Winter Solstice Dive At The Old Marineland
Logged SCUBA Dive #325
Old Marineland (aka Long Point, Terranea Resort)
Dove With Dennis G, Reverend Al, SCJoe and the Nice Bob
In With: 3000 psi
Out With: 300 psi
Max depth: 60 feet
Waves: Pretty much, flat as a lake
Visibility: 10 to 25 feet – Pretty damn good!
Temperature: 56 degrees
Total Bottom Time: About 45 minutes
Reports from yesterday rated Old Marineland as “spectacular” with vis as good as 25 feet off The Point; looking at the swell maps, I was hoping for better conditions today.
Conditions appeared to be good peering down from the overlooking cliffs; the ocean was as flat as a lake with really blue water.
I filled out my lobster report card and brought my game bag just in case we saw some lobsters that we were lucky enough to catch.
I followed Reverend Al, SCJoe, Dennis G. and the Nice Bob off the calm Point.
It was low tide and sort of a challenge to me not to get hit by rocks when the tide receded, but I managed a pretty much uneventful entrance.
We swam a little West to try and find a wreck called the “Newburn” and descended.
The plan was to follow Nice Bob to the Newburn wreck, then to the statue at the Pinnacle and then make our way to an exit at the Cove.
Dennis G. was the only diver besides me that was diving with an Aluminum 80, everyone else had 100 to 120 cubic feet of air.
I told Dennis that if we hung out around the Point for too long, I was probably going to exit at the Point.
We checked under the rocks and between the reefs for lobsters.
Apparently at one point in the dive, we did come across the Newburn wreck.
Later, Reverend Al asked me, “Didn’t you see those two polls?”
“Yeah, those two pipes,” I replied.
“Well, that’s pretty much what’s left of the wreck; it has seen better days,” Al replied.
A deadly, man-eating horn shark awaits his next victim.
We spotted lobsters in 60 feet of water off the Point.
We tried to dig several lobsters out of the rocks; I caught one with my left hand, while holding my camera with my right – how macho is that?!
Unfortunately, my lobster was short; Al caught another short – both were released unharmed.
The legal lobsters were too far in to grab – another example of Darwinism.
A fish on a reef.
I tried taking most of my pictures without using the flash to see if they came out better than with using the flash – “flash back” was eliminated, but the pictures turned out a little blurry because of the exposure time.
Nice Bob pointed out some kind of albino nudibranch.
We passed by “Anvil Reef” – OK, I just made that name up right now.
We made it to the statue at the pinnacle.
I was down to 800 psi and had lost the group while taking a few pictures.
I decided to make a cautious exit at the Point, rather than do a long surface swim and exit the Cove.
With 300 psi left, I inflated my BCD, switched to my snorkel and floated carefully back into the large boulders at the Point.
I had to make my way over some slippery and barnacle encrusted rocks, but looking back, it was better than surface swimming and bitch crawling over kelp to the Cove.
The rest of the group made a safe exit at the Cove.
The debriefing begins, even though most of the beer was mistakenly locked in someone’s car!
That situation was remedied in about 30 minutes.
My artistic shot of the Bratwursts with the debriefing lot behind.
With the crowd thinning out early, Cyber The Attack Dog consumed the excess beer and bratwursts.
There are talks of doing a Pagan dive on the 25th, but it’s also suppose to rain and there’s a slight dispute over where it should take place – Old Marineland or Veteran’s Park?
