In Reply to: Independence from bad diving posted by Max Bottomtime on July 03, 2011 at 19:44:43:

It was starting to sound like I should send over some cheese to go with the whine about bad conditions, Max.

Congrats on finding the clear stuff. See? Maybe it was here all the time, but just hiding from you (us).

The Mermaid and I went with some friends over to Catalina yesterday. First dive was Ship Rock where we were surprised to find the Horizon out of San Diego anchored up with a boatload of divers. There was some current, and the viz down to about 60-70 feet was in the blue 25-30 foot range. below that, down to about 115 feet were I was checking the anchor, it was a particulate-laden 10-foot viz and 51 degrees. Back up in the warm (64 degrees)sunny 30-foot shallows, viz was very nice and the kelp lush and hosting huge schools of Blacksmith and top smelt. Many rocks were guarded by daddy Garibaldi who defended their nests with great diligence and so, allowed the Mermaid to kill numerous pixels capturing their beauty.

Next two dives were at the east side of Goat Harbor where there were some 15 GBS sited. Vis was poorer there though - a milky 15 to 20-feet. The other major event going on was the yearly Sea Hare orgies and the mounds of spaghetti-like eggs throughout the area.

It IS getting better - Go Get Wet!