We dove at LJ Shores from a ways North of Vallecitos Pt to a ways South of it. Tide was way out at 7 a.m., and surf was small (<2 ft), making for an easy kick straight out west. Dropped down on the sand at 25 ft to find ~6 ft viz. Looking if it would clear up a bit more at greater depth we headed down the slope to ~70 fsw, where it was even darker and crummier than above. So we went south to the ledges between 50 and 60 fsw, found lots of sea hares munching on some debris, a few rockfish tucked away in cavities along the ledge, lots of tiny gobis, fields of brittle stars, etc. South of the point we found about 20 ft visibility at 80 fsw but it was a small spot. I think we maxed out just over 100 ft and North of the Point the visibility DID NOT improve. UGH!!! Saw a nice sized WHITE Dendronotus Iris just North of Vallecitos Pt. I have seen gray ones but this one was beautifully WHITE! Nothing else spectacular, but nevertheless a pleasant swim. Wisdom computer recorded 46 F and my hands agreed. My Cobra bottomed at 50 F. Viz varied between 2 and 10 feet.

Summation of the dive: Why did we do that?

Map to Dive Site at SeaStarAdventures.com
Surf: 1-2 ft
Current: very little
Visibility: 7 ft average
Temp: 50 surface / 46 F at max depth

San Diego Scuba - Underwater Photography in Wreck Alley
I usually shoot macro, but I promised my wife she could take the 105mm lens back East before the boat trip was planned, so I was stuck with the default lens (18-70mm). I haven’t used it much and haven’t had much luck with it when I have, except in the Bahamas where the vis was 100+ ft. The green gloom didn’t help much. By the second dive on the Ruby, I had figured out enough to point the strobe away from the subject in order to avoid the worst of the backscatter. With 1 strobe, the pics are a little dark (and seem fuzzy too almost as if the camera was narc’d as well). Most of the underwater shots are of my buddy, since I was lost without my macro lens. Mikey was kind enough to remind me every 1/2 hour or so that it’s really a day for macro, with the poor vis. He claimed each time that he forgot I didn’t have my macro lens.. right… ;p Now he has to take me back when I have my macro lens, but of the course the vis will probably be much better then.

Date: 5/3/08
Dive #1
Location: Yukon
Time in: 11:44 am
Time under: 35 min
Max depth: 95 ft
Min temp: 53 F (buddies said 50F, I believe theirs)
Vis: 5-10 ft below ~75 ft. 5 ft above ~75 ft with an algae bloom

Highlight: First time on the Yukon. Lots of growth.

Dive #2
Location: Ruby E
Time in: 2:43 pm
Time under: 42 min
Max depth: 75 ft
Min temp: 53 F (probably 50 F also)
Vis: 5-10 ft below ~65 ft. 5 ft above ~65 ft with an algae bloom

Highlights: Beautiful growth on the Ruby E, tons of hermissendas on the deck, spanish shawl, some kind of yellow dorid that Barbara got video of. My favorite of the two dives. Would have been great for macro. Ahem.

Scuba Diving in San Diego at Pt Loma with six divers doing a boat dive today. We geared up and jumped in, waiting for the rest, soon we were headed for the bottom and gonna head south/slightly east towards Dean’s boat who was anchored over the spot we had wanted to hit. When we hit the bottom took a heading and soon found a crack that turned into a crevice, saw the anchor, saw the looming structure as this crevice turned into a canyon running east and west with walls, ledges, and little pinnacles running the length on each side.

About halfway thru the dive I lost sight of the other buddy team, We were exploring this ledge at the bottom that turns into a cave that goes back under the structure for who knows how far. Also found a hole in the upper wall that immediately reminded me of what a lava tube might look like and there was no end in sight to how far it ran back.

Critters, well we had set a goal of at least 15 diff nudi species, which we accomplished including one that I’ve never seen before and I’m not entirely sure what it is, we will have to send it for an ID. Trilineata, Yellow Edged Cadlina, Limbaughs Cadlina, Cadlina Flavomaculata, Spanish Shawls, Hermissendas, Stearns, S.D. Dorid’s including a few areas that had several all bunched together, Porostomes, Polycera Tricolor, Clown Dorids, Noble Dorids, Macfarlands Chromodorid, Festiva’s, and the unknown nudi!!! Several Coffe Bean snails who were very brown today instead of purpleish. Lots of Rockfish, some very big Lingcod guarding a cave like ledge on the wall, Sculpins, Ronquils, my first Sea Spider who was resting on a Sea Cucumber, and schools of Blacksmith and Perch which were a welcome change to see.

