hoping for one more clear dive. Today's dive was also my 350th Marineland dive.
Merry and I headed for Buchanan's Reef but wind, swells and a fishing boat on our spot forced us to seek shelter behind Long Point. We anchored less than a foot from the north air tank of the platform where we found our first Aegires albopunctatus nudibranch earlier this month. I quickly spotted a mating pair. When I downloaded my photos I noticed a worm on the nudi on the left. I also found a worm on a Polycera tricolor.
The visibility was down to ten murky feet, but it was one of the best low vis dives I've had. We even had two jellies float by during our ascent. The water temperature was still 50F.

Despite the nets that surround the platform, life flourishes here.

Every section of rope has several California scorpionfish resting nearby.

Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda

Facelina stearnsi

Janolus bararensis

Mating pair of Aegires albopunctatus

The worm has turned

Polycera tricolor with worm

Merry's photos;

Nudi Bonanza With A Side Of Fried Egg Jelly

Merry and I hit Buchanan's Reef again today. The visibility was down to twenty-five feet, which is still spectacular for Marineland. The water had warmed up to a balmy 51F. I told Merry before the dive that I wanted to see how many different species of nudibranchs we could find on one dive. We ended with sixteen. We saw at least two more yesterday that we didn't find today.

Aegires albopunctatus

Aegires albopunctatus

Cadlina flavomaculata

Hermissenda crassicornis

Cuthona divae

Triopha catalinae

Cadlina limbaughorum

Cadlina luteomarginata

Acanthodoris hudsoni

Diaulula sandiegensis

Color variation of Facelina stearnsi.

It was sometimes difficult to get shots with the Blue, Vermillion, Rosie and Gopher rockfish constantly checking out the bolt snap on my camera.

I saw a large Lingcod resting on the net which covers a large section of reef, but I only managed one lousy shot.

I spotted a pelagic tunicate, Pyrosoma atlanticum floating between the rocks. It's only the second one I've found in nearly 1500 dives. Today was dive number 1499.

Pyrosoma atlanticum

After nearly an hour of nudi hunting we began our ascent. Just as we were neared the ascent line I saw a large Fried Egg jelly, Phacellophora camtschatica. I spent the rest of the dive floating with it. I paid for it with a surface swim against the current.

Phacellophora camtschatica

C-Brats Catalina Adventure 2010

Merry and I joined a group of C-Dory owners, C-Brats for their annual Catalina Adventure. Most of the group left from Marina del Rey yesterday, so Merry and I waited outside the Redondo Beach breakwater for the group to go by. During our wait we encountered a large oil slick that has been there for a couple of weeks now. We found the thick part. :(
Better encounters included a pod of dolphin with several juveniles. Merry spotted a black sea nettle with a chunk missing, then I spotted the likely culprit nearby, a mola mola.

We hiked to Cat Harbor, then over to the Two Harbors Campground to take photos of our little group.

It was a hot day for hiking. :)

We left at sunrise this morning, passing two tall ships on our way out of Two Harbors.

Divereport 8-15-19 LJS Cumanotus Blue Light Special

Divereport 8-15-19 LJS

Viz: 10-15'
Temp: Triple-Layer-undergarment-kind-of-COLD
Surf: 2-3 with some punch

Our merry crew of two dropped into 28' just North of Vallecitos point and quickly found a bazzillion Cumanotus sp. as well as several Cuthona columbiana (a new nudie for me wOOt!). All were feasting on the Summer-time blossom of hydroids amassing on the 30-40' slopes around the point. Beautiful sight to see.

We toured around the point and spotted a Fried Egg jelly south of the point, unfortunately it appeared near the end as it was pumping(?) the bell only every couple of minutes.

Finally, we spotted several dozen D. frondosus in the shallows ~25 they are everywhere, and also saw several baby juvi D. iris (still all nice a white with those funny white dots that look like someone painted them with white-out.

We bumped into Herb on the way back in; he was just as excited to see the return of the Cumanotus.

And people say San Diego doesn't have a change of seasons! Ha! They just do know where to look, it's all going on down below.

Photobucket album
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk145/SoCalSwami/Diving2010/081510-LJS/

Not a bad way to spend 94 minutes,
(Marla, Thanks for sharing a cup o joe after the dive :)
Mike Hallack

C. columbiana (WooHoo!)

Juvi Cumanotus sp. munchin on a hydroid

QUIZ: How many Nudies do you see???

At least 3 if not 4...
The Triliny plus 2 D.frondosus above and below
PLUS, I think a Doto amyra in the upper right on the branch above the triliny

the ever enchanting Cumanotus sp.

Fried Egg Jelly

Dozens of these guys loungin in the Sand dollar patch (Dendronotus frondosus)

Looks like 2010 won't be a totally wasted diving year after all. lol

More Nudi Goodness From The Marineland Platform

Most of Palos Verdes was getting hit by wind and swells this morning. We fought our way through and headed to the south side of the hill. We found some protection east of Long Point so we decided to hit the platform again. The visibility was down to ten feet, but the nudibranchs came out to play.
Last week I found my first Aegires albopunctatus. We found three more today. Once again, Merry and her camera "Lucky" got some great shots. Here are my best five. I'm going off to sulk. :(

Visiting An Old Friend

Merry and I dived the point at Marineland this afternoon for the first time since January. Our Lady of the Garden is sporting a fancy thick coat of marine life.

Merry found a large Ategema alba near the statue. It's the second one she's found in a month.

The rest of the obligatory slug photos...

The point was flat at the beginning of the dive, but by the time we ascended it was Victory at Sea. 51F, 12-15 feet vis.

2 Months of local diving........

So I have not posted links to dives the past 2 months - Facebook has made me lazyyyy!! Therefore, I am posting links to dives the past two months all on this page to get myself caught up :). Thinking about doing a 'monthly compilation' so I can update more consistently... Enjoy!! I know I DID :) ...

Link from La Jolla Shores dive on 8/7/10

Click HERE for pictures....

Other Links from the past few months:

La Jolla Shores 7/31/10 (Fried Egg Jellies / Lion Nudi's)

LJS 07/31/10 pictures

La Jolla Shores 7/24/10 (Fried Egg Jellies)

LJS07/24/10 pictures

Marineland Platform With Decent Visibility

We enjoyed the best visibility we've seen on the platform today. It was at least twenty-five feet and we could see it from forty feet above.

The posts were covered with juvenile California Scorpionfish. Some spots had a half dozen resting together.

California scorpionfish, Scorpaena guttata

The main draw of the platform, nudibranchs, seemed to be on vacation. I only saw a half dozen species, but I did find my first Aegires albopunctatus.

White spotted dorid, Aegires albopunctatus

While I was on a nudi hunt, Merry shot video. It's nice to have good enough visibility for photography once in awhile. Maybe it will make me forget how bad it's been all year.

Santa Barbara Janolus, Janolus barbarensis

Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda

Stearn's Aeolid, Facelina stearnsi

Club tipped anemones, Corynactis californica

Down And Dirty Dive

Yesterday there was an oil slick around the west side of Palos Verdes. Today it was replaced by a plankton layer in the top twenty feet. The visibility on the crane was a dirty ten feet. Both morays were in the same hole this time. I guess they kissed and made up after the dive I saw them fighting in mid-water.
Merry spotted a tiny octopus hiding about ten feet from the eels. We'll see if it's still there on our next dive.
The garibaldi eggs are finally developing. The cold water has made it difficult for the little guys to grow. They now have two eyes staring out from each egg.

Another Wreck Dive Report

Merry and I planned to get some video and stills of the morays on the Haggerty's crane this morning, but the Redondo Special was anchored on it. I hope nobody caught all the rubberlips and garibaldis. It's not exactly a **** fish site.
We headed over to the Avalon wreck instead. As we were gearing up, an unknown gelatinous critter floated by. I jumped in the water to get a few shots, forgetting that my left dry glove wasn't quite on all the way yet. I also had my weightbelt on with no tank for inflation. Fortunately, I managed to stay afloat.

The temperature at the stern of the Avalon was a toasty 51F. It felt even nicer with my wet glove and no wrist seals.
I managed to get off a few shots before one of my strobes developed a small leak in the battery compartment. It was just enough to make the batteries leak. I cleaned the strobe and sprayed contact cleaner throughout. Hopefully it will not have to go to the camera hospital.

Merry found a tiny bubble crab molt to preserve. She didn't have a collection jar with her so she had to carry it in her hand the entire dive.

Scott and Margaret Webb stopped by. I felt pretty bad about being anchored at the stern, forcing them to dive the bow section. I gave them a Toblerone to make up for it. The sugar went to their heads, though. They thought they could beat us back to the harbor. Fat chance! We blew them out of the water. They even turned around at the harbor entrance. Probably too embarrassed to be seen. :)

First Dive On The UB88

I have always been intrigued by anything man-made under water. Whenever I came across debris I wondered how long it had been down and where it came from. In 1989 I read Shipwrecks of Southern California by Patrick Smith and Bonnie Cardone. The chapter describing the WW1 German submarine UB88 fascinated me. Knowing it was out there somewhere sparked an interest for me. A few years later I met a couple of divers who had been searching unsuccessfully since the 1940s for the sub. Using a fathometer and dragging a hook along the bottom were common techniques, but a time consuming way to look for wrecks. Things are much easier today.

In 2003 the UB88 was finally discovered by Gary Fabian and Captain Ray Arntz. They assembled a team to dive the site, document the condition of the wreck and post the findings on their website UB88.org

Keeping the location to themselves, they made it clear they didn't want anyone stripping the sub for artifacts. The theory that a stripped wreck is not worth diving doesn’t hold sea water either. Many local wrecks, including the Olympic II were stripped shortly after their discovery, yet remain popular dive sites half a century later. Besides, the UB88 was stripped before it was even sunk.

My friends and I decided to conduct our own search. Using hints from the original dive report, we searched the area between Los Angeles Harbor and Huntington Beach out to the oil rigs for a few years. Although this led to the discovery of wrecks and reefs previously unknown to us, the UB88 still eluded us.
Recent events motivated me to continue the search on my own. I would have to acquire GIS software to read the survey images found at USGS and Seafloor Mapping

I downloaded the images and ordered Manifold software. It was $245, considerably less than it was when we began our search seven years ago. When I didn't receive the activation code I contacted Manifold's customer service department. They gave me the runaround for a week and refused to re-send the code. I cancelled my order and went to ESRI GIS instead. I downloaded the freeware and went to work. It was fairly easy to learn despite never having used GIS before. I had to create anchors for the files, make layers, then convert them to KML files and add to Google Earth. I overlaid the survey images and found targets everywhere.

I checked each scan, noting the coordinates of possible targets. I now faced the daunting task of checking more than a hundred targets. Not having access to our previous database, I feared I would have to dive dozens of potential targets that we had eliminated before. Recently, Google Earth has included data on their maps that show great detail of local wrecks and reefs. Perhaps it won’t be long before all of our wrecks show up clearly without having to download scans.

Suddenly, I had a revelation. Maybe we were over-analyzing this search. I went back to UB88.org and assessed what I had read and seen before.
Gary and Ray's sonar image was 175 feet long. The sub was originally 182 feet in length. The Fox newsreel on their website showed the sub making a nose dive after the shelling. If it hit bow first on the bottom and crushed about seven feet off the bow I assumed the depth would be less than 182 feet but probably more than 175 feet. Once the stern dipped below the surface it would slow its descent. The newsreel cuts off just before that happens. Maybe this was a clue. Could it be this easy? I disregarded the misdirection the team planted in their reports. I knew it wasn't near the oil rigs. I knew it wasn’t in 230 feet because of the bow damage and the marine life on the wreck. I doubted it contained 25 pounds of TNT. The oil companies would never allow an explosive charge to sit near four rigs. Ask British Petroleum if that is a good idea. What remained were a few helpful clues.

