Out on the Escapade for the Rec charter today. We were doing experience dives for a R3 class. We got very lucky with conditions. 70ft vis, very little current and relative calm seas. We dove the two best R3 dives in the Yankee Point area, Flintstone and Soberanes. Both of these sites have access to deeper water in the 120-130ft range but at the same time a nice shallow pinnacle to hang around during the decompression ( fun deco :-) )
First dive we crossed the main south-west canyon at Flintstone and hanged around gorgonias and rockfish near the amphitheater for 20min, followed by metridium and corynactus on the way up. We deployed the SMB at 40ft and hanged around hundreds of small white jellies. It felt like hanging under the mother tree in the movie Avatar.
We had a quick 1hr surface interval and dropped at Soberanes wall. We had to kick a bit to get to the wall on the west side but after getting there we enjoyed another 10min at 120ft looking at the view. You could see the sister pinnacle about 80ft away and larges boulders at the bottom covered with metridiums. We then headed up to 80-70ft and swam around the back canyon that is totally covered with metridiums. We met with Clinton and John for some quick pictures.
We had a great time! As good as it gets for Rec diving in our area.
