Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Nothing better than spending a Sunday afternoon - post dive - cleaning my dive gear whilst listening to Scuba Radio.

Sometimes I'll follow that with writing my logbook and having a cold lager.

Perfect!

Freedivers ...

... they're batshit crazy!

North Monastery, April 23 2012

Two incredible dives yesterday at North Monastery. First time in many years that I've managed a dive at Monastery, especially North.

Weather has been really good the past few days, no storms, no recent rain, so the conditions for diving were excellent. Divers over the weekend were reporting excellent visibility and flat seas, so we took a chance and drove down to Carmel on Monday morning (6:30am).

Initially we were planning to dive Pt Lobos, but given we got there so early, the favorable conditions and the fact that we were at Monastery before 8, and Lobos doesn't open until 9 (I think), we just pulled off the road at Monastery and took a look.

Open in Google Maps

Both dives were at the North end of the beach. Since I was last there, a small stream has formed between the road and the beach, and a small "hill" has formed, which you must climb over to get to the beach. These both make access a little more strenuous.

After our "ascent" of the hill we did buddy checks at the top of the beach. We then took the precautions of getting "mask on, regs in mouth" before descending the beach to the water. Crossed the surf zone as quickly as possible. Not many waves, and what there were were mere "ankle biters", though given this was Monastery, we still showed them a lot of respect - pausing our entry and bracing to let them pass. A few yards in, and the beach takes a sudden drop, you got from 2 feet deep, to five. I'm always happier in 5ft of water though, so I was glad to lay back, and start my fin donning. Yes, my BCD was already inflated during the BWRAF!

The dive destination was the wash rocks, which on the first dive was nice and high out of the water (less so on the second dive!). A good body of kelp surrounded the rocks. Of course, that's a mixed blessing. Thick kelp is great during the dive as it attracts the critters that we want to go see. However, during the surface swim, it's an obstacle that requires some navigation. Swimming out to the rocks, and navigating the kelp took a good 15 minutes. Finally we got to the dive site. Compass bearings from the water: 130degrees to the beach, 40degrees (and 30 feet) to the wash rocks.

Dive 1

For the first dive, we dropped down into about 30 ft of water. We started to swim out, directly away from the beach. We were swimming over a rocky/bouldery bottom, which didn't take long to drop down to about 80ft. There were several nice formations, ledges, holes. On this dive we saw many large lingcod (18inch to 3feet). Perched on rocks and also swimming around. I'm used to encountering them sat on or between rocks, but not used to seeing so many of them swimming around near us. There were also a few nice sandy areas where the terrain sloped gently down away from us. I presume those sand channels would take you down, down, down, to the depth of the canyon. Cool!

When we got down to 1500psi we started the swim back to shore, on a roughly 150degree bearing, until we hit sand, and the edge of the kelp, then we swam in along the edge of the kelp until we were in about 10ft of water, where we surfaced not too far from the beach.

Awesome diving!

Dive 2

This dive started at roughly the same place as the first, but this time, when we dropped down, we swam out on a 0degree heading. At first this took us through a narrow channel, between the boulders, but shortly it opened up into a very nice wide, flatter, but still rocky, "ocean garden". We swam out a little way until it got sandy (at about 70ft depth). We saw lots of nudibranch, a vermillion rock fish, a few large (I mean big) sheep crab.

Once it got sandy we turned left (I'm going to assume a 270degree bearing) and swam across the slope, until we encountered a nice big rock, providing us an interesting wall to explore. This rock, 20ft high, 50ft diameter) was quite barren, with the exception of many decorator crab of varying sizes that were roaming around it. There were plenty of cracks in it, which I imagine were full of shrimp, though I didn't see any. I could hear shrimp the whole dive though, even on the surface swim out.

We swam around the wall, and it took us back to a bouldery area (probably the one from the first dive). Saw an incredible sunstar - huge! - 30inches.

Again a few ling cod on this dive, but less than the first. Definitely a "crab dive" this time, but due to the terrain, I would say a nicer dive.

Visibility again was incredible - I would estimate it to be 30 ft. Due to this clarity there was plenty of light down there, considering it was a 70ft dive it was not gloomy in any way.