The UB88 was sunk during an exercise put on by the U.S. Navy for the mayor of Los Angeles, Navy brass and the local press. Being born and raised on military bases I learned that the military does things in two fashions, convoluted and methodical, or quick, fast and in a hurry. I was hoping it was the latter. Would they have scuttled the sub in a secret location that only Ray Arntz could find later and take the coordinates to his grave? Not likely. Would they hide it so Kevin Rottner couldn't retrieve the toilet for his collection? Doubtful. Sometimes the simplest solution is the correct one.
They would have to tow the sub far enough offshore to avoid launching a torpedo onto someone's front porch. Open ocean is south of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. I drew a line directly south of the old Navy base and followed it until I found a depth between 175 feet and 182 feet. There were only a few targets in the area, but one of them was exactly ten miles south in 178 feet. It sounds simple. A nice round number. Seven years of searching and I found it by myself in a couple of weeks. Could it be this easy?

On May 8, 2010 Merry and I went out to meter the targets. The first one we checked revealed nothing, but a second target shouted Guten Tag to us. We found an object that had nine to twenty feet of relief in every area we checked. We left the area to check another target and then went back to double check our find. This time we found a small area that topped out at 133 feet, 45 feet off the sand. It just had to be the conning tower. We went back a month later and found the same depths, so we were positive it wasn’t a school of fish or dirty water confusing our fishfinder.
After two months of waiting for the ocean to calm down we finally went out to dive the sub on July 10. The sea was flat, but the water was still a bit dirty and green. We set our float on the high spot and anchored nearby. As I dropped, the water became darker. I was about to thumb the dive when a deep shadow appeared to my right. I swam over and was very relieved to see the conning tower. I had planned to swim the length to find the shallowest point to drop our marker next time. I think I will use the numbers I have.
Visibility was only about ten feet. The video camera and lights make things look better than they really are. I’ll go back when the conditions improve and try for better footage.

DOWN TO DAVY JONES' LOCKER

Marineland Blows

Merry picked today as our attempt at a mid-week dive. By the time I got off work the wind had picked up, but we decided to try our luck. This year, our luck has been mostly bad. The westside of Palos Verdes was blown out so we headed to Buchanan's Reef. It was a little rough, but diveable. Visibility was about eight to ten feet with a little current. We found the usual array of rockfish and nudibranchs Buchanan's is famous for.
After nearly an hour in the 53F muck we surfaced in the middle of a hurricane. I can swim faster than I drove home in the wind. I like to pretend that the ocean will someday calm down and give us a nice dive. I can dream, can't I?
Merry shot stills while I fumbled with video.

Philippines 2004

Clucking Garibaldis

After a month out of the water we finally got to finish off 2000 psi from our last dive. We headed to the crane off Haggerty's in hopes of getting pictures of juvenile Garibaldis. When we were last there on May 3rd there were several nests waiting for females to visit. Today, only one nest had eggs, but the males were chasing everything away with their loud clucking.

The crane seemed to have more fish than usual today. Schools of blacksmith and rubberlips hovered above while rockfish, greenlings and blue-banded gobies darted through the truck.

Just as we were nearing the end of our dive Merry spotted one of the two resident moral eels hiding in the rear of the truck frame. I was able to coax him out for a quick shot before we headed up.

Water temperature was 59F with 12-15 feet visibility. Maybe good conditions are on their way after a lousy first half of the year.

What To Do When Dive Conditions Suck

We planned to make a quick dive at Haggerty's Crane this morning so we could fill tanks for tomorrow. A quick peek at Vet's this morning told me we would be cleaning house instead. We drove around the peninsula, but conditions were bad from Redondo Beach to Christmas Tree Cove. We decided that since I had my camera with me I would get in the water at King Harbor and hope for the best. Vis was about a foot, but the macro subjects were clear enough for a few shots. It was a tunicate type of day.

Bonaire Trip May 2010!!!

What can I say......6 days of diving, 23 dives in 82-84 degree water, HOT warm sun - not much else to say :). They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is my novel ;).....Enjoy

When you get to the site - click on View Gallery then select which folder you want. Also, on the right you can skip over a song.

Bonaire May 2010 Dive Trip

Post Bonaire - Calif coldddd dive!

Tough to get back into 50 something degree water after spending a week in 82+ water :). Did a midweek dusk dive as the swells were picking up and figured I needed to get in and re-acquaint myself with Cali diving :). Glad I did! The Lion Nudi's were back in full force on the kelp at V point. First time I have seen them in abundance like that. Very beautiful!

Click HERE for Photo's

Date: 5/19/10

Time in: 6:25pm

Time out: 7:32pm

Surface Interval: N/A

Dive Location: La Jolla shores - V. Point South and North

Visibility: 15' - nice

Water Temp: 55 degrees

Max Depth: 66'

Average Dept: 51'

Bottom Time: :67

PSI used: 3122 (100 steel)

First Catalina Trip Aboard No Pressure

Commodore Andy joined us for our first trip to Catalina in a couple of years. We were told yesterday at the Scuba Show that there was a school of Mola Mola hanging out at Ship Rock on Friday. Andy shot the last one.

Actually, there were six dead Molas with their fins bitten off and their bodies half-consumed. There were a couple of guilty looking sea lions of interest on the rocks.

The rest of the dive was highlighted by blacksmiths, jellies and a Dendronotus Ross-O and I found a few years ago at Ship Rock. I don't know if it's been described yet.

We headed over to Seafan Grotto next. Other than the cavern and an abalone, we didn't find much to photograph.

We did pull some sponges off the wall. They work great for cleaning the side of the boat.

We climbed back onboard for another dive at Bird Rock. After that, we were pretty exhausted.

As we approached Pt. Vicente we were sidetracked by a pod of playful dolphins. A nice way to end our first big trip.

Jelly Roll

Merry and I had hoped to dive the Fog Wreck this morning to document the condition after the Ocean Defenders completed the net removal. The swells were large, close together and wind-blown. The water was a dark green-brown tint. We travelled a long way, so we dropped anyway. I thumbed the dive two feet from the bottom when we still couldn't see. The upper water column was filled with schmutz and jellies. The pictures suck, but Merry's video is pretty good. The purple stripe jellies were at the surface off Redondo Beach.

Haggerty's Crane

Wind and swells have been keeping us at home for too long. We went out this afternoon and had a nice dive, despite the wind and green water. We dived the crane off Haggerty's and were surprised at the amount of life. The two moray eels I saw last time here were gone, as was the giant sea bass. He was probably scared off by the great white from nearby Flat Rock.
Visibility was eight feet with 53F. Merry saved two pictures,

while I managed to get a few halfway decent shots despite the vis.

Green Green Water Of Home

We heard reports of 30-40 feet vis on the Avalon wreck yesterday and 60 feet on the landing craft off Malaga Cove. Once again, our hopes were dashed by our curse of bad conditions. We arrived at the bow of the Avalon to find a green haze of 15-18 feet. We looked around the nearby rocks but didn't find many nudibranchs. Merry managed to get a couple of nice shots while I shot mediocre video.

We decided to head around to the south side of Palos Verdes to look for cleaner water. All we found was more of the same.
There was a strong current at Buchanan's Reef and Long Point. We went back to the Marineland Platform for nudibranch hunting. Visibility here was about eight feet. Temps were about 53F at both sites. We'll try our luck again after this week's rains.

Pre Bonaire dives :)

2 weeks until warm water diving! :). Figured this weekend would be last before trip - getting gear/camera configuration ready. Bobby came down from OC to see if he could remember how to dive ;) - NICE JOB :). Dive a dive with Patricia (WW) and Rick(Fluffy) what V(name pending) sat on the sidelines thinking of a drink.

Surface was very chopping from wind but waves weren't too high. Set interval was short. Started south of V. Point wall. COnditions were fine underneath. Typical - 15ft, chilly :).

Click HERE for Pictures

Date: 4/16/10

Time in: 4:52pm / 7:33pm

Time out: 4:54pm / 8:30pm

Surface Interval: 1:39

Dive Location: La Jolla shores - V. Point South and North

Visibility: 15' - nice

Water Temp: 57 - 55 degress

Max Depth: 65' / 62'

Average Dept: 48' / 41'

Bottom Time: :62 / :57

PSI used: 2840 (100 steel) / 2301 (80 aluminum)

Buddy: Bobby / Patricia (Wonder Woman), Rick (Fluffy)

Calm before the storm......

The past few days, conditions have been poor! Was hoping to dive Saturday before the rains hit. Saturday got cancelled and I did not plan on diving Sunday until I was the shores webcam...it looked like a lake!

Pictures below. Will add more to the write-up later....

Click HERE for Pictures

Date: 4/11/10

Time in: 10:05am / 12:15am

Time out: 11:09am / 1:22pm

Surface Interval: 1:05

Dive Location: La Jolla shores - V. Point South and North

Visibility: 20ft very good viz!

Water Temp: 57 - 55 degress

Max Depth: 69' / 63'

Average Dept: 50' / 40'

Bottom Time: :64 / :67

PSI used: 2800 (80 alum) / 2569 (100 steel)

Buddy: Solo

The Return Of Diver Merry

After 89 horrible days of illness, poor dive conditions and tax preparation Merry finally got back in the water this afternoon. We had planned to make a quick dive on the Avalon wreck but the water in the south bay is a chocolately goodness. Red tide has spread nearshore all along the west side of Palos Verdes. We headed around to the south side, but the wind and swells made a day of diving look like a distant memory. We ducked around Long Point and the swells diminished. The water was a dirty green so we moved over to the Marineland Platform. It's been a couple of years since we dived here so we decided to go for it.

Water temperature was a brisk 53F and visibility was only six to eight feet, but any dive is good after three months.

We found a nice assortment of nudibranchs, sheep crabs, rockfish and a nice California Scorpionfish that Merry got a good photo of. I got a lot of backscatter-filled images today, thanks to the dirty water. Swell models are promising a better day on Sunday, so maybe we won't wait three months for Merry's next dive.

Weekend (3/27/10) diving :) Marine Room

Having to stay down in SD for the weekend and conditions looking to be awesome I had to sneak in a few dives :). Decided to try somewhere just a little different to beat the crowds. On our kick out on Saturday about 100 yards out we looked down to a school of Bat Rays!!! Must have been close to 20 of them in different areas. We just snorkeled around as not to freak them out - was reallyyyy cool!

Nice relaxing dive - good viz. Didn't find the small wall around 25-30 feet. Ended up going early on Sunday as I had plans at 11am. Saw bat rays again. Ended up finding the wall - it was just a little bit more NORTH where we were before. Took Wide Angle on Sunday to test out more. Need to get out there more with it before Bonaire.

Did a few little video clips to. Below are links to Sat / Sun pics and the 2 video's.

Click HERE for Saturday pictures

Click HERE for Sunday's Pics

Video Links Below

Horn Shark

Crab

Date: 3/27/10 and 3/28/10

Time in: 10:33am / 8:09am

Time out: 11:40am / 9:20am

Dive Location: Marine Room

Visibility: 20ft - 30ft :) Was awesome!

