Posted by Tyler on May 05, 2003 at 20:39:38:
Well I finally made it out to the Valient. After Saterday, I thought that I may have to cancel the trip, but the weather report looked good for Sun May 4, 2003. So at 0700 my buddy and I un-tied the boat and headed out from LA to Avalon. The weather was forcasted at 4-6 foot swell from the west with less than 10kts. wind. Sounded great! Three hours later we arrived at Avalon and tied to the green pier to check in with the harbormaster, got permission and moved over to a mooring.
Dive #1- Visibilty was about 50 feet, no current on bottom or up topside, really nice. Went down the chain, once on bottom we could see the wreck. Really excellent considering this was our first time on it. Started at the bow which was really nice, some kelp, and some life. We saw some crabs, lobster, school of chovies, and I saw a nice 7 foot black sea bass, manging to take a few photos of it. (I only got a silioute, but you can tell what it is) That was the end of that dive 25 min total.
Surface interval- Well the wind kicked up the whole horizon was white with foam, not looking good. Anyway after a few cups of coffee, some soda, and soup we were ready to go again.
Dive #2- Same conditions as before. Same life, although this time I saw a 30" flattie, no spear, just my cam, kinda bummed. Sawm around lookin at stuff, nothing else new. We went five mins. over our no-D time so we hung at ten for awhile playin with the fishes that came up to the cam.
Finally when we got on the surface, and stowed all our gear, had more coffee and soup, we were ready to go. So I started the engines, droped the lines and headed north. No more that 4miles out I put the bow through 3 waves in a row, the shit has hit the fan, so I waited for enough calm to turn 180* and head back to Avalon. The weather was up to 6 foot swells, pretty close to plus the 3 foot wind waves. Ended up staying until 4am when we tried to make the voayage again, this time we made it, but the swell was still up. Maybe 7 foot or so, they we still pretty far apart, plus I only had that for the last 5 miles. All an all it was an okay trip.