Met Pogiguy & Bassman at our local mudhole for some H2O therapy this morning. Had hoped to be joined by Cardiver as well, but alas, being a Dad takes precedence over diving.
It was a welcome sight when I pulled in to the small parking area to see that Jeff had Mr. Canopy mostly set up. Can't say I was looking forward to gearing up in the morning rain. I jumped out and helped with the remainder, then Keith pulled in and we all started gearing up hoping that we remember how to do this!
Tide was WAY out, and viz was pretty much seeing eye in the shallows getting only slightly better as we went deeper. To say 10' would be way generous. Jeff almost landed on a Ratfish on our drop to about 60 FSW, and I didn't see a fish until the last few minutes of the dive when a couple of Striped Perch were flitting in and out of the tire piles and a flash of a small Scaleyhead caught my eye. Of course in this viz there could be schools of hundreds and you wouldn't see them unless they ran you over!
We went on down slope to our max MOD, around 111 fsw, poking around in the bottle field and trying to find something to take a picture of. There are a ton of Tritonias out and about, and oddly enough more Orange Sea Pens than I usually see here. Let's see, Swimming Anemone and the stray Plumose, a few California Sea Cucumbers, a couple Blood and Vermillion Stars, two Stimson's, a couple Leathers, no Sunflower Stars - yeah, pretty much a Spring dive in the Northwest.
We worked our way upslope, past the bowling ball pyramid, and ended the dive on the tires - 56 minutes, 49 degrees (46 actual), and most importantly - a dry undergarment! The new zipper that USIA put in worked flawlessly. Hurrah for diving dry!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that my "hybrid" USIA has Bare boots on it (the USIA ones blew out after 900 dives) and Tacoma Scuba did a great job putting in new boots. They are slightly wider than the USIA boots and had been a pain to put on and take off until I remembered the Silicone spray in my kit. Spritz spritz, problem solved!
Jeff & Keith wussed out (I mean made a reasoned decision to forego) of the second dive, so we only got the one in. Keith decided to bring a coconut back with him that he found on the dive - I am still recovering from the smell...
But, in spite of the stink, still a great morning.Thanks guys for a couple great dives! I might post a few pics, but even macro was a challenge in this pea soup. Thanks for reading!
Feeling your way out of a cave is somewhat gnarly..