Posted by seahunt on February 27, 2002 at 12:56:59:
Sure. Sometimes you have to drive if you want to dive, but it took
1 hour to make the first 25 miles on this Friday afternoon and it
was a 120 mile trip from San Diego to the dock in San Pedro...
I got to the dock. It's always so quiet and deserted there. Just a
few sea gulls and cats were moving. My buddy's wouldn't show up for
at least an hour, which was OK, because it might give enough time
for the breeze to calm down.
Hours later, everybody was there. We knew the weather plots showed
a storm getting there by noon the next day, but what do the weather
plots know and that stiff breeze was still blowing. The coastal
forecast said it was good, so what could we do. We took off for
Catalina under a crescent moon hanging low in the west.
It was actually a very calm ride over and pitch black as we got near
Italian gardens. My plan tonight was to try out my new fins and
attempt to hunt lobster snorkeling right up against the wall of
the island. I always like the shallows late in the year when the
water is cold and the bugs are up. I usually end up snorkeling
a fair amount with my tank on anyway. Sometimes I've chased the
bugs right out of the water. Of course, this was a place I wasn't
really familiar with. As expected, the air was colder than the
water.
Lem hit the water first and headed to the eastern point of the cove.
Alex and Guy went to the west point of the cove. I headed straight
to shore. After about 10 minutes, I was back. Those new fins were
not going to cut it. I just couldn't use them.
I headed back to shore and instead of cliffs against the island,
there was a beach. I was looking around because you never know when
you are going to find a bug, but I figured I had better work my
way east to the point. I did see some shorts on the way, but nothing
more interesting than some small rays. I got to the point area and
it just wasn't the terrain I was looking for. These were scoured
boulders out to 10 feet of water. All they had were barnacles
and lots of perch in them feeding. It was also pretty rough. I went
in and out, trying to get a good look really shallow. Of course,
that made it a rough dive and there was just no sign of bugs. It was
time to work deeper.
The kelp started shallow and while it was good to see the healthy
thick kelp, it was just not what I had planned on and almost
impossible to hunt with a snorkel on such a dark night. I made a few
dives and saw a couple shorts, but I headed back to the boat for my
tank.
When I entered again, the problem then was where to go. I wanted to
go east, but that left the problem of avoiding Lem. He doesn't leave
bugs behind.
I headed across the cove above sand with some rocks and growth. I
think the small lobster I saw was the same one I had seen nearer
shore. I passed two Sheeps crabs locked in embrace amour. I left them
alone partly because they looked busy and partly because I had never
tackled a big one like that at night. One of those gets you and it's
going to hurt. I was pleased to see lots of sea cucumbers strewn
across the sand.
Then I got to the thick kelp. The bottom terrain looked like great
cover with lots of microwave to washing machine sized rocks, as well
as small sand patches. There was just a bit of murk, but it seemed
to be from surge instead of from another diver. I kept moving across
the rocks at 40 feet when I saw a light ahead and about 10 feet below.
I figured Lem had likely been over the entire area. This was not
looking good. He was working a hole, so I went close enough to shine
my light on his bag and he had bugs. Lem tends to stay deeper than I
do, so I headed towards shore, working along the shallowest rocks with
kelp at about 20 feet. I figured I would go as far as I could around
the point, then head deeper and come back. The kelp was incredibly
thick and often in my face. I saw fish, morays, urchins, cukes and even
a small octopus out on a kelp leaf, but I saw only a couple of short
lobsters. I had a feeling that what lem hadn't grabbed, he had sent
scurrying for cover. This was looking like a real Murphy
dive.
Well, it was fun, it was pretty, the kelp was extremely thick, but I
wasn't never really even saw much in the way of shorts. At one point I
ran into Guy and Alex. Last I knew they had gone to the other side
of the cove. Somebody was lost. Also, on the way back, I passed the
biggest kelp crab I have ever seen. It was a vivid red and easily 8
inches across. Their bright color makes them fascinating to see. As
far as lobster type crustaceans though, this dive was a washout.
Everyone got arranged on the boat and we headed off towards K2. I was
feeling a bit queasy both from the swell and from the fact that I think
the pickled ginger I had eaten, was a bit old. So much for that seasick
cure.
I guess everyone was tired, because after we anchored, we all just sat
there. Lem even fell asleep a couple of times. It was cold though which
eventually got us moving. I don't think anybody was seriously
considering a third dive by that point. We started gearing up about
11:30 and went in. I wasn't familiar with this spot and was looking
forward to seeing what it was like. I also wanted to swim fast to warm
up. At least I was feeling better by now.
Then everything changes. You go down in to the thick kelp and bottom
growth and the sickness, cold and fatigue disappear. This area has less
of the large Macrocystis kelp, so enough light got to the bottom for a
real thick bottom growth. In places it was 4 feet thick. To hunt in that,
you have to keep your light close in because the bugs can hide real
well just by hunkering down. You had better see them before they see your
light, while they are still walking. In other places the bottom was much
clearer and you could see the boulders. This was a very big reef and I was
a ways off shore. Of course, I figured I would head to shore. Right away I
saw a short, which is a good sign, because where there are shorts, there
are usually some legals.
