Dive #1 [Actual: #679]

Date: Sunday, April 22, 2007

Time: 12:22 pm

Location: Cathedral Heights, Scripps Canyon, North Branch

Max Depth: 130 ft.

Dive Length: 45 mins

Viz: 3-5 ft. at surface. 1-3 ft. at depth, due to major Red Tide conditions

Temp: 52 F.

Mix: 27%

Critters seen: Red and Gold Gorgonians, orange and yellow sponges, a Swell Shark, Blacksmith fish

Barbara, Charlie, Jarrod and I motored out to on the Scuba Do Scripps today under grey, leaden skies and a cool breeze.

Upon arrival, we were disappointed to note the water had a distinct brownish tinge to it, so we knew that the Red Tide of late had not dissipated.

Nonetheless, Barbara and Charlie suited up and jumped in with the reel and strobe to attach to the anchor line and by the time they surfaced and Jarrod and I splashed in, were were glad they had.

We descended down the line through brownish, chocolatey- colored water and by the time we reached the anchor, visibility was down to around 4 ft.

Based what Barb and Charlie had said about the position of the anchor, I decided to reel the line with the strobe on it out another 15 ft. or so South and tied it up on a ledge at around 100 ft.

Jarrod and I then dropped down into the ‘Black Hole’ of the canyon to around 130 ft. and per our dive plan, headed South.

At 130 ft., the canyon was as black as night and viz was about 2 ft., so we hugged the wall and continued South.

Despite the poor viz, I recognized that we were at Cathedral Heights by the long vertical cracks in the rock, 8-10 ft. in height, delineating the various ‘sections of wall as we headed South. Running horizontally were numerous ledges about 6 inches in height.

In the reddish-brown gloom I could still make out Gold and Red Gorgonians on the ledges and yellow and orange sponges peeking out from the crevices.

I realized that going this deep had been a mistake in these conditions, because in addition to the narcosis and the dark, the overhanging ledges were blocking what little available daylight there was, so I signaled to Jerrod that we ascend a bit, to around 100 ft. and continued our trek South along the wall.

After about 20 minutes of ‘braille diving,’ I figured we should begin heading back, before we got too far from the blinking strobe hanging at 100 ft.

About 1/3 of the way back, I noticed Jerrod flashing me with his light, about 8 ft. behind me, so I turned around and headed in his direction.

I was glad I did: he was peering into one of the horizontal ledges, and about 2 ft. in, I could make out the shape of a cute little Swell Shark, looking out worriedly at us, as if wondering what these two weirdos were doing, down in his canyon, shining their lights in his face.

Given the otherwise dismal conditions of the Red Tide, this was certainly the highlight of our dive.

Doubling back Northward after saying ‘hi’ to our new friend, I was relieved to see the trusty strobe blinking away at us up ahead.

I pulled it up and began reeling in the reel as we headed up along the anchor line through the chocolate-brown Red Tide towards the boat.

Despite the Red Tide, the dive was worth it just to see the little Swell Shark.

Dive #2: [Actual #680]

Time: 3:20 pm

Dive Length: 43 mins

Location: Yukon, Wreck Alley

Temp: 50 F.

Max Depth: 106 ft. [brought shovels]

Mix: 31%

Viz: a bit better: 8-12 ft. [at least we could see how hand in front of our face]

Critters: HUGE schools of Blackmith, male Sheephead, Senoritas, White Metridia, Greenlings, Macrocystis……ISIFS [I'm sure I'm forgetting something]

After Scripps, we decided to see if Wreck Alley had fared any better with the Red Tide, so we motored out there to see what we could see–ha, ha!

Upon arrival, we saw the Lois Ann anchored near the North part of the ship, evidently doing work on the mooring lines–so, thanks to them and the San Diego Ocean Foundation for that annual maintenance work.

As before, Barb and Charlie agreed to be the ‘canaries in the coal mine,’ so they suited up and jumped in, coming back about 40 mins later report considerably better viz than we had had on Scripps, so Jerrod and I wasted no time suiting up and jumping in.

