Date: October 25, 2009

Time: 12:35 PM

Location: area where seven gill sharks have been seen before, off Point Loma

Dive Length: 43 minutes

Viz: 15-20 ft.

Mix: 31%

Max Depth: 80 feet

Marine life observed: senioritas, Black surf perch, kelp bass, rubber lipped surf perch, spiny lobster, green anemones, giant kelp, Cadlina luteomarginata, orange sponges, red volcano sponge, yellow sponge, red gorgonians, gold gorgonians, Moon sponge, lingcod, red algae….

Highlights:

–we motored out under sunny, blue skies and calm seas, with a wide angle photographer and a videographer, in the hopes of getting lucky and filming another seven gill shark.

Unfortunately, as it is usually the case, these animals rarely appear when you want them to; and almost always appear when you least expect them.

Nonetheless, we dropped anchor at our favorite spot, and had an excellent dive.

Barbara and Scott, the two photographers, teamed up, followed by Jackie and Peter, who had been visited by a seven gill not too long ago in a different area, followed by me and Jim, bringing up the rear.

Naturally, I lost sight of Jim, on his beloved scooter, almost as soon as I hit the bottom.

Nonetheless, I took a straight West heading and finned  my way into deeper water.

The bottom here is mainly flat, but with the occasional bizarre rock formations, some of them most nearly resembling the ones seen in southwestern Arizona: large arches and swim throughs, as well as towering columns that look like giant ant hills was  from a distance.

In and among these formations is an incredible variety of marine life: blacksmith, surf perch, senioritas and the occasional Lincod, as well as the smaller marine life, anemones, gorgonians and brightly colored sponges.

I made my way westward, keeping a hopeful eye out for the pulse-quickening silhouette of the seven gill, but it never came.

Nevertheless, I had a very nice, peaceful dive among the colorful marine life of Point Loma.

Along the way, I went over dramatic drop offs, like small cliffs, before reaching my turn around point and heading back in the higher levels of the water column, populated mainly by kelp bass and the cutest little baby Senoritas, enjoying the beams of sunlight played among the fronds, like a heavenly vision.

Climbing back on to the boat, I could see that, despite not having seen a seven gill, everyone else had a great dive also.

Another day in paradise folks!

Date: Saturday, October 24, 2009

Location: Yukon,  Wreck Alley

Time: 10:46 AM

Dive length: 46 minutes

Max depth: 105 feet

Visibility: 30 to 50 feet above 70 feet; 12 to 15 feet on the Yukon itself.

Mix: 31%

Dive buddies: Jackie P., Steve M., NOAA Jim

Marine Life Observed: Senoritas, Blacksmith, Surfperch, CA Sea Cucumbers, Strawberry Anemones, White Metridia, Senile Medtria, Tube-Dwelling Anemones, Giant Kelp, Elkhorn Kelp…..

Jackie’s Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/scubapro.bear/102409Yukon?feat=directlink

Steve Murvine’s Pics: http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b288/sddiverdude/oct%2009/oct%2024-25/

Highlights:

–the visibility above the 70 feet over the Yukon today was quite spectacular: I would estimate 30 to 50 feet…..  Very nice.  No coincidence then, that Jackie and I spent a good part of the final third of our dive in the water column there, admiring the nice Viz and all the Blacksmith fish cruising about there.

–visibility on the Yukon, however, as is common in this area, was not nearly as good: I would estimate a hazy 12 to 15 feet, at best.

–nonetheless, the three of us did three solo dives, cruising up and down the ship, admiring her beauty, with the strawberry anemones and the white Metridia glowing  in the early morning light.

–I made a special point of cruising over to check out the ghostly white face of Milt Beard, wedged under Milt’s Tilt, only to see that my prediction had come true: the sea was reclaiming it, with a small growth of brown algae. I posed briefly while Jackie took my photo next to Milt.

–upon returning to the Scuba Do, I found NOAA Jim and Steve already aboard, chatting about this and that.

Diving Accident:

–we hadn’t been aboard more than 10 or 15 minutes, when I noticed a diver from the commercial dive boat moored next to us, comerocketing up to the surface, ejecting waist high out of the water, before falling back, on her back, with white foam on her mouth, waving weakly to the crew on board that she was in trouble and needed help.

The crew on the boat next to us sprang into action, sending a Dive Master into the water, to assist her and bring her  back on to the boat.

Within minutes, they had summoned the San Diego lifeguards, over the emergency channel, and they came roaring up in a small craft and took her away.

We have no idea of her status or the cause of her underwater accident.

[I am happy to report that two divers from the boat in question called me after I posted this, to let me know that the diver in question is "OK." ]

Her dive buddy, remained below, decompressing, until her time was up, when she surfaced, apparently unharmed, and climbed aboard the dive boat at which point, they pulled anchor and left.

We were horrified  to watch this accident take place in front of our eyes, but our offers of assistance and oxygen bottles were politely declined.

It’s hard watching something like this take place right next to your boat, but when  it happens on a  commercial dive boat, you must let their crew handle it, because they are trained to do so.

We wish her the best.

Always a reminder, that no matter how bad you think your day is going, there’s always someone who is having a worse day than you.

Dive safe everyone,

Mikey