June 26, 2010 Night Dives - Airplane Ledge & Turtle Reef

On Saturday, June 26, 2010, I dove with Matt (divemaster) from Ocean Concepts and Paul Harmon. We did three dives, Airplane Ledge, a 110 foot deep dive on an airplane that was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef and two dives on Turtle Reef, a 35 foot deep dive on a shallow coral reef.

There were 17 divers and four guides, so the boat was packed. Paul and I have dived about the same amount, so we were pretty well matched. There was another very experienced pair in our group, so Matt really didn't have much to do. He did try hard though. This was his first time leading dives since being certified as a Divemaster and he was nervous. My internship was to assist him. Several of the other divers in other groups were students.

We gathered as a loose group at the stern of the boat and did a free descent down to the top of the reef and then over to the wreck. We hung out there for a few minutes and then began a slow ascent back up along the wall of the reef. This Banded Coral Shrimp with the Hawaiian Squirrelfish in the background was an interesting photo I thought. It came out even better than I had hoped.

Banded Coral Shrimp

Under the wing was a big Flameback Coral Shrimp.

Flameback Coral Shrimp

This is an unusual specimen of Hawaiian Spiky Sea Cucumber. The spikes are in pairs and there are lots of little additional spikes.

Hawaiian Spiky Sea Cucumber

Hawaiian Swimming Crab

As Paul and I were running low on no-deco time, we began a slow ascent as Matt led the group in a fairly long swim past the boat and out to the south. It soon became obvious that he was lost. He finally decided he needed to surface and figure out where we were, so we did a three minute safety stop and came up. We were only 120 feet or so from the boat, but it was kind of funny.

During the surface interval we ran in to the dock and got more tanks for the third dive. We ran back out to Shallow LCU and tried to tie up, but they could not find the mooring ball. The light conditions were bad enough with the light rain, poor visibility and late afternoon and they just couldn't see, so we finally abandoned that and went to Turtle Reef instead.

When we got tied up, we all geared up and headed back into the water for the second dive. Matt wanted to lead the four of us on a tour, but I was taking a few photos and Paul and I just conveniently got left behind, so we did our own thing instead.

This Knobby Spindle was laying right out in the open upside down. You can see the snail inside.

Knobby Spindle

I saw this Striated Cone hanging from the roof of a little overhang. When I shot the photo, I thought that the snail was in the shell. However, on closer examination on the computer, I discovered a single red and yellow striped leg poking out at the left end. This shell is inhabited by a Cone Shell Hermit Crab.

Striated Cone & Cone Shell Hermit Crab

This dive was turning into a hermit crab dive at this point.

Bloody Hermit Crab

Right under the boat, we discovered this Hairy Yellow Hermit Crab in an old Partridge Tun shell. This is a large crab in a large shell - the shell is about the size of a large grapefruit.

Hairy Yellow Hermit Crab

This is what the shell looks like with the crab all tucked inside.

Partridge Tun (shell)

Paul was getting pretty chilly at this point since he was diving without a wetsuit, so we ended the dive and climbed back on the boat, even though we both still had about 1400 psi left.

After about a 45 minute surface interval, we got back in for the night dive since it had gotten dark. This time I was able to talk Paul into putting on a wetsuit.

Once again, we started out with Matt, but he soon disappeared and so I took Paul and we went in a different direction from everyone else. They reported back afterwards that they saw lots of eels, but for Paul and I this was a macro dive. Not many large critters, but lots of little ones and many that I had never seen before. It was a good photo dive!

I have never seen anemones in Hawaii, but I did tonight! This one is undescribed other than assignment to a family.

Anemone (family Edwardsiidae)

Hawaiian Swimming Crab

I see shells all the time, but only rarely and at night, do I see the critter that lives in them and makes them. This is one of my favorite photos of these dives!

Pimpled Basket

I almost missed this little (1/2 inch) worm. If it had not been so flame red, I would have missed it. I thought it was a nudibranch, but could not find it in any book or on-line, so I sent a copy of the photo to Cory Pittman at UH, one of the world's foremost authorities on nudibranchs, and asked what it was. Lo and behold, it is an undescribed flatworm instead. Pretty cool!

