Date: 4/29/06

Location: Marine Room, Cabezon Cruiser

Time: 11:16 am

Dive Time: 41 mins

Surf: 1- 3 ft.

Viz in Shallows: 5-10 ft. [Green Gloom]

Viz at Depth: 15-20 ft.

Mix: 21%

Max Depth: 130 ft. +

Critters seen: a large male Sheephead, an extremely large Sheepcrab, Rockfish, Sea Pens and several swimming crabs

Merrianne, Jackie and I met at the Marine Room today with the idea of hitting the Cruiser and then coming back to the shallows to see if we could spot any of the Leopard Sharks that had been reported recently.

So, we suited up, kicked out and dropped down in 40 ft. water.

After dropping through the Yellow/Green Gloom at around 20 ft., viz opened up considerably to around 20 ft., which was a pleasant surprise.

I had my goody bag and was happily picking up Heineken beer bottles and Tecate cans as we descended down into the draw leading leading to the Cruiser, when at 110 ft. Merrianne suddenly grabbed me in a ‘Whoa, partner!’ clutch. Turning, I saw her pointing to her ankle, then at her BC pockets.

Well, I never get narced [cough, cough....], but it took me a couple minutes to put 2+2 together ["I forgot to put on my ankle weights--they're in my BC"] and when I did, a couple more minutes to fish them out of her BC pockets, with a little help from her, while Jackie held the light so we could see.

But, eventually, we got them out and properly placed on her ankles, and all was well, once we emerged from this amazingly thick cloud of sand that we had created in the process……and the dive resumed.

We made it to the Cruiser without further incident and we were pleasantly surprised by the excellent visibility. Upon arrival, I noticed an extremely large male Sheephead patrolling the exterior of the little boat.

–For some excellent photos of what the male Sheephead and Cruiser looked like today, see Robert Todd’s superb shots, posted earlier.

We stayed on the Cruiser for a few minutes admiring the various types of Rockfish, before it was time to start heading back.

We ascended up the Canyon wall and headed South, until we hit the shallows, where in about 20 ft. of water, we stumbled across the largest Sheepcrab I’ve seen in a long time…..about 18-24 inches across at the legs and mad as hell. He had his dukes up and was taking all comers. He would swivel one way to face one of us, claws opening and closing, and then turn around and face someone else, making it clear that this was his territory and he was going to defend it!

We kept a respectful distance from his pinchers, but paused to admire him for a bit before moving on, and he stood his ground, watching us to make sure we left the area.

We surfaced in front of the Marine Room restaurant and I decided to do a final check in my cans and bottles for critters. Nothing in the Heineken bottle, but as I took the Tecate can out, an octopus tentacle popped out of the opening in the top. Everyone l gathered around, debating how best to free the little guy.

It was decided that I would carefully cut the side of the can opposite of where he was with my dive knife and free him that way. Sure enough, as soon as the side of the can was cut away, he sort poured himself out of the can and into the surf and back into the ocean, which gave us all a nice warm, fuzzy feeling, returning him to his home.

I try always to check cans and bottles before bringing them in, but in the case of the Tecate can, the opening in the top had been too small to shine a light in during the dive.

All in all, an excellent dive at the Marine Room.