Under Pressure Photography -- Scott F McGee

Dive Reports Galleries

2010/02/19 - Shaws Cove Laguna Beach : Date: 2/19/10 Location: Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach Time in: 9:31 am Time under: 61 min Max depth: 21 ft Min temp: 61.5 F Vis: 5-10 ft in some places Waves: 1-3 ft with the occasional large wave Buddy: pony bottle Blog entry: http://underpressurephoto.blogspot.com/2010/02/dive-report-shaws-cove-laguna-beach.html Highlights: First dive in 2 months! I spent the whole hour in the large crevice with the Hopkins roses. I also saw a colorful polyclad flatworm (Stylochus insolitus) and a Cockerell's Dorid (Laila cockerelli). I stayed outside the area of the first choke point, where the surge starts to get really strong. The were a large number of waves in each set (4-5?), so I had to time photos in between the surge. I'm really glad I got the dive in before the storm and large waves came in. For this dive, I was focused on dialing in my macro photography, since I'm out of practice (and wide angle was out of the question). I spent the time needed to get the lighting from my strobes where I wanted it. With the Ikelite housing set to normal TTL, it is usually too bright even at 1/250s, f/20. For most of these shots, the TTL knob was set to -1 or darker. I searched for the larger Hopkins roses that were not flat against the vertical wall, in order to use the depth of field and shadows to highlight the subject. For the Cockerell's dorid, it was so small that I couldn't tell which orange spot was the rhinophores, but fortunately, I got the whole nudibranch in focus. For the featherduster worms, I had to find one that wasn't light sensitive. Typically, they retract as soon as you shine a light on them. They are also very sensitive to water movement.

2010/02/19 - Shaws Cove Laguna Beach

2009/12/20 - Scuba Shaws Cove : Date: 12/20/09 Location: Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach Time in: 8:10 am Time under: 43 min Max depth: 30 ft Min temp: 59 F Vis: 10-15 ft Waves: 1-2 w/ occasional 3 ft Buddies: Gary P, Alex P Highlights: Enjoyed my first time diving with my coworker and his daughter. First time back at Shaws Cove in about 2 years. Gary, Alex and I met up at Shaws on Sunday morning. Alex was recently certified and Gary is a little rusty, but has been diving since the 80's. I gave them a little tour of Shaws cove and pointed out some of the local wildlife. Conditions were calm enough that we able to go through the first bottleneck in the large swimthrough. Both did really well and Gary spotted the rather large (~3+ ft) horn shark in there. We swam out to where the reef turns to the west and then turned around when our air was halfway gone. Pictures were not the focus (pun intended) and soon after taking my first picture, I realized my 60mm macro lens was focus locked in a range that didn't include macro. Apparently, my test shot was not close enough and I'm rusty taking macro underwater pictures. The swim back in was uneventful, other than Gary getting rolled in a 2-3 ft wave during his exit :) Alex hung back and exited with me, easily walking out in the < 1 ft surf.

2009/12/20 - Scuba Shaws Cove

2009/12/05 - Scuba Santa SD Dive Club : Date: 12/05/09 Location: Sport Chalet, Pt Loma Time in: 10:10 am Time under: ~120 min Max depth: 14 ft Min temp: 78 F Vis: 15 ft w/ particulate Swells: negligible Surge: None Buddy: Santa, SD Dive Club and kids I helped out at the San Diego Dive Club's annual Scuba Santa at Sport Chalet: Scuba with Santa The event requires participants to bring a toy donation in support of the St. Vincent De Paul homeless shelter. No scuba experience is required (Discover Scuba). Below are some pictures from the event, mostly of the SD Dive Club volunteers.

2009/12/05 - Scuba Santa SD Dive Club

2009/11/26 - Pt Loma Kelp Thanksgiving Dive : Date: 11/26/09 Location: Eastern Broomtail Reef, Pt Loma Time in: 12:11 pm Time under: 64 min Max depth: 45 ft Min temp: 61 F Vis: 40 ft, 50+ vertical - I could see the bottom from the surface! Swells: negligible Surge: 1-2 ft at the bottom, none above that. Buddy: Mikey, Barbara, NOAA Jim Highlights: Tropical visilibity, great dive spot. Back in the water after a dry month. Ran out of room on the camera memory card before running low on air.

2009/11/26 - Pt Loma Kelp Thanksgiving Dive

2009/10/25 - Scuba Pt Loma : Date: 10/25/09 Dive #: 170 Location: Pt Loma, near Broomtail Reef Time in: 12:06 pm Time under: 65 min Max depth: 60 ft Min temp: 59 F Gas: 32% Vis: 15 ft on the bottom, 30+ near the surface, cloudy all over Swells: 1-2 ft, growing later in the day Current: None Buddies: Barbara, Mikey, NOAA Jim, Peter B., Jackie Highlights: Nice day out on the water and a relaxing dive off the Scuba Do. Clear visibility in the top 30 feet presented some beautiful kelp canopy and sunbursts. Unfortunately, no sevengills decided to come visit. However, the female sheepheads were out in number.

2009/10/25 - Scuba Pt Loma

2009/10/18 - Scuba LJS : Date: 10/18/09 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 8:46 am Time under: 66 min Max depth: 68 ft Min temp: 66 F Vis: 10-15 ft, milky Waves: 1-3 ft, glassy surface Buddy: Mike Hallack, with Laura and Spencer nearby Highlights: Seeing the argus eel for the first time (though his 'cave' is now a small hole), lion nudis, the fact that the kelp forest at Vallecitos Pt survived the first 'storm'. After some issues with my backup regulator, we made our way out under cloudy skies. The water was glassy on the surface and we could see the pier through the fog, so lineups were doable. Mike and I headed south of the point, while Spencer and Laura decided to start north of the point. Mike dropped us down right at Argee's hole. Unfortunately, Bubba and other movement kept the alcove cloudy with silt. After a few pictures, we headed north towards the point. There we encountered a northerly current pushing the kelp down. At Vallecitos Pt, we searched among the kelp for lion nudis and juvenile fish for a little while before starting to head back. The swim in was uneventful and we surfaced in ~8 feet of water in front of the life guard tower.

2009/10/18 - Scuba LJS

2009/10/03 - Scuba Pt Loma : Dive #1 Date: 10/3/09 Location: Lazy Days Wreck, Pt. Loma Time in: 11:52 am Time under: 54 min Max depth: 78 ft Min temp: 64 F Vis: 50+ ft! Waves: small swells, glassy surface Buddies: Mikey Bear, Barbara Lloyd, NOAA Jim Dive #2 Location: Broomtail Reef, Pt. Loma Time in: 2:30 pm Time under: 52 min Max depth: 56 ft Min temp: 62 F Vis: 15+ ft Waves: 2-3 ft of surge Buddies: Mikey Bear, Barbara Lloyd - 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.

2009/10/03 - Scuba Pt Loma

2009/09/27 - Scuba LJS : Date: 9/27/09 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 8:31 AM Time under: 68 min Max depth: 62 ft Min temp: 60 F Vis: 10-15 ft Waves: 1-2 ft, no energy Buddies: Mike H, Spencer, Steve L Highlights: First dive in a month! It's good to be back in the water. First siphonophore with a very juvenile manefish (Caristius - perhaps species madarensis), my first janolus and a lion nudi. The kelp forest at Vallecitos is growing in nicely. It was a very relaxing dive today with little surf and surge and a nice leisurely swim along the wall towards Vallecitos Point. A lot of interesting (non-normal) life out today.

2009/09/27 - Scuba LJS

2009/08/29 - Scuba La Jolla Offshore : Dive #1 Date: 8/29/09 Location: Mikey's Secret Spot off La Jolla Time in: 12:06 pm Time under: 36 min Max depth: 101 ft Min temp: 55 F Vis: 15 ft on the bottom, 30+ ft between 0-40 ft deep Waves: None to be concerned about Current: Strong southerly current, 1-2 knots in the top ~20 ft of water Buddies: Mikey Bear, NOAA Jim Highlights: Thick elk horn kelp forest from 20 ft to the bottom at 100 ft. Ripping current on the surface, it was a struggle just to swim to the anchor line. Fortunately, Mikey put out a long line from the boat that we used (with Jim helping) to pull ourselves back to the boat. On our way up through the kelp, we got circled by a nice 4 ft giant sea bass that startled Mikey.. Dive #2: Date: 8/29/09 Location: God's Rock, La Jolla Time in: 3:04 pm Time under: 43 min Max depth: 72 ft Min temp: 58 F Vis: 10-15 ft Waves: swells from the south Buddies: Mikey Bear, NOAA Jim Highlights: Switched to my macro lens and descended on a reef area off of downtown La Jolla. Mikey waited by a nice sized cabezon, but unfortunately, I couldn't get a good shot off before it swam away. We found lots of spanish shawls and a few hermissendas. I also found my first mating nudibranchs - a pair of porter's chromodorids (one of my favorites). Overall, a beautiful day on the water, with good company.

