Bummer - Florida Diving!

Regretably, our dives in Florida were cancelled as a result of windy conditions from Tropical Storm Noel. Reported seas were 8-12' which makes boat diving a bit too adventurous for most, including us. Back to the cold waters of N. California for us!

ScubaBoard Get-Together @ Point Lobos - Sunday, October 7th, 2007

We had anticipated doing a night dive on Saturday but the windy weather on Friday resulted in less-than-optimal visibility and so we decided that getting all the gear out, wet and then donning a cold, damp wetsuit in the morning wasn’t worth doing for bad visibility. So we opted to have margaritas with Michelle and her dive partner, Bob. A great way to end a beautiful day of whale and dolphin watching off the coast.

Sunday was the big day though – something I’ve been looking forward to for about a month now – diving at the famed Point Lobos State Reserve located in beautiful Carmel, California. Despite some car problems, we arrived at Point Lobos on-time. The skies were blue, the water calm and we were all looking forward to some great diving.

Point Lobos is a beautiful dive site with such easy access. The boat ramp provides a great in and out to the water, ideal given the shoreline around Whaler’s Cove. From the surface, you can see kelp all over the place and I knew it was going to be great. After kitting up and getting to the water’s edge I was thrilled to see a star fish sitting in approximately 2 feet of water just at the boat ramp. I’m not even wet and I am already seeing sea life already!

After a long surface swim out of the cove, being “chased” by Doc Wong and his buddy Mark on their scooters, we arrived at our drop down point. A quick “Doc Wong Video” introducing ourselves and all 8 of us were letting the air out of our BCs and heading to the bottom.

I was a bit worried about the visibility. On the surface I wasn’t able to see my fins when my legs were below me. Granted, they are not that ‘high vis’ but still – I was hoping that we wouldn’t be dealing with a low-visibility situation – especially after the swim out. As we began to descend, Mark and I stayed within close proximity to each other in the event that the visibility didn’t open up. Down we went, slow but steady. Mindful for the bottom, I thought my worries were going to be warranted – I kept expecting the bottom, yet I couldn’t see it. All of a sudden there is was – just below me about 10 feet. Reaching the bottom, we regrouped and everyone was taking photos of all the other divers.

I was AMAZED. My eyes must’ve been huge. The visibility was AMAZING - about 40 to 60 feet. Far better than any I had ever had in Monterey. It was magical. There we were - sitting in about 63 feet of water and I could see all around me – giant strands of kelp gracefully reaching for the surface – like a forest. I could have just sat there for the entire dive, but soon we were off – to the “Hole in the Wall” site.

After a few minutes, I saw some divers heading back to the cove about 20 feet above and to my right. And there it is the ledge, and it’s beautiful. The visibility is still amazing and I am just in heaven. I’ve got the camera in hand, testing out the new strobe that we just bought and I see so many subjects to photograph – huge anemones everywhere including the fish-eating urticina anemone (photo), kelp strands with snails clinging to the leaves, blood stars (photo abovet)and bat stars, beautiful sponges and algae. Even a few fish – gobies and sculpins! Finally I am seeing what I have always marveled in Brad’s photos. I swim to the wall knowing Mark is well aware of my location and start taking photos. And then I see it. Tiny but there – a nudibranch. More specifically, a yellow-marginate nudibranch (Cadlina luteomarginata) (photo). Not the first nudi I have seen, but the first one that I would, come hell or high water, get a good photo of. I was thrilled.

The rest of the dive was just as beautiful. A long surface swim back to a nice potluck lunch with the rest of the group during the surface interval. Our second dive was less “beautiful” as Mark and I decided we wanted a more shallow dive and opted to stay in the cove. During the short surface swim, we passed a seal who I entertained by making clicking noises to keep his attention and curiosity.

