Dive # 288

Date: October 11, 2006
Time: 9:00pm
Location: Laguna Beach
Depth (feet): 54
Dive Time (minutes): 44
Surf (feet): 1-2
Surge (feet): 1
Water Temp (fahrenheit): 58
Visibility (feet): 15-20
Visibility Description: less murky
Notes and Highlights: Dove with Len, Erik, and Scott. My first skunk'd lobster dive of the season. Enjoyed the dive - saw several horn sharks, bat rays, octopi and other cool stuff. I saw only a few lobsters, and wasn't able to invite any of them home for dinner...good time had by all.

Dive # 287

Date: October 11, 2006
Time: 6:00pm
Location: Montage (Treasure Island)
Depth (feet): 37
Dive Time (minutes): 41
Surf (feet): 1
Surge (feet): 1
Water Temp (fahrenheit): 58
Visibility (feet): 15
Visibility Description: a bit murky
Notes and Highlights: Dove with Len, Josh, Erik, Mike, Kevin. Met up and geared up in the parking structure. Surface swim from the first stairs to the very point of the furthest cove's peninsula...dropped into 30 feet of water and an interesting reef system. More than half the group had cameras or video, so the early encounter with a sheep crab produced some entertainment. Split off with Josh so we could both focus on taking some pictures - he had his new camera/strobe system with him and I was using my video tray and grips to mount my still camera with my light cannons for fill light. My results weren't that great...but here is a short video clip I shot with the still camera...I'll link to his pics when he posts them. Surface swim back and an easy exit...good time had by all.

Dive # 286

Date: October 4, 2006
Time: 7:30pm
Location: Super Secret
Depth (feet): 26
Dive Time (minutes): 64
Surf (feet): 1
Surge (feet): 1-2
Water Temp (fahrenheit): 61
Visibility (feet): 5-15
Visibility Description: mostly pretty clear, some surge caused vis to drop
Notes and Highlights: Dove with Josh and Len...relocated from the earlier Wood's Cove dive. Conditions were similar though - some surge dropped vis, but overall pretty clear. Large octopus - one of the largest I've seen in California. Lots of sculpins - probably cabezons...some lobster of which 1 was extracted and raises my freezer count to 7 total tails. My buddies were skunked - but the dive was nice and relaxing. Easy in and out and overall a good time had by all.

Dive # 285

Date: October 4, 2006
Time: 5:30pm
Location: Wood's Cove
Depth (feet): 28
Dive Time (minutes): 42
Surf (feet): 1
Surge (feet): 1-4
Water Temp (fahrenheit): 61
Visibility (feet): 5-15
Visibility Description: clear shallow - murky deeper
Notes and Highlights: Dove with Josh and Len...easy, flat entry and dropped down pretty quick. Josh had a new housing for his still camera and Len and I were opportunistic hunters...make that overly optimistic...saw a small leopard shark and a few rays...bunch o' shorts...nothing that was accessible or legal. Visibility was pretty good in the shallowest areas - but as we got out on the sandy area it became murky. Surge was minimal except in the shallowest area to the north of the beach...there I enjoyed one moment of complete loss of control, rag-doll dragging over the reef..no damage to it or myself from what I could see so no biggie...overall a pretty relaxing dive and no lobsters were harmed in the process...

Dive # 284

Date: September 30, 2006
Time: 8pm
Location: Super Secret
Depth (feet): 27
Dive Time (minutes): 60
Surf (feet): 1
Surge (feet): 2-6
Water Temp (fahrenheit): 60
Visibility (feet): 1-8
Visibility Description: surge put a lot of "stuff" in the water
Notes and Highlights: Dove with Garrett and Len - met and geared up and hit the water. Stayed pretty shallow for the majority of the dive. Surge varied from slightly annoying to holy crap. Lots of shorts...and some really nice bugs. A large horn shark, 2 octopus and a large number of sculpins...enough to cross your mind when the surge tosses you...Vis wasn't good - never more then 8 feet and considerably less with the heavier surge...but I pulled 5 nice lobsters, and with a gift of one to a buddy who didn't fare quite as well - my freezer count is 6 nice tails. Packed up around 10pm and wished Garrett a safe trip back to AZ...

Lobster Opening Night! - Dives 281-283

Date: September 30, 2006
Time: Midnight-1:30am
Location: Super Secret
Depth (feet): Max 37
Dive Time (minutes): 20, 35, 20
Notes and Highlights: The lobster gods shined on me, and Friday surprised me with the offer to go out on a colleagues' boat! We arrived at "the spot" and ended up doing 3 "stints" of diving - returning to the boat to empty the bags and re-verify the measurements. Refreshingly large number of lobsters - a lot of shorts...but hey - they gotta grow up sometime...A collaborative effort rewarded every license holder with at least a couple of nice tails in the freezer...great dives, awesome night! My freezer count is now 2.