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5/31/2004 Ballbuster aboard Escapade by Pete Gelbman -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Susan Bird, John Heimann, Pete Gelbman

Visibility: 15' - 40' Time: 2:41 PM

Temp: 50F Surge:

Max Depth: 106FSW Avg Depth: 100FSW

Bottom Time: 0:30 Total Time: 1:04

Bottom Gases: EAN32 Deco Gases: O2

Backgas Config: Double LP104 Deco Tanks: AL40
Deco Profile:
Lots
After E3, with rough swell and wind picking up, we ran back to the Bay as fast as
we could. Ride was home was pretty rough, but I only lost my cookies
once - not too bad.

Some of us were up for a second dive, others were too whacked on
dramamine and couldn't be woken up ;-)

John, Susan and I headed down for a liesurely poke around. We followed
the anchor line down, and found it a bit North of the main reef at about
110'. With a max depth of 100' we headed south in search of a bit
shallower stuff. John and Susan foolishly let me navigate. After a short
swim, we found some scattered patches of reef and dense clusters of
Metridium fields and decided to hang out and check out small stuff.
Pretty good vis, I'll say 40' at depth and not much water movement, so
it was pretty relaxing bottom time. Some good size Lings and nice pair
of nudis. After noodling/drifting around for a long time we all kind of
lost track of where we were. I knew we generally had to just head North
a bit to find the anchor line but my compass malfunctioned - no, no
really, it did! Jim had asked us nicely to try to return the line so I
felt guilty and wanted to look for it. After firing me as navigator
Susan took a brief spin in the driver seat but we still couldn't find
the line. After agreeing to shoot a bag, I discovered that I forgot to
put my SMB in my pocket after our first dive - doh! Can you say "gear
checks!!??". I look over at Susan and she's diving in her teaching suit
today and doesn't have pockets let alone a bag! Doh! Hey John - please
tell us you have a bag. What, me? Oh a bag - sure I got one of those.
Whew...

Some sort of ray breifly swam about 10' below us on ascent, but I didn't
get a chance to see exactly what kind.

5/31/2004 Deep E3 aboard Escapade by Pete Gelbman -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: David Chamberlin, Pete Gelbman

Visibility: 15' - 60' Time: 11:36 AM

Temp: 46F Surge:

Max Depth: 182FSW Avg Depth: 160FSW

Bottom Time: 0:25 Total Time: 1:12

Bottom Gases: 18/45 Deco Gases: EAN50

Backgas Config: Double LP104 Deco Tanks: AL40
Deco Profile:
deep stops
5
3
3
3
3
10
5
With sketchy reports, things didn't look too good for heading south, but
Jim was willing to take a look. With nothing but masochist deepsters on
board, upon reaching Point Pinos despite the 10+ ft swells and strong
east wind, his word was "Well I'm going south until you guys tell me to
stop!". At E3 he proclaimed it safe enough conditions to dive if we
could stomach the topside conditions. By that time most of us were
already gearing up, so it was a moot point ;-) With the rough surface,
Jim ran a live boat for us and dropped a shot line on what we thought
was E3. Water clarity wasn't too bad and the green layer thats been
present lately wasn't around. Vis was a bit chunky till about 30-40'
depth, then opened up to at least 50' horizontal. Upon descent, the
highest point of the reef was around 145' and it didn't look anything
like the E3 that I had seen my first time here last summer - later we
found out from Beto & the maps that this was deep E3. With a fairly
strong southern current running, I wanted to duck down into a canyon -
we had a choice of east or west side of the main reef structure, and we
chose the west side. There is so much to see here its really something.
Everywhere you look are steep walls and canyons filled solid with life.
On the north side of the shallowest reef, we met up with Beto, Susan &
John who were following a deeper profile on the the east side. Dave
found a small wolf eel, other than that the usual suspects. Most of the
time I was taking in the big picture, so probably missed tons of cool
small stuff. 1/2 hour drift-ride
under a bag was nice and relaxing - all in all a beautiful dive.

Courtesy of Beto, here
is a map that shows the routes we took.

Many thanks Jim and crew for taking such good care of us on a rough day!

5/9/2004 Pt Lobos by Alberto Nava -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Susan Bird, John Heimann, Alberto Nava

Visibility: 20' - 50' Time: 12:00 AM

Temp: Surge:

Scooter: Gavin Long Burn Time:

Max Depth: Avg Depth: 117FSW

Bottom Time: Total Time: 1:52

Bottom Gases: 30/30 Deco Gases: EAN50

Backgas Config: Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
Due to having a strange gas mix Sue, John and myself decided to do a different dive. We dove
Thumbs Up pinnacle using our scooters. This pinnacle is on the north-east corner of the
park, 2400ft from the boat ramp. We've never dove it but had heard Chuck T talk about
it many times.

