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8/14/2010 19SUR aboard Escapade by Mark Lloyd -- [View this report only]
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Bottom Team: Jim Capwell, Mark Lloyd
Visibility: 30' - 70' Time:10:37 AM
Temp: 50F - 52F Surge: 1'
Scooter: X-scooter Burn Time: 0:30
Max Depth: 158FSW Avg Depth: 83FSW
Bottom Time: 0:40 Total Time: 1:30
Bottom Gases: 18/45Deco Gases:EAN50
Backgas Config: Double Deco Tanks:AL80
Deco Profile: 
5,3,3,3,3,17,6
 
When diving in Monterey you never really know what your going to get or where you are going to go due to the weather conditions that are constantly changing. Saturday, August 14th, the weather was in our favor with flat seas, hardly any wind, and a slight surge. Aboard the Escapade we motored out of the harbour, past Point Lobos, and with one more sprint, down to a dive site called Sur 19. Sur 19 is a bit past the Bixby Bridge and is at the limit of what the Escapade can get to safely.
When we arrived on site, the water was still calm and looked blue. Everyone geared up, with Jim Capwell and I diving together. We jumped in with our deco bottles and scooters and descended to about 130' before hitting the reef. We continued dropping over the ledge till about 160' where the system bottomed out. The visibility was about 60-70' and a bit dark however the huge colorful hydrocoral bushes certainly made up for it. Also there were thousands of small fish with large schools of rockfish tracking our every move. At one point I was thinking about the density of fish in this small area and how this must of been the norm about 30 years ago.
At about the 40 minute mark I sent up the bag and Jim and I made our way up to 70' and then switched to 50%. Our deco was pretty interesting as a soup of very small jellies and whatever else they were called swam passed us all the way up to the surface. There were fish shaped ones, round ones, ones with tails, you name it it was there. After the deco was completed, I clipped off the bag and scootered over to the boat. Everyone else was surfacing about the same time and had big grins as well.
Our surface interval was filled with chicken eating and watching for whales as we motored back in for our second dive at Lobos Rocks.
Lobos Rocks is a favored photo site as it has many Green Anemone with seals that love to come down and zoom past the divers. Joakim and I were diving together for this dive and Jim was sitting out. We decided to take our scooters and see if we could get all the way around one of the pinnacles. As soon as we ascended we could see that the conditions were spectacular with blue water contrasting against the big bull kelp waving in the current. Dropping down to 80' we then scootering North, ascended to about 60' as we hit the pinnacle. We stayed a bit to check out the Green Anemones then continued around to the other side. The visibility continued to improve, at one point we were between the two rocks being able to see the sand below, both pinnacles and the surface, all at the same time. We stayed in this area for a while then scootered back to the start point where all the kelp was and all that blue water. Wow, another great dive. After the dive we spotted a few spouts on our way back. Heading over we saw two Blue Whales, one small, the other huge. Small is relative as even the small one was much bigger than the boat. At one point they surfaced, sucked in some air then swam directly under the boat where the fish finder went nuts telling us the bottom is about 10' away. We sat around for about 1/2 an hour watching these huge creatures dive up and down for food. Unfortunately we had to leave as some of us were diving tomorrow and needed tanks filling.
8/11/2010 Naia Wall aboard Escapade by Alberto Nava -- [View this report only]
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Bottom Team: Jim Capwell
Visibility: 40' - 60' Time:10:30 AM
Temp: 50F - 55F Surge: 2'
Max Depth: 174FSW Avg Depth:  
Bottom Time: 1:00 Total Time: 1:40
Bottom Gases: 18/45Deco Gases:EAN50
Backgas Config: Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile: 

	  

	
	  
 


	  

	  
	  We tried to celebrate Jim's birthday last Friday with a dive outing, but we could not get crew to help on the boat :-(. We decided to re-schedule
for Wed as the seas were looking better.  As it turn out that was a good decision as the seas were totally flat today and the fog was high on the sky.

 
We chatted about going to BSB but looking at the fuel cost we decided to settled for a local site. With such a flat seas there were only two options: Naia walls, or Ed Copper Wall. Jim picked Naia wall and we deployed the down-line.




The waves were very small at the near-by breakers so we geared up and heading down the line.