A real treat to be diving with three other people and to have no trouble seeing every diver in the group as we fanned out to enjoy the views in the kelp forest. None of the usual Monterey worry of becoming separated from your dive buddy. That was another real treat!

The exit was must the same as the first. We swam back to shore skirting the kelp forest, with the kelp on our left. Surfaced in about 10-15ft of water.

The waves had picked up a little by the end of this second dive, but still a very respectable exit onto Monastery beach (no Monastery crawl required!).

Summary

Two wonderful dives. Both exceeded 70ft, and lasted 40 minutes. Visibility was incredible at around 30ft. The wildlife on display was varied and "supersized"! What a great way to start the week. We were wrapped up with the dives and heading back to Jose's by noon.

Dry Suit Class This Weekend

Doing the drysuit class at the moment.

Pool session today was a piece of cake.

At the ocean on Saturday.  My only concern is that I'll like it too much and then I won't want to get wet ever again!

Here's How You Do A Deep Water Entry ...

... NOT!

Incidentally "NOT" is this weeks Sea Sign of the week:

Learn to Communicate under water with Sea Signs

NOVA: Extreme Cave Diving

A new Nova on PBS detailing the exploration of Blue Holes in the Caribbean by cave divers.

NOVA | Extreme Cave Diving

Loved the video of them cruising by the stalactites. These people are crazy though - diving down 300ft to chop off a lump of stalagmite.

Also available online

Dive in an old mine

Alert Diver | Bonne Terre Mine


Read this article in this months DAN magazine.  Now I want to go to Missouri and dive in an old Lead mine.

I presume the lead is all gone.

This explains why Dan looked so happy this morning ;-)

FROM WALLINS WEBSITE

We lost our lease. Store closing sale Saturday, February 11th at 9:00a.m.

- From Wallins Website

New Celebrity Fitness Trend

... it's time to try the new workout that celebs like Jessica Alba, Sandra Bullock, Katie Holmes, and Nina Dobrev of the CW show The Vampire Diaries love: scuba diving!

- http://www.shape.com/blogs/shape-your-life/new-celebrity-fitness-trend-scuba-diving

I'm not sure I want scuba diving to become the latest fad diet of Hollywood celebs. Being a fad diet will just encourage lots of overweight, middle-aged white guys to take up the hobby trying to get fit. And if there's one thing scuba diving has enough of already, it's overweight middle-aged white guys.

Dive at Lover's 1

Map to Lovers Point on Google Maps

We kicked on a 60degree heading until we were clear of the wall, then dropped down into 20ft of water.

Visibility was quite good, about 15ft. I expected worse. I thought the bad conditions on Saturday would have stirred up the bottom.

We continued on the 60 heading, but it soon got very surgy - 5-10ft. This made it hard to enjoy the view!

Bottom composition was quite interesting, lots of very large rocks to swim around, over and between. Plenty of nooks to peep into.

I figured it might be better if we got a little deeper, but despite continuing out for about 25 minutes, it got neither deeper nor calmer! So at that point we turned around. Logged a max depth of 27ft.

We did see a big fat seal, that spooked me as it appeared from around a rock. Boy, was it fat! Also saw a nice size Ling. A few other nice size perch and rockfish went zipping by in the surge, bit too fast to get a good look at them.

Love this video!

Took me a second to get what's going on here!



Yeah, the bubbles give it away.

It's amazing how the air appears to behave just like a flowing liquid when you view it this way.

I'm sure I wouldn't be able to move around that well upside down.

From http://planetsave.com/2011/08/23/marine-habitat-infographic/

Well Loved Dive Gear For Sale

I'm trying to (a) raise some money, and (b) make space for new dive toys. Hence, I want you to buy some of my dive gear that I don't use any more:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/spo/2667584988.html

Vladimir Putin, let's see your Search and Recovery Cert-Card!

Yeah, I think it was probably the first time he'd been SCUBA diving too.



Let's critique his technique shall we:
- Poor buoyancy control
- Bicycle kick
- Flailing hands
- Mask on forehead

And what's with that upside down snorkel, and why does he keep holding onto his reg?

Dive Site Map - McAbee Beach

As part of the Dive Master certification I had to map a local dive site.

