Trip Report and Photos
Diving with Ross O. - 07/30/06
"Hawthornes Reef", Pilings, Whites Point
Hawthornes Reef
On Sunday, July 30, 2006 Ross O. took Brian, Claudia, and myself out on the Orion for a day of coastal diving. Our first stop was at the offshore reef that Ross calls Hawthornes. The surface chap at the site made the boat rock a lot, but the visibility underwater was about 30 feet. I love the color and the diversity of invertebrate life at Hawthrones. The reef almost looks tropical.
After the dive we returned to the dock. The chop was making Brian too sea sick to enjoy a full day of diving. Well, it was sure good to see you guys, even if it was just for a little while!
The Pilings
Ross and I headed back out to get in some more bottom time. We went to the site where we had seen the small school of Molas on a previous visit. It is an artificial reef comprised of several old pilings of some sort. It is a great habitat for invertebrate life and some Vermilion Rockfish. Visibility at "The Pilings" was awesome for the first 30 feet, but the deeper that we went, the worse it became. At the bottom we could only see 10 feet of so.
On our safety stop, there was a baby yellowtail taking refuge under the boat. Visibility was so excellent at 20 feet it was easy to just hang and look out into the open blue water. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something very large just at the edge of how far I could see. It seemed to be making a dive. It is rare that I get spooked on a dive but this was one of those times. I looked down into the water that tuned a cloudy shade of white underneath us and all I could think of was "what great counter shading" - I tightened my mouth grip on my regulator and prayed for the safety stop time to pass quickly.
Whites Point
Because of the excellent offshore visibility, we made our last stop at Whites Point. Whites point is known for the shallow water hydrothermal vents in the cove.
We anchored a distance off shore and did an underwater swim into the cove. I was hoping that we would find one of the larger ones as in the photo above, but we only found some of the smaller ones. It is hard to photograph into the vents because of the surrounding thermocline.
The "white stuff" is a Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacteria that is prevalent on the rocks, plants, and sometimes the fish around the hydrothermal vents.
We also noticed that the beach and surrounding rocks were very crowded on this hot weekend. In the cove there was a lot of trash.
The Black Pearl
On the way home we went by The Black Pearl - the black sailed "Pirate Ship" used in the Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the Black Pearl. It is at dock in San Pedro. Difficult to get near by land, it is much easier to view by boat. These are some of my "Pirate Ship" photos.
