The Dive Matrix - Southern California

Santa Catalina - Arrow Point 3D

I_AM — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:07:25 GMT

coming soon to the eDiving simulator :D

Alberto (aka eDiver)

UTD Adventurers - S La Jolla Canyon Wall Trip Report - Sep 4, 2010 dive

andrewg — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:31:22 GMT

Dive Site: South La Jolla Canyon Wall
Location: North from Buoy B off La Jolla Shores Cove then west along the wall
Type: Wall - Top 100' / Bottom 400'+
Entry: Boat
Dive Buddy: John Walker and Jeff Seckendorf
Date: 4 September 2010
Time: 8:00 am
Swell: 2.6'
Max Depth: 160'
Visibility: 40'
Temp: 52 f
Dil/Bailout Gases: 18/45 & O2
Runtime: 75 min
Equipment: A/JS- MX 90 mCCR Rebreather / John Walker - Twin 130's and 2 deco's Nitrox 50 and O2
DPV: AG/JS- 2 x Sierra's / John Walker - CUDA
Gas used: AG/JS - 3 cft of Trimix and 4 cft O2 / John 200 cft / 30cft Nitrox 50 and 10 cft O2
Video - John Walker

I was very excited for this particular dive. First of all this was an official UTD Adventurers organized dive, secondly we were returning to the site I dove a few weeks ago with Roger Bly, but this time it was from a boat and therefore we did not have to turn back after 20 min bottom and we could keep scootering along the wall, exploring new ground and most importantly capturing some video. (Hopefully John W. will have it done soon) Thirdly, we were testing the new RB Bands (tank frames - http://www.unifiedteamdiving.com/pho...ums/rb-bands-1) for the MX series rebreather. We had used it in the pool the day before and this was the first time in a real dive, but more importantly using it to setup and breakdown before and after the dive..

For more on info on the dive, images and video please go directly to the trip report at
http://www.unifiedteamdiving.com/for...es-buoy-b-s-la

Big D Iris-palooza - La Jolla 9/3/10

SoCalSwami — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 05:30:54 GMT

La Jolla Shores has been INVADED this week by D. iris. I don't mean 10, or 50...Oh No!
I mean several hundred, perhaps 1,000's over a sq area at least 200'. Crazy numbers.

And these critters were not just satisfied to be terra-firm. Oh No, they went 'waterborne'. It was like it was raining iris's. Crazy.

At any point during the dive I had a minimum of 5 iris within arms reach. Frick'n everywhere.

Along side the iris invasion was an army of Aeolidia papillosa. Hundred's of these guys as well.

Fricken Crazy I tell ya.

Got some good pics of the swimmers (I love LR3):)

-Mike

Photobucket Album Here

GUE Demo Day - SoCal - 10/17 - Free!

Rainer — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:03:59 GMT

Posting this on Steve's behalf. Should be a lot of fun!

---------------

GUE Demo Day - Free Event - Sunday Oct 17, 2010

This is a great opportunity to meet LA's GUE Instructors Steven Millington & Karim Hamza, try gear in the pool & learn about Global Underwater Explorers.

Come and find out more about the GUE organization and training...

* Check out diving in a backplate / wing & longhose
* Try some non-silting propulsion techniques
* Learn about advanced buoyancy control techniques
* Experience team positioning & communication
* Try a single tank configuration, or try a set of doubles

GUE Instructors and GUE divers will be on site facilitating, giving demos
& answering questions.

All gear (backplates/wings/long hoses/tanks/weights) provided FREE for this event.

You'll need to provide:
Mask, fins/boots, wetsuit, towel and certification card.
_ _ _

Registration is required!
So we can bring enough sets of gear, we ask you please call us to reserve your
space for the demo: 818-749-3483

Date: Sunday Oct 17, 2010

Time: 8am -12 Noon

Location: Cleveland High School Indoor Pool
8120 Vanalden Ave., Reseda, California 91335

After the demo: We'll grab lunch, have a fun Q & A and view photos from the session.

Don't miss out!

Vets Park 09-01-10pm - Cumanotus sp. 1 nudies are back

SeekNCritters — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:16:57 GMT

We saw Cumanotus nudies at Vets last night! A couple weeks ago I noticed there were a lot of the pink solitary hydroids around, and was hopeful we'd see some Cumanotus show up soon. They're back!

Last night the viz was bad in the first 30 ft, then WHAM the water temp dropped to 53 degrees at 30 ft and there was VIZ (20ft+)! Surf was small, tide was low-ish and we noticed a couple of dips in the surf zone sand, but not bad.

Lots of teeny shrimp loved our lights which attracted the fish. Fun to watch the fish chomping on the shrimp.

-Dana

Catalina Weekend - Belated Trip Report - Valiant Video

Rainer — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:14:42 GMT

A few weeks ago, Nicole, Stephen, Jen, and I decided to head over to Catalina for two days of diving at the Underwater Dive Park. We brought two scooters for four people and took turns sharing them (sometimes towing, sometimes splitting into scooter/kick teams). Water wasn't the cleanest, but certainly good enough, and we got in five excellent dives. I shot video on a few, but only bothered to edit that from the first dive out to the Valiant, a 162' luxury yacht sitting in 70-100' just outside the dive park.

Cody and Leslie also came over the second day, and of course immediately found GSBs (the rest of us got skunked this trip).

After we finished with the last dive, the six of us ate and drank our way across Avalon. Some top-side photos here:

avalon - these days

Labor Day 2010 with Sundiver II!

Captain Kyaa — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:27:04 GMT

Hi Divers,

We'll be sailing all Labor Day weekend long with great trip opportunities for you hard working divers. Our Friday Express is a go on 9 3 10 and it looks like we're going to need another boat for this Sunday's California Diver Magazine promo trips! Sundiver to the rescue! We will run our big, comfy boat for the same looooow fare of $100 including subscription for a three quarter or full day of diving. Express is mostly full already pending some call re reorg so let me know which boat you prefer ...when you call.

And for Labor Day itself we want to acknowledge and reward all your labors with a special Monday Express. 3 tanks all inclusive for ONLY $75. This boat is already half full so grab your spot today. Our Express trips next Wednesday and next Friday are goes too so get wet while we have a little Summer!
:D

See you under,
Captain Kyaa
Sundiver International
800-555-9446

Marine Room Dive with Fried Egg Jellies + Video

Rapture of the Deep — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:20:55 GMT

Date: 8-28-10

Time: 9:03 am

Dive Buddy: Julie Lorenzen

Dive Length: 33 mins

Surf: 1-2 ft, ie: negligible

Viz: not bad: 15-20 ft.

Max Depth: 124 ft.

Underwater Topography: La Jolla Canyon, South Wall

Mix: 32%

Marine Life Seen: several schools of unidentifed fish in the kelp on the bottom, Sand Dabs, a Vermilion Rockfish in a hole and several Fried Egg Jellies ( Phacellophora camtschatica) as well as some Sea Pens, Order: Pennatulacea, sp. unknown

Video here: Julie and the Jelly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eptvXcjZP9w

[This my first ever underwater videos taken with a Go Pro Hi Def wrist-mounted camera--so be nice, OK?] I realize it's not film festival material! LOL!

Julie and I waded through negligible surf this morning for a nice dive where we explored the South Wall of La Jolla Canyon, taking photographs and video of numerous Fried Egg Jellies seen along the way.

Hogan on OC and CC

lobstah — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:12:35 GMT

I can't really explain it, but every time I dive Hogan I find myself dropping on it, taking a look and thinking "Wow. It's a really cool wreck". I can't really put my finger on what makes it cool - it's quite broken down after being bombed to pieces and then spending 65 years on a bottom in a surge. There's relatively little structure sticking out of the sand. When compared to Yukon, which is similar in length, there's simply less wreck to look at, but somehow I like it. Maybe it's because of its huge turbine which lies there exposed or maybe because of anemones growing everywhere, or resident wolf eel, or maybe tons of fish schooling on this wreck. None of it is unique to Hogan, so I honestly don't know why I like it.

Anyway. We did 2 nice 30 minute bottomtimes on 25/25 for OC team and 15/55 for CC team, both followed by ~20 min deco. Vis on a bottom was ~20 feet with plankton enjoying cold upwelling with fresh supply of nutrients and tons of fish enjoying the plankton feast. Midwater was clear up to 70 feet with little red tide layer and jellyfish galore between 70 and a surface. We were entertained on deco by two big fried egg jellies and thousands of tiny ones drifting with gentle current.

Perfect day on a Yellow Boat with brie and a soup and Danny as a driver. Life is good.

Whew! There goes August!

Captain Kyaa — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:07:42 GMT

Hi Divers,

August sure went quickly. It was a blur of trips for me but we are happy to get you out in the water while conditions are this good.

It looks like our Sunday afternoon boat will run this weekend on 8 29 10 if you would like to sleep in and still dive. The forecast for Sunday looks to be the best day this weekend and our morning boat is FULL. The afternoon boat runs approximately 1:30pm to 7pm $95 all inclusive. Express open boats next Weds and Friday too. :D

See you under,
Captain Kyaa
Sundiver International
800-555-9446
sundiver.net

Farnsworth Bank - DIR Charter - Trip Report

Rainer — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:51:22 GMT

This past Sunday, a group of us headed out on the Sea Bass with intentions of diving at Farnsworth Bank, an open ocean seamount a little less than two miles off the southwest corner of Catalina. Swell models all week were calling for 3-6' seas on the backside of the island, so we departed San Pedro at 6am with little confidence we'd make our intended destination. It's just over a two hour ride and the trip out was a bit bumpy, with 3-4' swell as we neared the frontside of the island, but as soon as we turned the corner at the west end, the seas settled down a bit and 30 minutes later we were dropping anchor on the 60' pinnacle.