Jerrod did his spectacular 3/4 Forward Roll/Gainer into the water and we all applauded and gave him a 8.5 for form. He literally launches himself off the boat and somersaults forward with full SCUBA gear on, minus fins, and does a 3/4 Forward Gainer into the water–it’s quite something to watch. There were not takers on trying to emulate him, however. Gee……I wonder why…….

We made our way down through the brown gloom through an amazingly large school of adult Blacksmith fish, about 30 ft. deep at around 50 ft. They were literally everywhere, and most fish was no further than a couple feet from us. It was one of the densest schools of fish I had ever been in. Blacksmith coming right up to us and trying to peer into our masks. Quite cool.

After descending through the Red Tide and the Blacksmith Tide, we arrived on the Stern of the Yukon and made our way down to the sand, shovels in hand, to see how deep we could get on a 100 ft. bottom. Note: we don’t really bring shovels.

Gliding along the bottom, we made our way under the Mortar Bay, until we came to some areas under the Yukon, just behind the rear guns, that went pretty far back under the ship.

I tended to stay on the outside, while Jerrod burrowed his way back as far as he could go; he managed what I believe to be a new depth record for the Yukon: 109 ft.

Barred Sand Bass stared out dully from their niches under the ship. We came across one smallish Sheep Crab, about 12 inches wide and we gently passed him back and forth, before lightly setting him back down on the sand.

We continued our ‘sand crawl’ under all the superstructure until we noticed that we had traversed the entire length of the ship and were directly under the Dolphin cut out.

At this point, we began ascending upward towards the cutouts themselves and towards the Forward Guns on the superstructure.

Milt’s Tilt was so covered in White Metridia that it looked as if it had snowed recently as we continued our way back towards the Stern.

About halfway across, I lost sight of Jerrod in the Brown Gloom, but decided to keep going until I reached the Mortar Bay and wait for him there.

I finned around the Mortar Bay peering into the various cutouts and holes and spotting quite a few Painted Greenlings and Sheephead, before spotting Jerrod’s bubbles making their way towards me about 10 ft. below me.

We joined up at the ascent line and made our way back up through the chocolate layer, with a leisurely Deep Stop at 52 ft., before continuing our way back up the line, doing our safety stop and actually managing to come right right beside the boat, despite the limited viz.

All, in all, it was a good day of diving, in spite of the Red Tide.

We would never let a minor thing like ‘zero viz’ stop us from diving!

Dive #1 [Actual: 677]

Date: Sunday, 4-1-07

Time: 11:20

Location: Wreck Alley, Yukon

Dive Length: 43 mins

Max Depth: 102 ft. [managed to crawl under the Yukon with my shovel]

Mix: 32%

Critters Seen: [REEF Survey: Vertebrates Only] uncounted hordes of Blacksmith, Senoritas, Pile Perch, Ling Cod, Sheephead, Painted Greenlings

Today, we had the honor of having well known underwater videographer Mary Lynn Price onboard to dive with us [ she founded DiveFilm.com in early 2000, as one of the first websites dedicated to showcasing underwater video on the internet. She is also one of the founding organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. She has authored numerous DVDs, including one with renowned writer and underwater imager, Marty Snyderman, "Sharks & Their Kin with Marty Snyderman].

It was so great to have her along to tell stories about the early days of Doc Anes’ San Diego Shark Diving business and the fun she had being his videographer on numerous shark dives [this was back when San Diego still had sharks]. I knew her predecessor, Perry Armor, who had taken video of our shark dive in 2001.

We also had onboard my buddy, ‘NOAA Jim,’ who earned the moniker by working for NOAA, obviously, who has fascinating stories of his own to tell of the governmental politics involved in regulating fisheries. On the way out, we all had a good discussion of the current state of sharks, the ocean and dwindling fish populations.

Upon arrival on the Yukon, we were delighted to discover we had the ship to ourselves, to Jim and I gallantly decided to let the ladies jump in first, to test the conditions for us.

After listening to more NOAA tales for 45 mins or so, Barbara and Mary Lynn popped to the surface, happily under reporting the viz as 15 ft., as we were about to find out.

Jim and I wasted no time in jumping in and, after passing through a brief layer of murk, arrived on the Stern of the Yukon to discover, to our delight, that the viz on the ship was more like 20-30 ft.

