Posted by patrick smith on December 05, 2004 at 12:28:21:
Launched out of Cabrillo at 07:30 for the Olympic. Amazingly, we were the only boat launching, though there were a few trailers in the lot. Wind was NE and a bit on the cool side. Massive cumulus clouds were covering most of the horizon, but we had sun in San Pedro Bay. Coincidentally for this first dive I was paired with Brian Smith - sort of a Smith squared dive...
On the site, the water was actually warmer than the deck. I neglected to check, but would guess the bottom temp was probable in the low 60s, - just fine for December. Viz on the bottom was a hazy 30+ feet with tons of bait balls hovering above the wreck. Strangely, there were few fish on the site, the bottom was pretty lonely with hardly a single piscatorial resident to be seen. Swam nearly a complete circuit, peeping and poking at areas of interest, then headed up 38 minutes at 100 fsw.
Second team went in at a nearby rock pile, and scored several bugs. When they surfaced, there was some discussion as to where to make the next dive. The wind had freshened slightly, and we were starting to get the occasional raindrop. It was agreed that as long as the wind stayed cooperative, no one was worried about getting sprinkled with fresh water, though it was a bit cool on deck.
Hurray for WarmWinds!
Decided to make the second dive at Ross-O's "secret spot." Dropped a marker on the spot (amidst some dozen or so lobster buoys), and geared up for the dive. Viz was about the same, but the fish life was abundant. A good number of the traps held bugs, but they may have been the last of the population. The big boys and girls have moved on and are (hopefully) happily makin' baby lobsters. There were only two free-range bugs spotted and they weren't legal.
A small ceramic cup was recovered. It will take a bit of research to ID it, but judging from the Kanji characters on it, it probably was deposited on the site from one of the ubiquitous container ships that pass through the area.
By this time the rain was moderate, but the wind had dropped. Because of the high tide, and calm conditions, two of our troop decided to do a last dive on the breakwall, just to scrounge. They found great viz, huge sponges with lots of interesting stuff to look at, and a couple of anchors. It's amazing how people can loose hooks that close to the breakwater and not actually be up on the rocks.
Rained lightly on the way back to the ramp, but it let up at about Angels Gate. Later I was surprised to learn that there had been no rain in Pedro, or the South Bay during the day.
All in all a very fine day
I love California diving.
Stay wet.