Jeff has a co-worker named Dave who will be in Hawaii at the same time we are, for the same reason – the Kona Classic, an underwater video/photo seminar/competition. Dave’s gone for the last several years, and was probably instrumental in talking Jeff into signing us up for it this year.

I own a Sony miniDV camcorder that I’ve occasionally thought of buying an underwater enclosure for. Going to Hawaii seemed like the perfect opportunity to find out whether I liked (and was any good at) shooting video: clear water, long dives, professional supervision. But I didn’t particularly want to sink tons of money into something that I wasn’t sure I’d even like.

Dave to the rescue! When Jeff mentioned to him that we were looking around for cheap, used housings, he mentioned he has an old Top Dawg housing “at his Kona house” that we’re welcome to borrow. These housings were designed to fit just about any Sony digicam, although not all perfectly. For instance, my model of camera won’t line up quite right with the viewfinder, which is small to begin with. No problem, though – Dave also has the monitor back for the Top Dawg, so I’ll have a nice big screen to look at underwater instead of a little viewfinder. On top of that, he’s willing to loan me lights for the night dives, and a filter and wide-angle lens for the day dives!

I think I love Dave. :)

Now let’s just hope I don’t suck at underwater video.

Finally, we got in a nice day of diving with decent visibility and warm water (relatively speaking, that is). Jeff and I boarded the Great Escape last Saturday night for a Sunday trip to Catalina. First we dived Eagle Reef, a big pile of boulders offshore that is CRAWLING with lobsters. This year there were more juvenile sheephead than I remember seeing last year, and we also spotted a new nudibranch that we later identified as Flabellina Trilineata:

This was our second time diving Eagle Reef, and I think it’s one of my favorite spots at Catalina. We didn’t see anything too spectacular this time, but it’s got an interesting topography, with lots of crevices to poke around in. There are also two distinct “sides” to the main reef, as well as many little outlier reefs, so it’s easy to stay away from other divers (and especially students, who are still learning how to not bump into things and kick up sand).

The crew decided it was getting a little “snotty” in the water (visibility-wise) out there, and moved us into Isthmus Reef (by Two Harbors) for our next two dives. I’m not sure what they were thinking, since Isthmus was much snottier than Eagle; we saw 30 and then 20 feet of vis, as opposed to Eagle’s 50. But it’s still a fun dive site, with a good wall where you can pretty much pick your depth. Here we saw many, many, MANY gobies. Behold:

Black-eyed Goby:

Blue-banded Goby:

The little blue-banded guys tend to show up unexpectedly in pictures of other subjects. In fact, if you look above the head of the blue-banded goby in the picture above, you’ll see another, blurry blue-banded goby in the background! They are everywhere at Catalina right now.

Isthmus Reef was also covered with abandoned bits of fishing line, so we had to be careful not to get snagged. I’ve never seen so much line at Catalina – there were quite a few lures as well, which could be a bit startling.

All in all, it was a good day of diving. The weather stayed sunny despite a forecast for clouds, the ocean was flat enough that my tummy didn’t rebel, and the camera and housing completely behaved. That’s right: not a single problem with the zoom ring, auto-shutoff, or strobe. It’s a miracle.

More pics here: Catalina, April 24 ’05

• Tar. On my shoes. And dive booties. And FEET. From the streets of Laguna. After about an hour plying them (well, not my feet) with toothpicks and Goo-Gone, I think I’m ready to buy new sneakers. The dive bootie may survive, but if it still smells in two days I’m buying new ones.
• Blockbuster’s new no-late-fees gimmick. The downside of this is NO DVDs LEFT IN THE STORE!
• Birds that fly into your office window while you’re typing on the computer and SCARE YOU HALF TO DEATH. I choose to believe it was a bird, because otherwise I’d have to worry it was someone trying to break in. (Since this happened before it was dark, that seems unlikely, right?)
• The smell of tar and Goo-Gone combining in your apartment (and on your hands) to make you dizzy

I left Jeff to sleep in this morning, while I met up with Kaz and Lars for a beach dive with the Sole Searchers dive club. Lars drove us all, as well as his 7-months-pregnant wife Ceci, who I was glad to see even though she couldn’t dive with us. The drive down to Laguna was fun in itself, thanks to the good company.

We parked by our intended dive site, Shaw’s Cove, and met up with 2 other dive club members, Tom and Mark. Mark had a newly-created map to Deadman’s Reef that he wanted to try out; this site is a loooong surface swim from Crescent Cove (next to Shaw’s), and can be hard to find. Lars and Tom were eager to check it out as well, since early reports of conditions seemed good, but Kaz and I decided to stick with the less-athletic Shaw’s Cove.

Gearing up was made a little bit interesting thanks to the angle at which we’d parked; we were on an extremely steep hill, and had to really watch how we laid bits of gear down on the sidewalk! Finally we were all neoprened-up and headed down the stairs to Shaw’s.