2009/08/29 - Scuba La Jolla Offshore

2009/08/23 - Scuba LJS :

2009/08/23 - Scuba LJS

2009/08/16 - Scuba LJS : Date: 8/16/09 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 7:53 am Time under: 65 min Max depth: 80 ft Min temp: 55.8 F Vis: 15-20 ft, and a nice blue rather than green color Waves: 1-3 ft, Buddy: Mike and Spencer Had a nice dive with Mike and Spencer this morning. Nothing special, other than noticing the nice kelp forest that's starting to grow at Vallecitos. Vis was nice, definite thermocline from 68F to 56F around 30 feet.

2009/08/16 - Scuba LJS

2009/08/02 - Scuba Seal Rock Laguna Beach : Date: 8/2/09 Location: Crescent/Seal Rock Time in: 8:49 am Time under: 64 min Max depth: 63 ft Min temp: Min - 64F, 73F on the surface Vis: 30 feet above ~30 feet, 10-15 feet below that. Waves: 1-3 feet, clear sets of larger waves Buddy: Graham and Brad Highlights: Gorgeous vis above 30 feet. Clear blue warm water. My first time capturing sea lions. Both Brad and Graham brought scooters, so I got a nice tow out to Seal Rock. I also decided to dive wet, since the water temp was so nice. It's my first time diving So Cal wet since I got my drysuit over a year ago. In some ways I miss it... We scootered out to Seal Rock and were delighted to have 2 to 3 sea lions frolicking in the whitewash. Occasionally, they would swim a little closer to see what we were up to. We then tried to navigate to Deadman's Reef underwater, but I think I led us in the opposite direction, so we got a nice tour of the desert. On the way back in, the shallows were very clear and the sun had come out. There were a few large waves, but there was a big gap between sets.

2009/08/02 - Scuba Seal Rock Laguna Beach

2009/07/18 - Scuba HMCS Yukon : Date: 7/17/09 Location: HMCS Yukon, Wreck Alley, San Diego Time in: 10:53 am Time under: 41 min Max depth: 97 ft Min temp: 54 F Vis: 25 ft Waves: 2-3 ft swells Gas: 32% Buddies: Mikey Bear, Peter McGuinness, Jim Kinane Dive #2: Date: 7/17/09 Location: HMCS Yukon, Wreck Alley, San Diego Surface Interval: 1:20 min Time in: 12:54 pm Time under: 33 min Max depth: 91 ft Min temp: 54 F Vis: 25 ft Waves: 2-3 ft swells Gas: 32% Buddy: Mikey Bear Highlights: Great vis on the first dive, first time diving in a few weeks. Beautiful day out on the water. I'll leave the dive reports to Mikey, since he does a better job than me of making it sound exciting. I was hoping to shoot macro and on the first dive, so I was really happy the vis was a really good 25 feet (below the much from 0-40 feet). It was also my first time diving the front half of the Yukon, so I got to see the forward guns. The crows nest (if that's what it's called) has to be my favorite part. It's completely covered in white metridium anemones. We did a leisurely (and short) second dive, however, the muck started to extend down onto the wreck, so the vis wasn't nearly as good. I saw two jellyfish on the way down the line, but didn't have the camera ready yet. On the wreck, we saw the usual assortment, including sheep crabs (how do they climb all the way up there?).

2009/07/18 - Scuba HMCS Yukon

2009/05/21 - Scuba LJS : Date: 5/21/09 Time in: 4:10 PM Time under: 53 min Max Depth 83 ft Avg Temp 55 f Avg depth 46 ft This was a birthday dive for me and also the first time back in the water since my camera flooded on 5/1 (which was a 10 minute dive to 45 ft, btw). I've since gotten replacements for my camera/lens and a second strobe and focus light. This was also my first dive taking pictures with two strobes. The current was a lot of fun as well as almost running into a cormorant. I usually don't see the bat rays at the shores either, just the cloud of dust.

2009/05/21 - Scuba LJS

2009/04/24 - Scuba LJS Dawn Patrol : Date: 4/24/09 Location: LJS Time in: Way too early - 5:34 am. Time under: 77 min Max depth: 65 ft Average depth: 38 ft Av Temp: 55 F Vis: ~10 ft Waves: 1-2 ft Buddies: Mike H., Terry, Marla Highlights: Night dive, but in the morning. Very relaxing and surprisingly good vis and small waves, considering the large swell that's coming in. I decided to join Terry and company on a sunrise dive this morning. I have to say, I enjoyed it more than a normal night dive, since the sun comes up while underwater. It doesn't feel as chilly getting out when it's light out. It was low tide, so after a long walk across the sand, we did a short surface swim out. After dropping down, it was a nice relaxing stroll along the wall south of Vallecitos. Early on, Terry found a small jellyfish, but I couldn't get a clear picture of it. A humorous part of the dive for me was when I was trying to take a picture of a spanish shawl on the wall. As I'm photographing it, I notice my strobe isn't lighting it up. I take my eyeball out of the viewfinder and see this stop motion avalanche of kelp swaying back and forth, but ever farther over the cliff edge. It was coming over the spanish shawl (and my head). I had to give up at that point. Later on, I found two more spanish shawls that had been knocked off the wall in a similar manner. Mike and I turned around first, but Terry and Marla beat us in, since we took our time examining the detritus floating around the sand dollars. On the way back in, we found a couple of pipefish in the detritus and a plastic harmonica in the shallows. Hot chocolate afterwards and then home in time to start work. Thanks for convincing me to get up early!

2009/04/24 - Scuba LJS Dawn Patrol

2009/04/18 - Scuba LJS : Date: 4/18/09 Dive #: 125 Location: LJS - Vallecitos Pt. Time in: 8:05 am Time under: 59 min Max depth: 88 ft Average depth: 51 ft Min temp: 51 F (brrr) Avg temp: 52 F (brrrr) Vis: 15 ft below 60 ft deep. 5 ft above 45 ft. Waves: 1-2 ft, no punch Buddies: Spencer, Mike H. Highlights: First dive back after 3 weeks dry. Relearning how to take pictures underwater :). Catalina Triopha, stearn's aeolid, and the usual. Nothing really special on this dive, but it was really nice to get back in the water after being dry for 3 weeks. The weather turned really nice on Saturday and we took advantage of it. The algae bloom hadn't gone away, but it did keep above about 60 ft. We took a trip down to about 90 ft and it was pretty clear.

2009/04/18 - Scuba LJS

2009/03/21 - Scuba Pt Loma Wide Angle : Date: 3/21/09 Location: Broomtail Reef, Pt Loma on the Scuba Do Time in: 2:17 pm Time under: 52 min Max depth: 51 ft Average depth: 40 ft Min temp: low 50s Vis: ~20 ft under the gloom layer Gas: 32.6% Waves: glassy Buddy: Barbara Lloyd Highlights: Large sevengill shark, doing 4 passes. Need I say more? Barbara already wrote a nice report, so I'll save you the reading. I was photographing Barbara, who was filming creatures. Then a large sevengill shark did a close flyby. We only saw it do three passes, but on looking at second gorgonian shot, you can see the shadow of it's tail on the far left. Barbara's great video is up at: http://vimeo.com/3813419 Update on the species and sex from Mark Ball, Head Aquarist at Birch Aquarium, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA: "That's a Sevengill, also known as Broadnose Sevengill, Bluntnose Sevengill, or Broadsnout Sevengill (but usually just called "Sevengill") - Notorhynchus cepedianus - a female, looks to be about their max size of 9-feet. Eats everything it can find, including carrion and that includes human carrion after hurricanes, etc. Can live at least 50 years. Aggressive when provoked, considered "potentially dangerous", although a lot of divers have gotten photos of them and I've never heard of anyone getting bitten. They are suspected of a few attacks in California and South Africa. "

2009/03/21 - Scuba Pt Loma Wide Angle

2009/03/21 - Scuba Pt Loma Macro : Date: 3/21/09 Location: Broomtail Reef, Pt Loma on the Scuba Do Time in: 11:16 am Time under: 70 min Max depth: 50 ft Average depth: 41 ft Min temp: low 50s Vis: ~20 ft under the gloom layer Gas: air Waves: glassy Buddy: Barbara Lloyd Highlights: My first hilton's aeolid, yellow spotted cadlina, porter's chromodorid, aegires albopunctatus, tritonia festiva, Odhners dorid, yellow edged cadlinas and more hermissenda crassicornis than I could count. We swam directly to a large structure in 50 ft of water. I never made it around to the other side, there was so much to look at. There was a large overhang that went up to about 35 ft that was just covered in nudibranchs. The highlight was seeing my first hilton's aeolid. It literally fell from the sky in a ball, where my air bubbles may have knocked it off the overhang. Little did I know, but there was a juvenile one crawling around right next to where it landed. I didn't see it until looking at the pictures (they're kind of camouflaged).

