Cannery Point, Point Lobos, CA

Dive #210: Cannery Point

Dive Buddy: Hans

Viz: 40-50 feet

Depth/Time/Temperature: 72 ft/0:59 minutes/46 deg F

Tank/Weight worn: PST HP80/15 lbs total: 10 lbs on weight belt, 4 lbs in BCD, 1 lb on my ankles (felt overweighted)

Dive #211: Cannery Point

Dive Buddy: Hans

Viz: 40-50 feet

Depth/Time/Temperature: 76 ft/1:09 minutes/45 deg F

Tank/Weight worn: PST HP80/15 lbs total: 10 lbs on weight belt, 4 lbs in BCD, 1 lb on my ankles (felt overweighted)

Here's a 7 Second Video on ugly Sea Salp - 

watch for all the mouths opening

Whelks laying eggs

Anemones

Great Vis, lots of fish

Diving Singles Annual Dive

Sculpin

Photo by Deenie Clinton

Two weekends ago was the annual Diving Singles dive outing at Point Lobos State Reserve, organized by Chuck and Linda. I'm so glad I went this year. I hadn't enjoyed my previous dives very much due to stormy conditions and mechanical boat issues (as usual). But I had a great time this time, for reasons I will explain. In fact, I might have the diving bug again.

The day before the event, I was pinged by my friend, Gary that the "old Salts" were going diving again, and that there was a last minute opening. So I got my dive gear together Friday night. At first, it seemed as though the Dive gods were conspiring against me. First of all, I couldn't find my weight belt. Secondly my dive computer was dead, again. Flustered and hot, I somehow managed to jerry-rig a weight belt together, borrowed Mark's computer and I finally decided I was ready to go.

I was glad I went. Riding on Chuck's boat is as relaxing as it can get. Think of the most anal engineer you know, and this was his boat. The anchor line was perfectly wound in it's bucket. There was a spare radio and emergency instructions should Linda and Chuck be incapacitated. It was a very different experience from diving off some Zodiacs I know.

I was paired with Deenie, who seemed to know loads about fish and other marine life, and was really fun to dive with.

Dive #185: Great Pinnacle, Point Lobos State Reserve

Depth: 86'
Time: 0:44 min
Visibility: 15 feet of visibility , pea soup, felt like a night dive

-I thought I spotted a Hermissenda nudibranch, but it was too pale. After consulting my nudibranch book, I think it might have been a Sakuraeolis enosimensis, which would be the first I had ever seen.
-Orange sea cucumbers
-Fields of Strawberry anemones
-Schools of Blue rockfish with occasional Olive rockfish?
-Victor, the 3 foot long Sheephead fish swam in front of me and completely blocked my mask-limited range of vision. Chuck had indicated how large Victor is by spreading his arms, I thought he was exaggerating. But he really is that huge. And I almost never see sheephead this far North, either, due to the colder water temperatures. So that in itself was a surprise.

Hopkins Rose Nudibranch (Hopkinsia Rosacea)

Photo by Deenie Clinton

Dive #186: Middle Reef, Point Lobos State Reserve

Deenie and I decided to do our second dive exploring the Middle reef. I saw things that I had never noticed before due to a lack of carrying a dive light, so now I vow to carry one from now on.

Depth: 40'
Time: 1:03 minutes
Via: 15-20 feet, a little bit brighter

-Deenie pointed out a bright pink frilly thing in a cave, and I though they were eggs or something. Later on I spotted the same thing out in the open, and pointed it out to Deenie. Apparently the pink things are special, because it was here that my buddy and I got separated. While Deenie took pictures and more pictures, I made my way back to shore thinking she was behind me. After looking around for my missing buddy, and surfaced one time, I shrugged my shoulders and made my way home, only to see her climbing the ramp before I did. Turns out the pink things were Hopkinsia Rosacea nudibranchs, which are rare, and which were the first that either she or I had ever seen.
-A couple of 6 armed starfish
-Snub nose sculpin
-long fin sculpin
-Largest Hermissenda nudibranchs I have ever seen
-Deenie spotted a Tritonia Festiva nudibranch which I had never seen before either.
-Buzzed by a harbor seal as I headed in for the ramp

Gear Notes:
-10 lbs on weight belt, all weight worn centered over the small of my back.
-6 lbs integrated weights in BCD
-1 lb on feet
-I could have lost a pound or two and I think I would have needed less buoyancy adjustments.

Later on, we hung out at Linda's house in Seaside for the annual get together afterwards. It was fun to talk scuba diving with a bunch of divers, drink wine and nibble on snacks. While we were at the party, however, I later found out that a diver had been found unconscious, was taken to shore at Point Lobos, and was rumored to have died at the hospital.

