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Belated Dive Report - July 2th - Stat of Scotland - Santa Monica Bay





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Posted by Patrick on July 14, 2009 at 14:23:47:


This is a quick, belated report on a dive trip made on July 2 out to Santa Monica Bay.

Of the crew of three that day, two of us (me and Jimmy D.) voted for the Star of Scotland, and Capt. Andy graciously accepted the majority request.

Though the weatherman had promised a sunny day at the coast, we had overcast for the whole day. A noticeable ground swell from the North and glassy surface conditions were what we found (and kept) throughout the diving day.

Conditions on the fist dive were very acceptable. Whereas our peers diving the Rocky Point area and the OML end of the ocean were finding 3 to10-foot visibility, we found a goopy 25 to 30 visibility on the Star. Immense clouds of juvenile Chromis enveloped every high point on the wreck. Temp was still low ranging between 51 to 53 degrees depending on which computer I looked at. Cruising around I killed numerous pixels before making my ascent.

The second dive found visibility even slightly better and the magnificent Corynactus colonies that carpet the bow were really spectacular. I noticed that there had been some structural decline in the midships section of the Star, but whether it was anchor damage or natural collapse I couldn’t determine. Poking around in the engine room, I found one of the little Black Sea Bass, and he/she allowed me to take several images before disappearing deeper into the wreck. I also checked out “my” tile floor and killed a few more pixels there too.

I've attached a couple of images from the Friday trek. The first one is the little BSB in the engine room. The second is a little female Sheephead cruising by the tile floor. Third one is the doghouse skylight above the engine room. Fourth one is the local zoanthid anemone convention. And the last one is a couple of the locals eyeballing one another. Enjoy!

For Andy’s last dive of the day he opted to jump the Santa Monica artificial reefs. It turned out not to be a good choice as the visibility was similar to the south end of the bay. With Andy’s report, Jimmy D. and I opted for a last recon dive at the MdR artificials. It was an excellent decision as we again found 30+ foot vis. With the visibility as good as it was I was able to navigate between seven of the eight rock piles that make up the reef. During the course of it there were few fish noted, I suppose because of the cool water, 50-51 degrees. I did locate more than a half-dozen lost hoop-nets and amazingly two steel 72s, sans valves.

To finish off the day, we introduced Jimmy D. to the delights of carne asada tacos at George’s.

The dives were good,
The day was good,
The tacos were good.
Life is good.

Stay wet!



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