Water Temp: 57 - 55 degress

Max Depth: 78' / 59'

Average Dept: 36' / 32'

Bottom Time: :67 / :71

PSI used: 2587 (steel 100) / 2487 (aluminum 80)

Buddy: Virginia / Virginia & George

Dry Spell Is Over

Merry and I have been battling bronchitis since the end of January. After visiting the Doctor and drug store last week I felt well enough to attempt a dive today...sort of. I managed to make an entire dive without coughing. I needed to know if I could clear, but also wanted to try an experiment with my drysuit. I removed the wrist seals in early January and mounted dry glove rings directly to the suit. I've been waiting to test it, and it passed with flying colors. No water entered the suit, but more importantly, no more replacing wrist seals.
We arrived at Buchanan's Reef to find water clear enough to see a large school of blacksmith eating plankton just under the surface. I dropped down through them and was happy to find twenty feet of visibility on the reef. There were not many nudibranchs out as I expected, but I did see something unexpected. I found my second triggerfish at Marineland. The last one was several years ago. He dashed into a hole under a rock, so I had to move both strobes close to the lens just to get my only backscatter-filled shot.

I didn't find any Bruce anchors as I had hoped, but came across a few others. Buchanan's is an anchor magnet.

I spent the dive exploring a small area of the reef. There were plenty of other fish and a few nudibranchs, as well as the usual sponges, hydroids and gorgonians.

I hope Merry feels well enough to dive next week. This is the longest she has been out of the water. I'm happy that my dry spell is now over.

Friday 3/19 Shores dive - day off :)

Had the day off of work so decided to go dive the Shores. Recap to follow:

Click HERE for pictures

Date: 3/19/10

Time in: 1:00pm

Time out: 2:08pm

Dive Location: La Jolla Shores - V Point (Started from south and ended north)

Visibility: 10 ft

Water Temp: 57 degress

Max Depth: 69 ft.

Average Dept: 48 ft

Bottom Time: : :68 minutes

PSI used: 2857 psi (Steel 100 - 3442)

Buddy: Solo

First Wide Angle lens test!

Test diving with Wide Angle port never used.

Click HERE for Shaw's cove pictures

Date: 3/14/10

Time in: 9:08am

Time out: 10:12am

Dive Location: Laguna Beach - Shaws Cove

Visibility: Night dive - 10 ft

Water Temp: 55 degress

Max Depth: 40 ft.

Average Dept: 23 ft.

Bottom Time: : :64 minutes

PSI used: 1945 (80cf aluminum)

Buddy: Richard G.

I See Boat Diving In My Future

March 20, 2004. That was the last dive day of the Giant Stride. The ensuing six years have involved paying off credit card debt, mostly due to the boat repairs, and saving every penny toward my next boat. A lot of planning has gone into the next boat, especially the past four years. We wanted a catamaran for the stable dive platform. Merry wanted a marine head. I wanted a pilot house to get out of the elements. We settled on the C-Dory Tomcat and began saving. We have not gone on any commercial dive boats, our vacations have been to San Diego, Santa Barbara and Catalina. We even cut way back on Sorrento's, which was the biggest sacrifice.

Last month we were able to achieve our dreams. We spent nearly every penney we had, and most we will ever have, but No Pressure is now home in Redondo Beach. We added lettering, a brass clock, bottom paint, two VHF radios and tank racks. Unfortunately, we've had sinus infections for more than a month. We haven't missed any diving due to the constant bad weather SoCal has experienced this year. Our last dive was January ninth. Once the ocean clears, and our sinuses, we plan to make up for lost time.

I've missed the many offshore sites I used to dive. It will be good to revisit them, and to discover new dive sites as well.

This weekend we finally took the boat out of the slip. It was a short run, but our friends Scott and Margaret Webb took some photos with Merry onboard their boat shooting video.

Weekday dives (3/3 & 3/5) before weekend rains

Again the theme is that conditions have been poor and MORE rain for the weekend. That being the case I did a night dive on Wednesday and Friday.

Wed (3/3/10) Night Dive Pics - Click Here

Date: 3/3/10

Time in:

Time out:

Dive Location: La Jolla Shores - V Point

Visibility: Night dive - 10 ft

Water Temp: 57 degress

Max Depth:

Average Dept:

Bottom Time: :

Buddy: Jackie/Peter/kathy/Merrian

Friday (3/5/10) NIght Pics Click here

Date: 3/5/10

Time in:

Time out:

Dive Location: La Jolla Shores - just north of V Point

Visibility: 8ft

Water Temp: 57 degress

Max Depth:

Average Dept:

Bottom Time:

Buddy: Patricia

Dive Report:

Wednesday was questionable conditions but Jackie emailed me about night dive. Knowing conditions were going to get worse and checking reports it appeared 'doable'. Drove to the shores and when I got there was thinking "this is a bad idea". It was windy, surface was choppy and some descent sets coming in. Jackie and several others (Peter,Kathy and Merrian) showed up and all seemed willing to go. My reluctance is usally with my camera system.

Decided to go. Manged the surf zone - a few face slappers (literally). The surface swim was quite choppy with some waves crashing over my head. Finally got out to the site. As we all decended we were almost instantly greated by a nurse shark....good size one to. I took some pictures but was fumbling around with my camera settings. It was actually a VERY nice and relaxing dive. Saw a lot of critters and was nice underwater.

Someone found a Mantis Shrimp - the rare one which was really cool. Saw one market squid near the end at V point. It went up to my lens then starting heading up....I could get focused on the critter and quickly lost him.....oh well....it was cool seeing it. Also saw an Angel Shark laying in the sand. At V point Jackie and I were by ourselves - the other 3 apparently headed back in. Exit was a bit challenging too but not bad.

Friday dusk dive. Patricia wanted to test out her new Steel 100 cf tank. Being a LONG day at work with Salesforce performance issues and starting at 6:30pm decided to get out and do a quick dive before the weekend rains. Met her at the Shores around 4:30pm to try and get in before it got too dark (ended up being quite dark anyways). Surf looked a little challenging but utlimately decided to get in and try it out.

Although there were sets there was good lull between them. A little choppy on the surface but NOTHING like Wednesday night! We dropped down into the sand - POOR viz! We got to the wall north of V Point and worked our way south. I IMMEDIATELY spotted a Rock Blenny who was a little shy - had to dim the light a big and move away. I spent quite a bit of time hanging out there especially since viz was poor.

The dive was actually VERY pleasant. It was not too surgy and just relaxing. We went slow to find all the little critters, octopus, crab, nudibranch, hermit crab(s), Fringehead. 64 minute dive and very relaxing. Managed the exit well with some BIG sets coming in!

I"m READY for nice viz and some WARM water :)......7 weeks until Bonaire :)

The Worst Year Of Dive Conditions Continues

Merry and I checked out conditions today to see how bad they really are. For the first Sunday in a long time, we didn't see anyone attempting to crush bones by entering the water.

San Miguel Island

Went out for a great 2-day trip on the Peace to San Miguel with many friends. It was my 2nd attempt at San Miguel, and my first time making it there.

Here is the full photo album: http://photobucket.com/San_Miguel_Island

Day #1 - San Miguel (5 dives on the south side)

Wyckoff ledge, Wyckoff ledge, Point Bennet wall, Rain barrel, Cuyler harbor (night dive)

Day #2 - Santa Cruz (west side, 4 dives)

Gull island, Gull island, West end pinnacles, West end pinnacles

Conditions were excellent, vis was great, water was cold (52-59), and all dive sites were very nice. Often there was some surge, especially at Point Bennet Wall (almost at the west end of San Miguel).

Highlights at San Miguel include a couple wolf eels, a mosshead warbonet, many large vermillion and blue Rockfish, a school of a hundred adult blue rockfish, big fish in general, a 6ft shark sighting, occasionally thick krill in the water - which was quite a sight to see, many large Abalone trying to make a comeback, and many nudibranchs such as Dirona albolineata, Dendronotus albus and Hilton's aeolid.

Highlights at Santa Cruz include beautiful kelp, large clusters of beautiful purple hydrocoral at Gull Island, many large fish and lobster at Gull Island (it's a preserve), a couple close harbor seal encounters, many Nudibranchs, and a couple Soupfin sharks spotted.

The Peace boat was exceptional, with great captaining, on-deck service, food - including an awesome sit-down dinner, and fills.

Weekday Night Dives -before the rains

Since conditions have not been so great during the weekend, I did 2 night dives during the week. Got one in Friday night JUST before the rains - was really nice out! Below are links from both night dives.

Wed Night Dive Pics - Click Here

Date: 2/17/10

Time in: 7:05pm

Time out: 8:09pm

Dive Location: La Jolla Shores - Zion

Visibility: Night dive - 10-15ft

Water Temp: 57 degress

Max Depth: 79'

Average Dept: 49'

Bottom Time: :64

Buddy: Bobby drove down to get some diving in. We met up with Virginia and Jackie.

Friday NIght Pics Click here

Date: 2/19/10

Time in: 6:18pm

Time out: 7:16pm

Dive Location: La Jolla Shores - just north of V Point

Visibility: 15ft

Water Temp: 57 degress

Max Depth: 71'

Average Dept: 47'

Bottom Time: :58

Buddy: Patricia, Virginia, Marla and Prof Charles

Dive Report:

Since conditions were looking pretty good during the week and Laguna was not looking so hot, Bobby decided to come down for a night dive. We ended up meeting with Virginia and Jackie who kindly guided us. We went north of V point to Zion which was really a cool site! A bunch of little critters out especially on the kelp. Virginia and Prof Charles ended up staying a little shallower at the wall. Very nice dive! Took 100 or so pictures and getting use to new camera setup :).

After seeing forecast for weekend of rain and swells picking up and a LONG week at work - checked on conditions and Friday was looking pretty good! Last minute decision to do a night dive. It was really nice out and critters out :). Didn't find the wall but was fun poking around in the sand.

T'was a 'time to get back in to the water dive' LJS-28Jan-10

Date: Thursday night, Jan 28th
Location: Main wall, Crap Patch & Lion’s Den
Surf: 2-3 ft
Viz: 8-10ft

After lamenting this long standing dry spell, the team decided a dive was required. Our objective was to survey the Vallecitos area, crap patch and Lion’s den and check for changes due to the last storm. Upon dropping into 31fsw North of the point, we decided to skip the point and check out the crap patch and Lion’s den.

The patch offered up some nice sights including several fine nudibranch specimens: Janolus barbarensis, D. picta and T. maculata
Also on display was a large number of rock fish; at one point I counted 6 juveniles within 3’ of each other.

Nearing the ¾ point of the dive we arrived at the Lion’s Den to find the kelp forest depleted by intact. I counted at least 25 melibe on one of the 3 remaining long kelp strands, all looking a little haggard.

On the exit I spied an active juvi Thornback that was a bit camera shy, loads swimmer crabs and more rockfish. No waves on exit.

Was a nice ‘get back into the water’ dive.

Mike Hallack
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk145/SoCalSwami/Diving2010/012810-shores/

Marineland Trail And Beach Damage Report

Reports of the demise of Marineland have been greatly exaggerated. The caution tape was removed from the trails, although the signs were still up. That didn't seem to keep anyone out today. The trails to the coves and point were not as compacted as they once were, but they were in good shape. No ruts, mud nor sections washed away. It was as if it had never rained. The upper trail to the former temporary parking lot has some ruts, but it now resembles most trails in Palos Verdes. No word on when the trails will officially reopen. The only real change was to the beach. Gone are a few large boulders, irrigation lines and the cabanas from the beach. The beach itself is now covered with a new layer of rocks, making the walk to the water a bit harder. We do have a new sandy beach where the pier once was.

Jeff's Rock is now surrounded by smaller rocks. This is where I usually gear up.

Trail and sandy beach are deserted

New sandy entry from the upper trail

Gone are the large boulders and there is now a two feet dropoff to the rocks.

Trailhead

Ruts in the upper trail

Upper trail washed out in one section

A giant boulder now overshadows Ted's Rock

Lee's Rock exposed at low tide

Where's the beach?