As we made our way down to the sand [Jim and I are both bottom-crawlers] we had to descend through HUGE schools of adult Blacksmith fish which were blanketing the aft part of the ship. These schools of Blacksmith were so thick they almost blocked out the surface light.

[One tick on slate for Blacksmith--Abundant]

We continued on down the ship, along the sand, towards the bow, coming across numerous Sand Bass hiding under the hull, along with a good sized Ling Cod that Jim pointed out to me [another tick on slate].

As we reached amidships, I signaled Jim that we should begin heading up towards the superstructure, which we did.

We glided slowly up until we were aft of the Forward Guns, where we turned on our backs and enjoyed the spectacular view of rays of sunlight streaming down through our columns of bubbles from above. We could see the top of the ship from the sand, which gives you and idea of the visibility.

After finning about near the Forward Guns, for a bit, we headed towards the Bridge, where I planned to show Jim the memorial plaque to Steve Donathan, which Jim, as a former student of Steve’s, had never seen before.

Approaching it respectfully, I used my glove to brush off the accumulated algae, so Jim could get a better view of the plaque dedicated to his old friend and mentor.

From here, we made our way across the superstructure, past the Radio Mast, until we were upon the Mortar Bay, where Jim and descended briefly down into large hold in the bottom, where there was a hapless and quite large lobster still stuck in a trap that was at the bottom.

I noticed Jim working to free him, now that lobster season was over, and as I glided up out of the hold, the lobster, overjoyed at being freed by a human hand, came shooting past me like he had been shot out of a canon, startling the crap out of me.

We then made our way back up to the Starboard side of the hull, where all the macrocystis grows, swaying gently in the current, where we began our slow ascent to the surface.

Barbara and Mary Lynn were delighted to hear that the viz had actually improved since their last visit, and so, they wasted no time in suiting up and jumping back in.

40 mins later they popped to the surface agreeing that the viz had actually been better than on their last visit and Mary Lynn reported that she had gotten some good video footage down below.

Dive #2 [Actual: #678]

Time: 1:20 pm

Dive Length: 45 mins

Max Depth: 102 ft. [more crawling around under the ship]

Mix: 29%

Critters Seen: [REEF Survey: Invertebrates Only]: Giant Spiny Starfish, Warty Sea cucumber, numerous Medridia, Strawberry Anemones, one Hermessinda

For our second dive, Jim and I decided to crawl along the bottom, under the hull and giant propeller, towards the bow and ascend up over the hull, down on to the superstructure below, which is exactly what we did.

After passing under the Metridia-covered giant propeller, we headed towards the bow, passing under Grafitti Alley, towards midships.

Truth be told, except for a few hardy Barred Sand Bass hiding under the hull, there isn’t a whole lot of life on the hull side.

When we estimated that we were at about midships [hard to tell from the underside of the ship], we began slowing ascending up towards the Starboard side of the ship.

We glided up and over the hull, through the mini-forest of macrocystis and did the ‘Wheeee’ thing, over and down onto the superstructure, coming down around the Forward Guns.

The viz was even better than on our first dive and we could see quite a ways aft, towards the Stern.

The huge schools of Blacksmith were still blanketing the deck, flitting this way and that as we swam through them. Some of the, mixed with a Senorita, here and there, would come right up to our masks to peer in.

Passing by the Radio Tower, we were amazed at how much of the ship was visible, and the brilliant mottling color of Stawberry Anemones and bright white stem of large Metridia poking out here and there.

Milt’s Tilt looked as if it had been buried in a recent snow fall, so many Medridia were there all over it.

We made our way past Milt’s Tilt and the Radio Tower, until we found ourselves approaching the Mortar Bay again, where we ducked up through the ‘skylight’ above, allowing ourselves to be sucked up through it, into the forest of macrocystis above, still waving in the current.

By now, Jim [poor fellow], being on 21%, was running up against deco, so we agreed to begin heading back up the line, reluctantly leaving Lady Yukon behind, promising to be back as soon as we could. I still had 20 minutes left before deco and plenty of air, but being the good sport that I am, didn’t tell him that.

Another superb day in Wreck Alley, folks!

Mikey