Posted by Max Bottomtime on January 08, 2004 at 19:04:19:
DonS and Coralcuts met me at Vet's parking lot for the best beach dive conditions I have ever seen in California. The surf was coming in sets as high as two inches, but averaged one inch. With 20-30 feet visibility, we decided to dive the Topaz Street jetty to practice skills for Susan's upcoming Tech1 terror, I mean second half of class. Most of this training involved rescue skills. Susan and I each rescued lobsters that we believe would have been eaten by one of the several large octopus we saw. My maximum depth was fifteen feet, with an average of about five. With no surge, it was very easy to reach into the holes just below the surface. Don said the conditions reminded him of the Cook Islands, minus the warm water, great vis and tropicals...
I decided to push my luck and try to stock my freezer, so I went again after work today. What a difference twenty hours makes. 3-4 foot surf, less than two feet vis beyond the end of the jetty and no bugs sighted. I decided to head to the canyon to look for squid instead, but was shut out. Tons of Sheep crabs, but little else. Vis at 80 feet was only ten feet. Oh well, at least I got wet. :-)