Dive 1 - Farnsworth (Deeper)

Kim and I planned to spend the first dive a bit deeper. We spent 35 minutes between 140-160' checking out the many large boulders that surround the main pinnacles as they give way back to the sandy bottom. The purple hydrocorals, one of the highlights of diving at Farnsworth, weren't overly abundant here. We did find one torpedo electric ray. Visibility wasn't stellar (30'), but the dive was really peaceful. Sadly, my video reflector broke just as I was heading in for the dive and the footage was really rather monotone and not worth editing together.

Dive 2 - Farnsworth (Yellow Wall)

With directions from Maciek about how to navigate over to the Yellow Wall, Jen, Kim, and I headed in for our second dive. Plan was 30 minutes in the 80-100' range. Visibility was still down from what is often encountered here, but this dive was nonetheless amazing! The YW really is yellow (with tons of pinks, purples, and oranges as well). Fish densities here were the highest I've ever seen. Purple hydrocorals also dotted nearly every rock. Just stunning. We found another electric ray, and even a large moray eel as we headed back to the anchor. Still no video reflector, but there was a lot more ambient light at these depths, so I managed a bit of video.

Dive 3 - Eagles Nest

Final dive of the day was planned as a drift dive at Eagles Nest. Stephen, Vincent, and I teamed up and headed in. As soon as we descended, we realized the current was blowing in the opposite direction as the captain was planning for. We shrugged, hoped the captain would figure it out, and set off. Depths in this area were modest (I don't think we passed 60', other teams, though, hit 80'). We stayed just on the outside of some thick kelp and poked our heads into crevices looking to spot lobsters (we did find Lobzilla, dude was huge). Had a small bat ray swim by. After 45 minutes, Stephen put up a marker and we ascended through blue water. Boat was waiting for us a few hundred yards away. Other teams managed to find even more bat rays and a *giant* GSB (yes, it was supposedly that big).

Pleasant ride home and then a group of us headed off to sushi. For a day that started at 4am (boat loaded at 5am), we didn't hit our pillows until just after 11pm. Totally worth it.

Catalina 3-Day Weekend - August 20 - 22. WOW. So much fun I can't stand it!

Mo2vation — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:12:28 GMT

Claudette and I used to retire about quarterly to Catalina for a long weekend of drillin’ and chillin’. We’ve found its how we learn best – by high intensity, repetitive practice. Get in, do a bunch of dives and execute again and again.

We haven’t been to Catalina in about a year – with the winter and spring diving being so poor we’ve stayed mostly local. So this was going to be an exciting time – getting back to the place we’ve been so many times and trying / learning new stuff.

We left Friday morning from the San Pedro Catalina terminal – which again I have to give it up to. When you are moving the mountain of gear that we are moving, the SP terminal really is the best choice. It’s all at ground level – no ramps, no stairs. The doors are automatic (that alone is priceless) – you stage your stuff and queue up inside, the ramp is short to the boat, parking is the cheapest of the major Catalina terminals ($12 / day)… it’s just the best way to go.

We move enough gear for a 6 week Everest expedition onto the boat, and we’re off.

FRIDAY 8-20-2010
Objectives this day: Dive the Valiant, and then Dive Big Casino Reef.

Dive #1 – The Valiant

It has been over a year since I’ve been to the Val, so I’m way over due. This was to be the first trip with the new Micro Cudas – so it’d be interesting to see how fast we’d get there. We gear up, we splash, we get to the starting point (we always us the same starting point) and we go.

Less than 3 minutes. Nice.

The viz is still pretty yucky, but it was better at depth below the ‘cline – but still not wide-angle worthy. We get shots of all of the nudis, say hi to the two octos that live on the Val, and spin to come back. We usually spend an inordinate amount of time there, but our plan called for us to get on back.

On the way back we come up on two GSB’s spooning in the kelp – and it’s on. Claudette will spend time telling you about how amazing it was – and it was pretty amazing. HUGE male, much smaller female doing this slow courtship dance. We watched this for about 10 – 12 minutes. It was amazing.

We blast back to the park, cruise, off gas, get out and head to lunch and a long SI.

Dive #2 – Big Casino Reef

A couple of years ago we dived BCR. It was remarkable. We’ve wanted to get back to it, and now, armed with both Alberto’s excellent directions and a super high rez map from Boss Ross we head out.

We splash, scoot out on the surface to the drop point, drop, take a compass heading and zoom zoom. Within minutes the acres of featureless sand give way to a very nice rock formation, then another, and another. TONS of fish are on this reef as it’s literally the only thing within miles on way and hundreds of yards the other that rises off the bottom more than a few feet.

And the Nudis… wow. Eels, Nudis, so many fish, gorgonian of all color, and the kelp… just amazing. For many years, the Val has been my destination dive when I get to the dive park. I’ve totally fallen in love with BCR all over again. What a place.

After another long dive we head over to the secret spot to look for Hypselodoris. Jaye and I saw him last week. Sadly, he’s not there. So we blast back into the park, looking at more eels and gorgeous fish.

As we’re waiting to get back up the stairs, we both notice the same thing: The instructors on this Friday are exceptionally good. It doesn’t take much for the stairs to become a big cluster, and when we’re moving so much gear up and down, having instructors give clear, loud, concise direction to their students to keep things moving makes a huge difference. The two instructors that were there on Friday had their classes operating like a machine – on the steps, 1, 2, 3 OUT. Staged to come back up, 1, 2, 3 IN. It was great to see this.

We’re out of the water around 4:50 PM. We take down, hog a ton of lockers for the stuff not going back to the hotel, and move the rest back to the Atwater via Cab. Clean up, go dump the DS undies and glove liners and towels into the Laundromat dryer (so plush, diving Catalina!) and meet for dinner at the new Avalon Grill – if you haven’t been there, it’s a nice new place built in the old visitor center. DrB joins us for a bevy after dinner. Very good to get hang time with the doctor. Back to Atwater – face plant.

Some pics below. Next up – Saturday!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

We dive a lot of stuff because we bring a lot of stuff!

The Val is awash with Mexichromis making babies. We called it Sexichromis!
View Super-Size Sexichromis here: Chika Bow Bow

Light Table Janolus at 119 FAW at BCR. Very cool nudi's there.

BCR was teaming with Berthella. I mean zillions. They are so funny. They remind me of some wacky plow Ox. I love these guys. All from about 119 FSW.
View Monstah Size Berthella here: Linkage

Bunny-eared BCR Hudson's
To view Gigantic Bunny Ear Hudson, hop here: Boing

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Attached Images

Berthella-2..jpg (159.2 KB)

Im off to Malaysia

David P — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:17:59 GMT

The only reason Im posting here is because Im from SoCal and know many of you and trust some of your input :) Im in China for work at the moment and just confirmed after daily changes that yes I am going to Malaysia, KL. Im hoping to get out of china tonight (1am right now) if not tomorrow. I think I will have a few days off so Im going to do my best to hop in the water. Problem is, because this leg of my Asia tour was not planned, I have nothing for the water. No backplate, regs, mask or even swim shorts!
Water is at least 79 so Im good for an hour in nothing but a dive skin (learned from Sea of Cortez and Hawaii) so I dont have to have a suit sent over here, but would like to know if anyone knows of a shop that rents equipment other than crappy jackets. I saw a place called recntec that carries Halcyon, I sent them an email but no response yet. Im trying to avoid having my mask, fins, bp/w, and regs shipped to me.
Thanks for any input yall.

New SoCal wreck!

Oside Jimc — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:21:33 GMT

The location of the wreck of the USS Vammen (DE-644) had been located off of SoCal. Sunk during the Condor missile testing program this is an amazing wreck.
You can read the dive report here:
USS VAMMEN (DE-644)

With a history that spans the period from WWII to Vietnam, you can read about the history of the USS Vammen here:
Ship History - USS Vammen (DE-644)

It looks like a phenomenal dive, but judging from Kendall's load of spare bottles I suspect it is just a little outside of recreational dive range.

Here is John Walker's Video:
YouTube - USS Vammen
Such a stunning dive, I love living vicariously through John's phenomenal videos since this stuff is waaaaay beyond my training!

Time to cool the jets at Vets - Wed 8/18 - great dive!

Mo2vation — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:40:53 GMT

It had been awhile since Claudette and I have dived Vets.

And because we're heading over to Catalina tomorrow for three days of drllin and chillin, last night was the only only night we had to snap one more off before we leave.

We placed a call to T-money, BattMan Tobin - he was available so the terrible trio ride again!

We get there and as we're gearing up, Tobin asks me, "so what's the plan...."

I look at him, I look at the ocean, and said, "we're going that-a-way..."

:)

The water has been on this tear of flatnessness most of the week. We walk out, fin up in the zone (it wasn't surf zone last night) and prepare for a perfect Seattle entry. Before we drop we hatch a plan:

Hit the line. Scoot to the end of the line
At the end, roll 280 degrees to about 110
Once at 110, turn right and go north
When we get bored, or when we run out of gas, we come home

THE DIVE

We gather ourselves, and head out. I'm leading. I was probably standing on the line, because as I faded right I couldn't find it. Whatever.

I put it at 280 and we head out. At about 23 feet, I get hit in the face with a 5 pound bag of ice.

I'm not even joking.

Vets has a shallow sand shelf that runs between 66 and 74 degrees in the "summer" - its pretty warm. The thermocline at 23 feet was so jarring it caused an instant brain freeze. Full on cola slurpee temple cracking brain freeze.