Second dive was a lot like the first except we knew exactly where the structure was and the vis seemed a little better and on the swim back over the crevice we could really see just how big an area and how many pinnacles were sticking up at the tops of each side.

Had a wonderful time, thanks for the dives everyone
Everyone else, come do a boat dive with us sometime.

Surf: 1-2 ft
Current: none
Visibility: 15 ft average
Temp: 54 surface / 52 at max depth

I am pleased to report that the two dives I did today at Scripps Canyon earned a dang! and a half between them.

The first dive was this morning. That was the hard dive, since we turned what is usually a shore dive into a boat dive. It was great! The viz (below the bloom layer at depth) was 30 to 40 feet. I didn’t see any swell sharks, but I did count three D. spaldingi, many more than I typically spot in the Sumner branch. We had a friend down from the Seattle area, and she was astounded by how warm the water felt - the water that was outside of her drysuit. I’m tough but stupid, so I wore my wetsuit and got pretty chilly after 30 slow minutes below 100 feet. Nitrox!!!!

Dive two was at two. The tide was out, and the vis was down, but I found swell sharks this time. I think a spaldingi -and you can bet I was looking pretty hard to find one, would have pushed this dive into a full dang! dive, but, I guess it will have to go down in the books as a da! dive.

Map to Dive Site at SeaStarAdventures.com
Surf: 1-2 ft
Current: very little
Visibility: 30- 40ft average
Temp: 54  surface / 52F at max depth

Met my buddy for a late morning dive. Arrived in the parking lot ~10:50AM and actually found a spot. There were a few turning over, so it isn’t “high summer season” yet on the parking, but the lot was basically full. Geared up under the hot sun - perhaps it is closer to summer than I thought - and marched, sweating to the beach. Entry was pretty easy - surf was modest with little punch.

Headed for North Wall - dropped in to ~35 FSW and had 5ft of vis. Headed west into the canyon - vis did not even start to improve until ~95ft and then started to open up to maybe 15-20? Perhaps deeper it was even better, but I wasn’t seeing much at 95 - being below the wall, so we went up to the wall ~70ft and poked along. Encountered 3 bat rays - making the vis even worse locally - then turned north and hopped over to way north wall. Vis there was comparable - although I dipped down to find it was starting to open at ~85feet, but by this time was running low on air and bottom time, so we headed back in.

We skipped the 2nd dive we had planned due to the crappy vis.

Map to Dive Site at SeaStarAdventures.com
Surf: 1-2 ft
Current: very little
Visibility: poor 5 ft average
Temp: 54 surface / 52 F at max depth

Critters: California Sea Hares everwhere including one of the
largest red ones I have ever seen, very large collection of small
fish in the tube worm growth along the edge of the canyon, quite a
few small Sand Dabs including in the shallow water.

The temperature and visibility was probably the story today. We came
up to about 80 fsw and headed South East along the canyon wall with
about 20+ ft of visibility. My Cobra pegged on 50 F. We went around
one point and right into a white wall. The visibility dropped to
about 10 ft or less and the temperature rose to about 52 F. Went up
to about 60 fsw and reversed our course. Finally we swam out of the
cloud and, yea, the temperature dropped off of the Cobra’s chart and
the visibility improved dramatically. Remember that the tide was going out.

Now for those plentiful Pacific Sand Dabs. The book says they get up
to about 16 inches. I have never seen one larger than about 3
inches. They seemed to be everywhere in fair sized
quantities. There is a possibility that I just do not know what a
Sand Dab is. Brenda and I observed two of what ever they are mating
about a year ago.

Those red California Sea Hares were sure out in force in all sizes.

Those new baby Sand Dollars are growing and are clearly Sand
Dollars. There will NOT be a shortage of Sand Dollars off of LJS and
the Marine Room this year. Divers will probably be able to leave
their compass home.

Map to Dive Site at SeaStarAdventures.com
Surf: 1-2 ft
Current: very little
Visibility: 20 ft average
Temp: 52 surface / 48 F at max depth

With warm Santa Ana winds blowing, we had to take the boat out yesterday… Clear, hot, calm… even with cold water it was a must do, but hey the SI would be warm, and it was…

We made two dives off of La Jolla. The first was at God’s Rock. It is a rock that rests on the 40 to 70 drop off just north of the kelp bed outside of Boomer’s beach. The top of
the rock is 55′ deep. The vis was unbelievably good, probably 40+.

