Lookin for 6 gill at Flagpole

[gutholmj]

Winter and I went out to Flagpole last Thursday with one of our primary goals being to drop down the deep wall in search of six gill. We arrived at Mike's at 9, paid our 10 bucks and headed over to the dive site. We had timed things to splash for our first dive on a small flood with the hope of having a descent swim. The weather was gorgeous and the water surface was flat and calm. With a light push from the current, no wind and no chop, this was one of the best swims at Flagpole I've ever done.

We dropped down the mooring line and headed over the south side of the pinnacle. We worked our way through the cloud sponges and headed down the deep wall to 130 few where I spent a whopping 5 minutes. No six gill were anywhere to be seen and we headed up the wall and lazily explored the top of the knuckle. My second goal for the dive was to find the juvenile yellow eye. Every time I go to Flagpole with backwater, he finds it. Every time I go with anyone else, I can never seem to find it. I looked everywhere in the area I thought it should be and still no luck. I'm starting to think it's a plastic fish Bric brings with him in his pocket.

For dive 2, we decided to drop at the entry and head out to the deep outcrop north of the knuckle. This is now one of my favorite dives. We found lots of cool critters as we passed the little junkyard heading south and gently downslope to around 75 fsw. We had plenty of time to explore the outcrop and Winter even headed further downslope for a bit before working our way up to the shallow knuckle near shore that bottoms out at around 50 fsw. We had a nice, relaxing and uneventful dive as we made a leisurely pace back to the entry.

[deep diver]

Nice pics......nice catch on the octo! too bad on the six gil, but it's best at dawn when it's still fairly dark and they come up to feed.... on your fins....

Dale

[Tom Nic]

Nice report James! I'm going to have to talk you into taking me with you on a shore dive here!

[gutholmj]

Nice report James! I'm going to have to talk you into taking me with you on a shore dive here!

Any time you want to go on a Thur, Sat or Sun.

[Tom Nic]

Thanks! I'll take you up on that down the road here...

[BASSMAN]

James!!!!
You had me at "6 gill"
But then what a disappointment. (No 6 gill)

Still, good pics though.

Keith

[Archer]

what dive site is Flagpole?? Do not see it on any of the lists I have.

[gutholmj]

what dive site is Flagpole?? Do not see it on any of the lists I have.

I've been meaning to write up a bit more formal of a description for the site listings but here's a rudimentary map. Positions on the map are rough approximations and should not be used for dive planning.

Basically, you pay at Mike's Beach Resort, drive south to the entry, park at the bottom of the hill and then swim a long way out to the WSA mooring. The current can be difficult to predict and because of the distance from shore, gas planning/management and navigation is very important.

[cardiver]

what dive site is Flagpole?? Do not see it on any of the lists I have.

It's about 20 minutes north of Sund rock.

[waterdog]

Great report, thanks James! Flagpole is one of our favorite dives. I see something new there every time! Great pic of the octo, too!