Posted by George Austin on December 03, 2001 at 07:41:48:
In Reply to: Dove w/South Coast Divers -- Long Report posted by DougD on December 02, 2001 at 11:45:34:
Great report, Doug. That Rich sounds like a pretty decent guy to take care of defacto like that. Gotta give the guy credit though, at least he's trying to learn the art of beach diving. Most people either give up after getting worked a few times or are just too intimidated to try. I happen to think that of all rec diving--beach diving takes the greatest amount of skill. I work with classes on the beach at Laguna year round and when the surf is up, especially when theres a south swell running, well it really scares people that didn't grow up here. And it seems like most beginning students lately are from somewhere else. Sounds like you're a pretty good beach diver.
Hey, next time you go to Crescent, maybe you'll want to give Deadmans Reef a try. When you get there, walk up the beach (West) about 2/3rds of the way and set your compass bezel for 190 deg. Deadmans lies about 1/4 of a mile offshore, so make sure you be alert to boat traffic. Seriously! Jet ski's as well. After about 20 or 25 minutes start looking for kelp. It comes to within a few feet of the surface. That'll be Deadmans. Rarely visited site so be prepared for giant Lobster and morays. I had a 4 ft Octopus try to take my game bag away from me there, (there were clean scallops in it) I also had a 200 pound sea lion grab my mask by the snorkel and run off with it a few yards before dropping it in the sand at this spot. Its pretty wild compared to the close in dives in Laguna. Once while puttering around at 40 ft or so, a Cormorant flew by, I thought I was totally narced seeing a bird flying around on a dive. A friend saw a migrating gray whale out here once and took a picture of it before it accidentally broke his collarbone, shoulder and jaw with a kick. Damn near killed him. That was a long time ago.
Anyway, the profile makes this an excellent dive on EANx 36 because depth is 80fsw max. The kelp makes an excellent deco bar for your safety stop but make sure you
WATCH OUT FOR BOATS--THEY WILL RUN YOU OVER AND NOT EVEN KNOW IT!!