IONAKANA3XL
07-06-2008, 09:28 PM
It was an excellent boat trip today. On the way down we stopped and watched a pod of Dolphin. One of them was a spectacular jumper. Pulled into Lobster Shack on North Coronado Island around 10 and into the water we went. The vis was 30 feet and the surface temp was 66. We dropped down to 60 feet where the temp was 54 and set a heading for due east looking for the sunken cabin cruiser. Didn't find it after ten minutes so headed back up to 35 feet along the rocks. Lots of life and warmer at this depth. Saw a huge black Sea Hare the size of a house cat curled up on a rock with some colorful sea stars. Plenty of Garibaldi and I shot some great pics of the juveniles with their distinctive blue spots trying to hide under the ledges. Found a Spanish Shawl Nudibranch trying to hide in a Sea Fan. There were schools of other fish circling around us but too fast for me to identify. Jack Mackerel and Blacksmith maybe. After 20 minutes at that depth it was time to ascend for our 3 min safety stop at 15 feet. After everyone was back on board Captain Ryan headed south to our next dive site while we ate the provided lunch. An hour later it was time to get wet again. The 2nd dive was at the Keyhole on the south tip of North Coronado Island. We dropped down to 50 feet on a weighted stern line since there was some current at this site. We swam into the current for a few minutes before turning around heading closer to the rock ledges and drifted with the current at 35 ft. We glided over a nest of colorful blue and white baby Sea Urchins and then circled around to photograph this big Sculpin trying to blend in while hiding in a rock pocket. Shot a great pic of this tiny little Blue-banded Goby in some Anemone. Finally identified this white rose shaped invertibrate as maybe a Dorid Nudibranch egg mass since its owner was attached to the rock right beside it. Spent 35 minutes at this depth before ascending to 15 feet for the safety stop. Out of the water with the always helpful crew (DM Lee) of the "Humbolt" right there to pull the fins and assist me back on board. Big THANKS to OEX Paulie & Tommy for buddy guiding me underwater and safely back to the boat. Awesome boat trip. I will post some pics after I get them developed. Old school 35mm!!