Great Pinnacle - Blue Fish Cove

Great Pinnacle, Point Lobos

(Notice nearby Marcos' Pinnacle named after the diver who was attacked by a Great White Shark 10 years ago)

Today was Chuck's annual "Diving Singles Point Lobos Dive", an event which we've attended for the past 3 years.

This dive day was remarkable in that our dive buddies were Chuck Tribolet, himself, along with his partner, Linda.

Everyone in the dive community knows Chuck for his erudition, as well as his strong opinions on diving. He and Linda both have 1000+ dives under their belt. So I felt a little self-conscious diving with him and Linda due to my relative lack of experience. Paul and Gary rounded up our group.

This was also our first time diving the Great Pinnacle in Blue Fish Cove, too. Blue Fish Cove is one of the best dive areas in Monterey County, but is almost impossible to access without a boat. Furthermore, boats are forbidden from accessing it, unless armed with a reservation with the Point Lobos State Park. Therefore, diving Blue Fish Cove is a rarity. We once tried to swim to Blue Fish Cove, but ended up doing some white water diving between the wash rocks. This event had left me traumatized enough to stop diving for 9 months.

Despite the good luck of diving with Chuck, and diving the Great Pinnacle, what proceeded was one of the more miserable dives I've had in a long time. Immediately upon descent, Mark's weight pouch fell out of his BCD. While the both of us hung out in midwater at 90 feet (the bottom was at 150), without any bottom in sight, I pushed his integrated weight pouch back together.

I recognized my first Olive Rockfish (Yay Fish Count!)

What's more, I had absolutely no control over my buoyancy. My depth ranged from 40 feet to 70 feet throughout the dive. Thank goodness Chuck and Linda didn't notice, they were too busy shooting pictures of nudibranchs and fish at their favorite dive site. Later on, I found out that my BCD had a significant volume of air in it, and that this had exacerbated my buoyancy control issues. (When diving with a drysuit, you are only supposed to use your drysuit when controlling your buoyancy. The excess air in my BCD caused wild fluctuations with depth changes, due to the air's compression and expansion. This is what makes cold water diving soooo interesting and so challenging.)

Regardless of the problems at the onset of this dive, I recognized the site as being one of the most gorgeous I had ever seen. There was 40-50 ft visibility, which is common for this area. The place reminded me of Cozumel's Devil's Throat in topography, except scarier. This underwater mountain range was covered with garish colors, and the harsh steepness of the pinnacles struck me as cruel-looking. In summary, this place gave me the heebie-jeebies, and I struggled between wanting to maximize my dive time, with my instinct to "RETURN TO THE BOAT".

After I finished my safety stop, I popped my head out to find we were far far away from the boat, as I had feared. I signaled "up" to Mark, but he indicated that he was still finishing his safety stop. My fear went on override, and I honked like crazy at him and gave him more "up" signs. I soon lost sight of Mark, and I feared he had drowned, such was my state of mind.

On the surface, I shed a few tears, which I haven't done after diving since my divemaster candidacy. Both Mark and I were both miserable over our lack of dive planning and lack of communication. It took a lot for me to convince him to do a second dive but I am glad that we did. By the second dive, I had worked out my gear issues, and I was a much better buddy to Mark. Mark still has to work out his drysuit problems and weighting problems, however.

Dive #163: Great Pinnacle, Blue Fish Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve
Max Depth: 91 feet
Time: 0:40 hour
Buddies: Mark, Chuck Tribolet, Linda R., Paul Quinn, Gary Gold
Temperature: 47 deg F Oceanic -- 53 deg F
Visibility: 50 feet
Weight worn: 22 lbs (10 in BCD, 12 on weight belt)

Observations:

• Victor the resident "alpha" sheephead
• male kelp greenling
• Schools of blue rockfish
• Olive rockfish - first that I recognized as one, anyway

Recognized my first Vermilion Rockfish (Yay Fish Count!)

Dive #164: Middle Reef, Whaler's Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve

Max Depth: 30+ feet
Time: 0:40 hour
Buddy: Mark
Temperature: ??
Visibility: 15+ feet
Weight worn: 22 lbs (10 in BCD, 14 on weight belt)

Observations:

• Vermilion rockfish
• Huge Lingcod