There’s nothing I love more than the sight of little 1 foot waves! We headed on in without incident, and descended near the rocks at the north side of the cove. The visibility wasn’t so great, thanks to a combination of the recent algae bloom (red tide) and all the dive classes that had been through Shaw’s that morning kicking up sand. We checked out the Crevice, a big space in the rocks where you can swim through to the next cove, but the current and surge were too strong for us to go in (not to mention even worse visibility). Instead, we continued west along the rocks.

I can’t really say we saw anything that exciting, but it was still a fun dive. I just relaxed and followed Kaz, letting myself be carried back and forth a little in the 3- or 4- foot surge. I startled a california scorpionfish hiding in the rocks, and we watched it swim away; as they swim, the undersides of their butterfly-like pectoral fins are exposed, and it makes for quite a show. Kaz pointed out some chestnut cowries and spanish shawls, and I found more camoflauged fish.

We also spotted two blue plastic easter eggs, presumably left over from the Egg Hunt here last month!

On the way back, Kaz suddenly started pulling on a chunk of rock. I was rather confused as to why he would be yanking on the reef, but all of a sudden it broke off – and turned into a sheep crab! (Well, that’s how it looked!) Jimmy would have been proud.

I had a bit of a scare on our way out. As we prepared to take off our fins and walk out through the breakers, one larger-than-usual wave came by (we managed to duck under). I am not into surf. It’s a bit irrational, actually – even this “monster” wave didn’t do me any damage. As long as you hang onto your regulator and mask, it doesn’t really matter even if you get tumbled fairly badly; your wetsuit protects you from abrasions, and you’ve got plenty of air. But I always flash back to my first attempt at diving (actually at Shaw’s Cove), when we had to go in for just a skin dive first (ie, mask and snorkel, but no scuba gear). The waves were probably 3-4 footers, with the occasional even larger one. It was the kind of surf I probably wouldn’t attempt today, but we all gave it a shot at the time. Bad idea. I got so tossed around that it completely scared me off beach diving for years, and I still have to really psych myself up to walk through that surf zone.

So, I’m working on that. :)

Luckily for me, this turned out to be a fluke. We floated out past the breakers for about 5 minutes watching the sets come in, and they stayed nice and small, so we finally went for it and walked out on the beach without incident.

Once we hooked up with the rest of the gang, it turned out they hadn’t been able to find Deadman’s Reef at all – it was basically a non-dive. So I guess Kaz and I made the right decision!

We had a delicious, high-calorie lunch at Ruby’s in Newport Beach on our way back, and the conversation was as plentiful as the milkshakes! :) We covered pretty much any topic you can think of except diving, from marriage and child-rearing, to the advantages and disadvantages of making your hobby your full-time job, to California real estate… you get the idea. The drive back was more of the same, as Lars, Kaz, Ceci and I sat in traffic on the 5 for over an hour. It was probably the least boring hour-in-traffic I’ve had in a while!

So, good day. I missed having my usual dive buddy along, but there are definite advantages to diving with someone who isn’t stopping to take pictures constantly! Although the water was as cold on this dive as on any other CA dives I’ve done lately, I lasted about twice as long and didn’t get too cold, thanks to the fact that we were constantly moving. I’d love to dive more with Kaz, although I’ve got to work on my air consumption before I do, and/or get a high-pressure tank; my air was definitely the limiting factor on our dive. And I think Jeff might not mind at all if I don’t force him to do more beach diving – it doesn’t usually provide many good opportunities for photography.

I, however, am determined to hone my beach diving skills and get past my fear of surf, largely so I can pursue being a dive instructor myself one day. You can’t teach in SoCal if you can’t beach dive!

On Saturday night, Kathy and I made Jeff drive all by his lonesome behind us on the way up to Ventura – turns out you just can’t quite fit three people and all their scuba gear in one car, even if that car is a station wagon. (But sort of a small station wagon.) We made it up there just as people started arriving to sleep on the boat, nabbed some decent bunks, and headed out for margaritas at the dockside mexican restaurant before snuggling up in our sleeping bags:

I woke up the next morning as the remainder of the passengers arrived, but stayed in my bunk trying to sleep until I felt the Peace’s engines start. Even then, I thought I might manage to snooze until we reached Anacapa – but as soon as we got outside the harbor, the boat started rocking in a very stomach-unsettling fashion and I bolted for fresh air.

On the bright side, it looked like it would be a beautiful day, sunny and warm. There were plenty of friendly faces on the boat, including a few folks I’d dived with before. But within a few minutes, most of those faces started to look a bit green. It wasn’t a particularly rough day – I’ve certainly survived worse – but for some reason, it was unusually seasick-inducing, and I wound up visiting the boat rail more than once. :(

Anacapa was too rough, so the captin headed for the backside of Santa Cruz. Once there, he continued west along the island in calm seas, giving everyone a chance for their stomachs to settle. We finally dropped anchor at Flame Reef, and started suiting up to hop in as a threesome (Jeff, Kathy and I).

Another diver who I’d been chatting with quite a bit on the way out, Birgit, asked if she could join us since she was buddy-less today. It made a lot of sense, since if the visibility was crud diving as a threesome could be difficult, and we could split into two normal buddy teams. Birgit has about the same number of dives under her belt as Jeff and I, many of them in even colder German waters, so we were happy to have her as a buddy.

