7/6/2014 Pt Lobos by Jon McNeill

[jon]

7/6/2014 Pt Lobos by Jon McNeill -- [View in Reports Page]

Bottom Team:	Jon McNeill, Gary Banta
Visibility:	10' - 30'	Time:	9:42 AM
Temp:	50F	Surge:
Max Depth:	87FSW	Avg Depth:	50FSW
Bottom Time:		Total Time:	1:45
Bottom Gases:	EAN32	Deco Gases:	O2
Backgas Config:	Double HP100	Deco Tanks:	AL80
Deco Profile:	1s, 2, and 7
Gary and I dropped at the Worm Patch, clipped off our scooters, and did valve drills and an S-drill just to wake up the muscle memory. I led the dive, and we headed out past Hole in the Wall and Lone Metridium to Rock Garden, where we floated up one of the steep vertical cracks and admired the beautiful decoration. We kept scootering west, around the point south of Shortcut Reef and approached the south side of Taco from the east. From that point, we spent quite awhile in the canyon between Taco and Marco’s Pinnacle, exploring the walls. Gary found a baby Pycnopodia (sunflower sea star), I used to take them for granted, but it’s pretty rare to see one these days after the sea star die off. Some beautiful nudibranchs, including a super-size Phidiana hiltoni. The decoration high up on the east wall of Marco’s Pinnacle is gorgeous, with tons of brightly colored Corynactis. Finally, we turned the dive, shot through as many swim-through cracks as I could find, and stopped off on the back side of Lone Metridium to say hi to the resident GPO (she was at home). O2 deco was uneventful, and we headed in. I had expected bad vis today after Beto did Twin Peaks in 5 feet of murk yesterday, but it turned out to be much improved and a great dive overall! Visibility at Marco’s was 20-30 feet.