And its so unfair. Water that rude should be clear. And it wasn't. We were still in the no viz zone, only now we're all making faces like we just got tazed. Totally bogus.

We continue to scoot to 110. The water is getting clearer and clearer. At depth, it was a very nice 20+ in places.

We're met on the bottom by a big bat ray. A bat ray at 110. OK, I guess. Dude was asleep, and left a mild explosion of sand as he took off.

We turn right and head norte. And the water is getting colder. And colder. I look down, Suunto says 52. X-1 says 51. When I downloaded the Sensus this morning, it tells me we hit 49.14 degrees last night.

BURRRRRRR

This is SoCal, this is summer. What a wacky year.

We continue the slide north - octos, nudis, junk. Knives, toys, a fin, a snorkel. Lots of critters out. Chica spots a Squid. I look at a bottle and keep moving. I see her light - I go back and say what.

She's holding up a CHP dated July 2009!!! We planted a couple of dozen Sobe Bottles last year for the octopus (CHP = Cephalopod Housing Project) and its always cool to stumble on them again.

We're scooting north, critter freestyling, bouncing from one thing to the next. I see some long yarn hanging from above... I look up and its a fried egg jelly - with a zillion long tentacles hanging down in our way. I wave at everyone, only because I nearly ran into the thing. They had already seen it... so we all avoid tentacles across the face and move on.

Chica finds the hugest pipt fish ever. EVER. The thing was easily 15" to 18" long, and as big around as your index finger. It was among a small kelp plant - and it was very hard to see. It was beautiful.

We turn the dive in a slapping cloud of silver baitfish. A giant sea lion blasts by chasing the cloud and give me a startle.

We're cruising back south along the canyon wall, and I see this Wilma Flintstone looking toy bracelet. Big pink rocks strung on elastic - nice. I grab it and put it over the reflector of my can light.

More cruising, and we see a Sea Lemon orgy. Kinda weird. More wall hugging and I see this cantaloupe-sized moon snail - fully running up the wall. Mantel out. Foot out. Siphon out. What a gorgeous animal. I look down, and there are three tiny black dorid Nudis right next to him. A few feet away, another couple. The canyon wall is littered right now with black dorids. Pretty neat.

We're getting close to the line to make the left turn and head back to shore. Just before we get to the line, chica sees a very sizeable swell shark. I see the line, and at that same moment cast off my Wilma Flintstone bracelet. It wafts slowly down.

And down.

Slowly wafting down.

And lands BULLSEYE, right ON THE SHARK.

One in a million shot. Too funny.

We hit the line, turn left, clip off the scoots and kick through the no-viz Zone along the line - seeing more nudis, more octos, crabs, tiny rockfish and more.

We break the surface, laugh about the dive then literally walk out through the ankle slappers onto a beach of waiting kids - grilling us about our dive.

We head up the the parking lot and are doffing gear, rinsing sand and reliving all the silly fun. Tobin said the most remarkable thing to us: "I concentrate so much on the 'how' of diving. When I dive with you two I see you concentrate on the 'why' of diving...."

:embarrassed:

Probably one of the nicest and spot-on things anybody has said about the way Chica and I approach our diving. Thank you, Tobin.

After the dive, Tobin headed back home while Chica and I headed off to Kincaide's on the pier to meet with Karen Cleveland for dinner and desert. YUM.

What a night.

No pics. Camera was already packed for 3 days on Catalina.

Huge thanks to Tobin for breaking away for a few hours to join us in our silly, chilly Vets romp. the time out of the water is so precious - gearing up and laughing and talking. And in the water, you are so solid, and so skilled and so incredibly THERE - you are a great third and always welcome to join us.

Chica - you rock. Never lose the 'why'. You are so much fun to play with.

Karen!!! No water time, but we did have drinky time, and that's pretty cool, too.

-Ken

Lost mask and snorkel at laguna beach

tofucute — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:18:54 GMT

Lost near Cress Street in Laguna Beach on the afternoon of Wednesday August 18th. Got nauseated in the surge and a bit discombobulated! :unsure::embarrassed::unsure:

Scubapro Escape Snorkel (clear with black)
Sherwood Mako Clear Mask w/Black Pacific Wilderness Strap

Probably lost forever, but thought I'd post 'cause ya never know...

Thanks!
:peace:

DIR / DIR Curious Shore Dive Event - October 9th - Heisler (Laguna)

ligersandtions — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:35:40 GMT

A decent amount of interest in DIR diving has been generated recently, so I thought I'd set up a shore diving event where DIR curious divers can join DIR teams for some fun diving. This event will take place Saturday, October 9th at Heisler Park in Laguna.

The purpose of this event is to show curious divers what we're all about....how our gear works, how we dive differently than many traditional recreational divers (with control, non-silting propulsion, etc), how teamwork and communication (both active and passive) plays a huge part in our diving, and hopefully start erasing the social stigma related to DIR diving....we can be fun, we can be nice, we can wear colors other than black, etc ;)

In addition, it's a great opportunity to discover potential buddies (and potential students if you're an instructor). I think this event should be a ton of fun and would be really happy if we could get a decent number of divers who have been diving this way for a while to join us.
There are more details (and a sign-up) in this thread: DIR / DIR Curious Shore Dive Event - October 9th - Heisler (Laguna)

Please let me know if you have any questions. Hope to see many of you on the 9th!

Nicole

Nudi question...

ligersandtions — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:31:39 GMT

A few of us went out to the dive park this weekend, and I noticed something I've never noticed before...

There were tons and tons of Mexichromis all over the Valiant and the Sujack....seriously, the Spanish Shawls were far out numbered by the Mexichromis.

Is there something about rusting, metal wrecks that Mexichromis likes? Or is it just Mexichromis season? Dive #1 on the Valiant, I was pointing them out for a while, until I realized that there was no shortage of them and Chris probably didn't need to video a billion of them ;)

I know there are different "seasons" for different nudis....maybe the middle/end of summer is the season for Mexichromis (that said, I didn't see a whole lot anywhere other than the two wrecks). I'm sure at least a couple of you know....hint, hint!

And another thing - Radios at the dive park. What is your damage?

Mo2vation — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:13:31 GMT

Seriously.

To the clueless chick against the Casino wall with the iPod dock on Saturday. What is your deal?

A beautiful, warm summer day. Princess here decides on her SI that she's gonna bust out the iPod dock. Kitten drops in her iPod, she BLAST's some rancid tripe, and (this is the very best part), then walks away to go look for the friends that are sharing the bench with her - while Phish or Matchbox 20 or whatever nonsense gumdrop here is sharing with the rest of the parking lot is distorting out of her precious iPod dock.

Are you kidding me?

5 or 6 minutes later she returns. Her friends return. They all change and hang out on the bench, with sweetpea's music blasting into the lot.

Here's a tip, cupcake: BRING HEADPHONES. Nothing, with the possible exception of stealing someone's spools, reels and slates is more rude than bringing loud music to a public camp site, a public beach or dive site. Although you think the universe revolves around you, sweetheart, it sadly doesn't. You're in your 30's now, doll (or you're a hard looking 20-something) - its time to grow up, 'k punkin?

Shut that damn thing off.

Unreal.

-Ken

Dive Report: Wreck Alley (8/14/2010)

shawnb — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:43:32 GMT

Location(s): Wreck Alley
Date: 8/14/2010
Buddy(ies): Jeff Seckendorf, Roger Bly
Wave height: 1-2 swells/chops

Dive #1:

Location: Yukon
Time: 3:05 PM
Bottom Time: 35 Minutes plus 7 minute ascent
Max Depth: 100', average 65'
Vis: 15'
Temp at Depth: 46* at 100' (Tec2g)
Surface Temp: 64*
Gas Mix: 32%

This will have been my first open ocean (non-shore dive) ship wreck. I've been wanting to dive Wreck Alley for years but it has never worked out up to this point. But an invitation came and I jumped on it!!

Surface coditions are not too bad on the way out but once the boat ties off there's a lot of rockin' and a rollin'. So We gear up and are the first to jump in. We decend and eventually there's the Yukon. Roger points out the contour (for me to memorize to navigate our way back). Awesome stuff, we're right on top of the forward turrets. This ship is magnificent and eerie: it's on its side -- which adds a bit of mystique. Had I not known it was intentionally sunk I would have been trying to piece together the last minutes of the crew's fate but alas, there's plenty of other things to think about when observing this bad boy.

We do a little swimmin' around towards the bow and near the bottom at the sand and there's a purple jellyfish of some kind. I've never seen one like it before and when trying to identify it I came across this link: which may be it, but hopefully Jeff or Roger can chime in. It was about 2.5 ft. long. We all admired it for about a minute bofore a teammate proceeds to a swim through. We make our way back towards the stern via external traverse and pass by the turrets, the conning bridge, and nearish the stern before turning back.

Our 30 minutes is up, time to head to the line at 60' and begin our ascent. I was deco caption on this ascent (and all of them) and we did decent. Perhaps I'll do excellent on the next dive.

This wreck has a lot of life, especially of the white mushroom (not magical) variety and fuzzy whites and reds. After digging around trying to identify here's what I believe we saw: Blackmith and Senioritas, Tube-Dwelling Anemones, White Metridia, sea bass, a couple of spanish shawls and a purple jellyfish.

So we're back on the boat and there's some Teriyaki Chicken and rice waiting for us. Yum yum!

