BAUE Trip Reports

Date

Older than
Newer than

Limit

Newest First
Oldest First

Region

Location

Diver

12/23/2006 Pt Lobos by Dionna House -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Dionna House, Kevin Dow

Visibility: 10' - 40' Time: 10:30 AM

Temp: 53F - 55F Surge: 3'

Scooter: Gavin Short Burn Time:

Max Depth: 100FSW Avg Depth: 65FSW

Bottom Time: Total Time:

Bottom Gases: EAN32 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
I met with Kevin Dow at Lobos to do some scootering. I on the Gavin and Kevin on the X-scooter. We planned our dive and scootered out on the surface to the middle reef. We dropped down there and scoootered out to the end of the middle reef and located those V shaped rocks with sponge on them. Kevin has not explored the east side of Pt Lobos, so decided to head out to Granite Point Wall. Going north out to the end of the wall, I wanted to go out and visit the pinnacle I reeled out to on Thursday. The pinnacles bottom is at 80ish feet. We scootered around it and on the north end it came up to 60ish feet. I looked around and thought on a better vis day, it would be nice to explore more out here. We headed back into the middle reef and out to Beto's reef, then out to the Sisters. We saw several male sheep heads. On the way in, we came upon the lone metridium then around hole in the wall. We played around on a reef north of hole in the wall. It was really fun. We headed into the middle reef and into the sand channel. We also played around the ramp to try to find that wolf eel. BTW: There are some large fish under the ramp. Vis was quite good there too. Fun diving with Kevin. We all went to lunch at Sherlock Holmes and heard about others diving that day. Andy just got a new drysuit and was trying to get comfortable with all that is involved. I was talked into another dive at the breakwater with Andy, Kevin and Ted. Parking was not a problem. The seas were calm and the vis was about 15-20feet. I got to practice some reeling as Kevin followed. We hooked up with Ted and Andy to play around a little. I think Andy felt better about his new drysuit.... His only comment was "I am warm"

Fun day of diving with Fun People. Both Ted Pimentel and Kevin Dow will be in Beto's Fundamentals class. I look forward to more dives with them.

12/21/2006 Pt Lobos by Dionna House -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Jason Warshawsky, Sandra Tullis, Dionna House

Visibility: 10' - 40' Time: 10:00 AM

Temp: 53F - 55F Surge: 2'

Max Depth: 84FSW Avg Depth: 55FSW

Bottom Time: Total Time:

Bottom Gases: EAN32 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Double HP100 Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
Minimum
Happy Birthday dive for Sandra Tullis. We dropped down near the middle reef and swam out to the end of the Middle Reef where the two V shaped rocks with sponge are located. Vis at that point was about 35-40ft(ish) We headed out crossing the sand channel to Granite Point Wall. Went due northwest where Jason found the two gopher rockfish lip locked playing tug of war in the surge. We headed out toward the north end of the wall. I ran a reel from that point out to one of the Granite Point Pinnacles about 30feet north of the wall. I have been locking on the maps and have been curious about exploring out there. We went a little East on the Pinnacles when it was time to turn the dive. Really nice pinnacles to visit again!! I reeled back in back to the wall. We started back in the cove with a Northeast surge pushing us on the East side of Middle reef and to the Caverns near Coal Chute. It was great going back in a different way and exploring. From the caves, we went into the ramp. Closed the day with lunch at Tillie Gort's. Happy Birthday Sandra!!!!

12/20/2006 Three Sisters by Harry Wong -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Dionna House, Harry Wong

Visibility: 5' - 35' Time: 11:00 AM

Temp: 50F - 54F Surge: 2'

Scooter: Gavin Short Burn Time:

Max Depth: 105FSW Avg Depth:

Bottom Time: Total Time: 1:45

Bottom Gases: EAN32 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Double LP80 Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
Min Deco with lots of time in the shallows in the cove
What an unbelievable dive, Scootering for the first time!