While the middle cove reef has prolific amounts of kelp and was teaming with fish and other sea life, the trade off for the shorter surface swim is the lack of visibility – we estimated it to be approximately 2 to 12 feet, only intermittently opening up to anything close to 14-15’. Despite the visibility, we used the dive as an opportunity to practice our buddy and navigational skills. We saw more kelp with snails, crabs, chiton, serfperch, anemones and fantastic orange-yellow corrals (photo).

It was a beautiful day – great weather, company and even the rangers were super-friendly. The site is a beautiful site full of life and vibrant colors. While the new site provided excitement, however, I found a part of me that was still longing for the familiarity of the Breakwater or Lover’s. Funny how those sites have (and probably always will) a special spot in my heart simply because I was certified there. I would go back to the Point Lobos again in a heartbeat though. It is truly amazing.

Dive Stats:
Dive #35 – Sunday 10/07/07 – Point Lobos “Hole in the Wall” – Carmel, California. 11:13 AM. Max depth 74 feet, bottom time 34 minutes (600 PSI remaining at end of dive with AL80). Ramp/beach dive. Water temp 50˚ (brrr!), vis approximately 40-60 feet.

Dive #36 - Sunday 10/07/07 – Point Lobos “Middle Cove Reef” – Carmel, California. 1:51 PM. Max depth 34 feet, bottom time 30 minutes (1100 PSI remaining at end of dive with steel 2700). Ramp/beach dive. Water temp 52˚, vis approximately 2-12 feet.

[Topside photo from diverdunne - copyrights belong to him. All of his photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/11413840@N08/collections/ ]

Free Diving for Abalone – Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

This past weekend Mark and I attended my colleague’s annual Abalone Camping trip held at Mackerricher State Park just north of Fort Bragg, California (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=436). The weather was forecasting cold, cloudy days but we were camping with some dear friends of ours who are versed in camping and well-prepared, so we knew we’d be just fine. It was chilly – averaging low 50’s during the day with drops to the low 40’s at night. But, surprisingly, our sleeping bags were warm and we did just fine.

Waking up early Saturday morning we were anxious to try our hand at Abalone diving. As many might already be aware, California regulations require a special fishing license stamp to be able to catch abalone, and furthermore, you may only hunt for them by free diving (sans tanks, BC, etc). So it is a pretty “primitive” form of diving. We thought we were heading out earlier than the actual departure time but when the time came, about 10 divers walked out the ¼ mile or so boardwalk out to the shoreline, down the cliffs and suited up, so it was a nice size group of people go out with. Wetsuits, fins, masks, snorkels, floats, weight belts (so heavy!), gloves, abalone gauges and bars and we were off.

North Coast diving is quite a bit different from Monterey diving. It is more rugged, more exposed. There is a greater need to time wave intervals and be very aware of your surroundings to prevent yourself from being bashed up against rocks.

Swimming out as a group we swam around rocky outcroppings, past them and continued out into the sea. There was a considerable surge and we had to keep repositioning to avoid having waves crashing on us and possibly moving us too close to the rocks. Visibility was not great, it was hard for me to see my fins as I was floating on the surface, and the vis didn’t clear up as we descended. In the end, about 12 abalone were caught, cleaned, breaded, cooked – a truly wonderful and rustic meal shared with great company.

[Image is not my own]

International Coastal Clean-Up Day Dives - Sunday, September 15th, 2007

This September’s International Coastal Clean-Up Dives were organized by Aquarius Dive Shop in Monterey.

We met at Lover’s #3, just around the bend from Lover’s Cove, on the more exposed area of Lover’s Point, across from Borg’s Motel. There was a bit of confusion as to the meeting time since I had thought we were meant to be in the water between 8 and 9 am, but when Mark and I arrived just before 8, no one else was there. Of course, that made us a bit worried that we were in the wrong place, etc. I knew some of the other members from ScubaBoard would be there, so we waited to see if we recognized anyone. Eventually we met Albert who was there for the dives and who informed us that there were several people who were at the Dive Shop and they were going to be making their way over to the site shortly. After they arrived, we had a dive briefing, explaining how we could conduct the trash search and recovery and were assigned our “locations” from the shoreline as to what area of the bay we’d be searching. Afterwards, we were left to our own devises to kit up and get into the water.