2009/03/21 - Scuba Pt Loma Macro

2009/03/08 - Scuba LJS : Date: 3/8/09 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 9 am Time under: 67 min Max depth: 66 ft Average depth: 44ft Min temp: 51 F Vis:15-20 ft Waves: 1-3 ft, very small off Valecitos Buddy: John Lawton Highlights: Shooting macro again, good vis, new dive buddy I had a very nice dive this morning with John L. We saw the usual critters along the wall, with nothing too unusual. Saw a california armina on the way out, white spotted porostomes, noble dorids, yellowfin fringeheads, two spot octopi, sarcastic fringeheads, stearns aeolids, hermissenda crassicornis and some remaining squid eggs. It was pretty cold out at the point and my hands were going numb right about when when we turned around, but the vis was good at depth. On the way in, we came across a rather large sheep crab who wanted to pick a fight. He must have been standing at least a foot off the bottom trying to reach up and grab me.

2009/03/08 - Scuba LJS

2009/02/28 - Scuba Yukon : Date: 2/28/09 Location: Yukon, Wreck Alley Time in: 9:30 am Time under: 44 min Max depth: 90 ft Average depth: 58.7 ft Min temp: 53F Vis: 15-20+ Waves: 1-2 swells Gas: 32% Buddies: Mike H., Mikey B., NOAA Jim on the Scuba Do Highlights: First wreck dive with the WA lens, beautiful 70F day, with good conditions and great dive buddies all around. Mikey's excellent writeup and blog about the dive: http://scubapro25.blogspot.com/ It was a gorgeous Southern California February day, with a light 70F breeze and bright sunny skies. Mike H. and I carpooled down to the Scuba Do for a quick 1 tank dive on the Yukon. After tying off at the stern buoy (or the buoy just north of the submerged stern buoy), the four of us dropped down to do a tour of the back half of the Yukon, up to right past the radio tower. I proceeded to take shots of Mikey and Mike and the Yukon, while Mike H. looked for macro subjects and Mikey just generally swam around enjoying himself. About halfway through the dive, we met up with Jim, who was servicing the Donathan memorial plaque. On our way back, we took our time, having plenty of gas. We did a deep stop at about 48 ft and our 5 minute safety stop at 20 ft.

2009/02/28 - Scuba Yukon

2009/02/22 - Scuba LJS Night Dive : Date: 2/21/09 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 8:22 pm Time under: 67 min Max depth: 82 ft Average depth: 44 ft Min temp: 53 F Vis: 10-12? It was dark... Waves: 1-2 ft Buddies: Mike H., Mikey B. Highlights: Squid, sea lion (was it Harrison?), kamikaze fish, oh my. First dive after being dry for 3 weeks, yay! As far as the dive, Mikey pretty much said it all on his blog at: http://www.raptureofthedeep.org/

2009/02/22 - Scuba LJS Night Dive

2009/01/31 - Scuba LJS WA : Date: 1/31/09 Location: LJS Vallecitos Pt Time in: 8:17 am Time under: 70 min Max depth: 70 ft Average depth: 46 ft Min temp: 55 F Vis: 15-20+ Waves: 6 inches Buddies: Mike H., Kim M., Terry S. Highlights: Gorgeous day at Lake La Jolla, 2nd dive with the fisheye lens, 1st dive with a new dive computer Mike picked me up (relatively late - 6:30 am) on Saturday to join Terry and Kim for a dive at LJS. Conditions at the beach were beautiful, with the santa ana winds, clear skies and no surf. We swam out, with the usual questions from Mike and I asking, "Are we there yet?". As it turned out, we were exactly there, with our depth at drop down being ~60 ft. I dropped down first, trying to get some descending silhouette shots (which didn't work very well at 60 ft). Mike, Kim and Terry followed (with potentially a story to follow from Mike). I followed the three of them, trying to practice with the WA lens and watching the new computer, around to the point. Comparing my new dive computer (Uwatec) to my old one (Aeris), the Aeris gave me about 6-8 minutes more NDL time, with the Uwatec on the least conservative setting. This could have contributed to my DCS hit, among a few other potential contributors. The wide angle lens is definitely fun, but I'm starting to miss all of those nudibranch shots. I find that I don't even look for macro life... Mike and I turned around before Kim and Terry (Terry being on a 120 and, well, Kim being Kim). We passed one large sheep crab on the way back in, once again the only non-diver WA subject. The conditions were really nice in the shallows and we were greated by the warm sun and no surf. Thanks everyone for putting up with the constant strobing!

2009/01/31 - Scuba LJS WA

2009/01/25 - Scuba LJS Wide Angle : Date: 1/25/09 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 8:01 am Time under: 63 min Max depth: 70 ft Min temp: 56 F Vis: 10-15 at depth, less above 30 ft Waves: 2-3 ft, wind chop Buddy: Mike H., Kim and John Highlights: First dive back after my DCS hit (and dove very conservatively), first dive with the fisheye lens (sorry, no nudibranch pics) As Kim reported, lots of wind chop and some surf mixed in. Conditions were decent below 30 ft, but murky above that. Diving with a wide angle lens is a completely different dive than with a macro lens. I noticed that I spent a lot more time swimming around and didn't see hardly anything (except my dive buddies). The large subjects were limited to dive buddies, a sheep crab, a sheep head (that got away), some sarcastic fringeheads and an octopus on the point of Vallecitos Pt. Hopefully my fisheye pics will get a little better with practice.

2009/01/25 - Scuba LJS Wide Angle

2009/01/03 - Scuba Pt Loma Broomtail Reef / Lazy Days Wreck : Dive #2 Date: 1/3/09 Location: Pt. Loma, Broomtail Reef / Lazy Days Wreck Time in: 1:28 pm Time under: 40 min Max depth: 80 ft Min temp: 55 F Vis: ~15 ft Waves: 2-3 ft swells Buddy: Mike B., David H. Gas: FO2 32

2009/01/03 - Scuba Pt Loma Broomtail Reef / Lazy Days Wreck

2009/01/03 - Scuba Pt Loma Broomtail Reef : Date: 1/3/09 Location: Pt. Loma, Broomtail Reef Time in: 11:26 am Time under: 42 min Max depth: 90 ft Min temp: 55F Vis: ~15 ft Waves: 4 ft swells Buddy: Mike B., David H. Gas: Air

2009/01/03 - Scuba Pt Loma Broomtail Reef

2008/12/21 - Scuba LJS Secret Garden : Date: 12/21/08 Location: LJS, Secret Garden Time in: 10:42 am Time under: 39 min Max depth: 106 ft Min temp: 56 F Vis: ~10 ft Waves: 1-3 ft Buddies: Kathy B., Mikey B., Dave H. Merrianne D., Brenda, Jackie, Highlights: Finding the Secret Garden (thanks to Kathy) :) I'm not sure I can add anything to the other dive reports. I buddied up with Kathy, since we were both on air and everyone else (other than Jackie) was on nitrox. We had a little bit of excitement at around 100 ft, due to overly bouyant booties, but it was resolved pretty quickly. It had been a long time since I've been the Secret Garden, so it was nice to see some new scenery and take a bit deeper tour of the shores. Kathy and I headed back in early, since she only had an 80. We headed north along the wall above the Secret Garden and then back in across the desert. Special thanks to my son, Christian, for taking the topside pictures (which turned about better than my underwater pics).