Due to a very big tide, visibility was pretty good compared to previous dives this month. We had at least 40-50ft of vis. On the way there we saw several big lincods, one monster cabezon and
a couple of decent sized tree fish.

Once we got to Thumbs Up we circled the pinnacle looking at the terrain and marine life. We saw a huge male wolf eel, and then a 6ft shovelnose guiterfish. This is the biggest I've seen so far. We were able to approach it within 1 ft and stay there for a couple of minutes, then it took off at 5 knots... way faster than our scooters ;-), sorry no images :-(

Inside the cove there were big clouds of krill and several pipe-fish eating them... way cool!!!

5/8/2004 Noonday Rock aboard Black Dog by Clinton Bauder -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: David Chamberlin, Clinton Bauder

Visibility: 30' - 80' Time: 2:00 PM

Temp: 46F Surge:

Max Depth: 100FSW Avg Depth: 60FSW

Bottom Time: 0:45 Total Time: 0:50

Bottom Gases: 30/30 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Double LP80 Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
Dive 2 of our great Farallons adventure. The weather continued to be excellent and we moved a short distance to Noonday Rock. This site is rarely dived but nonetheless has a legendary reputation. It didn't disappoint. The reef consists of life growing on life growing on colorful life and the water was filled with schooling blue rockfish. We also saw some very large lingcod, vermillions and a very nice egg yolk jelly. At the top of the reef I found a nudibranch which was new to me; Dendronotus subramosus.

The ride back was relatively easy and the sun came out allowing us a great view of the Golden Gate as we came back to Sausalito.

Images from this dive and the dive at Alan's High Spot can be seen in the Image Gallery.

5/8/2004 Alan's High Spot aboard Rapture by Clinton Bauder -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Clinton Bauder, David Chamberlin

Visibility: 15' - 70' Time: 10:30 AM

Temp: 48F Surge:

Max Depth: 110FSW Avg Depth: 75FSW

Bottom Time: 0:25 Total Time: 0:32

Bottom Gases: 30/30 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Double LP80 Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
As little as possible! ;-)
Chuck Tribolet and Kawika Chetron approached Dave and me about the possibility of diving the Farallons from their 2 Boston Whaler's. It took merely seconds for us to say yes. Pulling something like this off requires a fortuitous weather forecast and qutie a bit of planning. Kudos to Chuck and Kawika for making this happen.

The ride out was almost surreal in deep fog and flat seas whild dodging container ships heading out of the gate. The water was carpeted in Velella velella so thick you could almost walk on them.

Arriving onsite, Dave and I did the first dive while Kawika and Chuck stayed in the boats. We then swapped to allow them to dive while we kept watch. The dive was at a pinnacle called Alan's High Spot. There was quite a bit of current which limited the area we could comfortably explore. Still, the area near the anchor was very vertical and absolutely covered with encrusting life including Corynactis, sponges, huge scallops and more. Except for some cabezon we didn't see too many fish which we attributed to the current. Good stuff, even if we didn't find the hydrocoral nirvana which had been described to us by previous expeditions.

4/29/2004 Farrallon Is aboard Patriot by Alberto Nava -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Susan Bird, Alan Studley

Visibility: 10' - 50' Time: 12:00 AM

Temp: Surge:

Max Depth: Avg Depth: 50FSW

Bottom Time: Total Time:

Bottom Gases: EAN32 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Single LP80 Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
Took the day off yesterday. Sue, Alan Studley and myself dove Is. of St. James at the Farrallons.

The trip there was a bit rough but after a couple of hours we were anchoring on the north side of the Island.

We swam inside the cavern and spent a long time looking at the marine life inside. It's an incredible place!!!! all cover with encrusted hydrocoral!!! purple and all kind of life on the walls. We saw some big cabezons inside the cavern

The fish on the south side were huge. Huge rockfish, huge lincods.... best day in long time

Vis was btw 50-10ft depending on location and depth

Good news was not sharks.... bad news was not sharks... ;-) ohh yes we were outside the cage....

Best adrenaline dive in NorCal.....

