To: BAUE Members , ba_diving@yahoogroups.com
From: Clinton Bauder 
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 11:39:41 -0700
Subject: [baue] Big Sur Bank, Saturday July 31st
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Hi gang,

Bay Area Underwater Explorers had the Cypress Sea chartered all day on 
saturday for some off-the-beaten-path diving and exploration. We headed 
way south to Point Sur to dive the Big Sur Bank. This is a reef 3-5 
miles offshore of the point. In places it comes up to within 120 feet 
of the surface. We've been itching to dive it and finally go our chance 
saturday.

When left the dock at 6AM conditions in the bay and in Carmel were 
really flat and calm. When we arrived onsite at the bank around 8:30 it 
was quite windy and a bit choppy but it was clearly a happening place 
based on the huge cloud of birds working the area. There were even a 
number of albatrosses which is a bit rare for this area. We started 
looking for dive sites at the north end of the bank but after some 
driving around decided it didn't look sufficiently vertical. The other 
charted high spot is at the south end of the reef so we headed down 
there for a look. Jackpot! We very quickly found a pinnacle that 
started at 120 feet and dropped off dramatically to 170. Down went the 
anchor, followed shortly by the first dive team.

Susan and Beto were first, Pete, Dave and I second with Will, Kevin and 
Nick making up team 3. Vis at the surface was murky with barely 15 feet 
of visibility. At about 30 feet it cleared up dramatically and we could 
see Sue and Beto arriving on the reef nearly 100 feet below us. As we 
approached the bottom I could scarcely believe my eyes as I think this 
one rock has more hydrocoral growing on it than exists in the entirety 
of Carmel Bay. Swimming above it was probably the biggest school of 
blue rockfish I've ever seen. After lingering a bit we decided to press 
deeper and look at the base of the pinnacle.

The deeper parts of the reef consisted mostly of a boulder slope with 
less encrusting life. On the other hand there were exotic rockfish all 
over the place; starrys, vermilions, rosies, treefish and even several 
yelloweye rockfish. Within a minute or two Beto and Susan started 
frantically signaling us. Since Susan had been excitedly talking about 
octopus prior to the dive I had a funny feeling what it was. Sure 
enough I soon found myself looking at about the largest octopus I've 
ever seen. This one was nearly the size of Beto and out in the open 
too.

After our octo experience Pete Dave and I moved up to the top of the 
pinnacle to admire the hydrocoral. Beto and Susan reported later 
finding a wolf eel out swimming around and I think Team 3 saw one as 
well. Deco was uneventful and right as we surfaced we were greeted by 
an albatross which was floating just a few feet from our marker buoy.

Phil and Marcos got in during our surface interval and also reported a 
great dive. If Phil's truly excited about a dive you know you're onto 
something!

Dive two was at a sister pinnacle a few hundred feet away. This time I 
was diving with Susan and Beto. It had a totally different feel to it 
as the murky layer was now present all the way down to 60 feet which 
really cut down on the available light. Visibility was still great at 
depth though. The dive really felt like a night dive and it was really 
eerie being able to see the lights of other divers 100 feet away in the 
inky blackness. While we didn't see any octopus on this dive we did see 
even more fish than on the first one. I've never seen schooling 
vermilion rockfish before. Loads of lingcod too. Dave and Pete 
apparently found a huge swim-through with a vase sponge in the middle 
of it.

The ride home gave everyone a chance for a much needed nap. I don't 
think many of us had gotten much sleep the night before and I, for one, 
was truly exhausted. I also learned that you have to be extra careful 
unloading gear when you tired as if you're not you might drop a tank on 
one of your second stages! Doh! Anyway despite that it was a truly 
great day and I want to say thanks to everyone that made it possible; 
Phil, Xcott and Tad on the Cypress Sea, Pete for organizing and Dionna 
for helping out topside and taking pictures (which we'll be posting 
soon I hope).

Speaking of pictures...

http://tinyurl.com/4hk7x

:-D

Clinton

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Clinton Bauder
Underwater Film Producer
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