Dionna and I splashed in at about 11 AM at Pt Lobos. She tows me with the Gavin. The plan was to go no further than we could comfortable swim back in case we had a scooter failure and to keep it a min deco dive. We worked out our towing signals to stop, reconnect, etc.

Leaving the launch ramp and getting towed out on the surface was a first for me. What little energy it takes when on a scooter and how little time it took. I was getting used to getting towed and wondering if I was creating too much drag, etc.

The conditions looked great! We descended at around the end of Middle Reef, Dionna on the Gavin Scooter and with me in tow. It was easier than I thought it would be. Previous to this I had tried Beto's scooter at Herrker Pool and was all thumbs.

I couldn't help but lift my head and enjoy the scenery. We got out to Beto's reef and then the Three Sisters, taking breaks and hanging out at the various reefs. I could tell, my gas consumption was WAY down! I got spoiled real fast. No more kicking and finning for me, I thought!

Reminds me why I like fast cars and motorcycles! What a different diving experience! The dive is going well and Dionna tows me back to Middle Reef where I convince her to let me try out her scooter.

Big mistake, she never gets it back!

I did tow her a little bit, but didn't quite have the technique yet. So she let go and we spent the rest of the dive with her navigating back to the launch ramp and me scootering around her. At one point the viz got really bad so I had to stay real close to her.

Then as we got closer to the ramp, the viz opened up to 20-30 feet! As I continued to play with the scooter, I start to "get it" and can control the scooter better and better. Man, I felt like a Mermaid, whipping in and out thru kelp strands, twisting, turning and just going. This is WAY...WAY fun.

I love this Gavin, you let go and it just goes straight, very easy to control.

OK, so this IS an underwater motorcycle. :-)

Thanks Dionna! You're awesome and very patient with us neophytes to BAUE.

Doc Wong
A converted scooter diver!
www.docwong.com
President Northern California Oceans Foundation
www.oceansfoundation.org

12/19/2006 Albion aboard Phil Sammet's RIB by Harry Wong -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Alberto Nava, Harry Wong

Support Team: Phil Sammet

Visibility: 2' - 5' Time: 10:11 AM

Temp: 50F - 60F Surge: 2'

Max Depth: 187FSW Avg Depth: 180FSW

Bottom Time: 0:24 Total Time:

Bottom Gases: 18/45 Deco Gases: O2

Backgas Config: Double LP80 Deco Tanks: AL80
Deco Profile:
1,1,1,2,2,6,4,4,4,6,19 and 8 minutes up.
Deep, Dark and Scary Albion Wreck Dive Today

This was to be a project research dive for NOAA. Beto and I arranged to have Phil take us out in his RIB. The night before, I could hear Phil's hesitation in taking us out, conditions were not supposed to be that good. But I pushed and he went for it.

So 9 AM, off we go. Fortunately, the Albion is in the bay and easy to get to. Phil said that the viz would be poor...he was right. I told him, but that wouldn't preclude a fun dive anyway. As the anchor went overboard, I could see the viz was great on top, at least 60 feet. Perhaps it would be that at 185 feet?

After doing our usual surface checks and reiterating our plans, we descended. The viz was great up to 120 feet, the deeper we went, the darker and the worse the viz. I had to light up the anchor line less than 5 feet in front of me to keep track of it. Down, down and down, my depth gauge read 175...the bottom's got to be around here somewhere.....then bump. I hit bottom, soft sand. We followed the anchor line and got to the anchor. It was wrapped around what looked like a small 2 x 4 piece of wood. Where was the wreck? I aimed my very bright HID light and no sign of the wreck. The plan was if the anchor was not near the wreck, we would run a reel and do a search pattern to find it. We moved ahead 5 feet and "bumped" into it.

Viz was about 5 feet which made this dive an entirely different dive than my previous dives that all had 50-80 feet of viz. This was relatively deep, it was dark, and this time kind of scary. Knowing the wreck, I knew that if we followed the coutour of the entire wreck too closely we would end up inside it and in this viz I didn't want to do that.