Several weird things about yesterday… As we traveled up from Mission Bay the water did not look very clear and from Bird Rock North I ran into some amazingly ugly water. There was a red tide that was so dark brown and dense that I was afraid that there would be no diving at all. The vis in the red tide was no more than a foot. As I wandered around I
discovered that it was quite patchy but that most of the area was inundated with the red tide. Once I got north of the kelp off of Boomer’s than it turned a hazy green. Since the rock popped up on the depth finder so pronounced I decided to dive the spot regardless of the vis. In the water the vis was less than 5′. However once I got down to 15′ the world opened up. I could easily see the bottom and the rock and much of the surrounding area. In short it was a very fun dive (albeit it was cold 46 degrees). I filmed a big lingcod who was more than happy to show off. Anyway it was fun.

Now after an hour we began to surface and this is when I discovered that the red tide had shifted and now was right above me. I performed my safety stop below the layer but when I came up that last 10 feet the vis went to zero.

If the red tide and good vis was the first and second weird things of the day than the third was the unbelievably warm water that I found myself in while on the surface. A look at my dive computer showed the temp to be 69.5 degrees (verified by my boat’s surface temperature gauge as well as by my bare hand)! Now the warmest temp that I saw traveling up from Mission Bay was 59.5. My guess was that the dark brown water of the red tide was absorbing the warmth of the Santa Ana. The warmth only extended into the water maybe 18″ but it was certainly nice to allow that surface water penetrate my wetsuit and offer a quick warm up.

We got in the boat still chilled, however it only took a few minutes before I was warmed up and ready to go again. Gotta love those Santa Anas… Hot, no wind, no swell, 40+’ vis.

The second dive was on a shallow reef and there were many lobsters, I can’t wait for lobster season! I probably saw 20 legal lobsters, a Sheephead that was easily 35 lbs with many others in the 20’s. In general the spot was loaded with life. It is a reef that comes up to 25′ and is surrounded in 40′ water. Shallow is a good thing and that gave me an hour of bottom time on that spot. Armed with only a camera I enjoyed snapping pics as fast as I could including pics of the large Sheephead.

The second spot was surrounded by kelp and while there was some surge, the vis was still a respectable 20′+.

Motoring back we passed through several more patches of red tide and temp would go up once I was in it and then drop dramatically once out of it. The darker or more dense the red tide, the warmer the water. I never realize that the red tide was able to capture heat so efficiently. Again it must be the dark brown color working as a solar panel.

A few good pics, nice warm, calm day, life was good…

Map to Dive Site at SeaStarAdventures.com
Surf: 2-3 ft
Current: very little
Visibility: 15 - 20 ft average (40 ft best)
Temp: 69 surface / 46 F at max depth

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

Scuba Diving San Diego Style! 3 brave souls met this morning to dive Scripps Canyon. The surf looked decent but manageable from the parking lot. It even remained looking manageable once we were down on the beach. All three of us made it out easily without incident. Viz in the canyon was surprisingly good and we had an enjoyable dive, seeing the usual plethora of life, among it swell sharks, a really big D. Nobilis, about 10 Hermissenda Crassicornis on a rock and a baby octopus that was changing its color faster than GS can throw insults at people.

During exit, I amused all virtual spectators with an acrobatic interlude after a big-ish wave hit me. All three of us got tumble-dried pretty good on exit, just one more service Scripps canyon provides to you free of charge. A very nice way to start the weekend. Oh wait, not quite there yet

Map to Dive Site at SeaStarAdventures.com
Surf: 3 - 4 ft
Current: mild Southbound
Visibility: 20 - 25 ft average
Temp: 52 surface / 50 at max depth

Did two Scuba Instruction dives for a new client at Lobster Shack.  Vis was decent when we went to the edge of the “mesa” and dropped down to depth - 25ft, but not outstanding. Gobs of brittle stars and lots of Blacksmith. Temp at depth 53F. Went looking for the sunken boat, found it currently lying in several pieces now. Did find a number of channeled sea stars - rather impressive. Many seals and sea lions on the rocks, but only a couple came to play. Came across a huge sunstar at about 40ft. Was a weight retrieval day. First dive we recovered a weight pouch that one of the other divers on the boat had lost. Second dive we came across a 26# wt. belt that someone dropped. Lucky I had a lift bag to carry it to the surface.

Come Scuba Diving with Us
Surf: 2-3 ft
Current: very little
Visibility: 5 ft average
Temp: 52 surface / 50 at max depth