-- Post From My iPhone

Bumper Cars, except in the Ocean

Dive #183: Blue Fish Cove, Point Lobos, Carmel, CA

Went out on Kevin's boat at Point Lobos. We had to haul Randy's zodiac out to the dive site because his engine didn't work. That was great timing, because there were supposed to be storm threshold waves that day. It was all pretty amusing, especially on the trip back. The rope length had a strange resonance frequency with the waves because every few waves, Randy's boat would surf down a wave and come crashing into the back of ours. It was like bumper cars, except in the ocean. I was laughing, and muttering "oh shit" at the same time. Why is it that everytime I go out on a zodiac at Point Lobos, I feel like I could die? Randy was taking video the entire time.

*2 huge white nudibranchs (Discodoris ap. 2) intending to mate. A brittlestar was nearby
*Dendrinotus albus nudibranch
*Vermilion rockfish
*Lots of beautiful anemone
*the dive was as beautiful as some divesites in Fiji, in my opinion
*17 lbs of lead (6 on weight belt, 10 on bcd, 1 on feet)

Dive #184: Mouth of Whaler's Cove, Point Lobos, Carmel, CA

Scary, scary dive. I kept thinking a Great White Shark could sneak up on me, but had to reassure myself that they don't like to swim through kelp. And there was a lot of kelp, more than I've ever seen before.

*2 foot rockfish - I've only seen another that size once before. This one was probably decades old.
*Purple cabezon with the head the size of a grapefruit, perfectly camouflaged against a backdrop of purple rock.

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

Annual "Diving Singles" Point Lobos Club Dive

Sunbeams shining through the kelp forest

On August 11th, Chuck Tribolet had his annual Diving Singles club dive at Point Lobos State Park. Chuck Tribolet is the "Diving Singles" club leader, the Bay Area Diving Yahoo Group moderator, and is well known in the Bay Area for his erudite Northern California scuba diving weather web site: Monterey Bay Sea Conditions at a Glance.

Today's dive was a treat. The Point Lobos State Park is well known as one of the best dives in Northern California. Only 15 dive teams are allowed per day and the park is protected from fishing, or scavenging of any sort. As a result, fish are plentiful and unafraid, and the colors here are vibrant.

Everyone gawked as our Mini Cooper convertible rolled into the Point Lobos parking lot. Almost every other vehicle besides ours was a "dive mobile" -- a truck or an SUV built to contain the plethora of equipment typical of temperate water diving. Our convertible top folded away to reveal both my and my fiance's dive equipment tightly packed into our backseat like a Tetris game.

While setting up for the dives, conversation touched upon the death of local diver and photographer, Kawika Chetron. We discussed how he was diving somewhere on the North Coast, and disappeared retrieving his anchor. The most likely hypotheses are either that he got swept to sea, or gotten eaten by a Great White Shark. There are normally several scuba related deaths in Northern California every year. But in Kawika's case, there was extra attention because: Kawika was young, extremely bright (Harvard and Stanford educated), and a talented photographer. See here for Kawika's favorite photos, which combined with his explanatory captions, are great meditations on diving in Northern California.

We did the first dive with two divers unfamiliar with Point Lobos. They seemed anxious to pair up with people who had dove Point Lobos before, so we agreed we would show them around. This dive was fraught with problems,which began as soon as we were dropped off at the mouth of Whaler's Cove. First off, Dive buddy #4 (I forget his name) had problems clearing his ears, so he cut his dive short and swam to shore. Dive Buddy #3 had a continual free-flowing regulator problem, and hence had a low air supply, which cut our dive short. Dive buddy #2, my fiance, had constant mask leaking issues, caused by his mask being set overly tight. He had to surface to calm his nerves and told me he nearly wanted to quit the dive. When we finally got our dive started, I made a bee-line to shore, with little time to enjoy the 50 foot visibility. I was nervous to get back to shore safely.

Below, Mina posing with a Ling Cod

Our second dive was much more enjoyable. We paired up with Dan, a diver we met on Dave M.'s boat. All photographs in this blog entry were taken by him. Starting at the mouth of Whaler's Cove, we did a slow and leisurely crawl back to the boat ramp. We saw a cormorant underwater (my second time). I also encountered some unusual cabezon behavior: I turned over an abalone shell to investigate, and a cabezon shot out from under a ledge to look at the shell as well. I never knew cabezons were so curious, given their usual behavior of perching on a rock. Below is a photograph of a cabezon taken on the dive.

Cabezon