2008/12/21 - Scuba LJS Secret Garden

2008/12/13 - Scuba LJS : Date: 12/13/08 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 8:01 am Time under: 74 min Max depth: 70 ft (major high tide) Min temp: 58 F (not bad!) Vis: 10, with maybe 15 at the Point Waves: 1-3 ft, larger on exit plus wind chop Buddy: Mike Highlights: Stearn's family, lots of yellowfin fringeheads, getting in a dive before the storm Mike and I met up with Terry and Spencer at 7 am for an early attempt before the storm swells hit. When we arrived the waves were small, but with a bit of wind chop. Terry and Spencer went out with scooters and Mike and I went out to take pictures at Vallecitos Pt. The high tide was at 8:40 am and there was a northerly current (and wind). We swam out from Vallecitos, dropped down and headed south. Along the wall, Terry and Spencer dropped in and took Mike for a quick tour by dragging him by his fin behind the scooter. I also found 4-5 yellowfin fringeheads along the wall leading up to Vallecitos. We got a lot of time at Vallecitos Pt, where I came across a large, a medium and a tiny Stearn's aeolid (all following each other). I also found a strange creature, that almost looked like a cross between some kind of large worm and a one armed starfish. Any ideas? On the way back in, we startled a large halibut and Mike found a hermissenda and what I thought was a crevice kelpfish (but turned out to be a One-spot fringehead - never seen one before) in the small bushes.

2008/12/13 - Scuba LJS

2008/12/07 - Scuba LJS : Date: 12/7/08 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 7:42 am Time under: 79 min Max depth: 66 ft Min temp: 58 F Vis: 10-15 ft Waves: 1 ft Buddy: Mike, Kim, Terry, Spencer, John Highlights: Nice long relaxing dive at Vallecitos, Stearn's aeolid, Price's Aeolid, juvi triopha maculata (no good pic), chestnut cowries w/ full mantle Nice relaxing winter dive after a hard day of putting up Christmas lights. Entry was very easy with ankle slappers. It was overcast with a little bit of wind chop as the small storm moves in. We first headed south, but Kim quickly got us turned around north, heading back towards Vallecitos Pt. We meandered along the contour line, noticing a slight northerly current, which made it something of a slow drift dive. At Vallecitos, the chestnut cowries were out, as well as the Stearn's aeolids, a cuthona divae and at least one spanish shawl. On the way back in, Terry found a nice Price's aeolid and Mike found a juvenile triopha maculata, hiding in a bush. I practically had to drag Mike back in, he couldn't wait to review his pictures, so was doing it on the swim in :)

2008/12/07 - Scuba LJS

2008/11/30 - Scuba LJS : Date: 11/30/08 Location: LJS, South of Vallecitos Time in: 8:00 am Time under: 61 min Max depth: 81 ft Min temp: 54 F Vis: 10-15, at times ~3 ft due to sheep crabs sliding down the canyon wall Waves: 1-3 feet, smaller near Vallecitos Buddy: Laura, John Highlights: Lots of sheep crabs out and about, one large one almost kept John. It was nice to get out, after all the rain and the storm. Terry, Kim and Steve did scootermania, leaving the rest of us mortals to swim the hard way. The waves were pretty large near the parking lot, but much more manageable down at Vallecitos. The fog was thick, so there was no lining up anything. We swam straight out, with a southerly current, dropped down and headed south some more. There were lots of sheep crabs along the canyon wall. A few were sliding down the wall, creating quite a cloud of silt. There wasn't too much else exciting out at depth. On the way in, we saw a fringehead inside a nice shell and a Price's aeolid hanging on a branch. Surprisingly, we exited far to the south, south of the boatramp and had to hike it back to the car. Looks like the storm carved out some nice ditches in the beach from all the run off.

2008/11/30 - Scuba LJS

2008/11/23 - Scuba LJS with Vu : A buddy from college, that lives in Sacramento, drove all the way down to go diving with me at La Jolla Shores today. He's a new diver, so I took him on a couple of easy dives at the shores. Of course, the surf was up a bit, so he got a nice introduction to So Cal beach diving. Date: 11/23/08 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 10:22 am Time under: 45 min Max depth: 56 ft Min temp: 61 F Vis: 20+ ft Waves: 1-3 ft Buddy: Vu The visibility was really good, at least 20 feet in the shallows and maybe a little less at depth. We did a short surface interval and then headed back out for a short dive in the shallows. Date: 11/23/08 Location: LJS shallows Time in: 12:34 pm Time under: 27 min Max depth: 34 ft Min temp: 61 F Vis: 20+ ft Waves: 1-3 ft Buddy: Vu I chased him around in the shallows, trying out the other lens I have (that I never use). I had a great time and it was good to see him!

2008/11/23 - Scuba LJS with Vu

2008/11/15 - Scuba LJS Vallecitos Pt : Date: 11/15/08 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 12:45 pm Time under: 76 min Max depth: 64 ft Min temp: 58 F Vis: 15-20+, good in the shallows as well. Thermocline visible at about 45 ft. Waves: 1-2 ft Buddy: Mike Highlights: First zebra striped goby (no pics though), first blue-ring topsnail, first juvi giant sea bass, Stearn's Aeolid, a bunch of Price's Aeolids, spanish shawls, school of bait fish, beautiful topside conditions. A beautiful dive with Mike. I thought it might be a little too toasty diving at 12pm during a santa ana, but it wasn't too bad. We dropped down and proceeded down and south. The outgoing tide produced a rather interesting stream of water pulling us down into the canyon. It may have actually helped keep me oriented pointing at the wall, since I had to gently swim east in order to stay in the same spot. There was much less back and forth surge. I saw my first zebra striped goby, but as soon as I made a motion to take a picture, it disappeared into a hole and didn't come back out. I also found my first blue-ring topsnail, which look really colorful in pictures, but without a light shining on them are pretty unremarkable. Mike found the first Stearn's on Vallecitos Pt and I stopped to take a bunch of pictures. He also found more on the other side of the point. We spent a large portion of the dive going around the point very slowly, admiring all the brittle stars and other life. I started to get low on air, so we proceeded to start heading back up the slope. At around 40 feet, I found a few doto amyra's and got a picture. Mike wanted to see where they were, but unfortunately I couldn't find them again. I also found a sea grass plant with at least 5-10 Price's Aeolids of all different sizes. I think Mike found the Dendronotus robilliardi on the same plant. Also on the way in, we were surrounded by a school of bait fish. Mike got a nice video. In the shallows, after I had put the camera away, Mike stopped and turned around quickly. He had spotted a juvenile giant sea bass. We chased it around for a minute or so trying to get pictures. Overall, a beautiful day and a very nice, relaxing dive with a lot of new finds for me.

2008/11/15 - Scuba LJS Vallecitos Pt

2008/11/13 - Scuba La Jolla Shores Night Dive : Date: 11/13/08 Location: LJS Time in: 8:13 pm Time under: 60 min Max depth: 58 ft Min temp: 58 F Vis: 10-15 ft at depth, less in the shallows Waves: 1-3 ft, some big ones Buddies: Mike, Laura, Spencer, Terry Highlights: Flabellina trilineata, spanish shawls, scorpins, brown shrimp, rockpool blenny We were all eager to go diving for Mike's 100th dive. We attempted it last Sunday, but were thwarted by the weather. We met at 7pm Thursday night, a couple of hours after the sun had gone down, but the waning moon helped light our way. There were sets of waves that were head height, but with timing (and ducking under), we made it out just fine. It was a pretty uneventful dive, with Terry trying to point things out to me and me just completely missing them. He did manage to get my attention with the trilineata, since it was swaying around on a piece of eel grass. It was rather difficult to get it in focus, but with a hand from Mike, I managed to get a few shots. At the engine block, I could have sworn Mike and Terry started to head in, so I followed. Apparently, they continued along the wall, while I had my head down shooting the hermit crab (and fleeting blenny), and I missed them. So, I swam in, with the moon overhead guiding me, rocking back and forth in the surge. Terry, Mike, Spencer and Laura soon followed. All enjoyed the dive, specially Spencer in his new drysuit.