But still, it was quite a relief to be trim and relaxed. Slowly and effortlessly moving about the wreck! I checked my breathing, it was nice and slow. Cool! Deep dark and scary and I'm breathing slow! Beto gave me the OK? signal, basically asking if I was OK with the low viz. I could tell he was comfortable and I thought, cool! We're not calling dive because of the viz. Who needs viz anyway!

Having dived this site a few times, I led the dive, Beto had the video camera and got some good shots of some invertebrate life on the wreck. We noticed lots of Metridium, but not only white Metridium, but yellow, orange and red Metridium.

Apparently they exist in different colors, but I find this unusual. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Anyway, as I circle the wreck, I recognize the area to stay out of in this poor viz and we manage not to penetrate it. Back-kicks come in handy here. There are plenty of wires, pipes, rope and such to get entangled in.

Then 25 minutes at 180-185 feet and it's time to ascend. So up to 120 we go for one minute stops up to 90 and 80 feet for 2 minute stops. Then about 6 minutes at 70 feet. At 70 feet I start to pull out my 02 bottle, which Beto catches before I deploy the regulator...good buddy system! I got used to having a bottle in a certain position. Hm...bad habit. I love this very dedicated buddy system!

Then it was 4 minutes at 60, 50 and 40 feet. Not much to look at the water was pretty green, no jellies and such to look at. So I pull out my WetNotes and played Tic-Tac-Toe with Beto. Draw! I guess we could play Hangman next time. At 30 feet we stow our 50% and at 20 feet we switch gasses again. A nice long deco at 20 feet with a very slow ascent up to the surface and there was Phil waiting for us! Such luxury, drift deco!

What an awesome and fun dive!

Can anyone shed some light on the yellow, orange and red Metridium?

All dives are fun, some are just more "entertaining" ;-) Live Long and Deco

Harry (doc) Wong www.docwong.com www.oceansfoundation.org Warships to Nurseries
Turkey Diverwww.baue.org

12/16/2006 Herkener Pool by Suzanne L (Suz) Baird -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Suzanne L (Suz) Baird, Alberto Nava

Visibility: 70' - 75' Time: 12:30 PM

Temp: 54F - 56F Surge:

Max Depth: 9FSW Avg Depth: 6FSW

Bottom Time: Total Time:

Bottom Gases: EAN32 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Double LP95 Deco Tanks: AL40
Deco Profile:
1
When Escapade and Cypress trips and Fundies classes are all cancelled due to 12-18' swells and forecast rain and hail, its time to dive Herkener!

Conditions Sunday at Herkener were outstanding: Bright sun, blue sky, clear waters with nary a surface ripple, and guaranteed 70' viz for Beto's brand new class offering: Scuba Skills Clinic.

With water temp reported to be a cool 52-54F, Beto introduced me to the joys of Argon priming. I am hooked. Really Toasty even after an hour.

This clinic is perfect for anyone desiring to upgrade an old Fundies Pass to a now required, Fundies Tech 1 Endorsement. We started the day with lecture and power point presentation, followed by dry land review of the Basic Five and OOA drills. There are a number of refinements and updates to the old Fundies curriculum, not the least which, GUEEDGE and the new valve drill sequence.

Pool side we did our gear check and ran through our dive plan. Once in the pool, did a bubble check, then descended for a review of proper propulsion technique: the five basic kicks, and ran through the Basic Five with Beto first demonstrating and me trying to mirror back while he videoed. It really is helpful to see those kicks demonstrated. Sorting out the light cord is now an integral part of each drill. We played tick tack toe, I shot a bag, and we deco'd at 5' 30 seconds, with a little less than 30 seconds to the surface...well yes, a little less. We then descended again for a maskless swim. My primary mask developed a significant leak, so had to go to back up. Lesson learned: defog your back up!! We finished up with proper deco bottle wear and suggested adjustments to the right d-ring placement to bring that bottle into good alignment. All in all a Great Dive!!