Dive #2

Location: Ruby E.
Time: 5:00 PM
Bottom Time: 35 minutes plus a 10 minute ascent (we held 20' for 3 minutes)
Max Depth: 80' with an average 65'
Vis: 8-15'
Temp at Depth: 51*
Surface Temp: 64*
Gas Mix: 32%

After an hour surface interval we're once again the first to splash. So we make our descent. Visibility decreases drammatically to about 5' but opens up again at depth. So this time I lead us around the wreck looking for interesting things. Hey, look! It's a random toilet. How interesing! There's a story behind the toilet: the story goes that the toilet gets up and walks to different parts of the ship whenever it please, just waiting to be crapped on once again but to no avail. Though, no one has ever observed the toilet walk around, we know it happens.

As we swimm around we poke our lights into the nooks and crannies. Roger does a some swim throughs but I don't enter any overhead compartments. This wreck is a little different, instead of white fuzzy growths they're all red. Roger calls them strawberry something or another. Ken, feel free to put me down for your ID cards right about now -- no, seriously... you think I'm joking! I'm not!

About 20 minutes into the dive Jeff hands me a camera to snap some "interesting" pictures. I clip my light off and start snappin' away. But something is wrong, they're all blurry. It turns out the camera is taking long exposures. There's bound to be one or two keepres, tho. We'll see.

Time for the ascent. We had back to the line and head towards 40'. Once we hit 40 we get overrun by about 9 OW divers crawling up the line. Frantically trying to back kick and avoid them we find ourselves at 25'. We reset back to 50' and do a proper ascent while extending out 20' stop to 3 minutes. Whew! That reset ascent was clean.

Back on the boat there's some chips and quesadilla's waiting for us. Even more yum yum.

Dive #3

Location: Shooters Fantasy
Time: 7:00 PM
Bottom Time: 35 minutes plus a 6 minute ascent
Max Depth: 69' with an average 65'
Vis: 10'
Temp at Depth: 51*
Surface Temp: 64*
Gas Mix: air

During the dive briefing we learn that we're anchored about 30' from the wreck so I volunteer to run some line from the anchor to the wreck and then the DM announces that they can follow our line out but it may not be there if we leave before them. We decend! Vis drops to something like 3' and very mucky. About 40' it's pitch black. Woo hoo! I'm diving Wreck Alley on a night dive and low viz -- awesome stuff! But focus, where's Jeff and Roger? Right there, I see the lights, but not them. Good thing we decend as a team -- without stragglers. But don't lose the anchor line -- you blink for too long and it's gone.

At depth viz opens up to about 10'. We find the anchor and I tie off the line to the anchor chain and we head the direction where the DM said the boat should be. We lay about 50' of line and nothing. So we begin to sweep and eventually find it 180* from where our initial course was.

All the other divers followed our moving line but gave up and turned back right when we found it. So we were all alone on the dive. I had troubles tying off the line to the wreck so Jeff took over. He can tie off a mean line, I'll tell ya :)

Shooters Fantasy is a really small wreck easily explored in 5 minutes. It's broken into pieces but I must admit the bass are huge on this wreck. There's some strawberry growth on it, a couple of Spanish Shawls but otherwise lots of nooks and crannies to explor. It's cold, it's dark, I haven't peed in 5 hours, it's time to go.

We untie the reel and head back to the anchor and begin our uneventful but clean ascent.

Three wonderful dives with two wonderful dive buddies. I will be returning to Wreck Alley in the near future.

Oh, and this is my first dive with my new HOG D1's on the doubles and these are awesome regulators. They route easily and they breathe even easier.

Divereport 8-15-19 LJS Cumanotus Blue Light Sp

SoCalSwami — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:54:28 GMT

Divereport 8-15-19 LJS

Viz: 10-15'
Temp: Triple-Layer-undergarment-kind-of-COLD
Surf: 2-3 with some punch

Our merry crew of two dropped into 28' just North of Vallecitos point and quickly found a bazzillion Cumanotus sp. as well as several Cuthona columbiana (a new nudie for me wOOt!). All were feasting on the Summer-time blossom of hydroids amassing on the 30-40' slopes around the point. Beautiful sight to see.

We toured around the point and spotted a Fried Egg jelly south of the point, unfortunately it appeared near the end as it was pumping(?) the bell only every couple of minutes.

Finally, we spotted several dozen D. frondosus in the shallows ~25 they are everywhere, and also saw several baby juvi D. iris (still all nice a white with those funny white dots that look like someone painted them with white-out).

We bumped into Herb on the way back in, he was just as excited to see the return of the Cumanotus.

And people say San Diego doesn't have a change of seasons! Ha! They just do know where to look, it's all going on down below.

Photobucket album
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/k...10/081510-LJS/

Not a bad way to spend 94 minutes,
(Marla, Thanks for sharing a cup o joe after the dive) ;)
Mike Hallack

C. columbiana (WooHoo!)

Juvi Cumanotus sp. munchin on a hydroid

QUIZ: How many Nudies do you see???

At least 3 if not 4...
The Triliny plus 2 D.frondosus above and below
PLUS, I think a Doto amyra in the upper right on the branch above the triliny

the ever enchanting Cumanotus sp.

Fried Egg Jelly

Dozens of these guys loungin in the Sand dollar patch (Dendronotus frondosus)

Looks like 2010 won't be a totally wasted diving year after all. lol

F.L.A.T. SoCal CDIP forecasts Aug 16 - 18, 2010

HBDiveGirl — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:53:59 GMT

wow.

http://cdip.ucsd.edu/?nav=recent&sub...tem=fm_scb_xxx

The SoCal water looks to be flat tonight, flatter tomorrow, and then increasing flatness through Wednesday.