Dropoff

Cave entrance

What's left of the Marineland pier

Lots of rocks

The walk to Jeff's rock is a little harder

Best Of Marineland

Yellow Banks, Santa Cruz Island

All of the swell models predicted 10-17 feet swells at Ventura Harbor yesterday. When Captain John Bibb invited us to go along on a trip to Santa Cruz Island I thought we would pack up the boat, get to Malibu and turn around. There was high enough surf to make the throng of surfers happy, but beyond the surf zone was a calm enough sea to make the crossing at full speed with no bumps along the way.
We arrived at Yellow Banks on the southeast end of the island, still amazed at the lack of swell and wind. Our plan was to live-boat the site to avoid surface swims against the current to get back onboard.
Merry and I dived first while John worked the helm. The easterly surface current was pretty strong, so we dropped immediately and expected to ride the current to the wall. We reached the bottom to find calm water with only minor surge. We were surprised to find that during our short 39 minute bottom time the surface current was now westerly. John made his dive, then he and I each made a second dive at the same spot. A local lobster boat Captain was not thrilled to see a dive boat chasing after divers near his traps. He came by to let us know that. :)
One of the highlights for me was finding a large abalone. We don't find many in southern California any more. I gave him a kelp salad and told him to hide from poachers.
Merry loved the elkhorn kelp, especially the blacksmiths and blue rockfish drifting along with us. Just another great day to be on the ocean.

Star Of Scotland Compilation

While the dive conditions were poor on Sunday I took the time to edit footage from our dives on the Star of Scotland wreck last year.

First Marineland Dive Of The Year

We've had a couple of days of seven foot high tides, so I expected a relatively easy entry at the point and great visibility. The entry wasn't bad, but vis was a murky ten to twelve feet throughout the dive. I dropped into 75 feet hoping to find some unusual animals but everyone seemed to be hiding. I made my way back up to Ted's Pinnacle where I found a zebra goby in the bucket of the statue. I managed to get a fuzzy, out of focus shot before it disappeared.
There were more Cadlina limbaughorum nudibranchs out than I'd seen before. Some of them seemed to be practicing their high wire acts, stretching from one cluster of hydroids to another.
I spent more time at the point than usual so I had just enough air to feed Abby, then make a short surface swim to the exit. The water was all the way up to Jeff's Rock, where we usually gear up. I braced myself against it while I was still in knee deep water.
Merry had to take her daughter to the Doctor's office this morning and Evil Jeff decided to sleep in, so I left the Bottomtime Buggy in the back of my truck and dived solo. It's too bad the tide wasn't about 150 feet higher. I wouldn't have walked back up the hill in my gear.

Brown cup coral, Paracyathus stearnsii

Stalked tunicate, Styela montereyensis

Yellow zoanthid, Parazoanthus lucificum

Club tipped anemones, Corynactis californica

California Scorpionfish, Scorpaena guttata

Chestnut cowries, Cypraea spadicea with mantles exposed

Brown Gorgonian, Muricea fruticosa
Red Gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis
California Golden Gorgonian, Muricea californica
Orange Gorgonian, Adelogorgia phyllosclera

Our Lady of the Garden

San Diego Dorid, Diaulula sandiegensis

Limbaugh's Cadlina, Cadlina limbaughorum

Hermissenda crassicornis

New Years Day Dive(s).....Way to start the year :)

First dives of 2010!

Link to photo's:

Click HERE for pictures!

1/3/09 Dive - took a few pics - conditions so so.

Click HERE for a few 1/3/09 pics - not many.

Date: 1/1/2010

Time in: 9:37am / 12:04pm

Time out: 10:50am - 1:11pm

Surface Interval 1:12

Dive Location: Laguna Beach - Shaws cove

Visibility: 15ft

Water Temp: 57 degress

Max Depth: 45' / 40'

Average Dept: 28' / 24'

Bottom Time: :73 / :67

Buddy: Solo - Guess everyone was still partying......the place was EMPTYYYYY.

Dive Report:

With a 4 day weekend on it's way, I had to get some diving in :). Planned on going up to OC for NY's Eve but friends must be stuck in Mexico City - no word. Decided to go early in the morning as it seemed conditions were improving. I wanted to get some 'reef' dives in instead of 'sand' :). I'm sure I'll get that over the weekend.

Nice relaxing dives - went in crevice a few times. A little surgy but not bad. Went past turnaround rock. I did start to get cold. Both dives I ended up with about 700 PSI but over an hour was good for me. Besides the second dive near the end I had to pee :)....... No peeing in Drysuit - NOT good!!

All in all - nice day. Started getting cloudy when I started to leave.

Dive testing out new camera system :) Hurrayyyyy

Date: 12/26/09

Link to photo's:

Click HERE for pictures!

Date: 12/26/09

Time in: 8:29am / 11:28am

Time out: 9:11am / 12:20am

Surface Interval 2:16

Dive Location: La Jolla Shores - VP

Visibility: 15+

Water Temp: 57 degress (no matter what depth)

Max Depth: 70' / 68'

Average Dept: 45' / 48'

Bottom Time: :42 / :61

Buddy: Solo - had to test out new camera system :)

Dive Report:

So I FINALLY bought a new camera system after having my Olympus 5050 for 6 1/2 years and over 300 dives with it and COUNTLESS photo's. I finally 'pulled' the trigger - GOOD choice! I ended up getting the Nikon D90 with 60mm lens and 12-24mm for underwater (18-105mm for land). Well - with the holidays and conditions not being so great as of late I have not had a chance to dive with it. Obviously dive 1 is ONLY with housing and no camera for testing purposes.

Knowing that the weather is going to degrade next week and it finally being ok for the weekend (Murphy's law - have a lot of time off for holidays and bad diving conditions :( ). I figured Saturday was my window of opportunity. Got up early and got all my gear together and went down to the shores. Look nice and calm. My plan was if the conditions were good do a shorter dive then drive back home and setup with camera and do a second dive.

Got all geared up - btw...I love the Whites Drysuit! I can easily get in and out of it on my own! Comfortable and I was warm the entire time. Dove with my steel tank on this dive and knew the housing would be 'buoyant'. Did a dive with it and the FOCUS light....which I just think is AWESOME. Was soooo tired of my previous setup...what a pain it was! While diving I could tell it would be easy to use! I like the veiwfinder - don't need t have mask planted on it...you can see from a little distance.

Ended dive to come home and setup camera - conditions were veryyyyyy pleasant out there. 15 foot or so vis...just nice and calm. So I got home and clean housing to put in camera. Set it up and was ready to go. Did the 'normal' DUNK test in my cooler (good thing!). I saw bubbles and thought there were a few too many. I pulled the housing out to find it LEAKED!! FIRST TIME AND FLOOD.....good thing I pulled it out in time! About a 1/2 inch of water. Carefully took it back in house and re-worked and cleaned. Not sure what I did wrong on it but tested again and worked good...phewwwwwwwwwww.

Went back out to dive and conditons still nice and sun popping out. I still have a big learning curve on the camera but OMG - sooooo much easier than my Olympus setup! I love the camera! Especially lack of lag time! I can get the small critters much easier and can actually see the image better in the viewfinder than I did on the Olympus LCD (fricking age catching up ;)..... I also loved the Ultra Light Arms! They sure are expensive but sooo light and so much easier to maneuver.....

Now if the dive gods can have good conditions for my 4 day weekend coming up :)....... Oh yeah...forgot...had some problems changing the F stop so was a little limited...still figuring it all out :)

Dirty Day In The Bay

Merry and I joined Captains Andy and Patrick aboard the Moby Kate for a few dives in Santa Monica Bay this morning. We've been spoiled all year by great visibility and unusual large fish encounters, but today was more like the way I remember the bay. We had limited visibility on the outfall pipe and elevated pipe, and hardly any visibility at all on the Star of Scotland. Still, it was a great day to be diving the bay. Andy and Patrick limited on lobster on their first dive, while Merry and I found two Trapania velox nudibranchs on the elevated pipe.
The weather couldn't have been nicer, the boat didn't break down and Andy didn't have to make any boat launch rescues, so this day goes in the Wonderful category.
Merry got a couple of nice crab shots.

I had trouble getting the camera to focus in the low vis, but I managed to get a few decent photos. I even managed to find an octopus living in an old scallop shell. I'd better call the BBC.

Surge, Sand And A Surprise At Marineland

Our boat dives were cancelled this morning so we headed over to Marineland. We planned to dive from a boat, so we didn't bring the wagon. We met Rick and Susie Coleman in the parking lot, and Rick was kind enough to carry Merry's weightbelt down to the cove. Huge thanks to Rick.
The entry was a bit dicey with the incoming tide. Merry told Rick it was right at her comfort limit for Marineland. Rather than our usual walk-in, we got to knee deep water and jumped in.
The swim out over the sand was choppy, so we dropped earlier than we normally would. I found a tiny nudibranch right away, a Flabellina pricei rolling in the surge. It was only about 1/8 inch long.

Merry found a mantis den that had iridescent blue strings with bulbs at the ends hanging from the walls. They weren't eggs, but we haven't learned what they were.
While I had the macro lens on the camera a four foot long Giant sea bass cruised within less than an arm's length from my face. I got Merry's attention so she could enjoy her first GSB sighting at Marineland, but I couldn't change lenses fast enough to get a photo.

Among the detritus kelp was a fat pipefish. He didn't seem to mind my intrusion.

The tide pushed us gently toward shore, so we fed Abby when we made it back to the reef, then made an uneventful exit right at Jeff's Rock. Merry says we escaped death once again.

Marineland At High Tide

I joined Lee Zaro and Angelique "Baby Killer" Neugent for a dive at the point this morning. Lee showed me his secret entry spot, but it was submerged. I entered near it and was able to get in without clanging my tank or face on any shallow rocks. Much easier entry than Ted's Rock.
We made a kelp crawl to the outer edge of the reef and dropped on a rock with two San Diego dorids on top. My camera wouldn't focus in macro today, so no nudibranch shots. I thought it was due to a low battery until I got home and realized I had mistakenly taken the camera out of macro mode. I managed to get a few mediocre wide angle shots.
Gorgonians abound at the point

I headed over to Ted's Pinnacle to check out the statue. Among the tunicates, sponges, Christmas Tree worms and algae growing on it, there is now Lacy bryozoan in the bucket. Every inch of the statue has become an artificial reef. I turned around to have a look at the Jesus Blob and it too is now covered.

I made my way back to the cove. Along the way a large school of mackerel swirled around me, scattering with each flash of my strobes.

The tide was high enough to exit right next to Jeff's Rock on the beach. I made it into six inches of water before a small surge of water pushed me down to one knee. Lee saw the entire exit and gave Angelique play-by-play. If you don't get knocked down at Marineland, you're not diving there enough. :)
The high tide brought in some 55F water, but the visibility was a little better than yesterday.

Sandy Dunkin'

Merry and I made another venture out in the sand at Marineland this afternoon. We've had luck the last couple of dives out there finding unusual critters and today was no exception. The first half of the dive was pretty boring. Sand anemones, seapens, sea atars and not much else.

Windmill worms were everywhere, some with an interesting clear appendage, or maybe it was another worm.

While checking out clumps of broken kelp I found my first Acanthodoris brunnea. Better than that, I found my first two!

We had two schools of smelt surround us while we checked out a Mantis shrimp. He didn't seem interested in coming out of his den so we headed back toward the beach. We soon came across a Pacific electric ray buried in the sand. He didn't seem to mind us, but we didn't get close enough to disturd his hiding place.