2008/11/13 - Scuba La Jolla Shores Night Dive

2008/11/01 - Scuba LJS : Date: 11/1/08 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 2:13 pm Time under: 66 min Max depth: 57 ft Min temp: 60 F Vis: 15-20+ ft (not nearly as spectacular as Friday, but good by normal standards) Waves: 1-2 ft, occasional 3 ft Highlights: Lots of Gould's bubble snails in the sand dollar beds (how did I miss them Friday?), Stearn's aeolid, a dendronotus frondosus, lots of tiny doto amyras I decided to try again on Saturday, after the spectacular conditions on Friday. They weren't quite as amazing, but still good by normal standards. I met up with the group for Steve's barbecue (who were already done diving for the day - except for Terry, who was going out scootering) and then suited up. Dropping down onto the (ahem) field of sand dollars, I quickly spotted my first Gould's bubble snails. After stopping to take a bunch of pictures (thinking I would see only one), I noticed another a few yards away, then another and another. I followed the 50 ft contour to Vallecitos Pt and spent time there with a Stearn's aeolid and (the same?) catalina triopha. At about 2000 psi, I started to head up the hill to where the doto amyras live. Is it just me, or do their eggs look larger than any single doto I've seen? I found a few that looked large enough to get an in-focus picture of and found a dendronotus frondosus in the process. Continuing on over the (ahem) bed of sand dollars, I found more Gould's bubble snails plowing sand. Another beautiful day in Southern California...

2008/11/01 - Scuba LJS

2008/10/31 - La Jolla Shores Tropical Dive : Date: 10/31/08 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 9:15 am Time under: 82 min Max depth: 60 ft Min temp: 64 F Vis: 30-50 ft Waves: none Highlights: Tropical vis. Period. Go dive! Also saw a catalina triopha, dotos, porostomes, yellowfin fringeheads, blenny, a green southern kelp crab (in about 10 ft of water), lots of schools of fish. Even if you don't dive, it was a nice snorkel on the way out to ~40 ft deep water. The sun was shining at 60 ft. I noticed on the way back in that the sand dollars look like they were blown out. There isn't quite a field of sand dollars anymore, more the the scattered remains, with trails from individual dollars moving about. (edit: I must have missed them, because they were back again the next day..)

2008/10/31 - La Jolla Shores Tropical Dive

2008/10/24 - Scuba LJS Night Dive : Date: 10/24/08 Location: LJS South of Vallecitos Pt Time in: 6:20 pm Time under: 84 min Max depth: 67 ft Min temp: 60 F Vis: 15-20? It was dark! Waves: 1' or less - lake LJ Buddy: Mike H. Highlights: Lake La Jolla, shrimp, crabs, krill, tiny juvi triopha maculata, biolume Mike H. and I decided to go diving Friday evening because the weather and conditions were so nice. Mike confessed that he had also gone diving during lunch and that the vis was really good. The sun was setting as we easily stepped through the 1' or less waves. We swam out and dropped down, approximately straight out from Vallecitos. We were aiming for the Point, but I think we ended up just south of it, as we never saw it. I've spent most of my recent dives north of the point, so I couldn't pick out any landmarks in the dark. We followed the 50-60 ft contour south, along the canyon rim. At some point, there was an area where it looked like hundreds of sand dollars had fallen over the ledge and were piled up at the base. It was here that I found the tiny juvenile triopha maculata on a plant stalk. I couldn't tell what it was, but I was pretty sure I could see rhinophores. We didn't see a whole lot more along the canyon wall (no more nudis at least), but we were followed the whole dive by schooling fish (sardines maybe?). Mike and I both had the same thought of concern about what larger predator all the fish might attract. As we headed back into the shallows, we found a couple of brown shrimp, one of which looks like it was injured (you can see damage to it's shell in the pictures). We also saw mating graceful crabs and juvenile scorpionfish, in amongst the sand dollars. Whenever we would stop to take pictures, the krill would swarm the subject. Near the end of the dive, Mike found a tiny juvenile crab (translucent) clinging to a kelp bladder. in the picture, the crab is just a little larger than the krill. As we neared shore, Mike's light cut out (battery dead). I thought he wanted to swim in the dark, so I shut off both of my lights. We enjoyed the bioluminescence, swimming in a magical wonderland, guided by the bright lights on the beach south of Vallecitos.

2008/10/24 - Scuba LJS Night Dive

2008/10/19 - Scuba LJS Vallecitos : Date: 10/19/08 Location: LJS, trying for the Secret Garden Time in: 8:02 am Time under: 63 min Max depth: 101 ft Min temp: 54 F Vis: 20-30 ft at depth, ~20 even below 20 ft Waves: 1-2 mushy Buddies: Mike, Kim, Terry, Steve Highlights: really good visibility, 3-4 cormorants at 100 ft, staying warm in a drysuit, Stearn's aeolids, Doto amyra's (tiny, rice sized nudibranch) We met at 7 am on an overcast morning. The goal was to find the Secret Garden, with Kim leading the way (nominated by the rest of us). The waves were relatively small and choppy and after a long surface swim through sea weed, we dropped down. The visibility was good, even in 30 feet of water, which really helps with 5 divers. We could stay spaced out a bit and still see each other. We swam straight down the hill until we reached 100 ft. We were able to swim off the bottom and still see it ~20 feet below us. The Garden was nowhere in sight. We headed north for a bit and then turned around and headed back south. It was a nice tour of the canyon with the camera still strapped to my BC. With Kim's advice of using my dry suit for bouyancy, I was much warmer than I've been on the last few dives, even though it was colder and deeper. After searching to the south, Kim decided to lead us up the hill towards Vallecitos Pt, where we spent most of the remaining dive. Right above Vallecitos Pt, in about 45 feet of water, there are small plants that have tiny tiny nudibranchs in them (Doto amyra). They are next to impossible to focus on, with the plants swaying in the surge. I took a few pictures hoping that there would be at least one that was in focus. I can't say I really succeeded, but you can at least get an idea of what they look like. A little bit further up the slope, I found a hermisenda on a plant. Overall, it was a very nice dive, between the good visibility, warm dry suit and good company.

2008/10/19 - Scuba LJS Vallecitos

2008/10/05 - Scuba LJS : Date: 10/5/08 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 8:56 am Time under: 81 min Max depth: 58 ft Min temp: 55 F, thermocline at ~25 ft Vis: 10-15 in the shallows, 15+ at depth Waves: 1-3 ft, occasional big ones Dive #102 Highlights: Good visibility after the storm, a number of cuthona divaes and tiny juveniles, a large ocean whitefish and sheephead at depth.

2008/10/05 - Scuba LJS

2008/09/29 - LJS : Date: 9/28/08 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Point Time in: 8:57 am Time under: 79 min Max depth: 59 ft Min temp: 60 F Vis: 5-10 at depth, 10-12 in the shallows. Seems the tropical vis has gone bye bye. Waves: 1-2 ft, occasional 3 ft, not much power. Weather: Foggy and overcast. It felt like fall/winter has arrived. Highlights: Hermissenda at 35 ft upon descending, yellowfin fringehead playing hide-and-seek, easy parking at 8 am.

2008/09/29 - LJS

2008/09/21 - LJS South Wall : Date: 9/21/08 Location: LJS South Wall Time in: ~7:45 am Time under: ~56 min Max depth: 61 ft Min temp: ~57 F (I wasn't cold in my drysuit) Vis: 15+ at depth, less in the shallows Waves: Occasional 2-3 ft Buddy: Mike H., Chris Dive #100 :) Thanks to Beth for lending me her dive computer (after I forgot mine)! Highlights: 2 x Cormorants at 60 ft (my first), my 100th dive (since I started diving again in April, 2006). Mike and I made it out this morning for my first dive in about 4 weeks. It also happened to be my 100th (or so) dive. I never logged my cert dives when I was 12 or the other dives I did at that age, so I'm probably around 110, but who's counting? To start out dives 100-199, I of course forgot my dive computer at home. Yeesh. Fortunately for me (but not for Beth), she wasn't feeling well and decided not to dive with her dive buddy Chris. So, her dive computer and Chris tagged along with Mike and I. We swam out to just south of the point and headed down to around 60 ft. About halfway through the dive, two cormorants passed us on their way down the canyon, foraging for food. These were my first cormorants, and I have to say that I felt pretty lame with all that gear on, as a bird swam right on past me deeper and deeper... It was a nice, relaxing dive, with Mike and I looking for things to photograph along the wall and Chris swimming above, below and all around.

