While in Catalina, I stayed with my friend, Dr. Bill, who is the "ambassador" to diving in Catalina Island. Dr. Bill has been featured on the Weather Channel, and was also written about in Diver's Alert magazine. A Harvard and UCSB educated marine biologist, Dr. Bill is also a weekly columnist, hosts a public access TV show called "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill". He also produces a series of underwater educational DVD's, also entitled "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill". These DVD's are about the marine life around Catalina Island and the Channel Islands, but also of marine life elsewhere around the world.
Bill was my dive buddy on all listed dives below. All photographs are courtesy of Dr. Bill. All diving was conducted on the King Neptune Boat, owned by Catalina Scuba Luv.
Dive #1: Hen Rock (cumulative dive #150)
Max Depth: 48'
Time: 0:43
Temperature: 56-58 deg. F
Tank: AL 80
Weight: 26 lbs on weight belt
Vis: 20-30'
Observations: I lost my buddy, Bill within 5 minutes of descending the anchor line (I am so used to having people follow me, that I assumed he was right behind me as I swam) so the rest of the dive was conducted solo. I was pretty focussed on using my drysuit for only my second time in the ocean so I didn't observe anything. However, I did reacquaint myself with the usual Catalina suspects: bright orange Garibaldi fish, spiny lobsters, senoritas and wrasses.
Later, after I boarded the boat, Bill told me that when he lost me, he had surfaced to look for me. He had followed the PADI procedure, but I had not! He figured I was a hardy diver, so the boat didn't panic when Bill had surfaced and I had not. I felt guilty, but not too guilty.
Dive #2: Torqua Springs (Cumulative dive #151)
Max Depth: 53'
Time: 0:57
Temp: 56-58 deg F
Tank: AL 80
Weight: 30 lbs (20 lbs in weight belt, rest in BCD)
Vis: 20-30 feet
Observations: The boat arrived to the sight of a bait ball being attacked. Fish were flying out of the water. A bald eagle swooped down from an overhead cliff to snatch one of the fish. It was like a scene from Blue Planet (a BBC documentary series). Underwater, I got a chance to see these bait fish.
This time I had no problem descending with the extra weight (30 lbs in all!), however I did feel there was an enormous air bubble in my drysuit. This time, I did not lose my buddy. Bill spent quite a long time videotaping a juvenile horn shark (see below). Later on that dive, I saw a mature horn shark swimming at the outskirts of the kelp forest. I also saw a swell shark egg and left it out in the open as I had found it. There were hundreds of bait fish swimming about as happy as could be. The kelp forest was thick and dark.
Max Depth: 98'
Time: 0:56
Temp: 56-58 deg. F
Observations: Bill and I dove deeper to the sand flats covered by deep water kelp. There were many nudibranchs at this depth. Bill filmed some yellow and orange Peltodoris Nobilis, whose color is determined by their diet. I saw a couple of Hudson nudibranchs (Acanthadoris Hudsoni). I don't really know the names of these species off the top of my head, since I don't yet have an underwater camera. There were also various fist sized whelks (underwater snails) that were gathered in small groups, mating.
Dive #4: Little Gibraltar (cumulative dive #153)
Max Depth: 103'
Time: 0:48
Temp: 56-58 deg. F
Tank: AL80
Weight: 28 lbs (20 lbs on weight belt, rest in BCD pockets)
Observations: This was a pinnacle dive that reminded me of Monterey. There was an octopus hiding beneath the deep kelp. Also, there were numerous fragile rainbow sea stars (see below). There was a plaque in memorium of a diver. Bill and I got separated, so we continued our dives solo. Since Bill lost his wet suit vest, he tended to get cold earlier and would surface first, leaving me to complete all the dives myself. Although I tended to surface after about 50 minutes, it wasn't due to getting cold. Temperaturewise, I could have continued for another 30 minutes or more. But I tended to want to surface to use the restroom facilities.
Fragile Rainbow Star Fish
(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, http://www.starthrower.org/)
Dive #5: Pirate's Cove (cumulative dive #154)Max Depth: 77'
Time: 0:52
Temp: 56-58 deg. F
Observations: This was my favorite dive during my stay in Catalina. First, I saw a 2 foot long giant sea hare (see picture of me petting it below).
Bill threw the sea hare at me... As it fell through the water towards me, I got a good look at the suction foot underneath the sea hare, and it was clogged with stones, and I freaked out. I have always had a fear of slugs and worms, and to me, this was a gigantic version of a worm.
Sea Hare Eating
(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, www.starthrower.org)
A few minutes later, the sea hare relaxed enough to continue feeding on sea vegetation (see above). On this dive site I also saw:
- sheep crabs
- navanax slug
- a large mound of sea hare eggs, the result of a sea hare orgy where as many as 17 sea hares have been observed to mate
- a small halibut on the sand
Bill saw some interesting kelp at this dive site that was not local to Catalina waters the previous week. He managed to get the captain to dive this site again. He spent the entire rest of the dive filming the kelp in order to document it and to figure out what it was. After some research, he found out that it is a highly invasive Asian species of kelp, the Undaria pinnatifida, also found in miso soup. To read more on the ecological implications of the presence of this species in our local California waters, read Dr. Bill's column.
Invasive Asian Kelp -- Undaria pinnatifida
(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, http://www.starthrower.org/)
Drysuit Diving Afterthoughts
Diving in a drysuit is a little like learning to dive again. I noticed that I couldn't stay still in trying to control the airbubble in my drysuit. When Bill tried to show me the octopus hiding underneath the kelp, I couldn't stay still enough to observe. However, after my 5th dive in the drysuit, I was able to stay still enough to observe individual creatures.
I noticed that my center of buoyancy was close enough (no floaty feet) with the low slung AL80 tank, and the hig hugging weight belt. I noticed, too, that if I bent my knees, I could constrain the air bubble in my drysuit to my torso. Once again, I found myself naturally gravitating towards the frog kick.
Catalina is a few degrees warmer than Monterey this time of year. I could have done 90 minute dives in Catalina without getting significantly chilled, which means I should be able to do 60 minute dives in Monterey easily. Drysuit diving also offered a benefit over wetsuit diving: surface intervals were warm and toasty while my buddies were shivering in their seats.
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