Date: Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Dive Sites: Inner Pinnacles/Pescadero, Carmel

Dive Times: 0854/1135

Purpose: Science Diving/REEF surveys

Max Depths: 90 ft/102 ft.

Viz: variable: 2-4 ft. at top of pinnacles/20-30 ft. further down/30 ft. at second site

Mix: 29-32%

Buddies: Barbara, Jackie

Marine Life Observed: Macrocystis, Southern Palm, Purple Hydrocoral, Cup Coral, Orange Cucumbers, CA Cucumbers, Blue Rockfish, China Rockfish, Strawberry Anemone, Fluted Bryozoans, Tube Dwelling Anemones, White Spotted Anemones, Giant Spined Sea Stars, Sunflower Sea Stars, Masking Crabs, Noble Dorids, Monterey Dorids, Orange Puffballs, Painted Greenlings….

Brief Highlights:

We have a lot of data to enter at the end of the day, so my reports will be mercifully short this week.

Dive #1: ‘Inner Pinnacles’

–Seas a bit rough on the way out, with whitecaps—normal conditions for Monterey in the summer

–the first dive got off to an uncomfortable start with low viz and strong surge in a Macrocystis/Southern Palm forest at the top of the pinnacle, but opened up dramatically further down the sea mount, when viz expanded dramatically  and a  gorgeous, Technicolor vista opened up and we got in a productive marine life survey.

Dive #2: Pescadera

–highlight of the second dive was the appearance, verified by Capt Phil, of a mother humpback whale and her calf, who both breached within 50 yards of the boat on two separate occasions.

The second dive was a beautiful wall, covered in invertebrate marine life, dropping down to 100 ft.

The Monterey area seems to be experiencing an algae bloom down to 60 ft., but it avoidable by going below it.

Truly spectacular diving…….looking forward to more tomorrow.

It was so nice to have marine biologist Dr. Steve Lonhart onboard to answer any questions why had about marine life.

Date: 10-10-09

Location: Keyhole, Los Coronados Islands, Mexico

Mix: 32%

Viz: 30-40 ft. on average [nice!]

Dive Buddies: Kathy, NOAA Jim and Barbara Lloyd

Dive Type: Recreational

Boat: Private

Marine Life Observed: Brittle Stars, Giant Spiny Sea Stars, Black-eyed Gobies, Red and Gold Gorgonians, Boa Kelp, Pterygophora californica, Boa Kelp, White Sea Urchins [Lytechinus anamesus], male and female Sheephead, Blacksmith fish, Senoritas, Calico Bass, huge schools of Silversides, Harbor seals…..

Highlights:

Dive #1: we came out to the Coronados Islands on our friends Bob and Kathy’s ‘super boat,’ a 26 ft. Blackmun with diesel engines, which made excellent time out to the islands under sunny, blue skies.

–this dive was rather  characterized, rather comically,  by my having worn too thick a liner with too thick of a dry suit [neoprene] and having to ditch Kathy and Barb at 20 ft. on their way to the Keyhole underwater ‘swim-through,’ because I was, quite simply roasting in the 62 degree water and was forced to seek cooler [read: deeper] waters, below 60 ft.

So, while they cavorted in the warmer and shallower depths, I amused myself by lying very still near the sandy bottom, at around 70 ft. and here’s what I discovered: if you lie very still, without moving a muscle, the little Black-eyed Gobies become very curious about you and come hopping over on the sand to check you out.

First, the boldest one  comes to check you out and he settles about 6 inches in front of your mask, his beady little black eyes watching you………..then, his buddies, seeing that their friend has come to no harm settling if front of  the strange-looking human dressed like a seal, come over to check you out.

And, the funny thing is, these little guys all come over and sit in front of you in a rough semi-circle, about 6 ins.  in front of your mask, beady eyes all on you, waiting for your next move.

Then, if you lay still long enough, you begin to notice things you never noticed before: like how both Brittle Stars and Sea Urchins actually will ‘walk’ across your field of vision, if you lay there long enough. The area was blanketed with both, most abundant being the small, White Sea Urchin, about an inch across–and, they all will walk across your field of vision if you are patient enough.  How cool is that?

Unfortunately, if you lay there without moving long enough, NOAA Jim also comes by with his scooter, the whining sound of his engine growing louder until he, too, is right in front of your mask,  to make sure you’re not dead, and scares them all away.

But, no worries: it’s always good that someone underwater comes by to check and make sure you are still breathing! Thanks, Jim!

Dive: #2: Through the Keyhole

So, after letting the girls, Kathy and Barb down on the first dive, I promised Barb that I would oblige her by letting her film me and Kathy, coming and going through the swim-through, for which the site is named, at about 15 ft., regardless of how warm I was in my fuzzy liner, with her hi-def Sony video cam.

So, Kathy and I swam over and through the ‘Keyhole’ opening, which is about 3 ft. across the top when exposed at high tide  and about 20 ft across in the middle, filled with huge clumps of Boa Kelp and algae, which you must part like a curtain to get through.

You also have to deal with the swell, which has a ‘push-me-pull-you’ effect as you try to swim through; you just have to wait until it decides to push you, before you can make it through the opening. Fighting against the ‘push’ is an exercise in futility.

Once that was accomplished, Kathy and  I sought cooler depths once again, and headed East towards the boat and then North-ish to explore other areas.

One of the highlights of both dives, besides the incredible abundance of marine life, were the huge ‘freight trains’ of Silversides, most likely some type of Mackerel, that curved around us every few minutes, making us feel as if we were surrounded by a sliver curtain through out much of the day.

All in all, it was an absolutely superb day in the Coronados Islands of Mexico, not 2 hours from San Diego by boat.

Dive safe, everyone………

Dive #1

Date: 10/3/09

Dive #2

Location: Broomtail Reef, Pt. Loma

Photos (mostly wide angle):

http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20091003-Scuba-Pt-Loma/

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First dive was absolutely spectacular.  Visibility was awesome, with crystal clear blue water in the top 40 feet.  >From the boat, we could see down about 30 feet into the kelp.  At the bottom, I found my first MacFarland’s chromodorids (I’ve been looking for one of these for a long time).  There were four or more of them on the reef at about 70 ft, but I had my fisheye lens on and couldn’t get a pic of them.  I spent the dive shooting the kelp, gorgonians and following Mikey and Barbara around.

- On the second dive, I switched to macro and we headed east to shallower water and Broomtail Reef.  Visibility was less and once we got to the bottom, the surge was pretty strong (2-3 feet in both directions).  After searching a small pinnacle for life to photograph, Mikey brought me to a giant structure that was full of life.  Unfortunately, I was at my turn around pressure and had to head back after a quick pass.  There were lots of Porter’s chromodorids on this structure, but no MacFarland’s.  I had taken so many photos on the first dive (~300), one of my strobes died at this reef structure.  The second one died while I was ascending and taking pictures of kelp.  Coming back to the boat from underneath at about 30 feet, I could only tell that I found it because there was a roughly boat shaped mass of kelp.  Conditions topside had started to change for the worse as the sky was full of clouds, the wind had picked up and swells were increasing in size.  We all got back on board, careful not to slip on the kelp as we climbed the ladder, very grateful to have witnessed the spectacular conditions before the storm cancelled diving for the rest of the weekend.