Returning to the car, I quickly discovered that Mark and I had left a crucial part of our gear behind – our wetsuits. Not only are they important from the standpoint of keeping you warm, etc – but they are, in a sense, “intimate” pieces of gear. The only thing that really sticks to your skin. Plus, in Monterey, dive shops only rent 2-piece “farmer John” set ups which, while providing tons of exposure protection against the cold, also are a pain in the backside to wear, restrict your movement and are generally a nuisance. Being 2+ hours away from our home, I realized that we were, in essence, condemned to wear this set up if we were to dive that day….and I was, in no uncertain terms, not happy in the slightest about it.

Well, with some strong arming and a bit of tenderness, Mark triumphed and we were suiting up, overheating and struggling to get our gear down a stone set of stairs to the rocky shore below. The waves were soft on the shore and all the other divers had long since gone into the water to begin their search for hidden (or not-so-hidden) trash. Finally, we were set. Andy, the photographer who joined us for the Clean Up snapped two photos of Mark and I, and we entered the water. Soon we were doing the short surface swim out and dropping down, through the strands of kelp the sandy and eel-grass bottom below. The water was GORGEOUS! Not too cold, great visibility and just perfect.

As Mark navigated, I searched for garbage, mesh bag trailing empty behind me. Over rocky ledges covered in sponges, kelp, crabs, starfish, bat stars, anemones and other life and vegetation, we moved out, and back towards shore, making u-turns at appropriate intervals. No trash. Schools of fish – perch, senoritas, krill, and even my first cabezon! But still, no trash. We surfaced to take a compass heading back to our entry point on shore, only to find out we had covered substantial territory while underwater. Taking the compass heading, we returned back, surfacing only a few feet off from our original point of entry – not too shabby.

Beautiful surface interval – talking with the other members of ScubaBoard as we waited for our opportunity to go back in. Visited by a man on a horse (we are still wondering about the legality of the entire exercise!) – and soon we were kitting up for dive #2 for the day.

Again, out we went, not particular heading in mind, just with the goal of spending time in the kelp cathedrals just under the surface of the water. Dropping down, we landed right in a beautiful spot – beautiful, long strands of kelp, at least 15’ long reaching to the surface of the water and gracefully creating a canopy under which swam tons of black and red surfperch and a bunch of senoritas. We found rocky outcroppings just covered in life – sponges, sunflower stars, short-spined sea stars, algae, bat stars, anemones – strawberry anemone, green anemone and what I think was a rose anemone. Even a moon jelly and some more crabs. As always, we emerged somewhat puffed, but happy and feeling successful about our dives – even in the face of the rocky start (no pun intended!)

Dive Stats:

Dive #33 – Sunday 9/15/07: Lover’s Point #3 – Monterey, California. 10:22 AM. Max depth 20 feet, bottom time 45 minutes (1200 PSI remaining at end of dive with Al80). Rocky beach dive, water temp 63˚, vis approximately 20-25 feet.

Dive #34 – Sunday, 9/15/07: Lover’s Point #3 – Monterey, California. 12:23 PM. Max depth 30 feet, bottom time 35 minutes (1300 PST remaining with Steel 74). Rocky beach dive, water temp 55˚, vis approximately 20-25 feet.

[Sorry, I didn’t take the camera along with me this time. The photo above was taken in April when we were down in Monterey and were checking out Lover’s. It is a representation of the site although the conditions were quite different on Sunday.]

Labor Day Weekend with the Metridium - September 1st and 2nd, 2007

... Weekend Diving ...


Last weekend was a gorgeous, 3 day weekend in San Francisco and I had some diving planned, so I couldn’t be happier. Saturday, Mark and I headed down to Moss Landing to go on a whale watching cruise. Unfortunately the whales (and dolphins) had packed up for the holiday weekend and headed elsewhere so we saw none. :-( But the operators gave us a rain check so we could come back another time. I was, however, a bit skeptical about the lack of life, wondering if the warmer waters were causing the marine life to head further out then normal.

