Dive # 351 - "Encounters 2"

Date: July 14, 2007
Time: 6:00am
Location: Deadman's Reef/Seal Rocks
Depth (feet): 45
Dive Time (minutes): 74
Surf (feet): 1+
Surge (feet): 2-4
Water Temp (fahrenheit): 59
Visibility (feet): 15
Visibility Description: still pretty murky
Notes and Highlights: Dove with Josh. We decided to spend some time on Deadman's, and then head over to Seal Rocks to finish out the dive. On the way over the sand to Deadman's, we found several skittish sanddabs, and a medium-sized, more photogenic turbot. On the reef it was Spanish Shawl city...and Josh found a Porter's Chromodorid - the second Porter's Chromodorid that I've seen. I was attacked by our orange-clad state fish...grabbed by the thumb pretty good while I was focussed on shooting a sheep crab...I was shooting really close on the crab, and the first thing I thought was that it had gotten a claw on me. As we were near the top of the reef - we broke the surface and swam over to Seal Rocks to conserve air. We hung around the north/west side, and there was a small group of sea lions that provided some entertainment and video opportunities...but overall they weren't as cooperative as I've seen in the past...perhaps they aren't as inquisitive in the mornings...we'd get flashes of them around us, and then they'd head off for us to find again. Overall a truly enjoyable dive...and a good time was had by all.

Dive # 350

Date: July 13, 2007
Time: 6:00am
Location: Wood's Cove
Depth (feet): 25
Dive Time (minutes): 56
Surf (feet): 1-2
Surge (feet): 2
Water Temp (fahrenheit): 61
Visibility (feet): 10
Visibility Description: murky
Notes and Highlights: Dove with Andrew (nice to meet you) and Josh...lack of swell recently made me want to get out to some spots that weren't very divable a while back...tide was pretty low - so Wood's won over Montage. Dropped down pretty early, and spent most of the dive poking around in the reef structure. Andrew spotted a 3 foot horn shark that was the animal highlight...a bat ray in the shallows right before we exited was a close second, and a good time was had by all.

Dive #349 - Shelly...Rest in Piece...

Date: July 11, 2007
Time: 4:15pm
Location: Shaw's Cove
Depth (feet): 39
Dive Time (minutes): 56
Surf (feet): 1+
Surge (feet): 2-5
Water Temp (Fahrenheit): warm
Visibility (feet): 10-15
Visibility Description: deeper was murkier
Notes and Highlights: Dove with Josh - wanted to get out and survey the damage to Shelly that had been reported on the list last night...You can see from the pictures, she is indeed gone...the majority of her "body" is completely missing, with only the lower portion of her legs and feet remaining attached to the platform - which itself has been significantly damaged. I have no idea who or what did this...it certainly seems unlikely to have been naturally occurring...truly sad. Otherwise it was a decent dive...saw a few blennies...a lot of Spanish Shawls (which I've now come to conclude are the actual cause of surge...as the surge is always the worst when I'm near them with a camera). Water is very warm...extremely comfortable...dove with no hood, and wore my oldest, holiest wetsuit, and if anything I was on the "warm" side...Visibility could have been better...around Shelly (well...formerly Shelly)...the vis was a murky less-than 10 feet. Shallower was better - probably around 15.