4/3/2004 Pt Lobos by Pete Gelbman -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: John Heimann, Pete Gelbman

Visibility: 10' - 25' Time: 2:28 PM

Temp: 48F Surge: 5'

Scooter: Gavin Long Burn Time: 0:45

Max Depth: 75FSW Avg Depth: 32FSW

Bottom Time: 0:50 Total Time: 0:55

Bottom Gases: EAN32 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Double LP104 Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
John testing brand new drysuit & undergarment on this dive so just lazy putzing around Middle reef & Coal Chute Cove. Due to my miserable navigation, we putzed around a bit more than intended ;-)

4/3/2004 Pt Lobos by Pete Gelbman -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: John Heimann, Pete Gelbman

Visibility: 20' - 30' Time: 11:16 AM

Temp: 48F Surge: 5'

Scooter: Gavin Long Burn Time: 0:45

Max Depth: 134FSW Avg Depth: 100FSW

Bottom Time: 0:30 Total Time: 1:28

Bottom Gases: 18/45 Deco Gases: EAN50

Backgas Config: Double LP104 Deco Tanks: AL80
Deco Profile:
A whole bunch ;-)
On the drive into Montery this AM I was surprised at the number of boats out in the bay, I think this was Salmon season opening up...?

Surface was calmer than expected today after the windy whitecap reports from earlier this week, and from the surface vis looked pretty good so we were excited. Tide tabel worked out perfect for AM Lobos scooter launch today. Water a bit nippy today, summer water temps definitely kicking in. Motored on the suface until till ust out of the mouth of the cove and past main body of kelp, then dropped. Just getting familiar with navigating the Lobos reefs at 200 fpm, so stayed on west side, out past Cannary Point, Hole in the wall and made our way along to Sea Mount, then Betos reef. The natural reef structure on this side makes it easy to navigate which is a good thing since Pete was leading and still needs plenty of practice watching a compass while driving. Heaps of fun just touring the pinnacles and flying through cracks. Several good sized Lings, one huge Vermillion. On the return trip I was happy to find the appointed 70' deco spot marked by a lone Metridium, but steered us a bit off course while making our way through our shallow stops into the cove. I can't seem to ever steer a straight line throught the shallow kelpy areas where vis gets murky. Played with some sort of cool small red eel looking thing in the shallows.

Awesome day for diving. How did the boat folks fare?

3/24/2004 Mile Buoy aboard Escapade by Nick Radov -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Andrew Georgitsis, Nick Radov, Joe Talavera

Visibility: 15' - 25' Time: 10:00 AM

Temp: 54F Surge:

Max Depth: 147FSW Avg Depth: 140FSW

Bottom Time: 0:26 Total Time: 0:54

Bottom Gases: 21/35 Deco Gases: EAN50

Backgas Config: Double LP80,LP104 Deco Tanks: AL40
Deco Profile:
Andrew and Joe had been teaching a Tech 1 class for Will Gore, Damien Long, and Kevin Metcalfe, and this was their final experience dive. Since I'm on "Spring Break" right now I decided to ride along and keep them company. We had planned to go further south but the weather prediction for later in the day confined us to Monterey Bay. The site we dove wasn't exactly at Mile Buoy but I guess it's an extension of the same reef. The students led this dive and we three others trailed behind with Joe and Andrew shooting video and still pictures. It must be mating season or something for Spanish Shawls (Flabellina iodinea) because the reef was covered with them. Also spotted a single Festive Triton (Tritonia festiva), a large ling cod, and the usual rock fish. Kevin claims to have seen an octopus. Visibility at depth was decent but the surface layer was starting to get a pea soup look; I guess the spectacular conditions of a few days ago are gone.

3/6/2004 Flintstones aboard Escapade by Delia Milliron -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Delia Milliron, Gary Banta, Dionna House

Visibility: 80' Time: 12:00 AM

Temp: 48F Surge:

Max Depth: 110FSW Avg Depth: 100FSW

Bottom Time: Total Time:

Bottom Gases: 30/30 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Double Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
Gary, Dionna, and I teamed up off the Escapade this past Saturday for a stellar dive at Flintstones. Jim reported the anchor was in 55 feet - dropped down to find it at 90 with the chain draped over a ridge at 80. Close enough. The chain led us to a very cool wall that we followed around and through a deep canyon. Strawberry and other small anemones covered the walls with patches of hydrocoral and of metridiums. We wrapped around the pinnacle, then turned back through the canyon to find a school of fairly mature blue rock fish hanging about. We hung around the area near the anchor until my hands got cold (no dry gloves that day). Thanks to Jim, Eric, and Todd for taking us South - it was a great day!

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