Curious how this would affect our dives, if at all, we headed down to Pacific Grove to Lover’s Point where we were staying. After resting up (the Dramamine caused us both to be a bit sleepy), we headed out to the Breakwater to get a night dive in.

Parking along the pier wall, we unloaded our gear, dressed and spent some time chatting with some other friendly divers who were also hanging out. Something nice about the dive community in Monterey – as if the coldwater experience somehow creates a bond between divers, commiserating about the viz (or lack thereof), where the best areas are, etc. It doesn’t feel as “aggressive” as vacation dives where everyone is trying to show up the other divers.

But I digress…..

We entered the water at about 7:45 PM and swam out almost to the end of the gate on the pier. Dropped down in about 17 feet of water and just as the sun was releasing its hold on the day. Reaching the bottom, we checked our compass headings and started out. Soon we were sinking into the deeper rangers of 30 feet and the tube anemones began to appear and so did the sea life. Tons of sand dabs flitted around in the sand, a tiny octopus entertained Mark and I until it swam quickly away, squeezing itself down into its hole. A dendronotus danced about 1 foot from the ground and other fish swam idly by, as though we were of no consequence. A shrimp hung out by an anemone, cute and delicate. We made it a short dive and came on shore with tons of air left. We didn’t mind, we were happy with all the life that we had seen.


Sunday morning we got up early to pack up the gear that had been rinsed the night before and hung to drive. Off to Monterey Bay Dive Center to get our tanks refilled and head back to the Breakwater to wait for Wayne and Kelley. Wayne, who we had met a few weeks prior during the event I had organized had offered to lead us to the famed Metridium Field which lies right off the shore from the Breakwater, a hearty surface swim out, but a rewarding one. We got there just before 8 and reserved a nice spot on the grassy area overlooking the beach. The sun was quickly rising on the horizon, promising to be a warm day. Our friends arrived just before 9 and set up their canopy and gear.


We entered the water just after 10:30 AM in search of the Metridium Field. Swimming out a long way, we regrouped and dropped down together in about 25 feet of water. Off we swam – Wayne and Kelley in the lead, Mark and I (with my camera) behind them. Visibility wasn’t that great – we had to stay on their heels in order to remain as a group. Crossing the “big pipe” (“not the small pipe”) on a 30 degree compass heading, we swam and swam. Finally, Wayne turned around and pointed off to about 45 degrees. I couldn’t really tell what he was pointing at, but swam in the direction, and there they were! The eerie white Metridium – huge, between 1-2 feet long, covering the surfaces of these rocks. Some fully extended, looking soft and inviting. Others balled up against the world, eating or having been touched by something disagreeable. I was amazed. I had seen them when we did our drysuit checkout off the boat, but because of the leak in my suit (at 80 feet in January --- brrrrr!!!!) we surfaced after only about 10 minutes. But this site seemed to have so many more and they were stunning. A kelp rockfish hung out on top of a group of them, peacefully allowing me to come within a few feet of him. I found a sea lemon surrounded by some strawberry anemone hiding in between some of the rocks. We floated around, checking out the scene for about 10 minutes or so before it was time to head back to shore. Following a near-perfect route back, we emerged in almost the exact same spot as we had descended at. Kudos to Wayne and his supreme navigation skills!


After a nice surface interval and changing out the gear, we headed back into the water, this time for a little tour of the Breakwater – to swim through the kelp and scope out cool things to take photos of. We saw black serfperch and rainbow serfperch , what I think were sardines, amongst other critters. A mask problem cut the dive slightly shorter than I had hoped, but we got some good photos nonetheless.











Dive Stats:


Dive #30 – Saturday 9/1/07: Breakwater Cove – Monterey, California. 7:45 PM. Max depth 41 feet, bottom time 34 minutes. Beach dive, water temp 63˚, vis approximately 10-20 feet (depending upon location).