We exited exactly at a minus tide, which makes it much easier to walk out, as we were standing in mud rather than the usual hill of rocks in the surf zone. Visibility wasn't bad for low tide at twelve feet, with 59F water.

When Not To Dive Marineland

We've had a couple of days of high surf, so I knew conditions would not be good enough to dive Marineland this weekend. Merry and I decided to take the video camera and get a few topside shots I need. We saw two divers gearing up in the parking lot, so I talked to one of them, a visitor from Kansas about to make his first Marineland dive. I warned him about conditions but they were determined to get in. With all apologies, this is their story...

Thanksgiving Dive At Marineland

We arrived early to beat the heat, but it was already warming up at 7:30. The swell models all call for high surf the next few days so we wanted to get in a dive just in case they're correct. Thankfully, the waves held off for a few hours. Our swim from the cove to the point was relatively easy thanks to a nice surface current. The kelp was leaning over so I knew we were in for a bit of a rough dive. I had hoped the current was not deep, but we had to fight it all the way back in. We didn't have time for much photography but we were thankful to make it all the way back to the exit with air to spare.
We hung out at Ted's Pinnacle for awhile, taking turns using the three cameras we carried, then fed Abby on our way back. I felt like Elaine Jobin during the exit.

Our Lady of the Garden

Hopkin's Rose

Merry shot some ambient light kelp photos before descending.

Catalina Island Moves To Rancho Palos Verdes

For the first time in I don't know how many years we had blue water at Marineland today. It was my 332nd dive here, so naturally I got knocked down upon entry. The waves weren't bad at all, but the uneven rocks gave me a reminder of what happens when you least expect it.
We stopped over Abby and I could see the sunrays reflect on the sand as if it was a swimming pool rather than Marineland. Merry told me to get a shot of it on video. Today was her turn to shoot stills. :)
The kelp and rocks looked so out of place in good visibility. We could see for close to twenty feet, about as good as it gets here. We fed Abby, then enjoyed the kelp forest. At one point we looked up and could see the hotel from the bottom of the reef.
I shot mainy ambient light for the first time. We were so amazed at the conditions that we hardly moved around. We stayed down for over an hour and exited with half-full tanks.

Terranea Hotel from the Garden

Cabezon working on his tan

He's had enough pictures for one day.

The vis was so good I could almost see these guys on a plate

Hunting Lions in La Jolla

The melibe nudibranch is one of my favorites and while we sometimes will see one or two around, this November has turned out to be a miraculous month for them. In all my dives at La Jolla I have never seen a biomass of a single species like this.

http://photobucket.com/LionNudibranch

More Giant Sea Bass On The Star Of Scotland

We joined Cindy Shaw, Patrick Smith and Dr. John Bibb for a couple of dives on the Star of Scotland this morning. Calm seas and blue water greeted us at the wreck, but the swells picked up later, reducing visibility on the second dive, or was it the third. A diver from the Giant Stride was kind enough to remove our anchor from the wreck and place it in the sand. We searched unsuccessfully for ten minutes for the wreck before giving up. We surfaced, moved the boat and dropped back down to continue our dive.
At least a dozen Giant Sea Bass hovered above midships, with a few following the divers around the wreck. Schools of jack mackerel darted through the water column, while senoritas perfomed a cleaning service for the blacksmiths.

Pelicans that didn't realize their food was a few miles away on the Star

Fish Fiesta

Mackerel leading the way

One of many big boys

Corynactis anemones on the bow

and at the stern

The Great White's wine is still waiting

A little added toilet humor

Scallop

Gorgonians thrive here

Invertebrate Paradise

Cabezon

And of course, the nudibranchs were out in force...

Patrick and Cindy enjoying the dive a little too much

Merry's video

Marineland Video

Comments from Dr. Bill and Evil Jeff the other day got me thinking about what an amazing place we have for our local shore diving. With so many distinct areas accessible from the beach, I was inspired to edit a video shot during several dives this year. I hope you enjoy.

Desert Diving At Marineland

Merry has been spoiled recently with boat diving. I needed to whip her into shape, so we made a long swim at Marineland this morning. The tide was high at six feet, so we didn't have to stumble over many rocks to enter the water. We headed out over the sand and dropped into seventy-five feet. Almost immediatly we began to spot Mantis shrimp everywhere among the tall seapens. A few manmade objects provided home to small creatures. Two octopus and a sunflower star made a home out of a steel pipe, while crabs, snails and brittle stars covered an abandoned net near the old platform. I found my first Channeled Topsnail, Calliostoma canaliculatum on the net.
The last time we tried a sand dive, we ended up in the next cove. This time we stayed slightly to the west as we swam back to the beach. We overshot our target slightly and ended up almost to the point. We made a course correction and made it back to the cove, where I fed Abby for the first time in a month. He looked hungry.

Seapen

Small crab on the net

Octopus next to the pipe

Poor starving Abby

Wentletrap

Channeled Topsnail, Calliostoma canaliculatum

Brittle stars on bryozoan

Great Santa Monica Fish Count

The fish were out in force on the Star of Scotland this morning. Halibut, mackerel, ronquils, sand bass, sheephead, perch, blacksmith and more giant sea bass than I've ever seen on one dive.
Clouds of bait swirled around the stern, making patterns and trying to avoid the marauding sand bass.
The visibility was down from the blue water Commodore Andy and Bill MacDonald had on Tuesday, but witnessing a dozen GSB hanging just out of camera range was spectacular. Each time I put my macro lens on to shoot nudibranchs a GSB would swim past me. When I was ready for them, they stayed just far enough away. Hopefully Captain John Bibb got some shots. Merry got some very nice video of the multitude of fish on the wreck on the first dive, then spent much of the next dive freeing a yellow crab caught in mono fishing line.
We found the bottle of Two-Buck Chuck Andy placed back on the wreck for his great white buddy, but he wasn't thirsty today. Maybe he'll stop and visit next time.

Early B-Day Coronado Island's Diving!!

Date: 10/16/09

Link to photo's:

Click HERE for pictures!

Date: 10/16/09

Time in: 10:40am / 12:09pm / 2:10pm

Time out: 11:32am / 1:08pm / 3:18pm

Surface Internal :36 / 1:01

Dive Location: Coronado Islands - Lobster Shack (dives 1 and 2) and 3 Fingers.

Visibility: 40-60ft! WAS AWESOME

Water Temp: 60 - 66 degress

Max Depth: 64' / 62' / 52'

Average Dept: 41' / 40' / 33'

Bottom Time: :52 / :59 / :68

Buddy: Bobby

Dive Boat: Humbolt (waterhorsecharters.com) Excellent boat and even BETTER CREW!

Dive Report:

So my plan was to go to Coronado on my birthday on the 23rd as we had great diving last time there in August. Since Bobby is starting his IDC (instructor course) that night we decided to go a week earlier (been through IDC.....TOTALLY understand). Can't think of a better way to celebrate bday and bubbles and friends.

We were a bit concerned though given the storm and swell models throughout the week and thought it would be borderline. We decided to bit the bullet after some long work weeks and much needed R&R......unfortunately Andrew from BCSC decided to cancel (all I can say to him is HAHA you weenie!). You reallyyyyy missed out! 14 people on the boat - some being students so we pretty much had it to ourselves :).

Visibility was awesome! Sunny on our way out and fog as we got near the islands but swells weren't bad and conditions were just amazing! On the first dive we spent the first 20 minutes as the boat wreck at 60'. The water seemed very tropical to me - only give away was temperature (and that was not all that bad either).

Lake Pacific

Redondo Beach was as flat as I have ever seen it tonight. With the impending storm, Merry and I rushed to get in a dive. I rushed so much I forgot our weightbelts. After driving home in my drysuit we headed into the clear, cool and calm water. As soon as we dropped, two sea lions came to welcome us, or scare us. I'm not sure which.
The visibility in the Salad Bowl was a nice fifteen feet, but dropped to ten feet deeper in the canyon. I had 61F at depth.
It was juvenile night at Vet's. Baby moonsnails, crabs, shrimp and a tiny octopus skated along the sand. Schools of baitfish swirled overhead until we headed back toward the beach, where the visibility began to drop by the end of the dive.

Rincon de la Vieja

Last Sunday we went to Rincon de la Vieja with almost all the Rich Coast crew. The reason for this adventurous day trip was Brenda’s birthday. Well, it was actually her pre-birthday party since her birthday is not untill the 21st of October. However we had a blast!

We rented a little bus, and left at 7am from Rich Coast. Our first stop was the McDonalds in Liberia. We had to pick one of our instructors up and we were a little bit faster than expected so we had some time to drink a cup of coffee. After the coffee we continued driving and arrived around 8:30am at the national park. Upon arrival we could start with our first tour immediatly. We started off with the Canopy tour. After a short introduction about what to do, and especially about what not to do we started with our first zip line. For some of us it was their first experience in the jungle, but for none them it was a problem. Everybody was really excited, and on some zip lines you could go upside down, resulting in some great and funny pictures! After the Canopy tour we came back, drank some starfruit juice, and had to go for our next tour, Tubing. The bus brought us, and a couple other clients to the place where we started the tubing. After another short introduction we walked down to the river. After some scary stories about wild water, falling over, and hard times to get back into your tube again, we were ready to go. It was hard to stay all together since there were so many more other customers, but still we had fun. Unfortunetly the water wasn’t that wild since it hasn’t been raining that much, but for some of us just wild enough. Once the tubing ended we had lunch. We were all really hungry and the food was great! A big buffet with everything you wanted; soup, rice, beans, spagetti, pork, chicken, beef, salad, desserts. We filled our stomachs and went off for the horseback riding. Again for some of us their first experience on this animal, but fortunatly nobody felt off. The guide brought us to this amazing waterfall where we could swim and jump off the rocks in the water . We stayed there for about half an hour, got our horses again, and got to our last activity of the day; the Hot and Mud springs. First we went into the sauna to get our, then we covered ourselfs in mud, went into the hotsprings, back into a cold bath. After this our skin felt amazing, so soft!

We definitely had a great time and hope we can do something like this again in the near future!

Kiki

Butt-Whuppin'

Someone got off to a great start of the season last night at Marineland. We found five fresh carapaces on the beach this morning. I guess the diver forgot that you have to wait until you get home to tail them. I guess he also thought it would be nice to leave the remains on the beach.

He must have kicked up the bottom a lot, as the water was pretty milky in the cove and muddy elsewhere this morning.

As far as my butt-whuppin' goes, Merry dragged me out tide-pooling today to Neptune Cove, Marineland, White Point and Cabrillo Beach. I'm pretty beat. I did get a shot of a flatworm, Pseudoallioplana californica crawling over the edge of a rock.

Dive 1000

Took me nearly 8 years but I finally made it. 1000 dives. What does that mean? If I take that and $2.00 I can get a cup of coffee. BUT it was a good excuse to go diving and since John L had already chartered a trip to the kelp it seemed like the perfect time to take a Friday off to dive with good friends. Thanks John L for chartering the boat and Kim, Spencer, Mike, Marla and English Mike for coming out. Thanks to the crew of the Marissa for making sure the boat could GO as planned and for the nice German Chocolate cake. It was the perfect complement to Kim's cheese cakes and Marla's Firestone Ale and Stella.

The Highlights of the trip was the playful sea lion that joined us as we anchored at dive two and stayed with us nearly all the way while we motored to dive sight 3. He was extremely curious and playful and chased me around on my scooter at 20ft. He had a small orange tag so he was most likely a Sea World rescue and that would explain the lack of fear and overtly playful nature......or he was just hungry.

On dive three Kim saw a large seven gill shark. Kim loves sharks and couldn't wait to get back to the boat to tell everyone. I am sure that is why she was hurrying back to the boat anyway.