Our day finished with review of the video, and dang if Beto didn't put that horizontal trim indicator in all the frames. No fudging zero degree horizontal in that feedback!!

And best of all, BAUE members get a great discount for this clinic!!

12/9/2006 Mile Buoy aboard Escapade by John Heimann -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: John Heimann, Clinton Bauder

Visibility: 40' - 70' Time: 10:00 AM

Temp: 52F - 56F Surge:

Max Depth: 145FSW Avg Depth: 150FSW

Bottom Time: 0:30 Total Time: 1:05

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

Backgas Config: Double LP104 Deco Tanks: AL40,AL80
Deco Profile:
1,1,1,1,5,3,3,3,3,15,up
Today we had unexpectedly good diving. This weekend was the first major storm of the season, and the sea was clearly big - the waves rolling into Seaside on the drive down were frighteningly large. Our destination for the first dive was mile buoy, and since there was little wind and swell was out of the west, Mile Buoy was well protected. The water over the buoy was deep, clear blue, and we had over 60' vis from the surface down to about 10' above the reef. At the reef itself, vis dropped slightly to about 30-40', but was still very good considering the weather. During the dive itself, we saw some of the usual denizens of Mile Buoy, including lots of nice gorgonians, a wolf eel, and a couple of Flabellina Iodinae. Perhaps the most unusual critter we (Clinton, actually) spotted was a basket star. Deco was particularly nice, as we had only modest current, some flybys by sea lions, and crackling blue vis., so that we were able to wave to people on the deck of the Escapade from our 20' stop. Overall we had a nice dive on what should have been a lousy day at sea.

12/6/2006 Pt Lobos by Dionna House -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Dionna House, Paul Lee

Visibility: 25' - 45' Time: 3:30 PM

Temp: 54F - 55F Surge: 1'

Max Depth: 60FSW Avg Depth: 35FSW

Bottom Time: Total Time:

Bottom Gases: EAN32 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Double LP80 Deco Tanks:
Deco Profile:
Was able to break away for an afternoon of mental health.... Paul Wang Lee met me down at Pt Lobos at 3:15pm. We were in the water at 3:30pm. Since the vis has been so great, we were just going to hang out close to the ramp and maybe explore the middle reef. We got out to the middle reef and saw the usual suspects. The grand finale was the big bat ray in the cove at 20ft. What a treat!!!! It was the biggest one I have seen so far... The tail was curve up like a scorpion... I was wondering if this was an aggressive pose or if this is normal. After a while of watching the bat ray, the ray took off just over my head... I was stoked. It was just about time to thumb dive... Paul and I both got out and packed up in the nick of time...

11/26/2006 Great Pinnacle by John Heimann -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: John Heimann, Anibal Mata-Sol

Visibility: 30' - 70' Time: 10:30 AM

Temp: 52F - 55F Surge:

Scooter: Gavin Long Burn Time:

Max Depth: 161FSW Avg Depth: 120FSW

Bottom Time: 0:40 Total Time:

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

Backgas Config: Double LP104,HP100 Deco Tanks: AL40,AL80
Deco Profile:
5,4,4,3,3,15,up
Holidays are often the best times to dive. Aside from Chuck T., Linda, and a few folks from NCUPS, nobody was at Whaler's today, and there was parking to spare. Conditions were very fine as Anibal and I walked down the boat ramp, and encountered cold blue water and crackling clear visibility in Whaler's. Vis dropped slightly when we got to deeper water, but was still over 50' at twin peaks. The route back via the Great Pinnacle is almost a perfect scooter dive, since the bottom profile rises up at a good rate to make deep stops with just enough stopping time to admire the scenery. The trip back through Bluefish cove (Linda's Light canyon) was particularly beautiful, with the fish even more willing to tolerate divers than we are used to in Whaler's. On the way back we did our 50,40, and 30 stops at middle reef, observing the nudis, including several species mating in close proximity. Overall a very nice dive.

