IONAKANA3XL
07-22-2008, 03:25 PM
Great diving last weekend at La Jolla Cove. The ocean was so calm it looked like a lake. No wind at 7am with air temp at 66 and the surface temp at 71. Easy shore entry and short surface swim out off Alligator Head. 20ft vis from the surface so we dropped down into 25 foot depth with plenty of sea life and temp around 68. Lots of Sheephead and Calico Bass with some good sized Garibaldi. Surge started picking up and the vis dropped to 6-8ft so we surfaced after 15 minutes and changed the dive plan. Decided to swim out to the Reserve Boundary yellow marker and dropped down into 35ft finding the thermo clime at 30ft with the temp dropping to 53 and better vis around 20-25ft. Since we were outside the reserve we practiced some catch and release with the lobsters hiding in and around the rocks all the way down to 48ft depth. Half an hour of that entertainment and it was time to head on back. After using some kelp too hold a 3 minute safety stop at 15 ft we surfaced near the buoy and began the long swim back to the cove. Lots of long broken up kelp on the surface for getting snagged in but rolled out of most of it and broke off the rest. Plenty of swimmers and snorkelers in the water by the time we got back to exit. Swapped out tanks and my buddy loaned me his 119cf steel tank for the next dive. Ate some lunch on an hour surface interval before heading back down to the beach. Other divers reported seeing a Giant Sea Bass and a Nurse Shark?? around the yellow marker so we swam all the way back out there again. Had a curious sea lion tagging along on the way out. Wind and swells were picking up and so was the water temp now 74 in the top couple of feet. Dropped down using the buoy line and took off heading north at 45ft depth and 53 temp. The shark buzzed my buddy but it was too fast to verify identity and the vis was dropping off to 15ft. No GSB but plenty of other creatures. Went 58 minutes of exploring to north then east before heading back southwest. Safety stop at 15 ft and still had over 1000psi. My buddy had less than 500 on an 80cf tank so we started the long 45 minute surface swim back to the cove. The sun finally came out around 2:30 to warm us up on the swim back. Great day in LJ. Next weekend is wreck diving on the Yukon. It will be nice to boat dive again. WaterhorseCharters.com diving off the “Humbolt” with Captain Ryan, Lee and Chris is always excellent!!