Here is her video of the encounter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VAWOFqLjLk

and the sea lion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjKpxtn-YeM

This is me doing my "almost somersault" in for dive 1000

and coming out after the dive.

My Photo album from the dives http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/Pt%20Loma%202009/D1K/
My photo highlights

Berhens Nudibranch

Yellowfin fringehead

Hilton's Nudibranch

Limbaugh's dorid

Two Giant Sea Bass At Marineland

I got off work at 9:00 this morning and rushed home to pack gear. We headed to Marineland, where good conditions were reported yesterday. I hauled two sets of gear plus two cameras in the Bottomtime Buggy and rolled down to the beach, then transfered everything to Jeff's Rock for staging. While locking the wagon I noticed Merry walking over to me. She asked me where her regulator was. Hmm...where is her reg, where is her reg...? I know! It's still hanging in the garage.
She was less than pleased, but told me to dive anyway. If the conditions were still good we could go home for another tank and reg.
I fought a surface current for more than thirty minutes but finally reached the point. Within a minute of dropping I saw a three foot Giant Sea Bass. I knew Merry would be really mad now. Later in the dive I saw a larger one. I wanted to enjoy the experience, but I knew I had a butt-whuppin' when I got back to the beach.
I made my way back toward the cove, noticing that the visibility was worsening and surge was picking up. By the time I reached the cove, sand was stirred up and it was difficult to remain in one spot.
While Merry waited on the beach, divers and snorkelers told her how nice it was. I don't know if the steam I saw was rising from her or her coffee.
I told her we would glue her regulator to her drysuit when we got home.
The visibility was nice at the beginning of the dive, but dropped to ten to fifteen feet by the end. The water felt warmer than the 57F my computer recorded.

Past few weeks

Congratulations to Brenda and Felipe! Brenda became a Master Instructor and Felipe an Open Water Scuba Instructor. We are very happy they made it to the next level! Felipe already has his first 4 dsd’s today, and is about to go to the pool with them.

Another thing we are very happy about is the Bat Island trips. All the trips we have done the past couple weeks were amazing. The last time they went they saw 4 bull sharks coming right at them, and during the surface interval they saw some whales. What else can you ask for?

In Hermosa everything is quiet but that gives us more time to work on the promotion. We have free pool sessions every day, except Sunday, and our marketing intern made some very nice flyers to give to the guests. We expect that we will be very busy in Hermosa around November.

In Coco everything is running very smoothly. Even though it is low season we have enough customers that want to dive with us. Bat Island trips, courses, fun diving. In November it will be a very busy month with big groups but we are definitely looking forward to it!

Last but not least, we had an interesting PADI Member forum held by Jose. He explained new PADI standards, some marketing tools, and gave us some examples.

Overall, we had some very interesting weeks, and looking forward to the upcoming weeks.

Kiki

La Jolla Night Dives.....

Date: 9/26/09

Link to photo's:

Click HERE for pictures.

Date: 9/26/09

Time: in 9:09pm - out 10:01pm

Surface Internal 1:01

Time in 11:27pm- out 12:19am

Dive Location: La Jolla Shores, North of VP / VP

Visibility: 15' + Tons of bioilluminessence. Flat calm awesome night

Water Temp: 57 - 68degrees

Max Depth: 107' / 75'

Average Dept: 59' / 49'

Bottom Time: :52 / :52

Buddy: Bobby

Eureka, Pt Loma and the local wrecks....not a bad week of diving

Saturday Spencer and I traveled to Long Beach for two dives on the Eureka oil rig and then a third on the Olympic II. This was my first dives on the oil rigs and I wil defiinetly be back. Amazing clouds of sardine and mackeral. Water was a nice cobalt blue and clear and warm.

Photo album : http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/Charter%20Trips%202009/Eureka%2091909/

Thursday I took the day off work to celebrate some friends birthdays with some diving in the kelp of Pt Loma. Again the water was warm and the conditions made for some fun times both above and below the water.

Photo Album: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/Pt%20Loma%202009/092409/

Saturday again found me on the boat diving the local wrecks. Water temp was nice and warm ( for here ) and pretty dang good clarity (for here) Took a few pictures but mostly just cruised the wrecks and enjoyed the scenery.

Photo Album: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/Wreck%20Alley/Yukon%20Ruby%20092609/

First Night Dive This Year

After Lee Zaro's report I was really looking forward to our dive tonight. We looked earlier today and the water was pretty clean. It turned out to be the best visibility we've seen there in a year. Other than the surf zone and just beyond we had a decent twenty feet of visibility. The water was a bit warm for drysuits. My computer recorded 71F at the surface and it wasn't the air temperature. It was chilly, foggy and slightly breezy as we made our way through the one foot surf.
Within a minute of dropping we found a tiny Dirona picta. I set the camera down on the sand and the nudibranch turned and crawled toward the lens, right on cue. Zooplankton filled the water column, feeding everything small enough to enjoy it. We enjoyed making sparks like a couple of new divers.
Merry saw an octopus at the base of some of the Redondo junkpile. At first I thought it was just going to sit there and I hesitated to film it. As I hit the record switch I realized he was enjoying a nice meal of at least two bivalves. I was thrilled to capture some actual behavior.
As we made our way back to the shallow water we found a patch of red tide. I thought my lights were dimming, but it was the water. All in all, a fun night in decent conditions. It's been so long since we had a good beach dive.
MB Productions was already taken, so this is the first video from our new company, Kelp Crab Productions.

More Laguna Beach diving.......

Date: 9/19/09

Link to photo's:

Click here for pictures

Date: 9/21/09

Time: in 8:36am - out 9:41am

Surface Internal 1:01

Time in 10:43am - out 12:10pm

Dive Location: Dead Man's Reef / S. Crescent

Visibility: 20+ vis at DMR - dropped to 10-15 at S. Crescent

Water Temp: 62 - 71 degrees

Max Depth: 68' / 38'

Average Dept: 44'/23'

Bottom Time: :65 / :87

Buddy: Bobby and Richard G.

Marineland This Morning

I had the day off work and have been working on a video idea that requires some wide angle shots from Marineland. The sun was shining bright around the west side of Palos Verdes at 6:30, so I knew I would have plenty of ambient light, but as I neared Pt. Vicente a blanket of fog covered the area. Oh well, I'll shoot some close ups with the lights, I thought.
The surf was down to less than two feet, but the water was milky. One of the shots I need is in less than ten feet near the shore, so I changed plans and swam to the point instead. The surface was flat enough that it seemed to take only a few minutes to reach Ted's Pinnacle, so I decided to keep going around the point. I dropped near the deeper pinnacles with the nets on them. Some day I'll remove the nets, but for today I needed to find visibility.
I didn't find much. It was five to six feet at best beyond the point. I slowly made my way back to the cove where the visibility was about a foot or two. Merry and I will be making the Santa Monica Pier cleanup dive tomorrow with Patrick Smith. Hopefully the trash will look better than the milky water today.
I used 100watt video lights, so the conditions look better than it actually was.

Rob's Birthday

Yesterday it as Rob’s, one of our instructors, birthday and we went on a boat trip with a couple of friends. We left the bay around one and we started with fishing. The plan was to catch some fish and cook it for dinner with all of us. Unfortunately, the fish were smarter than us and we didn’t catch anything. After a couple hours of fishing we decided to go to playa huevos, one of the nicest beaches in Guanacaste, to swim and relax a little. Playa Huevos is beautifull and I would suggest everyone to go there. It has this nice little cave where you can swim in, and a small hill with an amazing vieuw, you can even see Catalinas from there! After the beach we were about to head back to Coco once we saw dolphins jumping and playing behind the boat. The jumped really high out of the water and we all were very excited. Once the dolphins were done playing the captain told us there were whales around. Lets go to the whales! The whale wasn’t that playfull as the dolphins were, but it was amazing to see the whale especially with the sunset on the background. The trip couldn’t end better. Once we got back to Coco we decided to go for dinner at Coco palms. Not everybody showed up but after all this was an amazing day! Can’t wait for the next trip!

Kiki

DiveReport 09-10-09 La Jolla Shores Night Dive

Location: La Jolla Shores, San Diego ;)

Nice conditions in the Vallecitos Kelp Forrest.

Viz: 15’+

A special feature to Thursday’s dive was the plethora of Janolus and Lion nudibranchs found in the ever expanding kelp forest surrounding the point.

Janolus barbarensis

Melibe leonina

Box Jellies and a school of juvi bat rays entertained us on the exit.

Photo Album:

http://tinyurl.com/mhfws5

Mike Hallack

Shooting Video Pays Off

I've been shooting underwater video on and off for nearly twenty years. I hadn't shot any for about eight years until we purchased a hi-def camera last January. I've been very pleased with the difference compared to my old videos. On August 19th, I entered the Dive 'n Surf video contest and actually won first prize. Merry is now the proud owner of that prize, an Underwater Kinetics C8 eLED light. This is the winning entry;

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

08-30-09 Pt Loma with friends

Nothing beats diving with a GREAT set of buddies.
While the boat provided plenty of reasons to refer to this trip a a series of 'clusters', in the end, we all had a good time.

One piece of new critter behavior I caught was a some 'rough-housing' between a pair of full size Hermissenda crassicornisis. Having only heard of dualing nudi's I was quite fascinated by the whole ordeal. Although slow, the outcome was quite obvious. The guy on the left of of the photos bit the snot out of the guy on the right. No question about it. Even while fleeing, the guy on the left continued to bite his advisary till they victim was out of reach. Apparently they've got a bit of mean streak.

Thanks to Spencer and Marla for being outstanding buddies. And Kim and Newell too ;)

Mike

http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk145/SoCalSwami/Diving%202009/083009-ptloma/

09-06-09-LJS; First doubles dive

The '09 labor day weekend kicking off with a blast Saturday morning with my first ever doubles dive.
The first thing that comes to mind about this dive is, "I wish I'd done it sooner!"

Diving with a vintage set of 72's was fantastic (1971 born on date). The trim was perfect and the entry/exit were more managable than I expected. This experience was a top 3 new equipment dive for sure (#1 Apeks reg #2 my first camera).

It felt so natural I can't wait to do it again (get your mind back on diving for a minute).

Thanks to Spencer for the loaner Deep Outdoors double wing.

Finally, a small piece of diving history goes along with the tanks. So far, I have learned (yet to be confimed) that the tanks which I purchased from Marianne L. were previously owned by Scuba Sean (aka Sean in Hawaii) and before that Steve Donathan, who is remebered with a plaque on the Yukon, which is maintained in part by Jim Kinane, who almost bought the tanks but I beat him to it. Small world.

Here are a few photos from the dive...

Edit Note: Got my days confused. Sept 6 was a Sunday. Doh!

Mike

Labor Day At Cabrillo Beach

Evil Jeff's wife Good Sue hasn't been in the water for two years, so Merry and I were going to join Jeff in getting her into Cabrillo Beach this morning. We arrived early to perform leak tests on our drysuits and get in a dive before the heat killed us. The visibility looked pretty nice inshore, but as we swam out to deeper water it dropped to about a foot. We headed back in until we found decent vis and hung out for awhile.
Calicos, perch and a giant kelpfish realized after about thirty minutes that we were not predators and allowed us to get close. Actually, they came over to check us out. While Merry shot video I looked for photo ops. The poor vis kept me from getting any good wide angle, and lack of subjects kept me from getting any good macro. I did manage to find a small flatworm, Prostheceraeus bellostriatus.
After getting out of our gear, Jeff called to say they weren't going to make it. We were a little pleased to know we wouldn't be going back in, but the dive was still fun.

