Hi Guys,

Claudette, Elaine, and I had a great day of diving on Saturday off Huntington Beach. My little boat was bobbing around like a cork in the big wind chop and swell, but we toughed it out and managed some spectacular dives. The original goal was to spend the day diving various parts of Izor's Reef but the whole thing was covered with gill nets with the black flag markers. It was unbelievable. Izor's is huge and from the extreme North end to the extreme Sounth end there wasn't a spot on it that didn't have black flags on all sides and within a hundred or so yards of where we wanted to be. There appeared to be two boats working the nets. We couldn't figure out how only boats could lay so much net! I'm not really sure how those things work underwater and didn't want to get me, the buddies, the boat, or the ground tackle caught up in them should they drift over, or worse yet, get hauled in across us in while we were down below.

We decided to head over to the bow section of the Elsie I since we were already in the neighborhood. The last time I dove this wreck I couldn't see my fingers at arms length! What a difference Saturday was! There was a nasty green layer from about 20-45ft with only about 6ft of vis, but once we got below it in the cool 53F water, it cleared up beautifully. The murky layer soaked up much of the light but the vis on the wreck was a stunning 30-40ft. Near the end of the dive, Claudette and I saw 3 juvenile Mola Molas. I got a crappy picture of them as they swam away.

We had such a great time on the bow that we headed off to find the stern for the next dive. Vis was just as good there and afforded me the opportunity to take some decent pictures.

Many thanks to Elaine and Claudette for being such great dive buddies!

Pics are at the URL below.

Cheers,
Ross

• June 23, 2007 - Diving the Elsie I

• Re: Trip Report - Diving the Elsie I (both halves) off Huntington Beach Merry 18:35:41 06/25/07 (0)