Posted by Maddiver on January 29, 2002 at 15:11:56:
Trip Report Coronados
Daryl and I lucked out on our last minute search for a dive boat for Sunday morning and ended up on the Blue Escape going for two-tank dive to Coronados. This was extremely lucky as there were 5 extra spots and 3 guys showed up to claim those a few seconds before me. Many kudos to the crew who were most accommodating with a full boat and honoring our ‘last minute’ request for space for two scooters and doubles. I had used these guys to Coronados before but not with doubles and scooters and was very impressed with their professionalism and space management aboard. I think they had had a few visits from Kane and the Gang. It was a booking for Sport Chalet and a few classes were onboard which can spell trouble but Sunday we were in for a treat. These new divers showed a great deal of courtesy and thoughtfulness to their fellow divers (i.e. no setting tanks down on masks, dropping weight belts on your foot, stepping or sitting on the latex seals of your dry suit, etc). Most were really curious about what we were doing and the gear aspects of things. Daryl brought a copy of the video ‘Cave Diving The Yucatan Peninsula’ for the DM and he played it on the way out. The new divers to be seemed to really enjoy the Cave diving footage. Also I could see obvious signs of Walker/Kane/Kendall etc influence as the South African DM for Blue Escape (sorry I forgot to write his name down) was going DIR with a good deal of Halcyon equipment and an eagerness to discuss gear and procedures and outline his upcoming continuing education considerations. It didn’t rain which was a real plus adding to the basic shot in the dark that we could get a boat at all. Daryl had to drive in from Palm Springs that morning to meet the boat and I had flown in the night before basically grasping at straws. The crew cleared two spots to either side of the platform at the rear and planned to get us in first before the classes and hand down the scooters so we could be down and away before the first student hit the water. Their execution and handling of the Scooters was on the money and no sooner did I hit the water and turn around was my scooter being gently lowered to me. Daryl and I did our surface checks (lights, scooters, action…no camera this time) pulled the pin from the trigger and put the hammer down. The crew had instructed us to follow the bottom contour at ~25 ft past the seal rookery and continue until a large swim through than many referred to as a cave with lots of life. On the way, (which btw was a lot farther than I would care to swim) some of the seals decided to check out all the whining noise the scooters made…they just had to show us that we were like Ford pintos in a drag race with Mario Andretti and his latest Indy Car….so we lost a little face..I’m sure they barked all day about how they blew the doors off two guys with black scooters. The Fast and the Furious had nothing on these guys. Continuing on we saw all that the Coronados have to offer, starfish, nudibranchs, Scorpion fish…two that were close enough to be star-crossed lovers..a deadly proposition or at least a painful one. Huge concentration of these black fish that I could see Daryl kicking himself for leaving the camera at home, that just looked like it could have been a magazine shot. The water was clear of particulate, however the cloudiness reduced visibility to 30-35 maybe more. Water was a balmy 57 on both dives and Waiting for us was the first Black Sea Bass I had ever seen…This thing looked like a truck..later Daryl told me it was about five feet long. What I couldn’t get over was how fat it was (he also said it was probably pregnant or in dire need of Jenny Craig). We found some low swim throughs, which approached the low conditions we were used to scootering in so I would dive in full speed with Daryl in pursuit and flush out the other side with rapid changes in speed due to the surge. One minute you are smoking along at 200ft per minute and the next you are at a dead standstill or moving backwards…now that was fun. Special thanks to Steve (Shark 90217?) from Sport Chalet for emailing Daryl with info on this trip. Prior Planning- Ah who needs it…well next time I think I might consider it.
And were heard something about 3 deep seamounts that come up from 400+ to within 40 ft of surface...Anyone care to give us an update on your own experience(s) with these?