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| Belated Dive Report 12/6/2009 – How the Captain Got into My (wetsuit) Farmer-Johns |
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| diver.net |
| Belated Dive Report 12/6/2009 – How the Captain Got into My (wetsuit) Farmer-Johns |
|
Posted by Patrick on December 17, 2009 at 13:11:13:
The day started off well with the crew arriving early and quickly loading up the Moby Kate for the day’s diving. Crew for the trip was Bill Brush, Paul Kanner – this was Paul’s 70+ birthday dive – Cindy Shaw, Captain Andy and moi. While launching we saw an unusual sight; Harry Davis, longtime diver of great repute launching his 20-foot Skipjack. Harry NEVER dives on weekends and seeing him there on a Sunday was akin to spotting a democrat in the O.C. The run out of del Rey was under overcast skies with a relatively warm easterly wind pushing against a moderate westerly swell. The water clarity just a short distance beyond the breakwater was a deep-ocean, sapphire blue and promised great conditions offshore. Cindy and I were the first team to dive. The site was a rocky area SE of the harbor in about 100 feet of water. Surface conditions looked awesome but on the bottom, we found “only” about 30+ feet visibility, not the 50-60 feet found on the descent. The bugs were home so since Cindy didn’t have a fishing license, she acted as wing(wo)man while I pursued the wily crustaceans. A 20 minute dive and a limit in the bag closed the first dive of the day. Once on the boat, reports on vis and bugs got everybody else moving fast to get into their gear. Shortly after the dress-out for the others began, Captain Andy was heard to state rather forcefully “Sh*t! It turned out that a crucial part of his dive gear had been left behind – his farmerjohn wetsuit bottoms. In the mean time, Bill and Paul had finished dressing out and rolled in to the water for their dive. This left Cindy and I with a really pissy Captain Andy aboard the Kate. Andy kept looking at me and finally said, “You know, I think your wetsuit might fit me…” That east wind was a whole lot cooler when you’re standing around on deck in just a pair of wet Speedos, so I pulled on my WarmWind and watched as Andy geared up for his dive. I spent the next few hours discovering how put upon women are who wear dresses, and what durable Scotsmen are, at least those who wear kilts. If it wasn’t for the Kate’s mini-spa,
I’m sure I would have succumbed to hypothermia, or worse had to get back into dry clothes! When Paul, Bill and Andy surfaced from their dives (with good counts of bugs), we headed north to do a jump on the Star of Scotland. On the way we came across Harry Davis with starter problems, and hooked him up for a tow back to MdR.
A short time into the tow, we spotted the del Rey Harbor Patrol and after a quick call on channel 16, handed Harry over to them. Once on the Star, we were surprised to find it “crowded” with two other boats with a total of seven divers. It was going to be crowded on the bottom, but the more the merrier. Andy did his dive, and I finally got my wetsuit bottoms back - it was good to finally get the Captain out of my pants… When Cindy and I descended to the midships area of the Star we could see three other divers cruising in the 25-foot visibility. We were looking to find the Giant Sea Bass of previous visits, but I was concerned that with all the diver traffic that they might be laying low. That seemed to be the case as we didn’t see a single GBS for the whole tour of the wreck but were dazzled by the dense areas of colorful Corynactus. There was one area nearby kind of tucked out of the way, where I had found them before, and I decided to take a quick look to see if anybody was home. I guided Cindy over to the spot, and sure enough we found two of the medium-sized (150-250 lbs) locals hiding out, away from the diver rush. Being careful not to spook or bother them, we both took a long look and then left them in peace. On the ascent we passed through clouds of Chromis and swirling silver clouds of mackerel. An awesome end for the diving day. Better yet, I don’t think the Captain peed in my suit… |
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