{"id":1487,"date":"2008-12-21T23:12:04","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T06:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2008-12-22T22:14:57","modified_gmt":"2008-12-23T05:14:57","slug":"winter-solstice-dive-at-the-old-marineland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=1487","title":{"rendered":"Winter Solstice Dive At The Old Marineland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Logged SCUBA Dive #325<\/p>\n

Old Marineland (aka Long Point, Terranea Resort)<\/p>\n

Dove With Dennis G, Reverend Al, SCJoe and the Nice Bob<\/p>\n

In With: 3000 psi
\nOut With: 300 psi
\nMax depth: 60 feet
\nWaves: Pretty much, flat as a lake
\nVisibility: 10 to 25 feet – Pretty damn good!
\nTemperature: 56 degrees
\nTotal Bottom Time: About 45 minutes<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Pristine<\/p>\n

Conditions appeared to be good peering down from the overlooking cliffs; the ocean was as flat as a lake with really blue water.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/p>\n

I followed Reverend Al, SCJoe, Dennis G. and the Nice Bob off the calm Point.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We swam a little West to try and find a wreck called the “Newburn” and descended.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I told Dennis that if we hung out around the Point for too long, I was probably going to exit at the Point.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/p>\n

We checked under the rocks and between the reefs for lobsters.<\/p>\n

Apparently at one point in the dive, we did come across the Newburn wreck.<\/p>\n

Later, Reverend Al asked me, “Didn’t you see those two polls?”<\/p>\n

“Yeah, those two pipes,” I replied.<\/p>\n

“Well, that’s pretty much what’s left of the wreck; it has seen better days,” Al replied.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A deadly, man-eating horn shark awaits his next victim.<\/p>\n

\"Lobsters<\/p>\n

We spotted lobsters in 60 feet of water off the Point.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/p>\n

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?!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, my lobster was short; Al caught another short – both were released unharmed.<\/p>\n

The legal lobsters were too far in to grab – another example of Darwinism.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A fish on a reef.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Nice Bob pointed out some kind of albino nudibranch.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

We passed by “Anvil Reef” – OK, I just made that name up right now.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

We made it to the statue at the pinnacle.<\/p>\n

I was down to 800 psi and had lost the group while taking a few pictures.<\/p>\n

I decided to make a cautious exit at the Point, rather than do a long surface swim and exit the Cove.<\/p>\n

With 300 psi left, I inflated my BCD, switched to my snorkel and floated carefully back into the large boulders at the Point.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The rest of the group made a safe exit at the Cove.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The debriefing begins, even though most of the beer was mistakenly locked in someone’s car!<\/p>\n

That situation was remedied in about 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/p>\n

My artistic shot of the Bratwursts with the debriefing lot behind.<\/p>\n

\"Cyber<\/p>\n

With the crowd thinning out early, Cyber The Attack Dog consumed the excess beer and bratwursts.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,9,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}