Who's diving?

~~~~
Claudette

Catalina Dive Park - Saturday August 14. Big fish, Rays, Unstable Sea Lion, Eels, Lots o' fun!

Mo2vation — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 03:42:51 GMT

Every year, Jaye and I go dive the park in August. Its been a tradition for a long, long time now (Sometimes July - generally August.)

We go out or San Pedro, the very finest landing ever, and head over on the very civilized 8:50 Am boat. I suspect the viz is not going to be very good, so I leave the camera and we just roll over with the scoots and our dive gear. We're diving wet, so everything fits into two neat containers (the scooter box and our Samsonite f'light case) for each of us.

Its weird making only one trip down the ramp. :thumb:

Summer - wow. I didn't make a fall trip last year to Catalina, nor a spring trip this year. Its been about a year since I've been there - and I forgot about what a zoo it can be in the summer.

We're in line, wearing our cylinders on our plates. The door opens, we start to inch forward. We head down the ramp. The tide is up, so not too bad. We get to the bottom, and the boat's captain comes over and takes one of Jaye's rolling boxes. So cool.

We grab a seat and I do what I do - fall asleep on the way over. Jaye sees some dolphin but nothing wake-worthy. :sleep:

We pull into the harbor and unload. Up the ramp to a cab and a drive over to the Casino through a town that has changed so much in the last year I can't believe it. Wow. The stuff I've missed by not being here.

Dive #1 - the "Cross that off your list" dive.

A few thoughts on diving wet.

I forgot how simple wetsuit diving was. I blinked and we were ready to go. No multiple layers of fuzzy stuff, no base layer, no socks over socks, glove liners, and all that. I have a hooded vest, so no hood. No weight belt. I was ready so fast!

As its been, I dunno, maybe 6 or 7 months since I've dived wet, I grabbed the wrong stuff. :rolleyes: All of which was OK - except the booties. I grabbed the dive booties I wear OVER my drysuit feet. So I was in clown feet all day. And I forgot my Neo socks (the real boots and neo socks are with the Kayak gear...) so my princess feet are of course sore from rubbing wet in the clown shoes all day.

Scooters are much faster in wetsuits. I mean much faster. WOW.

My objectives for this trip are simple:

Dive with my wife
Put her on GSB
Put her on Bat Ray

We splash, kick out a bit, I kiss her, we pray, we release the air in the wing and we drop - like we always do. We bubble check, get squared away, strike the lights and I point the scoot towards the platform. Number 1, above, completed. We're diving together again.

Viz isn't great. The kelp is amazing. Wow. I'm looking around like some tourist and nearly run over somebody's up-line (likely a drill line)... I gaze up and see some divers above us near the line. Sorry folks if I startled you.

We get to the platform, And I look in the corner pocket... no eel. No octo. Sad. We turn left and head uphill and BOOM - two GSB just sitting there. I look at the time, and write it in my wetnotes: 5:40. So on five minutes, Number 2, above, is completed. We hang with them for about a minute, and I look right, on the sand.

There's a bat ray, munchin. I look at my timer, and not the time in my wetnotes. 6:28

So within 7 minutes, Number, 3 above is completed. All objectives met in 7 minutes. And we're going back on the 9:15 PM boat!!!

:unsure:

We had tons of gas, we're diving 37 EAN, so there is no place we can't go... so with the day's work done in 7 minutes and the pressure off, its play time. And play we did. For the next 66 minutes of the dive we went everywhere in the park.

TWICE.

We met the very agro Garibaldi on the Kismet (his nest is hidden, so unless you look for it, you'll just think he's in a bad mood). We found shark eggs. We found two eels. We saw the same pair of GSB in two other places in the park on the same dive. We just plowed around in the thick kelp in warm wetsuit freedom only 3600 PSI, a fast scooter and no NDL can deliver.

What a first dive!

We get out 74 minutes later cuz we're SO HUNGRY. I drop the cylinders over to Tyson, admire his new ink, and we head over to Dockside for lunch. We run into Cody and Les - so we chat and chill over lunch with them. Its so great meeting friends.

Dive #2 - the Unstable Sea Lion dive :wacko:

After lunch I go grab our cylinders, we gear back up (have I mentioned how fast it is to gear up when you're diving wet??) and we head back in. I re-set the objectives (seeing as I did so good last dive!)

Show Jaye the Fridge and the Solarium
Check my secret place for Hypsie
Find more GSB and Rays

The Fridge is near the Solarium. If you dive the park often you'll soon discern there are trails in this place - as clearly as there are hiking trails on land. And diver after diver gets on the trail and goes this way or goes that way... and that's all good. But if you've ONLY spent your time on the well worn trails, you're missing some of the finest topography, cleanest, prettiest, most beautiful water in the park. One such turn out off of the main trail to the Sue Jac I've named "the Solarium."

You go down the stairs, turn right and at about the 30 - 35 foot depth a couple of minutes in there is a HUGE rock wall. You go past that, and duck in to your right - and you are now in 20 - 22 feet of the most beautiful part of the park. Clear water, sunlight rays, perfectly still kelp so thick we could hang out in there and never be seen by another diver. I love it there. I've taken lots of shots there - its one of my fav places.

And there is a fridge there on the way out somebody dumped there years ago. I show both to Jaye and scratch #1 off the list for this dive. :thumbsup:

As we were getting in for this dive, we saw DrB, We chatted a bit, and I told him I was going to go check my secret spot for Hypsie (Hypselodoris californiensis) - the largest and rarest of our 4 main Blue Nudis in SoCal. As we were speaking, a buddy of his came over - who had seen one this week in another place in the park. So they're out there!!

Jaye and I get to the secret spot - OMG!!! He's there. (no cam, of course) I'm doing this fist pumping dance of joy - Jaye's all what the heck? I bring her over and show her - her eyes get huge! :bugeyes: She's only seen my pics - never seen one in real life. Stunning. I can't wait to go back this weekend to get a ton of shots of this guy! I can't believe Hypsie is there. Check number 2 off the list.

On the subject of trails in the park. Divers nearly always travel the area that I call "inside the curtain". There is a clearly discernible kelp curtain that runs the length of the park, east-west. On the inside is the rocky reef, more kelp, the plaque, and all the trails.

But the outside... ah. Open water. No divers. Often barracuda, GSB, bat rays in open water, huge schools of blacksmith, etc. I love the outside. There is nearly always something to see there you just won't see on the inside where everyone else is.

Like half-a-comb jelly. On the outside, I see half of one of those orange spotted comb jellies (DrB told me what they're really called... I can't remember now.) I'm looking at it in about 45 feet of open water, and putting my light on it for Jaye to see. She comes over and is pointing past it. I'm all, "NO - its right here..." She's looking past it, past me. I turn, and there is a sea lion, hanging upside-down, about 18" from my face... doing the "hey - what are you guys lookin' at???"

And it. was. on.

I roll and he goes nuts. Jaye is hanging by some kelp, and me and the mental patient went crazy. We spun and spun, and dived and played. He took off to go catch a breath - then came right back to me. We played and played some more. Jaye was literally crying... it was the cutest and sweetest play time ever.

EVER.

I'd spin, he'd spin. I'd stop - freeze... he'd freeze. It was amazing. :boogie:

After about 4 or 5 minutes, we left and scooted that-a-way.

He came back. More playtime, more fun, more OMG can this be real time... then we take off. I'm trying to get us back to the platform to see if we can find the GSB pair again.

And he comes back. Spinning, diving, blowing bubbles, zooming - totally turning me into a pretzel. I'm very good on a scooter - I can improv, I got moves, I can dance... and with no camera or dry suit to slow me down, I am unstoppable.

But I am totally outgunned. Dude is kicking my butt. :swordplay:

We get to the platform - see the tail of one of the GSB. Nice.

I take us up to about 30 to go look for bat rays on the sand. We see a huge one. Nice.

I feel prop wash against the back of my head... I'm thinking, "Jaye is a little close..."

Its the unstable sea lion. 16 minutes, at least 6 or 7 sessions, and the entire length of the park - and I can't shake this guy off. If you had to name ONE very common animal you nearly never see in the dive park, but you can see at nearly every other dive site in SoCal, I'd say without hesitation its a sea lion. I have hundreds of dives here, and this is the first time I've played with one in the park. It was surreal.

So I'm blasting with him in the shallows - spinning, turning, twisting... and there is a small group of divers coming by. So as furball and I are playing, the divers come over. One has a camera - and the mental patient starts to perform. I'm telling you, if dude has any game at all, he just got the sea lion pics of his life. It was so cool.

FINALLY, Jaye and I shake this guy off, and we scoot back to the exit.

We get out of our gear, breathless. I dash over to DrB - tell him Hypsie is back!

DrB joins Jaye and I for some bevys at Descanso Beach club, and then later that night at the new Avalon Grill.

The 9:15 PM boat is glorious. No rush, plenty of time for a slow dinner with friends, a romantic stroll through town, and still make the boat. It was great.

WHAT A DAY!

Huge thanks to Claudette who hooked Jaye up with some prime gear, including her own Mini Cuda for a day. Many thanks to DrB. We never get to spend this much time together - it was great. Thanks SO MUCH for joining us for bevys and dinner.

I can't wait to do this again this weekend!!! Is it Friday yet?

-Ken

Labor Day 2010 with Sundiver!

Captain Kyaa — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:15:11 GMT

Hi Divers,

In appreciation for your all your labors and your support of Sundiver, we are going to run a limited load 2 day outer island trip this Labor Day weekend. This maximum 16 diver trip will depart by midnight the evening of September 4th and return Monday evening September 6th. Destination is not set in stone as Mother Nature always has something to say about that but I would sure love to do Nic Barbara if we get the weather window. This trip will go for $350 all inclusive. :cute:

See you under,
Captain Kyaa
Sundiver International
sundiver.net
800-555-9446

Videos: San Diego Dives - Cape Charles & Hogan

Rainer — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:25:37 GMT

Marc (Blackwood), Kim (Kim Cardenas), Quintin (SCUBA Q), Charles, and I hopped aboard the Yellow Boat this past Saturday for a couple of dives off San Diego, CA.

First dive was on the Cape Charles, a former USCG steel hulled patrol boat (converted later to a crane barge / workboat and eventually stripped before sinking in the mid-80s). Built in 1927, she's 125' long, sitting upright in about 165' off Pt. Loma. Conditions weren't the greatest (heavy cloud cover and a lot of mid-water particulate made for a rather dark dive), but everyone still had an enjoyable tour of the wreck. Video isn't the best (poor vis, dark, short BT), but at least gives some sense of the wreck (pilot house, crane, many openings, etc).

Next, we motored over into Mexican waters for a dive on the Hogan, a Wickes/Clemson-class Destroyer launched in 1919. She served extensively throughout WWII until being intentionally sunk in 1945. She's over 300' long and rests in several broken pieces in about 125' in Mexican waters just south of San Diego. Sun had come out a bit, so we had some decent ambient light on the bottom. I've seen better visibility here in the past, but it was a decent 20-25' this last trip. Water was cold on the bottom (49F), so we cut our bottom time to 35 minutes. Deco was in some of the snottiest water I've ever seen, but otherwise uneventful. This is one of my favorite SoCal sites.

Overall, a really fun trip. Congrats to Charles and Quintin on their first T1 dives since finishing their T1 class!

Lake Lobos!!

HBDiveGirl — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:27:59 GMT

I can see myself in the glassy, unmoving water.
Kelp so thick the birds are walking on it.

Holy Pancake! Not a breath of wind...nice and gray... High 50s air temps.

WE'RE GOIN' IN!!!!

After 3 days of diving the ferocious north coast around Mendocino, this is quite the gift.

Report soon. :-D

~~~
Claudette
(Who's grinning so hard it'll be hard to hold the reg!)

Malaga Cove -- the rumors are true!

ligersandtions — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:40:30 GMT

Almost two years ago, Ken, Stephen, and I attempted to dive Malaga Cove. We wasted our time and effort walking down that steep hill just to get in the water and not see anything....seriously, nothing! If Ken was not kicking me in the face (and me not kicking Stephen in the face), we would have not been able to stay together. After a few short minutes, we surfaced and Ken said, "This isn't worth it. I don't do throw away dives. You guys can stay if you want, but I'm outta here." We had no desire to stay either, so we all exited and made the long walk back up the hill.

I've been hearing since then that "when Malaga is good, it's GOOD!" I've been trying to get in a dive here since then, but have never seen it on a decent day. I read a report from last weekend saying that someone had a great dive out there, so I kept an eye on the swell model for the week, and mentioned to Stephen and Cody that I wanted to dive there over the weekend.

So the three of us met up on Saturday morning, were greeted by ankle slappers, and hopped in the water. None of us knew anything about the site, so I said, "Let's just drop down and go in that direction for a while." The plan was to do a long dive, as I wanted to drain my cylinder before getting a civilized fill later that day ;)

The site, although very shallow, was beautiful. Stephen describes it as a "very crustacean-y" site....I think that's fitting. The rock structure is very neat....not the boulder-type reef you normally see, but huge long sections of pure rock/reef. I only saw one nudi, but it was a good one....a tiny Chromodoris macfarlandi. On our way back in, we were in something like 9 fsw, and I signalled to the guys that I wanted to get back out a little deeper....so we headed out a bit and where the reef met the sand, I came face to face with my very first GSB!

I was so mesmerized and I didn't want to look away, so all I could think was, "I sure hope these two are seeing what I'm looking at, cause I'm not turning away to signal them!!" He wasn't huge, but he was beautiful....graceful, and very curious. Turns out, there were two of them and they just kept following us around. It was one of those really amazing experiences :D

105+ minutes later, and still having 1900 psi in my cylinder, I told the guys I was going to purge down to <500 psi....we exited the water, all of us bubbling with excitement over finally hitting a site that's eluded us in the past, having found tons of beautiful life, and coming face to face with two gentle giants. I'm still reliving the beauty over and over and over....and hoping that conditions are nice more often than once every two years.