Thysanozoon or Acanthozoon sp. Flatworm (undescribed)

Christmas Tree Worms & Laurent's Hermit Crabs

This tiny shrimp is a little hard to see. The eyes are obvious but you may have to study it a while to see the transparent tail and head. About 3/4 inch long.

Bicolor Sand Shrimp

Known as the piranha of the sea, these guys eat everything - if it grows in the ocean, they eat it. The Japanese delicacy Fugu is made from a close relative of this fish. It is the raw fish dish that is extremely toxic and people play Russian roulette eating it. This fish is even more toxic, especially the skin and the mucous on it. Just handling it can be deadly! and people are afraid of sharks!?!

Stripebelly Puffer

One of the real benefits of night dives is that these little (1-1/2 to 2 inch) rare scorpionfish come out where you can see and photograph them.

Coral Scorpionfish (rare)

Cheekspot Scorpionfish

This tiny ( about the size of a dime) nudibranch was the first I have ever seen.

Polygon Pleurobranch

This one also. I was really sad that the two photos I took, both came out poorly.

Orange Gumdrop (nudibranch)

Coral Scorpionfish (rare)

Paul and I ended the dive after about 45 minutes even though we both had about 1600 psi left. Not good form to keep the whole boat waiting and that was the planned duration for the dive.

San Diego Temple

On the way back from La Jolla, we drove a little out of the way so we could see the temple.


You can imagine how surprised we were to see it looking like this!

June 19, 2010 Dives - La Jolla Shores

On Saturday, June 19, 2010, the plan was to do two dives at La Jolla Shores.

While George Robison, Ken Patrick and I were gearing up, the first buddy team went out to start their first dive. They never made it through the surf! One especially powerful wave hit them as they were nearly out and snapped the tank band on one diver's BCD. They almost lost the tank, but Will managed to grab it and assist them back to shore. They decided not to attempt it again.

We were nearly ready, but another team went first, so we decided to watch and see how they did. They made it all the way through the breakers and we thought they were good to go. The next thing we knew they were walking back through the surf and being assisted by Will and Mark.

Just then another group of divers from a local club came back from an earlier dive and suggested to us that we not bother. The viz in the trench was about 2 feet, so they had come back up onto the shelf and attempted to do a free descent and everyone lost his buddy due to poor viz.

I called the dive for our group since I was not going to take George out in that. That was the end for our whole group. Everyone bailed when I did.

June 18, 2010 Dives - La Jolla Cove

On Friday, June 18, 2010, I dove with Ken Patrick and George Robison. We did two dives at La Jolla Cove.

Today was the second sunny day of the trip. I was the Divemaster again for our group since they both seem to rely on me to lead them. I briefed Ken and George on what we would do. We decided to dive along the west edge of the Cove near where a bunch of sea lions were sunning on the rocks.

The first dive, we were really shallow throughout the dive, only 17 feet for maximum depth. The visibility was awful - 5-10 feet. I took a couple of photos of lobsters and Garibaldi, but nothing much else before the drama struck.

California Spiny Lobster

I told them to let me know when they got to 1800 psi. Apparently, George misunderstood me and thought we would turn around at 1800, so when I did not move immediately to turn around, he bolted for the beach.

I was afraid he actually would run out of air, so I followed along and Ken followed me. He went right into the rocks and then back into the Cove right by the sea lions. When a couple of them slipped into the water near him, he checked his air and discovered he still had 1500 psi and decided it would be alright to dive a little more.

While he was trying to take a photo of a sea lion, he got a little too close and it really snapped its jaws at him. He went into reverse and was really making tracks backwards to get away at that point. He chased Garibaldi all the way back to the beach trying to get a photo. I was at the surface just swimming along behind him to keep an eye on him. When we got to the beach, he still had 1000 psi and Ken and I had 2000.

I gave him some advice that he needs to learn to trust those who have more experience until he gains enough of his own to know that he will be OK. At that point, we all got out and were done with that dive.

After a fairly long surface interval, we went back for the second dive. Gordy joined us and offered to be George's buddy. I accepted. After getting into the water and finally getting George's fins on him, I told them to put snorkels in and swim out with me a ways. We swam out a couple of hundred yards and then I stopped. I told them, for George's sake mostly, that we got clear out to where we were without using any air. They should end their dive with 500 psi, but they could end it anywhere they were and did not have to be back on the beach. With 500 psi, they could surface, establish positive buoyancy and then make the surface swim back to shore.