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

Labor Day Weekend Diving - TROPICAL Cali!!

Date: 9/5/09

Feel's almost like tropical diving! Temperature's hovering around 75 degrees and great visibility.........awesome - and got to play with Sea Lions.

Link to photo's:

Click here for dive Pictures

Date: 9/5/09

Time: in 8:50am - out 10:13am

Surface Internal 1:09

Time in 11:23am out 12:44am

Dive Location: S. Crescent / Seal Rock

Visibility: 20+ vis Water Temp: 68 - 75 degreesMax Depth: 67' / 68'

Average Dept: 27' / 25'

Bottom Time: :83 / :83

Buddy: Bobby and Richard G.

SDOF DIVEATHON donation time is nearly over!!!!

Down to the wire and I am neck and neck for first place. It’s exciting and the competition is raising more money for the Oceans Foundation so it’s all good. If you have wanted to donate/donate more, NOW is the time!!!!!

You can donate directly at It’s not too late to donate to this years diveathon. You have until midnight tonight.

Here is the link http://tinyurl.com/diveathon2009

YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE A PAYPAL ACCOUNT TO DONATE VIA PAYPAL.

Let’s go everyone. Support the Diveathon….and yours truly in the process.

THANKS

Terry

Diving The Georgia Strait With The Ocean Defenders Alliance

Most of my dives on this wreck involved poor visibility. I've had some as poor as just a few inches. I was invited to dive with the Ocean Defenders aboard the Clearwater. I hoped to find better conditions today.

We arrived onsite to find calm seas and blue water. I could see at least forty feet down the line. I was going to shoot video on the first dive, so I was excited at the prospect of getting some good footage, especially after watching Kurt Lieber's video from last week. It wasn't to be.
We hit the sand before we saw it. Visibility on the wreck varied from two feet to less than one. Greg Cooke thumbed the dive after about five minutes. We'll try again next Saturday. I never realised how much netting was on the wreck until today. I only covered about twenty feet, but it was covered by at least three types of net.
Thanks to Kurt Lieber, Jim Lieber, Don Robarge, Greg Cooke, Jeff Conner, Bob and Viria Walls and Cyber the dive dog for the effort.
Link: Ocean Defenders Alliance

Diving In Shark Infested Waters

We were excited to read Pat Smith's report of the Great White in Santa Monica Bay last weekend, but even more so after being invited out yesterday. Either the shark hung out for a week or there are more in the area. We spotted the dorsal fin slowly moving along the surface, but the shark dived before we could get close. That's what happens when you have four divers with cameras ready.
The diving itself was beautiful. Two years ago, we went to Catalina for Merry's birthday so she could see adult Giant Sea Bass for the first time. For her birthday yesterday we spotted a half dozen or more. Visibility was limited and the fish were skittish. We were only able to get some decent video of a juvenile. Some of the larger ones were five feet long.
The surge on the rockpiles was strong, but Merry had fun shooting video while flying over the reef. When she would settle in one spot she would find nudibranchs, feather duster worms and juvenile sheephead all over the reef. I found Cuthona divae near their eggs everywhere, then just before the end of the dive I found one actually laying eggs on a hedgehog hydroid.
Last year while diving from the Moby Kate I surfaced to find a Parking For Max Bottomtime sign on the float. Revenge was mine yesterday. Captain Andy is a Spongebob aficionado. He now has a new dive buddy.

Our Fifteen Minutes Of Fame On KTLA

On August 14, 2009 Divebum Don Robarge, Merry Passage and I were invited to take part in a live broadcast of the KTLA Morning News from Terranea Resort. The show included our friends from the resort Marissa Edwards, Matt the Birdman and Dylan and K.K. from pvbikehikekayak.com. A special appearance was made by Don's doggie Cyber.

Coronado Trip - 8/21/09

Date: 8/21/09

Trip writeup to follow but all I can say is the diving was AWESOME with GREAT visibility!

Link to photo's:

www.our-sea.com/Diveblog/AlbumCoronadoIsl08_21_09/CoronadoIsl08_21_09.html

Dive comments:

08-21-09 LJS after extended dry-out

Pleasant early morning dive around Vallecitos Point. Spotting a lovely teenage D. iris, a large Ocean Whitefish and heard of Zebra gobys. Unfortunately, no large aircraft were spotted during the dive

Surf: 1-2'
Viz: 15'
Min Temp: 53 deg

This was my first dive after getting my drysuit 'upgraded' earlier in the week. I had the legs and sleeves altered, dry zipgloves added and replaced glued neck with zipseal neck.

The drygloves are the kind that have an internal dam, and I found them to have a few issues.
1) Glove pressurization on ascent/descent was not simple. I had to tug at internal dam to break seal to get air flow.
2) The 2" section of my wrist that was not covered either by the undergarment or glove liners got cold.

So, if anyone has suggestions on some 'best practices' with using the dam drygloves (no pun intended), please let me know. The solution I am contemplating is to cut out the dam and get some glove liners that cover the wrist, but I will wait to hear any suggestions you might have.

Mike

Photo Album

Local dives

The last few days of diving around our local dive sites were awesome. The diving has been so good lately, incredible! The water is clear, great visibility, and warm. On almost every dive we see a group of white tip reef sharks, turtles cruising around, spotted eagle rays feeding their selves in front of us, and schools of fish everywhere! The dolphins are swimming and jumping in front of our boat and yesterday we heard the whales singing underwater! Something you don't want to miss!

Diving is not work, it's a lifestyle!

Sunny regards from Kiki!

Chunky Soup At Marineland

We had a bit of current at the Point this morning. The kelp was laying flat as we descended so we didn't spend much time looking for nudibranchs. Merry practiced getting backscatter with her new camera while I made a few quick macro shots with the video camera.
I found a tiny Spotted Rictaxis head shield slug, Rictaxis punctocaelatus and when I downloaded the video I noticed a tiny flatworm at the bottom of the frame. The slug was only about 1/4 inch, so the snail was probably too small to see without the stacked macro lenses.
As we made our way slowly toward the Garden we stopped to feed Abby and look for Sandy, his new buddy. I searched on top of the reef while Merry swam around to the other side, where she found him in a little cutout. It's a perfect little home for Sandy. He even had a kelp frond with him.
Visibility at the Point was a chunky six to eight feet, but it cleared up nicely in the cove to ten feet. We were able to see the cobble as we made an excruciatingly slow exit. I had 54F below the thermocline at twenty feet.

Way Too Much Action At Marineland

KTLA Morning News was on location this morning at Terranea Resort. Dylan and K.K. of pvbikehikekayak.com took reporter Megan Henderson out on the water as Merry, Divebum Don and I geared up.

Don headed over to the Garden while Merry and I went deep over the sand. We made our way toward shore, stopping along the way to look at lizardfish, globe crabs, chestnut cowries, flatfish and one great surprise. Merry found a tiny pink abalone crawling along the sand. I found Abby about fifteen years ago and haven't seen a live abalone at Marineland since. We took Sandy to his new home next to Abby. If Sandy hangs around he'll be fed fresh kelp fronds every time we dive there.

Merry had another first today. She began her underwater photography career by taking her Sealife housing down for the first time. Not only did she get a lot of decent images, but it didn't leak. A complete success!

After the dive, the excitement continued on the beach. Jen Schumacher, a 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton grad student completed a 21-mile swim through the Catalina Channel.

After all that, the Marine Mammal Care Center volunteers came down to release a harbor seal. The fun never stops at Marineland.

We finished the morning by visiting Matt the Birdman and then enjoyed a walk around the resort. We managed all of this before 9:00 this morning.

Diveathon Dive portion wrap up

Well Sunday marked the last day for logging minutes underwater for the Oceans Foundation Diveathon. LOTS of divers out for the final day trying to squeeze in as many minutes as possible. Spencer and I had a great 77 minute dive to top off the diving portion of the event. Scootered around the point and saw a juvenile black sea bass maybe 18” long. Black with white spots. My first ‘tweener’ sighting as I have seen the little orange ones and the big black ones but not in between before. The day before I saw a huge electric ray out on the north wall and the dive before that it was angel sharks. Good dives all around.

All told I logged 22 dives totaling 1769 minutes or 29.5 hours underwater. The fund raising will continue through the 31^st at midnight. Thanks to many generous friends and family I have raised $780 so far and I know with your kind and generous donations I can raise another $220 that will get me to the $1000 mark. All proceeds to the Foundation and they are a registered non-profit charity and your donation is completely tax deductable.

I want to thank everyone that supported me in my diving this year and a special thanks to those who were able to donate to the Oceans Foundation. They do great work with children and the children of today will determine the oceans future tomorrow so bring awareness to them is critical now more than ever.

It’s not too late to donate. You can call the SDOF directly if you want to use a credit card. There phone number is (619) 523-1903. You can also mail a check or money order to

San Diego Oceans Foundation
PO Box 90672
San Diego, Ca 92169-2672

And of course you can donate via Paypal ( you don’t need a paypal account to use the service) My donation page is at http://tinyurl.com/diveathon2009

Check out my photo blog at http://mydivinglife.com/divinman/

Twenty Arms Of Death Star

One of the favorite prey of the Sunflower star, Pycnopodia helianthoides is the Rainbow nudibranch Dendronotus iris. They are not to be found at Marineland currently, but I saw severel dozen Sunflower stars today. I wondered why they were here until I realized that sea hares are mating now. There are piles of sea hare orgies everywhere in the kelp, and sunflower stars near every holdfast. I found one consuming breakfast.
My favorite part of the dive was finding a nudibranch, Facelina stearnsi on Our Lady of the Garden. I put the statue there nearly three years ago and have watched her grow into a healthy artificial reef. She has tunicates in her eyes, bryozoan, anemones and algae covering her body but today was the first time I've found a nudibranch on her.
While feeding Abby I was mobbed by a pesky orange fish. I'll get even with him tomorrow. A flatworm, Prostheceraeus bellostriatus was feeding next to Abby, but the surge prevented me from getting any decent shots.
Entry and exit were very easy in the less than one foot surf this morning. Water temperature was 52F at the Point, with six to eight feet of vis and a good amount of surge.

08-02-09 LJS North Wall; End of an era

Location: LJS North Wall

Date: 8/2/09 Sun

Descent: 7am

Vis: 20-30'

Min Temp: 55 deg

Time: 90 minutes

Divers: Kim, Newell

Conditions Sunday on North Wall were excellent. Great visibility and no current/surge/surf.

As many of you know, the doors closed on one of our beloved nitrox supplier this week, and with it, the keys to the deeper regions of our beloved LJS. Our group thought it appropriate to consume our final bottles of 32% on a worthy site, and we were not disappointed.

We found great visibility throughout the dive with a brilliant blue hue in the water column. My favorites critters were a teenie-baby tree fish, a lovely two-spotted octopus spread out on a kelp frond in the shallows, and a fragile rainbow star playing peek-a-boo with a scorpion fish.

Side Note: my newest toy, a Reefnet Sensus Ultra is proving to be a useful accessory. The dive profile data is a nice feedback on my dive performance plus I don't have to worry about leaving the sensus on my desk attached to my download cable, unlike my wrist mount dive computer.

A few pictures logged on photobucket:

http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk145/SoCalSwami/Diving%202009/080209-shores-am/

Mike Hallack

Smog Alert At Marineland

After our dive on Thursday, I was looking forward to improved conditions for the Sunday Service at Marineland. The surf was down, as was the surge, but the top forty feet of water was a Third Stage Smog Alert. Knowing we wouldn't get any photos nor video near shore we headed toward the point. A small fishing boat was in our path so we dropped early and looked around the reef. Nudibranch eggs were everywhere, but few nudis. I found one Hermissenda and one Cuthona divae, but none of the usual San Diego dorids nor Spanish Shawls
Merry shot video in the green haze below the brown haze. I was surprised she managed to save anything.
Visibility at the point was six to eight feet. Water temps ranged from 69F at the surface to 59.4F at fifty feet.