So yeah, the rumors are true....when Malaga Cove is nice, it really is a great dive!

Special Express Wreck Trip - Palos Verdes

Captain Kyaa — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 18:01:36 GMT

Hi Divers,

My private group chartering Express this Sunday, 8/8/10, is targeting
the Palowan and Olympic and maybe Star of Scotland for their invitation
only advanced wreck trip and they have 2 open spots due to
cancellations. Only $100. Give me a call at 800-555-9446 if you are up for some deep diving and I'll let you know how to get one of the two remaining spots. ;)

Cheers, ;)

Vets 8/3 am

TobinGeorge — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:22:40 GMT

A little windy, light chop imposed on the occasional 2 1/2 ft swell

No vis in the upper 20 ft. Much better below ~50 ft.

Thermocline at about 50 too. Warm above, not too bad below.

Good dive, great teammates, fun time for all.

Tobin

Is this an HP100?

penguinf4 — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:30:28 GMT

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying a tank; I think it's an HP100 but I want to be sure. Can someone tell based on the markings? I believe the company is PST. Thanks in advance!

DOT - E9791-3422 TR5250
IA778960R E7-100
81

On second thought, my apologies but this is probably more suited for the general or equipment section of the forum. If a mod could move it, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Attached Images

tank1..jpg (71.1 KB)

Spectre (7/31) - Trip Report

ligersandtions — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:24:32 GMT

A couple months ago, Rainer contacted me to see if I'd be interested in getting a group of DIR and DIR-curious divers together and going out on the Spectre on July 31st. Of course I was!

We managed to get four new / DIR-curious divers plus six divers who have been diving this way for a while now. Unfortunately, due to a rolled ankle, one of the divers had to back out last moment, and we weren't able to fill his spot....so it was a group of nine of us. There was Cyrille and Catherine (who are starting their Fundamentals class next weekend! Have a great time....it's a very fun class!), Rich (whom we met on the Reef Check LA training back in April and expressed interest in the way we dive), Trevor (who, although he has no formal training yet, is well on his way and is looking great in the water) for the new / DIR-curious group....and Quintin and Charles (who just passed GUE T1 recently!!), Chris, Jen, and me.

We all met up on the boat the night before and stayed up swapping dive stories over a couple drinks (oh, and waiting for Quintin....of course ;)). Then it was off to bed in hopes of getting enough sleep before the next day's packed schedule.

The first dive was on Santa Cruz at Cavern Point. What a beautiful site! It's a preserve and it really shows. There's a large rock (turns out it didn't seem so large to those on scooters!) that we made it about half way around, with tons of Spanish Shawls (a few even laying eggs, which was very cool), lots of fish (dense schools of blacksmith and senorita....and the second cabezon I've seen out here!), and Quintin's new favorite, the sea hares. For this dive, I buddied up with Trevor and Rich (with Quintin and Charles hanging out with us as well)....and even managed to bring us right back to the anchor line. I don't know if I've gotten better at this navigating thing or if it was pure luck :D

The rest of the day was spent on Anacapa, with the second site at Fish Bowl Point. We switched up the teams and everyone did a kick dive. There were some shenanigans going on on this dive....with Chris attempting to clip an SMB onto my butt d-ring -- I caught him, so he clipped it off to Quintin's butt d-ring. I think the games have now begun within our crew :rofl: Who says DIR divers aren't fun to dive with?!?!

I had planned to dive with Catherine and Jen on this dive and have a fun girl's dive....but Catherine was freezing and opted to not do this dive. I imagine a few more of these trips and she's gonna be itching to get the drysuit. So, it was just Jen and me (and the rest of the hooligans in other groups near us!). Again, we managed to navigate right back to the anchor line....and I'm still wondering if I'm getting better or just lucky!

After a nice lunch, we were back in the water at Underwater Island. And although lots of people seem to complain that the Spectre goes here too much, I really quite enjoy this site. We found tons and tons of nudis, a huge area just covered in yellow brittle stars, a really neat octo (large for socal) that was out in the open showing off its tentacles. For this dive, I was hanging with Cyrille, Catherine, and Charles. And although Charles can't take a compliment, he looks really FANTASTIC in the water....always calm, composed, ready to help anyone in need, and perfectly in control. Oh yeah, and I navigated right back to the anchor line, and this time I was pretty sure it was skill as I was certain as to where I was going (if you can't tell, I used to really suck at navigating and I think I may be getting better....and this is a really big step in the right direction for me!).

The final dive was at Landing Cove. The Spectre crew told us that there had been sightings of Giant Sea Bass here, so we were all hoping. Some people claimed they saw a GSB, but I think they're just lying ;)

Jen and I teamed up for this dive and took out the scooters. After scooting for a while and looking for GSB's, we started screwing around on the scooters (doing loops, attempting barrel rolls....well, Jen's a pro, but I can't seem to figure them out for the life of me!). At some point, we saw a nice sized bat ray and "chased" it on the scooters....even in 5th gear, he was pulling away from us, but it was really neat to be able to keep up for a little bit.

Sadly, the sun didn't want to come out much....but the ocean was flat and the crossing was about as simple as it gets. Most of the dives had 20-30 feet of vis, minimal surge (except in the shallows), and no current. The Spectre crew always treats us so well and today was no exception....and of course, our group of divers were a ton of fun to hang out with.

A big thanks to Chris for setting this up! And a very big thanks to everyone who came out diving with us. Also, best wishes for Ari and his ankle....hope it gets better quickly (but I think the cold water plus higher levels of oxygen might have helped it ;)).

EPIC vets conditions

blackwood — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 23:44:33 GMT

If you can get down there, get down there.

Ankle slappers, small shelf, long walk, calm surface swim, and VIZ!

Christian and I met up at 0830 this morning and after dawdling for an hour decided we ought to at least dive. Good god man, that was probably the best Vet's dive I've done. Viz was probably maxed out at 20 and 25 feet along the lip of the canyon. In the shallows it wasn't QUITE as good, but it was certainly decent. During the swim out there, I told Christian that I suck at finding the line (often head north too early), so I like to drop down somewhat south of the stairs. Well, I flipped over to stretch out the suit, and from the surface there were the pylons. That sure makes it easy.

Headed down, hooked a left (south) at the orange cone (~60 feet). Noticed that the line I put in due west from the cone is now heading NNW. Stupid moving sand. We swam to the monument, examined it for a while, then leveled up to 50 feet for the return trip. I spotted a nudi a little shallower and called Christian up to check it out. I'm not a slug head, but I remembered seeing one (well, two actually, possibly makin' babies) two nights before with Nicole and the Hirsches. From Ken's ID guide, I'm calling it a Black Dorid. We kept at about 45 the rest of the way back to the bowl, and spotted a sleeping juvenile leopard shark. A few kicks later, Christian (who was playing with his new video light) was filming a family of flounders, and we spotted another leopard, this one probably about 13" long. Saw a third one, what I think was a Noble Dorid and a large school of fish before reaching the bowl. Crossed the line and found a Spanish Shawl, either a Monterey or a Yellow Horned Dorid, and what I think was a San Diego Dorid (except it was round, not oblong).

64 degrees in the shallows, 55-58 at 65 feet.

Epic.

Scuba Diving at Mammoth Lake California?

dingsand — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:58:43 GMT

Hello Everyone,

I am just wondering if it is possible to scuba dive in one of the lakes at the Mammoth area. I called Mammoth Activity line and the operation wasn't too sure. She said if I have my own equipments she can't see why not. It seems there is no rule saying the otherwise. Anyone has done it? If yes, it is worth it? I will be there camping from 8/7/10 to 8/9/10.

Thanks.

Edmond

Early August 2010 with Sundiver!

Captain Kyaa — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:28:48 GMT

Hi Divers,

Whew! 14 trips between today and next Friday! Nevertheless, we have Express open boats for you next Wednesday 8/4 and next Friday 8/6 and every Wednesday and Friday throughout August. These great trips are always $95 3 tank all inclusive. Express also has a 2 tank open boat Saturday 8/7 in the afternoon if you would like to sleep in and still get to Catalina for some blue and warm diving at least in the shallows...lol

Becky Anderson and Private Scuba still have some spots on Sundiver overnight tonight to beautiful San Clemente Island. The forecast looks great for both the crossing and the diving and we will be able to work around the military closures no problem. Give Private Scuba a call to grab a spot at 949 307 1550.

Upcoming special trips include an Express open boat 3 tank trip on August 27th and another on October 29th to give an out of country diver a look at our great local rigs.

Give me a call to sign up for any of our economical Express trips or Sundiver getaways 800-555-9446.

See you under,
Captain Kyaa
Sundiver International
sundiver.net
800-555-9446

Yap 2010 pix & trip report

kenkurtis — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:32:24 GMT

10 days in the making . . .

Here are links to the completed Yap pictures and trip report. Enjoy (and come with me to Yap sometime):

YAP 2010 PICTURES - Yap 2010 trip photos

YAP 2010 TRIP REPORT - Yap trip report - July, 2010

- Ken

Two good news stories for Cal Diving

buckles — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:46:02 GMT

Russian Sub will be added to the SD Wreck Alley

A new law that will take effect Jan. 1 declares scuba diving a hazardous activity in California

Hoping the new law opens the door to a future wreck off Vets some day.

Congrats, liuk3!

