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BAUE Trip Reports
11/25/2003 Pt Lobos aboard Phil Sammet's RIB by Clinton Bauder -- [View this report only]
| Bottom Team: |
Clinton Bauder, Susan Bird, Alberto Nava |
| Visibility: |
50' - 80' |
Time: | 11:00 AM |
| Temp: |
48F - 52F |
Surge: |
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| Max Depth: |
206FSW |
Avg Depth: |
180FSW |
| Bottom Time: |
0:25 |
Total Time: |
1:30 |
| Bottom Gases: |
18/45 | Deco Gases: | EAN50,O2 |
| Backgas Config: |
Double LP80,LP104 | Deco Tanks: | AL40,AL80 |
| Deco Profile: |
Deep Stops,2,8,5,5,5,5,18,6 up |
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Diving with Susan and Beto off of Phil's boat. I got to Carmel early and after a leisurely coffee and a bagel I headed over to Monastery to have a look at conditions before going to Lobos. The north side looked really ugly with big spindrifts and waves going way up the beach. The south side might have been diveable by the gung-ho though a crawling exit definitely would have been required. On the plus side the water was a really clear blue and there was nary a cloud in the sky.
After meeting Phil, Susan and Beto we decided it wasn't that bad and geared up for a dive. We considered going over to the north side of Carmel Bay but the swell had a significant west component and that didn't seem likely to buy us anything other than a longer boat trip. We decided to have a look at D3 which is a pinnacle west of the famous E3.
While we were gearing up someting really, really big apparently jumped out of the water just offshore of us. Phil and I saw the spalsh but not the culprit. Might have been a whale. Anway, as I had suspected from my reconnisance at Monastery the water was incredibly clear and blue though the surface conditions left a lot to be desired. We hurried up and got the heck into the water.
As we neared the top of the pinnacle we were greeted by a big school of rockfish and it only got better from there. This rock has more gorgonians per square inch than any other that I've seen in the greater Monterey area. It also features nice sponges, numerous canary rockfish, at least 3 juvenile yelloweye rockfish and a friendly wolf eel. Wow! And with good vis too!
Eventually we ran low on time and gas and reluctantly headed up for our deco. This was surprisingly pleasant as the waves weren't of a particularly long period. Even the 20 foot stop was tolerable. We did, however, get a few glimpses of the boat as Phil hovered nearby. It looked like a bucking bronco. Sorry bout that Phil! Still, a very nice dive an a spot we'll be sure to revisit soon. After the dive we decided it was good enough for a proper name and settled on Kinder-Garden based on the very large number of juvenile fish we saw swimming over the garden of gorgonians.
You can see a gallery of still images from the video I shot on this dive here. |
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