Dive #31 – Sunday, 9/2/07: Breakwater Cove – Monterey, California. 10:35 AM. Max depth 48 feet, bottom time 42 minutes. Beach dive to the Metridium Field. Water temp 55˚, vis approximately 7-20 feet (depending upon location). Surface interval approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes.


Dive #32 – Sunday, 9/2/07: Breakwater Cove – Monterey, California. 1:05 PM. Max depth 27 feet, bottom time 34 minutes. Beach dive, water temp 63˚, vis approximately 10-12 feet.

Meet and Greet - Monterey, California - August 19th, 2007

Does life get much better than this?!

Went diving on Sunday with a bunch of local divers that had a “Meet and Greet”. We met up at the Breakwater shortly after 7:15 AM after picking up my tanks from a local dive store. The weather was perfect – sun just beginning to shine brightly, that time in the morning where everything just feels so new, fresh and full of opportunity (yes, I am a morning person). Two of the divers from the group had already arrived and set up a nice canopy on the grassy area, complete with tarp and chairs. We proceeded to haul our gear over and then hung out talking to the couple that were there already, watching the water at the Breakwater as it calmly lapped the shore. The water looked divine – so peaceful, some divers making their way in, seals down the pier doing their best to make a ton of noise. I was anxious to get into the water and start exploring.

Around 9:00 we were all geared up – 7MM fullsuit with a 5/3 hooded vest. It was getting hot and so I knew that the 55° water would be a welcome respite from the shore. Since one of the two divers that had been there was playing “rescue class victim,” his wife came along with Mark and I on our first dive. Swimming into the water from the shore, the water was indeed cool, but it felt great against the early heat of the day. Descending down, we were just on the edge of some kelp. Mark leading, Kelly and I followed him through the kelp, over the rocks, in and around all over the place. Tons of batstars, starfish,spiny rockfish, and – of course – kelp. When we hit 1200 PSI, we decided to start meandering our way back to shore.

All of a sudden, we gained another dive partner – a seal. First s/he was exploring Mark’s head and tank. I was desperately trying to get Mark’s attention, to no avail. The seal then made his way back to Kelly, doing flips and turns all the way. Playing with her tank, hood and then biting on her flippers. We got out of the kelp, each time I turned around to make sure she wasn’t stuck, there was the seal – swimming just over her shoulder, just as though s/he has fallen in line with our group. Then all of a sudden, he turned his attention to me – swimming over, going for my hood, playing with my fins – swimming off. And then, much to my extreme joy, s/he swam straight for my face – coming closer and closer until it touched its nose to my mask, I could see every little whisker. Only briefly though before s/he swam off for good. Poor Mark only got to see a bit of the fun since he had been in the lead and, whilst Kelly and I had stopped completely, he continued on. Realizing we weren’t with him, he came back for the tail end of playtime.

Ecstatic, we swam back to the shore underwater. Grinning ear to ear.

After a long surface interval, during which more divers came, we hung out – exchanging stories, snacking and sunning. It was a beautiful sunny day in Monterey – such a change from the relatively foggy summers of San Francisco. I got to play “distressed swimmer” and was rescued by one of the training classes. Nothing like getting towed back to shore and dragged up the beach!

Around 1 pm, I was starting to get warm and ready for our 2nd dive. Almost the entire group suited up and we headed out in search of the famed Metridium Field. After a relatively long surface swim, we dropped down to depth. Unfortunately, the kelp was a bit thicker than anticipated and Mark and I lost the rest of the group. While slightly disappointed, I had the camera with me and was quite happy to go off in search of some good photo opportunities – which we found. More kelp, batstars, starfish, beautiful vegetation, cormorants diving from the surface , massive amount of what I think were krill and some black surfperch, even an entire school of them!, etc. With about 1100 PSI, we were back on shore and happy as two clams.

