Will Rogers from the Tooele store was the leader of the group since Jay never made it. His mother-in-law is about to die, so he cancelled at the last minute. Will snapped a few photos as we were getting all the gear stowed and getting ready for the first day of diving.
The Humboldt
It took about an hour to run down to Los Coronados Islands. When we got ready to get in the water, Dewey found a problem with his gear about the same time we were getting in. Unfortunately, he didn't tell me before I got in, so I hung out on the surface while he fixed it. As it turned out, I don't think he rinsed or did any kind of maintenance on his gear since the last time he used it, so it was a wonder any of it worked.
When he finally got in (luckily the new wetsuit provided good protection hanging out on the surface), we descended and started out in a northerly direction along the "wall". Visibility was pretty good - perhaps 40 feet. The water was cold but not frigid, so I was relatively comfortable. Not tropical diving, but good.
The flora and fauna was way different. Seaweeds everywhere and lots of new things to see!
Bat Star
Not much coral here though, just the occasional gorgonian.
California Golden Gorgonian
Purple Sea Urchin
Garibaldi (juvenile)
I have only seen one sea hare in Hawaii. It was small, about tennis ball size. This one was huge - way over a foot long!
California Sea Hare
This is the largest scorpionfish I have ever seen. Probably 16 inches long. As far as I know, Dewey and I are the only ones to have seen it.
California Scorpionfish
Dewey may not have been diving in a long while (5 years), but he was pretty good on air consumption and we ended the dive when he had 500 psi. I still have 700. There was about 10 degrees difference from the bottom to the surface, so it felt pretty good ascending. Just before we got to the surface, a school of Pacific Sardines swam over us.
Pacific Sardines
During our surface interval, we travelled just around the corner to the north. In fact the boat just idled and it wasn't completely apparent we had moved, but there were a bunch of California Sea Lions lounging on the shore.
One was an enormous bull that was very belligerent. He was making a lot of noise and suddenly after this photo, he heaved himself up the ledge to the top, grabbed the female by the head and flung her off the ledge into the water! I was too dumbfounded to photograph it.
California Sea Lions
California Sea Lions
The boat provided hot soup and rolls between the first and second dives. That was perfect to warm up and get ready for the next dive.
When the surface interval was over and we were ready to get back in the water, Dewey was just starting a cup of coffee - well, not exactly coffee. He combined coffee, tea and cocoa into a single cup and had added some kind of seeds, I think flax seed. He had to quickly down that and then had trouble with his mask. The strap broke, so, once again, I was waiting around while fully geared up.
When we finally got in, we did much of the same as on the last dive. There were lots of new things that I had never seen before so I took lots of photos.
Zebra Goby
Solitary Green Anemone
Blue-Banded Goby
I occasionally see these in Hawaii, but they are larger and much less spooky here.
Christmas Tree Worms
In all the dives I have done, I have only seen two cowries with their mantles out. This one was right out in the open during the day.
Chestnut Cowry
These are huge - about 8 inches long.
Giant Keyhole Limpet
This is where one of my favorite seafoods come from. Too bad the scallop is just the muscle that holds the shell to the body. That seems like a waste.
Rock Scallop & Purple Sea Urchins
There weren't whole rafts of kelp here, but there was enough to make this a really cool site. It was fun to swim between stands of it.
Feather Boa Kelp
I got cold at about 1100 psi and we ended the dive. I think Dewey would have stayed until he ran out of air, but we were about the only ones still in the water and I was frozen!
After some more hot soup and hot chocolate and some salad, I finally got warmed up during the surface interval. We stayed right at the same site.
After Dewey's next equipment problem we got back in the water for the third dive.
This time we went south from the boat and spent more time in the shallows. The water was warmer and there was lots of cool things to see.
Sea Hare Eggs
California Sheephead Wrasse (female)
Garibaldi
There were lots of these. I kept seeing them and taking photos because they look a lot like soft corals. It turns out that they are a species of sea cucumber.
Fisher's Sea Cucumber (Cucumaria salma)
I think we are the only ones who spotted an octopus today. He was hiding in this crack in the rock. I got one photo before Dewey began tearing rocks and everything else out of the way to expose him. He didn't like it much and was changing colors as you can see with these two photos. Dewey is not too environmentally conscious.
Two-Spot Octopus
Crowned and Red Sea Urchins
This video shows a little bit of what it is like in the kelp at Lobster Shack with surge flowing back and forth:
With about 1000 psi left, the cold once again drove us out of the water. Even at that, we were one of the last teams on the boat.
1 comment:
I still can't believe that you get some of these pictures from that little camera of yours. Some of these compete with the ones from Honolulu! You may have to rotate pictures on that wall. Glad you are having fun.
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