Merry's video

Pesky Orange Fish

Merry needed a Garibaldi picture for a project and after five years of underwater photography I didn't have any. I tend to avoid them. I told her that if she wanted a Garibaldi, we needed to go to Catalina rather than Marineland. I had the day off work yesterday, so off we went.
We had good visiblilty for the first dive, better than thirty feet, which is twenty more than we're used to. I saw a Halfmoon cleaning station for the first time. A single rock wrasse and senorita worked over a dozen halfmoons. I was surprised to not find any moray eels. I used to find dozens on each dive years ago.
Another surprise was finding a few Garibaldi nests below the thermoclines. They usually nest in the warmer shallow water.
Between dives, we chatted with Dr. Bill, Derek and Debbie Karimoto and their two offspring. The wind picked up an bit and the water was choppy and dirtier for the second dive. Visibility was down to fifteen feet or less in places. We finished off the day with ice cream from Big Olaf's, the best reason to visit Catalina Island.

No divers left at the end of the day

Obligatory Garibaldi shots

This nesting Garibaldi on the swim platform had to work to keep his nest clean. It's hard work keeping sea stars out of your neighborhood.

A curious calico bass checks out an octopus

Scorpionfish rests cautiously on a ledge

Giant kelpfish, blending in

My only macro shot

Goodyear blimp taking off

Camera shy harbor seal with shark bite on his fin

Halfmoon cleaning station

Derek and Deb Karimoto with daughter Janelle and adopted son Billy.

Dry Spell Is Over

I finally got in a dive after 24 days out of the water. For most of the month I drove my gear to New Marineland, only to turn around and go home. I even considered diving at Vet's on Sunday but I saw a few overhead waves. A teen was killed in Manhattan Beach when a wave swept him under. I was beginning to think the conditions would never improve.
Fortunately the waves were down to two feet today. The cobble beach at Marineland is now covered with small rocks, thanks to the surf of the past week. Entry and exit was pretty easy, but surge and biomatter made photography next to impossible. I took 89 shots but saved only one marginal shot. Oh well, at least I got in.
We dropped in the sand and immediately a school of mackerel surrounded us. Nursery school was open as well. Juvenile senoritas, blacksmith and calico rockfish darted through the kelp. I even saw a black croaker for the first time at Marineland.
We stayed shallow this time, so we enjoyed the tropical 63F water. That's a rarity at Marineland. We fed Abby. I think he's lost weight since I've been dry.

Yet another Diveathon weekend

I made it out again this weekend for a couple of dives. Work has really been crazy so I am no where near where I was last year at this time as far as time underwater. I am having fun and am far less exhausted….so there is always a silver lining if you look hard enough.

Saturday I took my scooter out ( drags you along underwater so you don’t have to kick) for a nice long tour of the local beach dive site. Normally when I dive here I see short sections of the site but with the scooter and no camera I covered about ¾ of a mile of the coast. Depth ran from 50-80ft mostly and I just hummed along at an easy pace taking it all in. At full speed and 3ft from the bottom it FEELS like you are really moving fast…..until a huge school of mackerel explodes past you and you reminded just how awkward and cumbersome humans are in the water.

Sunday morning found me back at the beach, camera in hand this time. Calvin, the crazy Brit I dive and run with sometimes, and I had a nice leisurely dive down to the Gardens at 110ft and then back up to the 50ft contour and around the Point. Nice easy dive. I would love to show you the photos. I brought the camera….just failed to put memory in it when I closed it up in the morning. DOH!!!!!

I am currently running in second place in the “social” category. Last year I did quite well in the “competitive’ category but work was far less taxing last year. Thanks to some very generous donations I have raised $600. Only $150 more and I can have the Oceans Foundation go to the local school for their Oceans in Motion talk. It’s vital to expose our children to the wonders of the ocean. We tend to protect that which we love so exposing children to the wonders that wait beneath the waves is critical for long term success in ocean conservation.

As a personal donation goal ( beyond winning the diveathon and its fantastic prizes) is the “the jacket”. Local divers are always proud of their SDOF jacket and I wouldn’t mind added this years to my closet. I only need $1400 and while it seems like a lot, I remain optimistic. I do understand these tough financial times means that many who would love to donate simply can’t this year.

For those fortunate enough, please consider even a small donation to a great cause.

http://tinyurl.com/diveathon2009

Warmest regards

Terry

Bats again

2 days in a row I went to the Bat islands. We planned to go to the Catalinas. but the ocean was flat as a lake, so Bat islands seemed the right place to go. Did we make the right decision! Both days were awesome. The first dive site was big scare. The name came about because it's famous for the bull sharks, and boy did we see bull sharks! At a depth of 12 meters we had about 5 or 6 just circling around us. Adrenaline rushing through your body and screams left and right of buddies trying to point out more to each other. The feeling is hard to describe. The make the dive complete we encountered a giant manta. this was a divers dream we thought. Just as we were on our ways up to make a safety stop, 3 sail fish came to check us out! What more can we want???? We decided to do the second dive at the same site, and once again, bulls everywhere. I looked at my computer and noticed we saw 2 bull sharks within the first minute of our dive. i was happy, my day was finished. The second day was Bills B-day and we went back to Bats again. The first dive once again big scare and the bull sharks were still around. On the surface interval we saw some turtles mating and this was a great spectacle as well. The second dive was Black Rock. Unbelievable, great viz and loads, I mean loads of fish. We saw every kind of school you can imagine, from grunts, Pompano, spades, snappers, jacks, you name it. At the corner of the rock we bumped into about 25 spotted eagle rays and to top of the dive we saw 2 dolphins cruise over just as we were doing our safety stop. Man these 2 days were magnificent!!! Brenda ( today we have another bats trip, hope it went just as well!)

Diveathon home stretch

Well the Diveathon is in the home stretch. Juat a couple more weeks to go. I am trailing sadly behind because of work and life getting in the way of my diving but in this economy I can't complain about having a job.

There is still time to donate if you can and want to.

You can donate at my sponser page : http://tinyurl.com/diveathon2009 via paypal
or by calling the Oceans Foundation at 619.523.1903 and using a credit card. You can even make out a check to SDOF and mail it to me. Simple huh?? :) I have $300 from my generous donators and only $1200 to go to reach my goal. ANY amount helps. Donate early and often. Help protect you children/grandchildrens ocean.

I have had little luck in the photo department lately but am still out there snapping away. Here are some highlights from the recent dives.

Thanks and enjoy your summer everyone.

Terry

Full album: http://photobucket.com/diveathon2009

Highlights from the last few dives.

AQWA Shark Dive

Equipment test dives.........

Date: 7/11/09

Time: in 8:33amam - out 9:27am

Surface Internal 1:15

Time in 10:43am out 11:40am

Dive Location: La Jolla Shores - V. Point

Visibility: 5 in shallows / 15 at depth Water Temp: 55 degress low

Max Depth: 67' / 68'

Average Dept: 51' / 46'

Bottom Time: :54 / : 57

Buddy: Solo

Link to photo's:

www.our-sea.com/Diveblog/AlbumLJS07_11_09/LJS07_11_09.html

Dive comments:

I was having my Regulator and BCD serviced and used my backup equipment last week. It was way past due for service! Since it was completed and I have some students on Sudden doing Wreck dive figured I would use original equipment but wanted to do a 'test' dive prior. You never know! It always seems equipment fails right AFTER service for some odd reason.

The plan was to pickup gear in Dana Point Saturday morning and do 1 or 2 in Laguna but conditions did not permit it. I decided to pickup gear late Friday and do 1 or 2 at the Shores since conditions were reporting GOOD (actually Wednesday they report 25 + vis!!).

Nice dives but looks like Algae Bloom is here! Tons of particles in the water and the sand was covered with algae. Hoping Yukon won't be terrible tomorrow (although Bobby saw reports of 3 foot vis.......niceeeee...braille diving.

Catching up on the diveathon dives

I have managed to log 7 dives this month so far. Nothing compared to the whirlwind of diving for last years event. Work and life just has me too busy for all that diving this year but I am still raising money and really that is the important part.

Here are some of the albums from my dives. I have been having strobe firing issues so on a few dives I have no photos at all. I don't mind so much except the camera weighs a ton and dragging it through the water and NOT taking pictures is a bit irritating.

Here are the albums:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/La%20Jolla%202009/070809/

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/La%20Jolla%202009/070209/

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v109/divinman/La%20Jolla%202009/070109/

And some highlights of the last 4-5 dives.

Blog Host

Blue Whales Off Redondo Beach

Tanks for the dive...

'The Shores' 9/4/2010 - same old

Big D Iris-palooza

More Fun On Haggerty's Crane

Dive #1500

Nudi Bonanza With A Side Of Fried Egg Jelly

C-Brats Catalina Adventure 2010

Divereport 8-15-19 LJS **Cumanotus Blue Light Special**

More Nudi Goodness From The Marineland Platform

Visiting An Old Friend

2 Months of local diving........

Marineland Platform With Decent Visibility

Down And Dirty Dive

Another Wreck Dive Report

First Dive On The UB88

DOWN TO DAVY JONES' LOCKER

Marineland Blows

Philippines 2004

Clucking Garibaldis

What To Do When Dive Conditions Suck

Bonaire Trip May 2010!!!

Post Bonaire - Calif coldddd dive!

First Catalina Trip Aboard No Pressure

Jelly Roll

Haggerty's Crane

Green Green Water Of Home

Pre Bonaire dives :)

Calm before the storm......

The Return Of Diver Merry

Weekend (3/27/10) diving :) Marine Room

Dry Spell Is Over

Friday 3/19 Shores dive - day off :)

First Wide Angle lens test!

I See Boat Diving In My Future

Weekday dives (3/3 & 3/5) before weekend rains

The Worst Year Of Dive Conditions Continues

San Miguel Island

Weekday Night Dives -before the rains

T'was a 'time to get back in to the water dive' LJS-28Jan-10

Marineland Trail And Beach Damage Report

Best Of Marineland

Yellow Banks, Santa Cruz Island

Star Of Scotland Compilation

First Marineland Dive Of The Year

New Years Day Dive(s).....Way to start the year :)

Dive testing out new camera system :) Hurrayyyyy

Dirty Day In The Bay

Surge, Sand And A Surprise At Marineland

Marineland At High Tide

Sandy Dunkin'

When Not To Dive Marineland

Thanksgiving Dive At Marineland

Catalina Island Moves To Rancho Palos Verdes

Hunting Lions in La Jolla

More Giant Sea Bass On The Star Of Scotland

Marineland Video

Desert Diving At Marineland

Great Santa Monica Fish Count

Early B-Day Coronado Island's Diving!!

Lake Pacific

Rincon de la Vieja

Butt-Whuppin'

Dive 1000

Two Giant Sea Bass At Marineland

Past few weeks

La Jolla Night Dives.....

Eureka, Pt Loma and the local wrecks....not a bad week of diving

First Night Dive This Year

More Laguna Beach diving.......

Marineland This Morning

Rob's Birthday

DiveReport 09-10-09 La Jolla Shores Night Dive

Shooting Video Pays Off

Looooong Dives at Crescent Bay

08-30-09 Pt Loma with friends

09-06-09-LJS; First doubles dive

Labor Day At Cabrillo Beach

Labor Day Dives

Divereport 8-15-19 LJS Cumanotus Blue Light Special