 

We reached the top of the pinnacle at about 60ft, and descended on the South side of the wall. This is a vertical drop from 60 to about 160ft. We could see the bottom from 100ft so at least 50-60ft vis.

 

We scooters West on the wall for about 5min and then took a detour South-West. We found some very nice canyon and overhangs and settled there to enjoyed the view. You can see the bottom at about another 50ft and there were colourful walls all over around. Sweet!



We headed back to the wall and west NW towards the end. We found a huge school of baby rockfish. We enjoyed swimming in circle inside the school and see all the fish move and swam with us.



We headed back to the based on the pinnacle and enjoyed a nice multi-level dive all the way to the top. There were tons of decorate crabs, and some very large nudies. Longer than my hand.



After about 60min we were ready to let the structure go. We decided to ascend on the up-line as there was very little current.  As we got
towards the top the current picked-up a little bit so we used our scooter to stay in place.



Vis was 40-60ft, and temp was 50F at the based and 55ft during deco.

 

On the way back we had two friendly whales hang around the boat. Should have brought the camera.



Let's hope the weather stay like this for the weekend :-)









	  		
	  

	  


	  8/7/2010 Twin Peaks by Dionna House -- [View this report only]

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	  Bottom Team:
	  
          Dionna House, Mark Lloyd	  
          

                    

	  Visibility:
	  
	  30' - 60'	  

	  Time:9:30 AM
          

	  Temp:
	  
	  48F - 50F	  

	  Surge:
	  
	  2'	  
	  


	  
	  

	  Max Depth:
	  
	  150FSW	  
	  Avg Depth:
	  
	  130FSW	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Time:
	  
	   	  
	  Total Time:
	  
	  1:24	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Gases:
          21/35Deco Gases:EAN50,O2
	  

	  Backgas Config:
          Double HP120Deco Tanks:AL40
	  

	  Deco Profile:
	  

	  

	
	  
 


	  

	  
	  
Fortunately Mark picked up a Lobos reservation.  The conditions were flat with some slight swell. Lobos was not crowded at all. We decided to adventure out to Twin Peaks. Visibility was BEAUTIFUL!!! Very exciting!! After checking out the wolf eel that lives out at Beto's Reef, we headed north/west to the Road that leads out to Twin Peaks.  We spent alot of time swimming around.  Saw my favorite Dironas, or should I say huge Dirona.  I always thought I had to go to Alaska to see the big stuff. Fun looking in the nukes and crannies.  Lots and lots of junvenile rock fish on the reef.  Actually saw a juvenile vermillion. Time flys when you are having fun. We went back to Beto's reef and into the cove for an uneventful deco.  There was some moderate current out at the 70ft stop though.

Second dive was more adventurous.  Finding the caverns in significant surge is sometimes challenging!!  All in all, fun day out diving.
	  		
	  

	  


	  7/31/2010 El Paso aboard Escapade by Alberto Nava -- [View this report only]

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	  Bottom Team:
	  
          Susan Bird, Alberto Nava	  
          

                    

	  Visibility:
	  
	  80' - 100'	  

	  Time:10:30 AM
          

	  Temp:
	  
	  50F - 50F	  

	  Surge:
	  
	  2'	  
	  


	  
	  

	  Max Depth:
	  
	  155FSW	  
	  Avg Depth:
	  
	   	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Time:
	  
	  0:45	  
	  Total Time:
	  
	  1:20	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Gases:
          18/45Deco Gases:EAN50,O2
	  

	  Backgas Config:
           Deco Tanks:
	  

	  Deco Profile:
	  
5,3,16up

	  

	
	  
 


	  

	  
	  Well it's great day when you can a dive a nice dive site :-). Today we dove a site called El Paso on the back side of Point Lobos. A few baue members dove this years ago, and they reported nothing very excited. For that reason we had
not tried it since. Today the swells were big so we ended on the back-side of Lobos looking for protection and decided to do El Paso. How bad can it be?

Susan and I dropped down to found amazing vis. Maybe 80 or 100ft. We could see several pinnacles on the west side  of the main structure and we ventured over-there while enjoying the view. Not the most amazing invertebrates so we came back to the main structure and went for a loop around the pinnacle. 



