2008/09/21 - LJS South Wall

2008/09/01 - Lazy Days Wreck : Date: 9/1/08 Location: Lazy Days Barge Wreck, Pt. Loma Time in: 12:19 pm Time under: 38 min Max depth: 90 ft Min temp: 54 F Vis: 15-20 ft Waves: 1-2 ft surge Buddy: Barbara, with Mikey and NOAA Jim on surface support Dive #98 Highlights: Seeing a new wreck (new for us, at least), lots of tritonia festivas and a few Hudson's dorids Mikey did a nice writeup, so I'm not going to try to repeat it here. See his writeup at: http://scubapro25.blogspot.com/ Needless to say, it was my first time diving Pt. Loma and I wasn't disappointed. We got really lucky finding the 'right' lobster buoy a few miles away from where we though the wreck was. The only thing we had to go on was 'blue building' on shore, lobster buoy and ~90 feet of water. My bottom time was short, using normal air and I got a bit of a carbon dioxide headache, because I was trying to conserve air (bad bad bad). It doesn't work and is pointless at 90 ft. My pictures from this dive were definitely sub-optimal (overbright) and it didn't help that the majority of the nudibranchs where white. I did manage to snag a photog of Mikey's wreck drawing, done on a slate at 90 ft: http://sfmphotog.com/gallery/5861244_oTrqo#364665375_sCM7s-XL-LB I'd like to explore it more, but I need to get Nitrox certified so that I can stay down a bit more than 20 minutes at depth.

2008/09/01 - Lazy Days Wreck

2008/09/01 - Broomtail Reef : Date: 9/1/08 Location: Broomtail Reef Time in: 2:38 pm Time under: 70 min Max depth: 50 ft Min temp: 58 F Vis: 15-20 ft Waves: 2-3 ft swells/surge Buddy: Barbara, with Mikey and NOAA Jim on surface support Dive #99 (almost there...) Highlights: Lots of gorgeous hermissenda crassicornis, a yellowfin fringehead the size of your pinky, beautful kelp forest, a couple of porter's chromodorids hidden in the reef This was my favorite of the two dives. I could have spent another couple of hours exploring. Unfortunately, even with everything we saw, we didn't find a pinnacle (large reef structure) until the end of our dive. We spent most of the dive exploring rocks in a draw, amongst the large kelp fronds. I can only imagine what we would have found on the pinnacles. I definitely want to dive here again! Thanks to Mikey and Barbara for hosting and Jim for the sage advice. Mikey's writeup and blog is at: http://scubapro25.blogspot.com/

2008/09/01 - Broomtail Reef

2008/08/30 - LJS Solo dive : Date: 8/30/08 Location: LJS Main Point Time in: 7:51 am Time under: 84 min Max depth: 65 ft Min temp: 58 F Vis: 15-20 ft Waves: 1-2 ft, glassy on the way out Buddy: Nikon D200? Dive #97 Highlights: Catalina Triopha, Dendrotonus iris, my first comb jelly (possibly a Leucothea pulchra, but no pics), nice long relaxing meander along a ~50-60 ft contour. I've only done one other solo dive and that was off Laguna Beach, in much shallower water. I've been thinking about doing more, since while doing underwater photography, I use the term 'dive buddy' loosely. As Mike Bear says, same ocean, same day. I've got a pony rig on my 'short list' of gear to purchase next, but it's still a ways off. While diving with other people, I find myself rushing to keep up, instead of taking my time taking pictures. So, I decided to dive LJS and do a solo, medium depth, dive. The other reason was because Kim and Terry were actually not diving LJS today, which I take to be a sign of the apocalypse. Either that or dive marathon burnout (or they're on a dive boat somewhere). Under a tropical, overcast sky, I did the swim out. I took it as a fortuitous sign that I saw a lobster in knee deep water and a bat ray on the swim out. I dropped down a little early into ~25 ft of water and checked all my gear, with a California armina close by in the sand dollar beds. I then proceeded down to about 55 ft and headed south. I saw multiple octopi, sarcastic fringeheads, another bat ray heading out and down into the canyon and the multitude of sea hares on their trek up the slope. When I got to the point and nearing my turnaround air, I found two Catalina triophas (which I haven't managed to photograph in a long time). I spent my remaining time with them and then headed up slope. On the way up, I found a dendrotonus iris (another nudi I haven't gotten good photos of). After that, I saw a tiny comb jelly. It was probably 1/2" to 1" and floating in the water column. I briefly tried to get a picture, but I was low on air (~700 psi) and needed to visit the porta-pottys (bathrooms are closed). I put my flashlight up to it and could see the translucent cilia fluttering. There was no way I was going to get the 105mm lens to focus on it though... The waves had picked up a tiny bit on the way back in, but they were still easy to walk out through. All in all, it was a very relaxing dive. Though I know I can't push my luck without a pony...

2008/08/30 - LJS Solo dive

2008/08/24 - Scuba LJS Vallecitos Point : Date: 8/24/08 Location: LJS Vallecitos Point Time in: 7:45 am Time under: 51 min Max depth: 65 ft Min temp: 55 F Vis: 10-15 ft below 30 ft Waves: 1-2 ft Buddy: John the Pirate, Laura, Spencer Dive #96 Highlights: a few hermissendas, 1 market squid who had given his/her all, not being as cold. I met the scubapost.net gang down at LJS for their BBQ at 6 am. The parking lot had a surprising number of cars in it at that hour and there were coals in the coal bins that were still smouldering from the night before. The sea gulls were helping spread the overflowing trash around the grass area in preparation for the second half of the weekend. John, Laura, Spencer and I headed out together towards the point, while Terry, Jesus, Kim and Steve headed to the North wall (Kim and Terry w/ doubles). Half way through the swim out, John and I see Spencer and Laura swapping fins. Each promptly blamed the other for grabbing the wrong set. It was a nice dive. I spotted a couple of hermissendas soon after we dropped down and another one later on. We stayed along the 50-60 ft contour, looking for more nudis, fringeheads or blennies. We saw octos, porostomes and San Diego dorids. There was one market squid floundering around, just above the contour. From the looks of him, something got to his tentacles. I decided to try out the 'summer' vest that came with my used drysuit, under the jumpsuit ... for extra summer warmth. It had a noticeable affect on my bouyancy and I think I could have used a couple of extra pounds. I was pretty good until I got into about 10 feet of water and then staying down was a challenge. It also helped keep my core warm to the point where I just noticed the cold once during the dive. Guess I'm going to need to add some weight when winter comes.

2008/08/24 - Scuba LJS Vallecitos Point

2008/08/17 - Scuba LJS Night Dive : Date: 8/17/08 Location: LJS, Main point Time in: 7:59 pm Time under: 75 min Max depth: 66 ft Min temp: 55 F Vis: 10 ft+, less in the shallows Waves: 1-2 ft, wind chop Buddy: Terry, Kim, Spencer, Laura Highlights: My first yellow spotted cadlina (nudibranch), first fried egg jellyfish, transparent lobster hatchling (?), tons of shrimp, crabs, and other small creatures of the night. The wind had picked up a little since Saturday. There was wind chop on the swim out and the waves are a little bigger, but nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, we didn't find the cumanotus or hiltons, but I did find my first yellow spotted cadlina and got some pictures. Upon exiting with Kim and Terry, we all agreed it was cold! Even with a short fill, I wasn't the first one to start heading up hill for warmth.

2008/08/17 - Scuba LJS Night Dive

2008/08/16 - Scuba LJS : Date: 8/16/08 Location: LJS, Main Point Time in: 7:52 am Time under: 68 min Max depth: 60 ft Min temp: 53 F Vis: 15-20 ft, pretty good in the shallows Waves: 1ft, nothing really Buddy: Terry, Spencer, Laura Highlights: my first Cumanotus, my first yellowfin fringehead, halibut, shovelnose guitarfish in ankle deep water. No Hilton's though :( Terry and company have been seeing two nudibranchs I've been wanting to see and photograph, the cumanotus and hilton's aeolid. 1 out of 2 ain't bad! It was a beautiful summer morning at La Jolla Shores. Spencer, Laura, Terry and I met up to dive, w/ Soraya as shore support. As we swam out from the lifeguard tower, I noticed a bubbling and sinking feeling. After the last dive, I decided to do the extra good cleaning job and wash out my BC. I swear I tightened the inflator valve afterwards... Terry straightened me out and we continued our surface swim. After dropping down, Terry and I noticed that Spencer and Laura weren't following. We swam back and found them photographing a Cumanotus amongst the sand dollars, in about 40 ft of water. After taking a few pictures, we continued on down along the 50 ft contour. We came upon the area where the Hilton was previously, but no luck. I saw the engine block for the first time, so now I know it's really an engine block, sitting in the sand. Going towards the main point, I found a shy sarcastic fringehead and a tiny yellowfin fringehead. The yellowfin was probably about the size of my thumb, but was sporting a nice rack (looked like an posessed rudolph the reindeer). Somewhere around the main point, Terry and I got separated. I hung around for a bit, meanwhile Spencer and Laura caught up. I was getting down to 1500 psi, so I swam after Spencer to let him know I was heading in. Just my luck, they were starting to head deeper along the tip of the point. I grabbed Spencer's fins a couple of times, but he just waved me off and kept swimming. I decided that wasn't working, so turned to Laura to signal I was turning around. Apparently, Spencer thought I was Laura just messing with him. On the way in, I saw a medium sized halibut and a California Armina. As I exited with 1000 psi (next time I'm waiting longer to turn around), a small shovelnosed guitar fish had to swim quickly to avoid my feet in a couple feet of water.