Burgers with the group, more stories and sunshine and we packed up at about 4:30 to make the 2 hour drive home. It was a great day filled with wonderful dives and great company. I was really glad that I took the time to organize it and hope to see all those divers again in the future!

Dive Stats:

Dive #28: Breakwater Cove – Monterey, CA: Max depth 32 feet, bottom time 37 minutes. Beach dive, water temp 54°, vis approximately 12-15’. Surface interval approximately 2.5 hours.

Dive #29: Breakwater Cove – Monterey, CA: Max depth 27 feet, bottom time 40 minutes. Beach dive, water temp 54°, vis approximately 12’.

Finishing up my Advanced Open Water Course

Oh, diving is what I love to do. Saturday were my last checkout dives for my Advanced Open Water certification. And while we really only had to do one dive, the night dive, we went for a late afternoon dive with the group to do a navigational dive as well as the instructor is infamous for his fun navigation exercise. We arrived in Monterey at about 4:15 pm having battled all the traffic heading to Santa Cruz, kitted up and entered the water at about 5:15 or so. While the instructors were setting up the course, we floated on our backs enjoying the relatively calm and surprisingly warm waters at the Breakwater. After about 30 minutes, the instructors informed us that we wouldn’t be able to do a navigation course as intended due to a white out from other divers who had carelessly kicked up the silt and sand, causing visibility to be less than 4 feet. Joy. So we dropped down, directed 300° to the kelp and then 120° back to the float line. Surprisingly we found it given the lack of vis, and even more surprising was that the other divers and the instructor didn’t make it back but were off about 30-40 feet. Ha. That made me feel good. Dropped down again with a compass heading of 270° back to the shore.

As we neared the shore, I noticed a seal darting off. Couldn’t see much of him except his outline and size. I was thrilled as I love diving with seals. But then something else started playing around. As we were only in about 3 feet of water, we stood up and were surprised to see two sea otters about 6 – 8 feet away from us in the water. How fun! They were really engaged with us, floating on their backs and maintaining eye contact, one dipping under the surface of the water, coming over to my fins and nipping at each one of them and then heading back to the surface. And then again, but this time with Mark’s fins.

While we were sufficiently engaged with the otters, we knew that we had to get out of the water and start preparing for the night dive. Having had a bit of apprehension about the night dive, Mark and I went over our buddy skills, hand signals, lost buddy procedures, etc. Kitted up and had a snack and waited for the sun to dip below the horizon.

At dusk we headed into the water with 2 instructors. Hanging out in the water we watched the two otters playing on a float that was left by a group of divers who had left for the day. Finally we dipped down under the water with a plan to skirt along the side of the pier, near the rocks. Lights on, we descended. Apprehension quickly lost out to excitement and marvel. There is something infinity amazing about night diving – colors seem more vibrant, discoveries lie just outside of the edges of your light’s beam. Gracefully gliding over a field of purple sand dollar poking ½ out of the sand, we found our way to the anemone field that we had previously dove several months earlier. Anemone seeming all the more eerie with their tentacles waiving around pulling in nutrients, tucking back in at the sense of my finger. Continuing on, we found giant nudibranches in vibrant reds and oranges, crabs, watched octos blowing sand out of their holes and came upon a sea pen (like in the photograph), its colors almost shining in my light. Soon, too soon, we were heading back to shore, over the anemone fields, through the sand dollar patch, slowly heading shallower. Amazing and fun and itching to do it all over again!

Swimming back to the shore on the surface, tired and happy. Holding hands and just relaxing. Fins off in the water, walked up on the shore, happy having finally completed my coursework. Even happier to feel that some of my nervous-air consumption issues were not present!

Dive Stats:

Dive #26: Breakwater Cove: Max depth 18 feet, bottom time 15 minutes. Nice short dive! Beach dive, water temp 59°, vis approximately 3 feet. Surface interval 1 hour 55 min.

Dive #27: Breakwater Cove: Max depth 46 feet, bottom time 39 minutes. Beach dive, water temp 55°, visibility 7-10 feet.

[Image is not my own]