The best part of the site was a section were to pinnacles meet, and we called "summer camp" as there we're tons of juv rockfish in the area. Susan found a big lingcods and the vermillions were very curious about the bubbling fast moving kind of fish. I inverted myself under a little overhand and enjoy looking at the fish and life from this perspective. 

We went with the rest of the teams at the camp and played around for Clinton and his camera. There was a large school of rock fish at the top of the pinnacles. 

The site was a great surprise for all of us. Joakim came during deco and was writing something about wanting to come back,  and saying if you don't go you wont know :-)



Susan's note: The photos Clinton posted are wonderful, but do not do justice to the site with regard to the proliferation of juveniles at the East end of the pinnacle.  There were literally thousands of babies... not only rockfish but many others (smaller, and of undefined varieties).  This dive experience was like hanging out inside of an aquarium!  

By the middle of the dive it was evident that the best location was at the east side, near the overhang.  This area forms a large enclave that provides excellent shelter for juveniles.  I have never seen so many 'juvies' congregated in one location before, and it was a delightful place to be!



Some  photos   from Clinton.



Second dive in the bay with a lot of invertebrates at the deeper shale.
	  

	  

	  


	  7/24/2010 Pt Lobos aboard Escapade by Alberto Nava -- [View this report only]

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	  Bottom Team:
	  
          Susan Bird, Alberto Nava	  
          

                    

	  Visibility:
	  
	  30' - 40'	  

	  Time:10:30 AM
          

	  Temp:
	  
	  50F - 50F	  

	  Surge:
	  
	  3'	  
	  


	  
	  

	  Max Depth:
	  
	  120FSW	  
	  Avg Depth:
	  
	   	  
	  


	  

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


	  

	  Bottom Gases:
          21/35Deco Gases:35/25
	  

	  Backgas Config:
           Deco Tanks:AL80
	  

	  Deco Profile:
	  

	  

	
	  
 


	  

	  
	  We had an optional boat dive added to the Point Lobos BAUE event on Saturday. The plan was for two dives from the boat on some of the sites that are not as easy to get by scooter or swimming. Dive one was at 9:30 and dive two at 1:00pm. We dove The Neddle and Great Pinnacle.

The dive at The Neddle was great. I had forgotten how nice this site is as I have not dove it for several years. There is a sharp wall going from 45ft all the way to 85 ft and the a second slop that goes to 100ft and as you swim east get to about 120-130ft. 

Susan and I dropped down to the the base on the south side and looked around for gorgonias, and I was trying to locate a nice canyon that I use to scooter by when coming from E3. I could not find it so either it's deeper or maybe I was narc ;-). We found a couple of nice lingcods and a bright red shrimp on one of the gorgonias. After about 20min of fun we headed up to the south wall.

The walls is all cover with invertebrates, and most times there is a school of rock-fish that hang around the wall. Seeing the divers swim through with their light with all the fish moving away is amazing view. We also located the eye of the needle which is a 6x2 ft crack at 80ft on the wall.  After another 20min (using 325) at 70-60t we move to the top of wall at 50t.

Here Susan found a nice cabezon, tons of cowries and some health hydrocorals.

After about 50min of fun we headed up the up-line and back to the boat.

ahhh yes my suit totally flooded so I had to skip the second dive :-(

I went home, got my backup-suit and went out with Joakim for a scooter spin around granite point wall.

Great day out with all BAUE members and friends.

	  		
	  

	  


	  7/18/2010 Montana aboard Escapade by Alberto Nava -- [View this report only]

	  

	  


	  Bottom Team:
	  
          Susan Bird, Alberto Nava	  
          

                    

	  Visibility:
	  
	  30' - 40'	  

	  Time:10:30 AM
          

	  Temp:
	  
	  50F - 53F	  

	  Surge:
	  
	  3'	  
	  


	  
	  

	  Max Depth:
	  
	  170FSW	  
	  Avg Depth:
	  
	   	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Time:
	  
	  0:40	  
	  Total Time:
	  
	   	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Gases:
          18/45Deco Gases:EAN50,O2
	  

	  Backgas Config:
           Deco Tanks:
	  

	  Deco Profile:
	  

	  

	
	  
 


	  