11/5/2006 Great Pinnacle by John Heimann -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: John Heimann, Devin MacKenzie

Visibility: 40' - 80' Time: 12:00 AM

Temp: 54F - 58F Surge:

Scooter: Gavin Long Burn Time:

Max Depth: 164FSW Avg Depth: 140FSW

Bottom Time: 0:30 Total Time: 1:30

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

Backgas Config: Double LP104 Deco Tanks: AL40,AL80
Deco Profile:
more than enough
Haven't seen a report on here for a while, and Devin and I did a dive today that was definitely good enough to report. I actually wasn't expecting much since visibility at Lobos last weekend was poor, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to dive due to a mild sinus infection the last few days, and Devin had to borrow a light since his HID bulb was backordered. Suffice it to say the dive turned out much better than expected. Vis was really, really good, so once we got to the hole in the wall we were able to dial up to 9 on the scooter, hit the hammer, and blast straight out to Twin Peaks in very short time. We made a brief pause there when we caught sight of a half dozen Mola Molas at what appeared to be a cleaning station at around 150'. We then took a bearing towards the Great Pinnacle, and were able to see when we were only a few seconds away from the Peaks. We turned around, and saw more Molas on the Road. Overall a very good dive!

8/26/2006 Shale Beds aboard Escapade by Dionna House -- [View this report only]

Bottom Team: Dionna House, Sandra Tullis, Jason Warshawsky

Visibility: 2' - 40' Time: 10:30 AM

Temp: 52F - 56F Surge: 1'

Max Depth: 55FSW Avg Depth: 40FSW

Bottom Time: Total Time:

Bottom Gases: 30/30 Deco Gases:

Backgas Config: Double LP95 Deco Tanks: AL40
Deco Profile:
Hi BAUE,

All the Shale Island Explorers had a wonderful time out on Lake Monterey Bay. Morning forecast was grey foggy skies. Although there were a few blimps in the flow of the morning operation, everything else went rather smooth. The first dive seemed to be more of a limited visibility dive with the first 30feet of warm tea colored water and foggy skies that seemed to have darkened the water on the bottom. After a short scavenger hunt for the transect line that was set for quadrant placement, documentation and surveys were done and we were all out of the water in a timely manner. I did loose my cookies, but fortunately they were recovered. Thanks to the Escapade Crew for a plentiful lunchtime feast with two kinds of soups, and that corn and potatoes dish must be served again. It was great to see Jason Warshawsky eating on the boat for the fist time. After a debriefing and digesting during the sunny surface interval, we all took another plunge into the seas. The tea water seemed to have moved to the first 10feet and it opened up quite nicely to about 30-40feet of visibility. Correct me if I�m wrong on the vis!! We were able to locate the line and laid down the quadrants and make some species counts. Species identification is an ongoing learning process for me. I did hold on to my cookies this time!!! I was able to get some practice in setting up cookie markers. This was pretty straight forward after the Cave Bandolero�s explanation. The highlight of the second dive was Sandra spotting a wolf eel out in the open curled up on a piece of kelp and also had another piece of kelp covering him/her like a blanket. I guess it was naptime!. We also observed the scooter explorers reel in line. I enjoyed the scenic deco on the anchor line with the dramatic change of water colors. Since our dive time was a little shortened, I signaled to Sandra to stay at one of our stops for a little longer so the scooter divers can make there ascent. Surface highlight was watching Beto�s intimate encounter with a rather forward sea lion. I guess it was okay with Susan. We finished up at Siamese Bay with a wonderful meal and socializing with friends. Some of us stayed longer and was awed by viewing the colorful seafloor as our local Lobos expert explained some navigational tips. All good and FUN!!! Shale Island pictures and more reports will be up on the website by the middle-end of September. Thanks to all who organized this day.

Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Next