As I swam along, I spooked one bug with my light that was on the edge of a
rock and it just jumped off as they occasionally will. I was in the right
position to just swoop on it as it fell and nabbed it about a foot before
it hit the bottom. Unfortunately, I could feel in my hand that it was a
short. I just dropped it and kept swimming.
Then there it was, the first nice sized bug of the night. Only it was on
the side of a rock, right next to another rock wall. When you hit most
lobster at Catalina with a light, they will jump like they've been hit
with a cattle prod. All this one had to do was move back one foot and it
would be way out of my reach, but it didn't move and I went for it. I knew
I had to make a perfect grab and I did it. I got a good grip right on the
base of the antennas. Cool. In the bag. I couldn't believe it. A nice
2 1/2 pounder.
I saw a lot of large red (black) urchins, but they all seemed to
have tests (the ball) less than 3 inches. Spines were regulation
length, but the tests should have been closer to 5 inches. I
suspect it was like a second growth forest. I think that he urchins
were cleaned out here and these were the next, replacement
generation. They will still need to mature, but it was good to see
what looked like a good replacement rate after harvesting. It's
weird to dive and only rarely see an urchin.
I kept moving in towards shore with deviations in course caused by big
stands of kelp or from moving around boulders. There were a fair number
of fish and urchins, but mostly thick bottom kelp. Then I saw another
nice sized bug and again, it seemed like an unlikely grab. It was behind
a rock and all I could see was its head and antennas, from underneath,
not from above. It only had to move 6 inches and it would be out of reach,
but I went for it and again got lucky and made a perfect head grab.
Another nice one in the bag.
I kept moving towards shore, checking my compass because I kept turning
some. It was a ways to shore, but I had been in 20 feet of water for a
while and was seeing a fair amount of eel grass. I was perfectly willing
to hunt this part of the reef because I was seeing shorts, but I wanted
to get in all the way in for a look. I finally made it and saw it was a
rock and barnacle shore with waves, not a kelp on rock shore. Oh well. I
changed to snorkel and started working in and out from shore to about 15
feet. I was seeing shorts and schools of perch, but nothing to grab. After
a while I decided it would be wise to find a rock to haul out on and take
a breather. Unfortunately, most of the rocks were too barnacled and the
wrong shape to want to subject my wetsuit to, in the shore surf here. I
tried to get on a couple but got swept off. As I tried it again, I got a
flash of a large bug right where I was putting my hand down. I spun around
and flip flopped and flashed my light around, but of course, it was long
gone.
After sitting out a bit on a rather sharp rock, I continued south along the
shore. The objective was to go as far as I felt my tank would get me back
out a bit deeper water. Though it was rough and a long swim, I was feeling
fine... Something to keep track of.
I kept snorkeling on and making an occasional grab, but while there were a
lot of bugs, most were short. Finally, I figured I had to head back. I had
gone a long ways along the shore. It was time to move out a ways and head up
the shore on scuba until I was even with the boat and then swim out to
it.
Again it was nice to get into the thick bottom growth, but there was enough
big kelp and big rocks to make it a very crooked swim. For all the lushness
of this reef, I saw less diversity here than at the last spot. There were
sheepheads, urchins and garibaldi, but not too many surprises. At one point,
I came upon a big octopus with a head the size of a football. He of course
skedattled, but I watched him in my light for a while. Mostly I saw shorts.
A few more made bailout jumps off rocks. It's funny to watch.
Finally, I came up to get my bearings and head for the boat. Sure enough, I
was almost even with it, so I headed down and out. It was a gorgeous, lush
reef.
I love working through thick kelp. When the bottom started to drop off, I
circled around at about 35 feet because I knew that the boat was there. I saw
a nice sized bug deep in a hole, but soon it was time to find some kelp to
ascend on. As I swam back to the boat, I turned off my light so as to enjoy
the bioluminescence. I was tired enough that I had to think about how to get
on the swim step.
Everybody else was aboard and dressed. Not surprisingly, Lem had done well
including a 4 pounder. Alex and Guy had both gotten some. It was now 2:00 AM
and definitely time to crash. No one mentioned a third tank.
About 7 AM, I woke up to a beautiful calm, overcast morning with a pod of
about 20 dolphins working towards the boat. The passed only about 20 feet
away on their hunt, with birds following behind. I thought Lem was asleep
until he said "cream and sugar". He still didn't move or open his eyes though.
We all slowly came to and wanted to get back before the promised storm made
its appearance. We all had things to do as well. I'm not sure who woke up
during the night, but I heard a comment about surround sound snoring.
We got it together, pulled the bug bags on board and set off across the calm
channel at the end of a fantastic dive trip. I couldn't help but wonder how
many more times we would be able to get together for adventures like this.
It has been my life for so long, but things always change and I know that
things are changing now. I wonder where my next diving will
Enjoy the diving, seahunt