Rainer — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:20:14 GMT

Ken and Edie are the happy new parents of a beautiful baby girl, Brooke Samantha Liu.

Congrats to all!

I'm not lyin - I love the Orion! (Boss Ross is the best!)

Mo2vation — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:04:34 GMT

Karen Cleveland is in town. Its Claudette's sworn duty to show her a good time every waking moment, and today was no different.

Karen (monstah diver from the desert), Claudette, Me and Ross hopped on his boat, the Orion III for some local diving.

DIVE ONE

We motor out to an area Ross calls "the long pipes" - they're sitting in about 125 + 135 feet of water, just a few minutes outside of LA Harbor. It was a short boat ride on seas much nicer than I expected. All of us have scoots - the objective is to drop anchor on the pipes (Ross is throwing darts, and of course nails the drop) and enter on one end, and blast through them.

These are a series of about 8 to 10 very large (like 12 feet high) concrete pipes that are about or 20 feet long, all laid end to end. They are not properly fastened, so between each segment there is a beam of light illuminating the interior for a few feet on each side of the segment - then its back in the dark.

We splash, follow the anchor to the bullseye and go play.

SUPER FUN - I think we made 6 runs through them - loaded with life (surprisingly) - corynactis anemone all over the outside like pink flowers, lots of red gorgonia inside - tons of Tritonia festiva (or Diamond Backs as my man Bob calls them!) The real story was the vis.

I didn't bring the camera, as I'm too frustrated.

Today, we had at least 25 on those things (well, until we got there...) - It was lovely. Plenty of ambient light at 120. It was an excellent dive - I loved it.

It was chilly in there, too. 48.6 degrees. Brrrr.

Dive Two

After a nice SI, Ross had a target he wanted to go over and check out. We get there, anchor and eat a snack to increase our SI time. Ross and Karen are going in first with a reel to check it out - if nothing is there they'll come back and tell us.

They splash and drop. A moment later while Chica and I are gearing up, Ross pops back up sez the current down there is ripping (its mellow on top) and he wants the scoots. So I hand him the two Cuda's and he's back down the line.

Chica and I splash and drop. We get to the sand and see the line from the reel. Then a light as Ross and Karen are coming back with long faces.

Nutin.

The current IS ripping. No joke - this Sea Pen field is whipping - leaning one way like an acre of Nebraska wheat in the wind. It was amazing. I've never see Sea Pens blasted like this.

There is this steel disc - like an 8' steel disc standing up like a giant Sand Dollar, with some steel mesh and framing all around it. This was probably the target, but its pretty beat down now. A short 15 minute bounce and we're back on the deck, moving to the dive of the day - and a strong contender for dive of the month.

Dive Three

This is Pt Vicente reef. Just off of PV (one cove up from MarineLand) - its the big cove with the lighthouse at the point.

We pull up into very thick kelp. The plan was to splash, scoot towards the open ocean from the 40 FSW we're anchored in to about 75 FSW, explore the pinnacles, fissures, small caves and formations until we hit sand (end of the reef) - turn left and come back to the boat sometime before dark.

If I had a breather, or was diving an HP2700, I'd still be there.

Just amazing.

Tons of large sheephead and a big ling over just acres of pinnacles and channels and cracks and alcoves. Some pinnacles rising nearly three stories! And the Nudis....OMG

14 Species. Including a first for us - a Dirona Albonineata (Alabaster Nudi to some) in local waters. This was huge for us, as we've never seen one of these south of Santa Cruz.

More Nudis, more fish, more stuff to see. This was such an excellent dive. 75 minutes of SoCal bliss. Its like you took the best of MarineLand - the craggy breathtaking topography off of Long Point, and magnified it about 10 times. This site just kept giving and giving.

I wrote in my Wetnotes to Chica: "I could dive this site another 100 times and still relish every moment."

Just an outstanding dive. Warm, clearish, packed with more life than any near-shore site... I'm smitten.

From the dolphins all around us on the way out to the ice cold grapes, to being greeted by Ross' hot wife and beautiful little girl at our return, to running into Jeff being a light... this trip was something I needed so desperately. The perfect capper to the perfectly terrible week I just had. What a day!!!

Karen - great to spend another day with you on the water. You are Hard Core, lady. I dig it.

Ross - you know our local waters so well. Great sites, excellent hang, safe trip out and back - you are one of the best. Thanks so much for sharing and pouring into us on these trips. I always learn so much hanging out with you. I think we can get just one more cylinder on that boat...

Chica - the apex buddy. I'm spoiled for all others. Dive three rocked. This is how a tow should be done ( ;) ) - they'd probably sell less scooters if towing was this fun all the time... Thanks for being the FOF, thanks for setting these up. Thanks for another great day.

No pics.... ugh. One day I'll get it right.

---
Ken

Uemis Zurich?

bkkchris — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:31:00 GMT

Anyone in the LA area have a Uemis Zurich that they would let me dive with this Sunday? I just ordered one and would love to try one out before I receive it. I imagine we can come up with some sort of compensation! :toast:

In case your interested in buying on. PM me as the shop I ordered from in IL has a SWEET deal on them making them very competitive price wise with similar comps.

Tuesday All Star night at Vets!

Mo2vation — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:24:22 GMT

DMX homies Karen Cleveland and John Sampson are in town. Karen has her dive gear, so Chica arranged a quickie dive for us at Vets last night.

A couple of phone calls later, and she had wrangled in quite the cast of characters:

Me (duh)
Claudette
Karen Cleveland
Ross O!
Tobin!

Karen had never dived Vets!

Ross hadn't dived Vets for years.

Tobin hadn't dived Vets for days.

Chica and I hadn't dived Vets for hours (we were there on Sunday night)

We gear up. Its a Scooter gathering that was positively MoCal worthy. A Cuda (Ross), two mini-Cuda's (Chica and I), a Super Sierra (Tobin's mod Echo with monstah batt) and a Sierra (Jaye's - which I fobbed off on Karen for the night.)

The five of us form two teams (me and the chicks. Again, I say duh) and the Men (Tobin + Ross). The plan was to go down the middle stairs, hit the Huber tape - head to about 55 or 60, and veer left to the bowl for a few minutes, then head to about 100 / 110 to the sand, then stairstep north to the trash pile, then back.

With the vis chica and I had on Sunday night (really not too bad) and the temperature (friggen cold... 50.9 degrees!!) I figured it'd be a good long dive with some friends.

Ken & Chica SUNDAY NIGHT DIVE

We walk into the "surf" zone - stand there and fin up. Again, ankle slappers greet us. Maybe 1 footers this time. My X1 decides its going to show me a screen I've never seen before (when will they put a lock on this thing) so I spend probably 4 or 5 minutes trying to get it to do what I want it to before giving up and re-setting everything, then re-adding my current gas.

After my surf zone computer clownery, we join up and drop.

Into soup.

:eek:

HUH? Where'd our viz go?

We gather, settle and team up - then head down Huber's tape. On top of one of the floats I find a kelp crab hanging out - we call over the team. Everyone looks.

We go play in the salad bowl for a bit - but its sitting right IN the thermocline - so not only does viz suck, but the water is all shimmery... making it even harder to see anything.

I spot a Triopha Maculata nudi (moustache) on the sand. They're rarely on the sand in the middle of nothing - so I call the crew over. Claudette is looking at it, and I turn to go find some more stuff for the guest and infrequent divers to our mudhole when BAM. I get smashed in the grill - right between the eyes. I look up and a black fin with a blue "Claudette" painted on it is fleeing the scene.

[Tangent]
I've been kicked in the face, head, neck, nose, shoulders, and chest a zillion times. Many of those zillion by Claudette. We stick close, we're always looking around, we've done hundreds of dives with tens of thousands of kicks between us... its gonna happen.

But I have never, and I mean NEVER been kicked so hard, and so squarely in the face. It didn't knock off my mask. It didn't cause a leak. It didn't phase me in a bit. The thick blade of her fin hit me so squarely it was alarming. It was jarring. But it was such a perfect blow to the face that all it did was knock the gas out my mask and make it fit tighter. I puffed a little gas back into my mask by exhaling a bit through my nose, and it was no biggie.

In talking with her today, she mentioned she remembered kicking something, but she thought it was a scooter - as it was such a hard blow and whatever she kicked didn't move. It didn't "feel like a person...." I thought as much, as I didn't even get the courtesy glance, the "I'm sorry" or the "do you need first aid, I'm a professional care giver" glance. No nutin' from my buddy.
[/Tangent]

Tuesday Night Dive with Vet's All Stars

We continue the dive. I take us to the sand at about 100 feet, and the viz isn't much better (maybe 8 - 10 feet as opposed to 4 or 5 feet above.) We're out of the shimmer water Thermocline, but its still ugly - and its just sand. I look down and there is a small moon snail, making a break for it on his magic carpet foot. He's about the size of a marble. I don't think I've ever seen one so small at Vets - the Octo's usually get them. I thumb mount the guy and show it off to the team, then we head up and north.

I find our first Sarcastic Fringehead at 92 feet. Dude is horribly lost - they're rarely this deep at Vets. His shell probably rolled down the canyon and he just held on until it stopped at 92 feet. Chica lures him out of his house... she has that way with them.

I take us north, stair-stepping up in depth as we go. Lots of sand. Not much viz.

We get to about 70 and the edge of the trash pile. Some kelp, some nudi's and some trash - but we're back in the bad viz zone. I signal to chica, "this dive sucks" - she signals back, "we should be drinkin'" so I turn us.

We head back to Huber's tape at about 55 - 60 FSW. More sand, more yucky viz.