2008/08/16 - Scuba LJS

2008/08/02 - Scuba Ruby E : Date: 8/2/08 Location: Ruby E (Wreck Alley) Time in: 3:59 pm Time under: 59 min Max depth: 75 ft Min temp: 62 F Vis: 40 ft down to ~45 ft, 20+ at depth Waves: swells and wind chop, but not too bad Buddy: David H (with Barbara and Mikey on surface support) Highlights: Gorgeous vis on the Ruby E, more hermissendas than I could count, cuthona divae, tritonia festiva, spanish shawls, catalina triopha, white spotted porostomes and then there were all the fish :) Mikey's blog title says it all: Against All Odds: The Ruby E. http://scubapro25.blogspot.com/ It's not often that divers get a chance to go out on a private dive boat. I would have said that it's never that we would have a backup boat in case there were problems with the first one. I'd also like to give my condolences and thanks to Jim S. for offering up his spot on the boat because of other plans. We all met at David's boat, the 'Big Deal' at 9 am with plans to do a couple of dives off Pt. Loma. I was really excited because I've never dove Pt Loma before and I've seen dive reports and pictures of what looks like nudibranch heaven (I think from Kim M.). Unfortunately, the port engine wouldn't fire up. After some time trying a few different things, we decided to call it a day. Going through each of our minds was: "how can I still get a dive in this weekend?" Fortunately, Barbara mentioned that we could possibly take the Scuba Do out to do one dive (since it was around 11:30 am by this time). We unloaded and packed all of our gear back into our trucks and drive over the Scuba Do. We made sure the engine started before loading our gear (1 tank each this time) onto the Scuba Do. When we tied up at the Ruby E's bow line, we all commented how blue the water looked. It was said in cautious whispers, since we didn't want to jinx the dive. It was decided that Mikey and Barbara would splash first, with David and myself watching to make sure the boat didn't float away (after noticing that there was a bit of a current). David and I waited patiently for Mikey and Barbara to resurface, watching their bubbles move along the Ruby E. They surfaced, reporting awesome tropical vis down to about 40 ft and then a bit less vis below that. I debated whether to swap out my macro lens for the 18-70mm (which serves as my wide angle). Mikey suggested I should stay with the macro lens, so I did. Fortunately, it was a dive where I couldn't have gone wrong with either one. David and I dropped down into the blue water. The current didn't feel very strong and we had no problem swimming forward to the bow buoy. Dropping down, David took his time to make sure his ears cleared and I dropped a bit faster, periodically peering up to see how far I could see. From about 45 feet, I could still see the surface and David above me on the anchor line. At the bottom, there seemed to be a slow current, moving us back toward the stern of the Ruby E. We could see probably 1/3 of the wreck from the bow. I immediately went into picture mode, finding hermissendas along the side railing in amongst the strawberry anemones covering the wreck. I think I was a bit overwhelmed by all of them and kept switching from one to another, trying to find one in the perfect position. David proceeded to swim below, above, around and through the wreck, while I scoured the deck of the Ruby E, looking for more nudibranchs. I noticed the toilet inside the front port structure this time, which I hadn't seen on my other dive on Ruby E. I was diving air and David had mentioned that he was very good on air consumption, so I knew I wouldn't last as long. I took my time, enjoying drifting from the bow to the stern in the gentle, back and forth current. When we got to the stern, it almost seemed as if the current carried us back around the starboard side towards the bow. I was getting down to 5 minutes no-deco time, so I hurried a little faster to get to the bow, being conservative in case the current picked up. Along the starboard side, there were more spanish shawls and a tritonia festiva (I think a first for me). Getting to the bow, I let David know that I needed to ascend, reluctantly. He gestured that he was doing to stay down a few more minutes, since he still had more deco time. It was really frustrating to have 1500 psi left and have to leave the deck of the Ruby E. I didn't think of this, but David ascended on the upper structure. I could have gotten in another 10 minutes or so if I had done that. Instead, I hung out on the bow line, about 15 feet above the Ruby E, watching David and our bubbles rise through the water column. I ascended very slowly, burning off my air and enjoying the tropical vis. After doing macro photography, it's nice, every once in a while, to clip off the camera and just enjoy looking around. I don't do that enough these days. I waited for David to ascend and hung out with him, doing our safety stop. We both looked at each other and knew that we'd just had an amazing dive. Scott McGee

2008/08/02 - Scuba Ruby E

2008/07/26 - Scuba LJS : Date: 7/26/08 Location: LJS, Vallecitos Pt Time in: 7:50 am Time under: 61 min Max depth: 88 ft Min temp: 60F on mine, 56F on buddies Vis: 15+ ft at depth, not too bad in the shallows Waves: 1 ft Buddies: Kim, Terry and Mike Not too much new to say, Terry and Kim already reported. I'm sorry I missed the octo/fringehead fight. From the size difference, I would have bet on the fringehead! I was dissappointed I didn't see any Stearns', but I did see a couple of hermissendas at the beginning of the dive. I could have stopped (and lost all my dive buddies), but I assumed there would be many other things to photograph later. If only I could have gone back and found them... Dive number 800 for Terry! It was a paltry dive #92 for me :)

2008/07/26 - Scuba LJS

2008/07/18 - Scuba LJS Night Dive : Date: 7/18/08 Location: LJS Vallecitos Time in: 7:55 pm Time under: 60 minutes Max depth: 67 ft Min temp: 55F on mine, 51F on dive buddies Vis: 15 +ft at depth, murky in the shallows Waves: 2-3 ft. A few overheads, but we missed them all (or I should say they missed us) Buddies: Merriane, Jim S., Mike B. for shore support Highlights: Dueling sarcastic fringeheads, stearns' aeolid, cuthona divae, lots of octos out. We had a nice dive last evening at La Jolla Shores. The waves were definitely there, but not as big as 2 weeks ago. We lost one diver (Mike) due to a hole in his HP hose, that must have popped right as we walked into the water. Jim, Merriane and I made a leisurely swim out until we were in about 50 feet of water. We dropped down, right on to some pipefish and we knew it was going to be a good dive. I saw my first sarcastic fringeheads out in the open and even got to watch a male and female fight for a hole (I believe the brown colored one is a female). I had to move along when I noticed that I could barely see the lights from Jim and Merriane. We stayed between 50-60 ft deep, with me playing catch-up after Merriane or Jim would point out something good to photograph. We stayed below the thermocline and it got pretty cold, but the visibility was good. I don't usually do night dives (primarily because I was diving wet and would get too cold after the dive). I really enjoyed unzipping the drysuit and being warm. :)