I chose McAbee beach, as it's quite an interesting site, accessible to all levels, yet still has plenty to see - from the small stuff like nudi's, to big guys like seal pups, and a kelp canopy.

Download the PDF for more details, history, the map, profile, things to do nearby, etc.

Dive Site Map PDF

Back-up Computer

On my last dive I had to ascend from 60ft through a swarm (is that the right collective term?) of jelly fish.

My buddy didn't follow me, smart guy.  He stayed on the outside and took pictures.  Viz was terrible as we reached about 40ft, so during the ascent I lost sight of my buddy.

None of this would have been a problem normally, but the reason I drifted into the jelly swarm, was a brief spot of distraction as we started the ascent.  As I looked at my dive computer to monitor my ascent rate, I noticed all the digits were ... how can I describe it ... doing cart-wheels.  No depth reading, no air reading, nothing.  Mild panic.  I pulled out my console , which has my old air gauge - at least that still showed I had air in my tank, though only 500psi.

Any one of these issues alone and things wouldn't have seemed so bad.  Low on air, n.p., buddy separation, n.p., no depth gauges, n.p., but all at the same time along with the jelly ... very annoying.

I had to simply follow my bubbles back to the surface ascend slower than your smallest bubbles.  in poor viz and open water you might be ascending slower than your smallest bubbles, or you might equally be descending.

It was a case of bad timing - everything going wrong at the same time.

One thing I am going to fix before my next deep dive is to ensure I have a backup computer.  Conversely, one piece of excellent timing is the fact that Oceanic have recently come out with the B.U.D. Dive Computer.  A low cost, back-up dive computer that is intended to be attached to your dive gear.  As Oceanic says:

B.U.D. is a long overdue idea and a great way to ensure that you never have to miss a dive. Clip it off or stow it in a pocket and forget about it. You should never have to use it, but if you do need it, your B.U.D. will be there to save your next dive.


See it at Amazon.

Angler catches scuba diver on fishing line

An angler battled to reel-in what he thought was an enormous fish pulling on his line only to discover it was a scuba diver he had caught by the leg.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8708684/Angler-catches-scuba-diver-on-fishing-line.html

I’m not so sure.  I’m tempted to call Bullshit on this one.  Especially that part about: "I didn't see the diver because he didn't have a safety buoy, which they're supposed to have when they're moving underwater," said Mr Goldfinch.

Scuba Yoga at La Source Resort Grenada

SCUBA Radio just did a piece from Grenada on "Scuba Yoga". Relaxation, stretching and breathing techniques to enhance our dive experiences.

The resort sounds pretty nice even without the yoga:

http://www.theamazingholiday.com/



Enjoy the combination of yoga and scuba - rejuvenate and improve your diving experience.

The 7 nights program provides accommodation in luxurious ceanview rooms; daily Yoga classes, stress management, pranyama techniques for scuba diving and buoyancy clinic.

Kelp Shrimp

Well, I've never seen one of these while actually *diving* in Monterey, but I saw one for the first time at the weekend while walking down the beach!



Luckily I didn't squish it. I was tempted as it looked like some kind of alien species darting around on the beach in a big puddle.

Otter Box

I've not taken my GPS diving yet, but I did test drive my Otter Box at the weekend.

Otter Box (link) makes a cases that, they say, works to 100ft and is suitable for diving.



I wasn't brave enough to take a GPS out on the first dive, so I stuck a tissue in it and took it down to 25 feet at McAbee beach. Tissue came back to land perfectly dry. That's a good sign right!

Just so you know: A GPS unit will not work underwater. GPS (Global Positioning System) devices rely on signals from satellites orbiting the earth. The signals from the satellites cannot be received underwater. So my plan isn't to have the GPS unit track my dive under water, that won't work! I just want a way to have the GPS with me underwater, so that when I get to an area of interest I can reel the GPS up to the surface, get a GPS fix, then reel the GPS back down.

I have a nice little Garmin 401 GPS, which fits nicely into my Otter Box. I think it's safe to take it with me on the next dive trip.

- Otter Box Waterproof case: $20 REI
- Garmin 401 'Hiking GPS': $150 Amazon.com