We hit the tape, clip off and I start scanning the bottom on the way back in. I find several pipe bayfish, a small little Sandy nudi, Skeleton Shrimp, a juvi kelp fish and lots of little octos.

We get to about 10 feet and we pop. As we're bobbing on the surface, Chica says, "well that was the worst viz ever." Ross would later add, "well, I can go another 4 years before I dive here again...."

It was pretty ugly. It was fun, but it was ugly.

We head in, speed undress and head over to Catalina Coffee for hot chocolate and deserts before they close. We look at pics from DYFO on my laptop, we laugh, we tell stories.

One of the things I was loving was everyone remained together- on scoots, in this lame viz. We all went in together, we all came out together. That's tough enough on a clear night - on a night like last night, it was very gratifying.

Thanks for the dives and for the post-dive stories, Chica, Ross, Karen and Tobin. Great to see you guys again.

-Ken

August 6 & 7 San Clemente & Catalina Island

Sand Dollar — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:14:20 GMT

1st day Clemente 2nd day Farnsworth Bank & Back side Catalina $ 285.00
Departs @ 1:00am returns @ 5:00pm
Call (877) 444-2628

Dutchman shirts - I stand corrected

kenkurtis — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:44:10 GMT

I just got off the phone with Karl and the shirts have been delayed in getting shipped from the island. We will be doing our best to get all the shirts shipped out as soon as possible.

Our apologies for the delay and any confusion.

- Ken

Flying Dutchman Shirts

kenkurtis — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:38:58 GMT

The Flying Dutchman shirts should have been shipped to all Dutchman divers around the first of July.

Just so you understand the timeline, we don't order these until after Chamber Day so we have an accurate count. We leave the Dutchman open for late-comers for a week or two after Chamber Day. Then Karl has to insert all the names into our skull design for the front which takes a while. Then the shirt goes to our printer (usually first week of June) and we get a proof back. Once that's approved, we can put in the order, the shirts are printed, and then shipped to the Chamber at Catalina. They arrive there towards the end of June. Karl and his assistant do the best they can to get them out as quickly as they can as everything must be shipped from the island.

If you have not yet received your Flying Dutchman shirt (or anything else you ordered for Chamber Day) please contact us immediately so we can get this resolved. The best thing to do is contact Karl directly at 310/510-4020 or huggins@usc.edu . If you have problems getting hold of Karl, contact me directly at 310/652-4990 or kenkurtis@aol.com .

Thanks for your patience and support.

- Ken
��
Ken Kurtis
Chairman, Chamber Day/Eve 2010
P.O. Box 11634
Beverly Hills, CA 90213
(310)652-4990
www.chamberday.org

Vets Park - making a comeback, but not all the way back, yet.

Mo2vation — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:34:56 GMT

Dived Vets last night. Had to dial in the weighting on the scoot.

Splashed at 8:45 PM. The place was packed - there was another group of at least 10 divers going in down the beach a ways, and a group of 4 that went in about 20 minutes before them.

The beach was loaded with people - even at sunset. The lower lot was full. There was a Kiss Tribute band playing at one of the clubs, as people were walking around in full on Kiss makeup. 2 fire trucks and an ambulance were at the club entrance, light flashing. Someone being wheeled out on a rolling table thingy.

So just another summer night in SoCal.

Chica and I load up and walk in. We're standing in the zone, in gin-clear water. No surf, no swell, ankle slappers lapping at our, well ankles. No wind. As we're walking to the site, a guy who chatted us up in the lot is walking WITH US - still asking questions. Pretty neat.

We get to the water - Chica walks in and fins up. I stop on shore to re-adjust something, and this dude is still talking to me - only now his 4 kids and all of their friends are there. I'm not kidding - there must have been 10 people standing over me.

So I pull off a glove. Not to get my dry glove all sandy, I hand it to one of the kids.

He puts it on... his brother tells him he looks like Hulk with this huge hand... everybody's laughing.

More questions. More laughing.

I take my glove off the 9 year old glove rack, put it back on, tip my hood to the crowd and walk into the flatness that is lake pacific.

We drop into warm water. We scoot into very cold water (my guess - 51-ish. My Suunto said 52, and its always warmer than the Sensus.) Total brain freeze...

TONS of Octos. Sarcastics all out of their shells looking for love. Some Nudis. Nothing extraordinary, just a dive in so-so viz. But conditions are better than they've been, for sure.

We scoot over a maze of lines from Andy and his classes. Then more. Then more. Then a line with a bright orange arrow. Then more lines.... crimany. Its like a staked in spiderweb down there at 80 feet.

We turn, we exit, we walk out.

Vets has this wonderful caress in the summer - coming back out of the canyon that is low low 50's up onto the sand shelf that is in the high 60's and soon to be 70's.... its a wonderful welcome home.

Thanks for the dive, Chica.

-Ken

Virtual Dive Site UB88: Yes or Not ?

I_AM — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:37:22 GMT

Hi,
I would like to hear form the SoCal diving community about this subject.

As You might know (or not) we have already created virtual dive sites for several wrecks (Yukon, Olympic II, C-53, Spiegel Grove, Prins Willem V, Duane, Bibb and the mighty Oriskany) and I am very tempted to do the same for the UB88 :D ....

Assuming that I get my hands on the "right" bathymetry dataset (happened before :D) and assuming I get the coordinates of the UB88 (or maybe I have those already :blinking: ?) should we spend time and money to create a 3D model of the UB88, create a 3D model of the terrain, put the 3D UB88 in the virtual site and then put everything online so everyone could virtually dive it ?
Should we disable GPS in the site so no-one can see the coordinates ? Or leave it enabled ?

Yes ? No ? Maybe ?

Or, should we create a "fake site" with the UB88 positioned at the right depth (not a secret anymore) but in the wrong location ?

Or should we just leave the UB88 alone for the joy of the few ?

Personally, I am not planning to dive the UB88 for real (too deep for me ... after my motorcycle accident I was told to be careful with my broken bones :( ) but I would really like to dive it at least virtually.

So, what do You think ?

Alberto (aka eDiver)

BBQ & Beach dive

jmdiver — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:04:21 GMT

A group of us, The Beach Crabs, are trying to keep the group together. We're having a BBQ & dive day at the beach on the 14th of Aug. at Leo C. beach come join us. The nice thing about this is non-divers can come & have fun also. See link: BBQ & Dive 8/14/2010

John

P.S. You'll are welcome to join us.

Capital Seafood Rest. serving Shark Fin soup

jmdiver — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:44:06 GMT

do not eat at Capital Seafood restaurants- they serve shark fin soup. Here is there website- please tell them what you think.
Capital Seafood Restaurant Group

Locations:

*

Arcadia �
Capital Seafood Restaurant
333 E Huntington Dr
Arcadia, CA 91006
Tel: (626) 574-8889
get directions
*

Artesia
Kim Tar BBQ
18309 Pioneer Blvd
Artesia, CA 90701
Tel: (562) 402-0969
get directions
*

Garden Grove
Capital Seafood Restaurant
8851 Westminster
Garden Grove, CA 92644
Tel: (714) 892-4182
get directions
*

Irvine �
Capital Seafood Restaurant
2700 Alton Pkwy, Suite 127
Irvine, CA 92606
Tel: (949) 252-8188
get directions
*

Capital BBQ & Dim Sum Express
2700 Alton Pkwy, Suite 127
Irvine, CA 92606
Tel: (949) 252-8186
get directions

*

Monterey Park �
Capital Seafood Restaurant
755 W Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Tel: (626) 282-3318
get directions
*

Capital BBQ & Dim Sum Express
727 W Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Tel: (626) 289-6338
get directions
*

Kim Tar Seafood Restaurant
964 E Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Tel: (626) 307-9139
get directions
*

Rowland Heights
Capital Seafood Restaurant
1015 S Nogales St, Suite #132
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
Tel: (626) 839-7738
get directions

*

Las Vegas, Nevada
Capital Seafood Restaurant
4215 W Spring Mountain Rd, Suite B-202
Las Vegas, NV 89102
Tel: (702) 227-3588
get directions
*

Pho Vietnam
4215 W Spring Mountain Rd, Suite B-202
Las Vegas, NV 89102
Tel: (702) 227-3588
get directions
*

Dongguan City, China
Capital Noodle House
Zhong Yuan Street opposite Hui Mei Hotel
Changping Town, Dongguan City, China
Tel: (0769) 8220-6818
*

Capital Noodle House
Lang Bei Street behind Xin Shi Ji Hotel
Changping Town, Dongguan City, China
Tel: (0769) 8220-6883

San Diego dives the UB88

Tyler S. — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:28:24 GMT

We made the trek yesterday to dive the UB88. The wreck sits in 190, with a minimum depth of 165 at the top of the conning tower. There is a large floating net draped on the stern of the wreck which had entangled lots of marine life, someone even saw a marlin in it. We had 80 ft of vis and very light current. The wreck is pretty cool but has been stripped of everything. Reminds me a lot of diving the Yukon, I think I'll dive this wreck one or two more dives then be done with it. Thats all

Fletcher Class Destroyer (Possibly USS Burns) On San Clemente

Nick Ambrose — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:26:53 GMT

another video :)

Last Minute Rig Trip Openings on Express!

Captain Kyaa — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:24:20 GMT

Hi Divers,

We just learned today that our charterer for this Saturday July 17th is a little short on divers, so if you would like to dive RIGS and Wrecks on what should be a SUNNY morning please give Dive California a call tomorrow at 619 222 0060 to grab a spot.This is a 3 tank limited load boat that will depart around 7am and probably be back to the dock by 2pm. :D

See you under,
Captain Kyaa
Sundiver International
800-555-9446