2008/07/18 - Scuba LJS Night Dive

2008/07/13 - Scuba LJS : Date: 7/13/08 Location: LJS Vallecitos Time in: 6:55 am Time under: 59 min Max depth: 65 ft Min temp: 57F (thermocline around 35-40 ft) Vis: 15-20 ft Waves: 1 ft, a little chop Buddies: Kim, John, and Laura (Pocahontas?) Highlights: Large halibut, large bat ray, 2 x cuthona divae (thanks Kim for pointing out the big one), 4 x Stearns' Aeolids (Austraeolis stearnsi), sea hares spawning eggs Early morning dive at lake LJS. I met up with Kim, John and Laura for my second dive of the weekend. It was an easy walk in and relaxing (but long) swim out. I'm still new at diving in a drysuit and have been unhappy wearing ankle weights. My feet continually sink into the sand/muck. On Jim's suggestion (from yesterday), I headed to Home Depot and picked up a few wide velcro straps to use as gaiters. They actually worked out really well and at $9, they were a bargin (compared to $60-70 for real ones). We dropped into about 35 ft and headed west and down. At around 50 feet, there were many sea hares spawning eggs. I've never seen them do this, so I may be wrong as to what they were doing. Small cylindrical pods were popping out of their backs (pics online). Looking back at the pictures, it appears the pods are made up of wound up string (eggs). We then headed south. We slowly made our way to the point, taking pictures. At one point, I saw a large bat ray leisurely swim by just below one of the other photographers. John and I made our turn around first, since the ladies were on nitrox and using their 'self-reported gills'. On the way back in, we saw a nice large (4+ ft) halibut. With the macro lens, I managed to get a pic of his eye and part of his mouth :)

2008/07/13 - Scuba LJS

2008/07/12 - Scuba Marine St. : Date: 7/12/08 Location: Marine St., La Jolla Time in: 8:05 am Time under: 86 min Max depth: 34 ft Min temp: 61 F (+ or - 3 degrees) Vis: 15-20 ft Waves: 1 ft Surge: 2-3 ft, disorienting with the eel grass Buddy: Jim S. Highlights: Nice long dive, good vis, small surf. It was my first time diving at Marine St. Due to the small surf, Jim suggested that we give it a try. It was very reminiscent of diving in Laguna Beach with lots of eel grass, kelp, garibaldi, schools of fish, lobster and a lot of abalone (some very large). Jim and I spent most of the dive exploring the crevices.

2008/07/12 - Scuba Marine St.

2008/07/05 - Scuba LJS : Date: 7/5/08 Location: LJS Time in: 7:22 am Time under: 38 min Max depth: 62 ft Min temp: 56 F (Aeris), it's usually a few deg colder than it reports Vis: ~20+ at 50 ft, 5 ft above that. Waves: overhead Buddy: Rob J. Highlights: Going diving after 3 weeks dry. Coming out of the surf with all my gear. We had an interesting dive this morning at La Jolla Shores. I wasn't expecting much since this was my second dive without my strobe (should be back Monday, the battery had a loose wire). I decided to take along my 18-70mm lens to see what I could do with it with ambient light (not by choice). When we arrived at LJS at 6:30 am, you couldn't see the surf from the parking lot, partly because it was such a low tide and partly because of the fog. Rob warned me that the waves were rather large, but I was jonesing to dive, so we went out regardless. Getting out was exciting, with overhead waves, surfers and fog. We had to duck under a few (waves) and it was a wide surf zone. We made it out and started the long surface swim out. Soon, we realized that you couldn't see the shore, let along Scripps pier. No lineups today. After seeing a couple of other divers stop and drop down, we decided we had gone far enough. Soon after reaching the bottom, I found that my flashlight wasn't working. Hmm, first time for everything. We kept going out and down until we hit the first shallow wall around 50 feet. I noticed that the dive wasn't as quiet as it normall is when I'm not exhaling. As it turns out, I had air leaks coming out of both my regulator and octo. The octo was leaking pretty bad, but with a little purging and jiggling, it slowed down to a steady trickle. Since I was focused on two leaking regs and wide angle shots, I have no idea what Rob saw during the dive. :) A little less than halfway through my air, I let Rob know that my regs were leaking so we could head in early. Our swim in was pretty uneventful, other than ending up really far south (past the boat ramp). The waves were still there, but with patience and timing, we got in ok. With 3 pieces of degraded equipment, I was really concerned about my next trip to my local dive shop. Fortunately, the flashlight works now (no idea what fixed it) and neither reg was leaking after soaking for a bit. My guess is that a few of those waves on the way out were pretty rough on the gear.

2008/07/05 - Scuba LJS

2008/06/14 - Scuba LJS Vallecitos : Date: 6/14/08 Location: LJS Vallecitos Time in: 7:29 am Time under: 66 min Max depth: 59 ft Min temp: 57 F Vis: 15-20 below 40 ft Waves: 1-2 ft Buddy: Rob J. Highlights: Lots of yellow nudis (dorids, porostomes), 4+ ft halibut, baby hornshark, navanax orgy Conditions were nice today at LJS, parking was easy at 6:30 am. Rob and I swam out from Vallecitos and headed down and south, aiming for (is it Vallecitos Point or the 50 ft contour?) at around 50 feet. This was about at the same point as last week's dive with Terry S. that I realized I was low on air. There is a small point that has lots of tube worms and lots of yellow nudis. We saw many, many San Diego dorids and white spotted porostomes. In the same area, I saw 4 sarcastic fringeheads about ~3 octopi. On the way back in, Rob spotted a 4+ ft halibut, which happened to be near a small horn shark and a navanax orgy. Very easy exit. It was such a nice dive, I'm going to break my record and do 2 shore dives in one day (well sorta, later Rob and I are diving Mission Bay).

2008/06/14 - Scuba LJS Vallecitos

2008/06/08 - Scuba LJS : Date: 6/8/2008 Time in: 8:07 am Time under: 59 min Max depth: 86 ft Min temp: ~50 F at depth Vis: ~5 ft in the shallows, ~10ft below 60 ft (w/ thermocline) Waves: 2-3 ft, easily managed with patience Buddy: Terry S. Highlights: Staying warm (2nd drysuit dive), lots of nudis (my first Stearns' Aeolids (Austraeolis stearnsi), yellow dorid, san diego dorid, spanish shawl), baby octo, sarcastic fringehead. I've been dry for 2 weeks, so I wanted to get out today, regardless of the conditions and give my drysuit another go. I'm glad I did. We swam out from Vallecitos, where the waves were a little smaller (and less wave rider traffic). We dropped down into about 40-50 ft of water, with poor vis and headed down and south. Bat rays and a couple of other divers soon made it worse. We dropped down deeper and turned back to the north, where the vis got better. I was afraid we were going to go the whole dive with no nudis, and then Terry spotted a spanish shawl. Near the shawl were 3 x Stearns' Aeolids, at about 60 ft. I stayed with them a while (probably too long), since these were the first aeolids I've seen. After swimming to catch up with Terry, we came upon the nudi jackpot, with lots of dorids and porostomes all over the place. There I found the juvenile octopus (ID?), hiding in a crevice. It stood out as mostly white and didn't look like it quite knew how to camouflage itself yet. I soon noticed that I was approaching my no-deco limit (at about 60 ft) and then noticed that I had less than 1000 psi on my steel 100 ft^3. That's what happens when the cold doesn't end the dive early and there are lots of photographic subjects. We quickly started heading back in and I ended up doing a blue (green) water ascent and safety stop. I exited with 500 psi and easily timed the swells on exit. Next time I'll have to pay a little better attention and turn around sooner.

2008/06/08 - Scuba LJS

2008/05/26 - Scuba Marine Room : Date: 5/26/08 Location: Marine Room, La Jolla Time in: 7:55 am Time under: 63 min Max depth: 49 ft Min temp: 63F Vis: Consistent ~10 ft below 10 feet Waves: ankle slappers Dive buddy: Rob Highlights: First dive in a drysuit! first rockpool blennies x 2, 3 x california arminas, large school of baitfish Today I did my first dive in a drysuit at the Marine Room in La Jolla. It was meant to really be a check out dive after my pool dive yesterday, so we were pretty conservative. However, it turned out to be pretty good for wildlife. I was a bit overloaded on weight, being unsure how much to wear after diving wetsuits. I ended up needing to use the drysuit for bouyancy on the surface in addition to my BC! Conditions were overcast above water, but decent below water, considering we only went down to ~50 ft. We didn't hit the thermocline, which would have been the true test of the drysuit. We swam out and dropped down into ~10 feet of water, made sure I wasn't leaking and got my bouyancy straightened out. Then we swam out along the small wall at about 30 ft. A few bat rays reduced the vis in a few spots to a foot or two, but we quickly swam through it. On the way back in, I spotted a few california arminas and we spent about 10 minutes photographing them. Their one of the uglier (plainer) nudibranchs, but make pretty easy photo subjects, since they don't move fast and there wasn't much surge. The drysuit was worth it just for taking off my gear after the dive. Being nice and warm after a dive is a new experience!

2008/05/26 - Scuba Marine Room