LaJolla|Scripps Canyons, Sat April 26, 2008
Cold San Diego Scuba Diving…
We managed to squeeze in a brace of dives today. Both
featured darn cold water, and decent vis at depth.
The first dive was at my favorite deep spot in the LJ
Canyon. Nothing noteworthy other than a couple three
or four D. spaldingi, lots of big rockfish, many of
which were hunkered down inside the vase sponges which
grace the walls. Did I mention it was cold? My most
generous computer, and by that I mean the one that
validates my thinking on the temperature, was staying
at 48F degrees reliably toward the end of the dive.
Brrrr.
The second dive was at good ol’ Scripps Canyon. I
nearly did not make the dive. First, I swung my
long-hosed regulator around my head to fast and it
smashed me in the lower lip, cutting it against a
tooth and making it bleed. Great! I figured I would
see if the bleeding stopped by the time I got to the
water, and bail on the dive if it had not. Then, as I
was scrambling down the rocks (with my extra-heavy
doubles), I managed to put too much weight on my left
leak and I severely tweaked a muscle in my calf.
Double great - now I am bleeding AND limping. Hope the
Man in the White Suit is gone. Well, the bleeding had
subsided a good deal, and though it was a struggle
hoofing it down the beach, finning in the water did
not hurt very much at all.
Not so much little surf is a lot better than lots of
big surf. The kick out was easy, though there was some
current. We did the long swim around Fish Head into
the North branch, and were rewarded with two more
spaldingi, which for some reason my buddy was reluctant
to photograph!! ! I impressed upon him the need to take
the pictures, and we moved on. The vis was a lot
better on this dive, probably up to 20 feet.
Once again, it was colder than that well digger’s
donkey. I asked my buddy after the dive,
“Did you notice how cold it was?”
“Nein”
Now why would he be replying to me in German? Clearly
he is German, and speaks that language, but he should
know that I don’t. And I know he senses the cold, even
though he is a warmschmuger who wears a drysuit. So I
asked again,
“You didn’t notice how cold it was? Surely you are
joking?”
“I did notice, you [$##@]! I wasn’t speaking German -
it was nine degrees Centigrade!”
“Oh.”
Map to Dive Site at SeaStarAdventures.com
Surf: 2-3 ft
Current: very little
Visibility: 15 - 20 ft average
Temp: 52 (11 C) surface / 48 F (9 C) at max depth
Tags: la jolla, seastar adventures, scripps canyon, san diego, shore dives, scuba diving
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