	  
	  Wakeup this morning and looked at the window and all I could see was sense fog.  We had another tech charter on the Escapade so was wondering if we were actually gone be diving today. We showed at the dock at about 8:00 and loaded the boat. Capt Jim was taking his time, talking to people not getting into his dry-suit . He was making time for the fog to lift. After other boats got to Carmel and sent reports of less fog down there we got ready and headed South. 
We tried E3 but the weather was looking a little too much for that area, so we decided to get some protection and dive Montana.  People dive this site from Whalers cove, but there is nothing like diving it from the boat. You can spend so much time at the site, look around and really enjoy the experience.
Susan and Rob found a couple of nice basket-starts, and there were a lot of fish, including a juv yellow eye. We found some nice hermissenda, some very large white dorids, dinora albolineata and many more. 
We spend 20min at the bottom and about 20min in the shallows. We checked the old GPO den but no luck, so we spend some time looking at the small orange sea pens.
Vis was about 50ft 
	  		
	  

	  


	  7/17/2010 K2 aboard Escapade by Alberto Nava -- [View this report only]

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	  Bottom Team:
	  
          Susan Bird, Alberto Nava	  
          

                    

	  Visibility:
	  
	  40' - 60'	  

	  Time:10:30 AM
          

	  Temp:
	  
	  50F - 52F	  

	  Surge:
	  
	  2'	  
	  


	  
	  

	  Max Depth:
	  
	  170FSW	  
	  Avg Depth:
	  
	   	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Time:
	  
	  0:40	  
	  Total Time:
	  
	  1:20	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Gases:
          18/45Deco Gases:EAN50,O2
	  

	  Backgas Config:
           Deco Tanks:
	  

	  Deco Profile:
	  

	  

	
	  
 


	  

	  
	  On board of the Espacade for the first of a two day diving weekend.  We headed south while hoping for the “never ever land” (sur19) but we settled for a great dive at K2 peak.  
Sue and I dropped on the south-east side of the pinnacle, swam over to the north and settled for a nice drift dive along the wall. I haven’t done here for a few months and I forgot how good the life and structure on the wall are.  We had at least 50ft vis and at some point I could also see K1 from the valley btw K2 and K1. 
After about 20min of enjoying the base, we headed up to the base of the wall and headed back. We found two nice yellow eye rock-fish, not more than 1in a piece. Really nice to see them. 
We swam against the current for a little bit, and then we moved east on the wall  (to get away from the current) and found a nice crack that goes from 140 to 80 and we used it to go up. There were tons of fish inside the crack, two large lincods and several vermillions.
At the top there were some nice sheep-head and tons of rock-fish. 
After about 50min of fun we let go on the structure and drift our deco. 
Great to be fun diving again :-)
	  		
	  

	  


	  7/17/2010 Carmel River Beach aboard Unknown Boat by Dionna House -- [View this report only]

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	  Bottom Team:
	  
          Dionna House, Carol Cohn, Larry Cohn	  
          

                    

	  Visibility:
	  
	  30' - 50'	  

	  Time:10:00 AM
          

	  Temp:
	  
	  48F - 51F	  

	  Surge:
	  
	   	  
	  


	  
	  

	  Max Depth:
	  
	  90FSW	  
	  Avg Depth:
	  
	  65FSW	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Time:
	  
	   	  
	  Total Time:
	  
	  0:45	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Gases:
          EAN32Deco Gases:
	  

	  Backgas Config:
          Double LP80Deco Tanks:
	  

	  Deco Profile:
	  

	  

	
	  
 


	  

	  
	  I had two wonderful dives with Carol and Larry Cohn off XTA Sea.  First site was Jawdropper.  I was trying out my new zipseal DUI drygloves.  Vis was about 45-50ft and water temp was about 49-50F.  We saw a large cabezon, decorator crabs and many other usual suspects. My hands stayed warm and happy.  On the ride back to Monterey we waved to the divers on the Escapade and later hung out with a big pod of Risso dolphins.  Second dive was at Trevors in Monterey. Some current on the bottom, vis was about 30ish feet. Usual suspects seen.  My hands stayed warm and happy.  Fun Time!!!	  
	  