Gordy took off like a shot and George went with him. Ken and I soon lost them in the poor visibility which left us to do our own thing. That was nice, actually. We enjoyed a long, relaxing dive and saw lots of "bugs" - lobsters. The visibility was still really poor, but we had a good time and Ken gained more confidence in his diving as well.

Garibaldi

California Spiny Lobster

California Spiny Lobster

California Spiny Lobster

California Spiny Lobster

June 17, 2010 Dives - Yukon and NOSC Tower

On Thursday, June 17, 2010, I dove with Dewey Olsen and Ken Patrick. Ken's buddy George Robison was getting his Deep Diver certification today, so he dove with Will. We did two dives on the Yukon, a 105 foot deep dive on a Canadian Navy Destroyer that was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef and one dive on the NOSC Tower, a 60 foot deep dive on a sunken weather tower.

The Yukon is a 366 foot long ship. Nearly twice the length of the Mahi. It is a really large wreck. It went down a little prematurely when they were preparing it for sinking and it rolled and landed on its port side, so the top surface is actually the starboard side.

Today was the first time that we had sunshine for the entire trip. Once again, I was the Divemaster for our group. I briefed Dewey and Ken on what we would do. We were tied off to the observation tower just forward of the aft gun turret. This was the first time either of them had been below 60 feet. They were just happy to follow along and get to see this first-hand. We dropped down the mooring line to the tower and then on down to the bottom. Maximum depth for the dive was 96 feet and minimum temperature was 48 degrees. It was frigid even in a 7 mil wetsuit with my hooded vest. I was glad we were as limited on time due to depth as we were.

We checked out the aft gun turret and then swam slowly to the stern of the ship. I tried to take a few photos of the Plumose Anemones and other interesting things, but the camera was fogged due to the extreme temperature difference. I kept the fogged photos in the slideshow at the end of this post just for kicks. The Plumose Anemones are at least a foot long and the open heads are about a foot across. They are stark white and really pretty. Most of the interior of the wreck has now been colonized by Club-Tipped Anemones. It is pretty spectacular to see.

We swam up and across the stern and back along the keel of the ship to where the tower is located. Ken was at 1000 psi when we got back to the tower, so we began our ascent back up the mooring line. When we got to 48 feet, we paused for a two minute deep safety stop and then we went on up to 15 feet. While we were doing our three minute safety stop, a comb jelly came floating by. I managed to get a couple of photos of it before it drifted off. It was similar to the one I saw and photographed in Hawaii last year, but I got much better photos this time. It is a Leucothea pulchra / Phylum Ctenophora / Order Lobata / Family Leucotheidae.

Comb Jelly (Ctenophore)

We finished the safety stop and and completed our ascent and got out. The water on the surface was like bathwater after the chilly dive.

During the surface interval, we moved over to the mooring on the wheelhouse. The second dive was pretty much the same as the first. The main difference was that we covered more ground and I was colder then the first time down. We only descended to 90 feet and the low temperature was 50 degrees, but we had lost enough core temperature the first dive that it just felt colder.

We dropped down the mooring line to the wheelhouse and swam back along the deck of the ship to where we could see the observation tower and then turned around an swam back to the wheelhouse. Both guys still had pretty good air left, so we swam along the deck clear to the bow and then came back along the top edge of the ship to the wheelhouse. When we got back, I discovered that the camera had cooled off enough inside the housing that it was no longer fogged. I got a few photos and when Ken was down to 1000 psi, we headed back up the mooring line.

White-Plumed Anemone (Metridium)

Leather Star

Red Gorgonian

Club-Tipped Anemone

Once again, we ascended up the mooring line and did a two minute deep stop at 45 feet and then a three minute stop at 18 feet. The surface water felt so good again!

We tried to tie up to the Ruby C, but broke the mooring line twice. The Captain finally abandoned that and we dove the NOSC Tower again for our final dive. It was colder on the bottom today, but much clearer and better viz. The cold fogged my camera again and drove us up to the top of the structure. When it unfogged I managed to snap a few photos. When Ken had 700 psi left, I bailed and we ascended.

