3/17/2012 East Pinnacle aboard Escapade by Allison Lee

[allison]

3/17/2012 East Pinnacle aboard Escapade by Allison Lee -- [View in Reports Page]

Bottom Team:	Allison Lee, Robert Lee, Clinton Bauder
Visibility:	30' - 40'	Time:	9:00 AM
Temp:	50F	Surge:	8'
Scooter:	X-scooter	Burn Time:
Max Depth:	85FSW	Avg Depth:	65FSW
Bottom Time:	0:45	Total Time:	0:50
Bottom Gases:	EAN32	Deco Gases:
Backgas Config:	Double	Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:	1,1,2,1
Saturday's recreational boat was a little bit questionable earlier in the week, with a really bad forecast. But as we approached the weekend, the forecast moderated to just kind of bad, and with good viz reports from the bay, the trip was a go. We decided to try to sneak one dive in Carmel and then head back to the bay, since conditions were supposed to build quickly in the afternoon. We made it to East Pinnacle without too many theatrics from Neptune, and were ordered to get things moving since conditions were supposed to deteriorate. We were greeted with pretty good viz, maybe 30 to 40 feet, though there was definitely a decent amount of particulate stirred up in the water. Stirred up by the mighty surge, which would periodically kick in and drag us around for a tour of the various sides of the reef. Though there were periods of calm in between, which made it possible for Clinton to line me and Rob up for some photos. Rob didn't even bother trying to shoot macro. We didn't see anything particularly unusual, but it was just a nice dive with good viz, pretty hydrocoral and a small school of blue rockfish atop the pinnacle. And after a week in Florida, the water didn't even seem that cold (and the tanks sure seemed light). For the second dive, we hurried back to Monterey Bay and ended up at Hopkins. The viz was stellar and blue in the top 30 feet, and then there was a distinct layer where it switched to green, but still quite good viz. Very good viz for the bay. I definitely saw more of Hopkins than I have ever seen (at once) before. Aside from the nice Metridium-dotted vistas, we found a couple of nice critters too: a small wolf eel, a not-so-small and not-too-shy red octopus, and a big friendly cabezon. We surfaced to wind and torrential downpours, which made unloading the boat the roughest part of the day. Rob and Clinton posted pictures here and I posted a full report here.