	  


	  7/4/2010 Butterfly House aboard Escapade by Kenn Hwang -- [View this report only]

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	  Bottom Team:
	  
          Steve Dawson	  
          

                    

	  Visibility:
	  
	  30' - 30'	  

	  Time:10:00 AM
          

	  Temp:
	  
	  50F - 50F	  

	  Surge:
	  
	  1'	  
	  


	  
	  

	  Max Depth:
	  
	  83FSW	  
	  Avg Depth:
	  
	  59FSW	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Time:
	  
	   	  
	  Total Time:
	  
	   	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Gases:
          EAN32Deco Gases:
	  

	  Backgas Config:
          Double LP80Deco Tanks:
	  

	  Deco Profile:
	  

	  

	
	  
 


	  

	  
	  I really appreciate the number of charters we've been having this year. The 4th of July trip was another 6.5 hour attempt to head south in search of blue water. When we arrived at Butterfly House, I thought it was the first time I've been there, but apparently we were there on the 3/14 boat as well. And the dive profile was nearly identical as well.  The dive was characterized by great viz and awesome structure, it reminded me of being inside of a maze. 

The second dive was at Eric's Pinnacle, which I certainly haven't seen before. The viz around the point had dropped drastically, and the surface was brown-green. Once we dropped 20ft or so, the layer lifted and we ended up with a nice 15ft or so of viz, just fine for exploring the small pinnacle. We circled our way up several times, noting multiple treefish near the bottom and a school of blue rockfish orbiting the top. The viz was a flurry of little sea creatures that made it difficult to see anything other than light and blue gloves, and since we missed the anchor on the way down, we surfaced farther than anyone else.

Susan and Beto hosted everyone afterwards to a great cook-out, which left me quite comatose by the time we got back to the Lone Oak.

Dive video:  Butterfly House and Eric's Pinnacle

Party pics:

Post-dive snacks galore!


Sleepy...


"The Cornmeister"


You won't be smiling when you see the next picture!


Steve hits the jackpot
	  		
	  

	  


	  6/27/2010 Pt Lobos by Kenn Hwang -- [View this report only]

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	  Bottom Team:
	  
          Kenn Hwang, Ted Pimentel	  
          

                    

	  Visibility:
	  
	  10' - 15'	  

	  Time:11:00 AM
          

	  Temp:
	  
	  47F - 53F	  

	  Surge:
	  
	  2'	  
	  


	  
	  

	  Max Depth:
	  
	  93FSW	  
	  Avg Depth:
	  
	  38FSW	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Time:
	  
	  2:21	  
	  Total Time:
	  
	   	  
	  


	  

	  Bottom Gases:
          EAN32Deco Gases:
	  

	  Backgas Config:
          Double LP80Deco Tanks:
	  

	  Deco Profile:
	  

	  

	
	  
 


	  

	  
	  Divers in the Mist

Sunday was a Lobos day with Ted. Lots of visitors were in the park, and not too many divers--pretty much the regular crowd. 

We spent a few minutes admiring the Lees' new, completely decked out, customized, loaded, and not-at-all-creepy dive van:




There was thick fog blanketing Carmel and Lobos as we rolled into town. But it seemed to disappear by the time we were ready to dive:



Well, it seems like the haze had just fallen from the sky into the water; after a short, sunny surface kick, we descended back into a milky white fog, and pretty much got ourselves immediately lost. So much for making it out to the 3 Sisters. Still, we took a bearing and started kicking, and after 20 minutes or so found ourselves at Sea Mount. Wow. So we headed to Beto's Reef instead, and ran into a scooter team on their way back in. It's pretty awesome swimming out there by yourselves, and suddenly seeing a gaggle of bright headlights coming at you!

After a short stint on the deep end, we made our way back to Middle Reef and Coal Chute Cove, where we spent the next two hours checking out various dead jelly parts (so that's what's been feeding the huge schools of blue rockfish) and almost falling onto the largest lingcod I've seen at Lobos. It was so big it just sat there ignoring us for the entire 5 minutes we circled it.

Just goes to show, you don't need great viz to have a great dive!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJfU1x_t9_Q

It was good to see Beto back in the water! He and Susan arrived after we started our dive, and emerged as we were finishing our clean-up. 	  		
	  

	  


	  



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