Plumose Anemone

Calico or Kelp Bass

Senorita Wrasse

June 16, 2010 Dives - NOSC Tower and The Goat

On Wednesday, June 16, 2010, I dove with Dewey Olsen and Ken Patrick. Will asked me if Ken could tag along with us. Ken's buddy George Robison dove with Will, so he tagged along with us. We did one dive on the NOSC Tower, a 60 foot deep dive on a sunken weather tower and two kelp dives at "The Goat" at Pt. Loma Kelp Beds.

Ken and I got in and waited for Dewey. Every dive so far it has been something else wrong with his gear, or he forgot something, or . . . We waited every dive. When he finally got in, we gathered up at the mooring line and talked about what we would do when we got down. I told them we would go right to the bottom, make a circle around the structure and then slowly ascend up as we circled it and saw what there was to see.

We followed our plan. The visibility was not very good - perhaps 10 feet. Lots of stuff floating in the water. The structure was completely covered in anemones - Plumose and Club-Tipped Anemones in so many different shades and colors. The red Club-Tipped Anemones are also known as "Strawberry Anemones", but as you can see in the photos, there are more of other colors than the red ones. They are really tiny - maybe 1/2 inch across, but there are millions of them!

Club-Tipped Anemone

Red Gorgonian

The white "fringe" on each of the limbs of the gorgonian is made up of the individual animals. They are tiny and nearly transparent and look like miniature anemones. So each of these fans is a colony of critters.

Fish Eating Anemone

This one was gorgeous! Each tentacle is a transparent hot pink.

Plumose Anemone

Club-Tipped Anemone

Rock Scallop

Plumose Anemone

Club-Tipped Anemone

We still had plenty of air left when we got to the top of the structure, so we hung out and just looked things over a while. When Ken had about 700 psi left, he signalled me and ascended with a couple of other divers who were going up the line.

Dewey and I stayed down near the top of the tower until we had used up our air and then ascended. The water on the surface was like a warm bath after being at depth.

During our surface interval, we travelled over to Pt. Loma to the kelp beds for the other two dives of the day. When we got there, Ryan gave us a briefing and emphasized not getting tangled in the kelp and how to get out if you do.

Being my first kelp dive and also being the "divemaster" for my little group, I was a bit apprehensive as we got ready. We did our giant strides in, waited for Dewey to get caught up and then descended. I had taken a compass heading and we struck out in that direction.

Swimming through the kelp was not what I expected! It was not at all scary or dangerous - not that it could not be if you were stupid and panicked - it was magical! It adds a new vertical dimension to the dive and was so much fun. I would do more kelp dives anytime!

The surface water was fairly warm - OK 66 degrees isn't warm, but. . . and murky from suspended algae. The bottom, however, was cold - the coldest so far at 53 degrees - but clearer with good visibility - much better than the tower.

Warty Sea Cucumber

Giant Kelpfish

These look just like a blade of kelp and blend right in. They don't move much and you can swim right up to them and they just pretend to be kelp. This one was over a foot long. You can see how much suspended gunk was in the water in this photo.

Lightbulb Tunicates

The semitransparent tubes with the orange "filaments."

Giant Spined Star

Garibaldi

Macrocystis (Giant) Kelp

I tried to take photos of the kelp, but with the surge, lack of a strobe, and all the gunk in the water, they didn't turn out too well.

We swam on our compass heading until the first one reached 1800 psi and then turned and went back to the boat on a reciprocal heading. Even with all the surge, it worked great.

After a surface interval, George decided he was done for the day, so I took Dewey and Ken and struck off in the opposite direction for the second kelp dive.

Orange Puffball Sponge

About the size of a softball!

Red Seaweed (Plocamium cartilagineum)

Rock Scallop

California Spiny Lobster

Ummm! Scallops and Lobster! Dinner!

The kelp was thicker going north, but our swim out and the reciprocal back brought us right directly to the mooring line.

This shows a little of what it is like to swim through the kelp:



Today's dives were more relaxing and we didn't have the long surface boat ride to and from, so I am not nearly as tired at the end of the day as I was yesterday. That one about did me in.