It turned out to be a good move, because as soon as we all jumped in we could see a) murky water, b) lots of kelp, c) a moderate current. Not ideal conditions for trying to keep track of more than one buddy! Indeed, by the time Birgit was a few feet down the anchor line, she was invisible behind kelp – and then I realized Kathy was still on the surface having some mask problems. I waved at Jeff to go ahead and follow Birgit (I figured they were a natural buddy team because they both tolerate cold longer than I can), and I headed back to the surface to help Kathy with her mask. It’s never fun to spend too much time on the surface, especially when the current is pushing you back towards the boat, and waves are smacking you in the face as you try to fiddle with your equipment! Luckily, it wasn’t anything serious, and a quick removal and replacement of the mask had Kathy ready to go on her way.

We dropped down the anchor chain and then swam into the current so we wouldn’t wind up downstream from the boat. We never did find Jeff and Birgit on this murky, surgy, currenty dive, nor did we find much else! There were a couple of big sunflower stars, which I don’t think Kathy had seen before, but nothing else of interest. It felt a little strange to be leading the dive; usually I let Jeff navigate, although I try to keep a sense of where I am. Come to think of it, this was the first time I’ve dived without Jeff since my certification dives. It was kind of fun to be the “boss” for a change!

Back on the boat, Jeff and Birgit said they’d watched a harbor seal having a snack – but sadly, didn’t manage to get a good picture before he bailed.

Dive #2 was a bit of an improvement – less current and more fish, but still pretty murky and surgy. Kathy didn’t have any trouble dropping down this time, but we stayed in two buddy teams anyway and didn’t try to all stick together. It’s fun to go diving with a relatively new diver, because the same critters that Jeff and I have seen over and over are still new and interesting to Kathy – or if they’re not, at least I can believe they are when I excitedly point them out to her underwater.

Kathy opted to sit out dives 3 and 4, while Jeff, Birgit and I decided to get one more dive in. I think Kathy was the smart one. We dropped down into 10 foot vis and largely barren rocks, plus a bit of a current and freezing temperatures (it was about 52 degrees all day, and on dive #3 I had finally had it). I thumbed the dive after a measly 15 minutes; German-cold diver Birgit probably thinks I’m a big wuss!

Back on the boat, we all got nice and toasty in the Peace’s hot tub. Why don’t all boats have these?!?!?

All in all, definitely not the greatest day for diving, and I’m bummed we didn’t get to show Kathy anything very interesting. Still, it was nice to be out and in the water again (aside from the seasickness), and to spend the day with other divers. I’d definitely like to dive with Birgit again, on a day when I don’t need to wimp out from cold!

Jeff’s pics are here:
http://gallery.thelaitys.com/v/underwater/uw-20050403_santacruz

And Kathy’s topside shots:
http://gallery.thelaitys.com/v/chronological/2005/20050403_kathy_peace

We’ll see if Kathy got any video….

Just a couple of pics from a second trip to the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve, with my trusty water bottle full of “dew:”

I’d say we’re past peak, although several websites claim we haven’t yet reached it. The preserve proper had fewer blooms than 3 weeks ago, and those remaining were a bit tattered. The surrounding area is still pretty spectacular, though, since it’s a bit more protected from the wind.

More pics here: http://gallery.laityphoto.com/v/anastasia/20050402_poppies.

Friday evening, I came home to 4 messages on the machine. Jeff mentioned that several were from my mom, but didn’t fill me in on any details. Message #2 was the typical Mom message:

“Hi, it’s me calling from South Carolina. [She always identifies herself as either “Georgene,” “from South Carolina,” or both.] I don’t really have anything important to discuss, just thought you might be home to chat. You don’t have to call me back.”

Message #3 was also from Mom – and it was a bit more unusual. She started off by telling me that Katie would probably not be camping by herself anymore. My sister is a big camper, so I rightly suspected that some story of camping woe would follow.

Apparently, Katie was out camping alone, and woke up in the morning with a snake bite. (At this point I gasped aloud and yelled to Jeff that my sister had been bitten by a snake – he didn’t seem particularly surprised or moved, but of course, he’d already heard the message.)

Since Katie had seen rattlesnakes in the area, she was understandably worried, and drove herself to the nearest clinic. They kept her overnight to see if there were any signs of invenomation (I wasn’t surprised that Mom was familiar with snakebite terminology, because in the past few months she’s become an enormous fan of “Venom ER” on Animal Planet.) Mom’s voice was shaking a little; I figured she must have been pretty upset that Katie had such a close brush with the wild!

She tried to lighten the mood by joking that it was just too bad Katie hadn’t wound up at Alta Loma (the hospital featured on Animal Planet), because then Mom would have “had” to fly out and visit those cute doctors.

I should have been suspecious at this point, but still bought it all until she continued: “but of course, I didn’t have to fly out because this is all just an April Fool’s joke!”

She gets me every year! Almost always with a story about Katie, which I suppose just proves that I’m willing to believe anything about my sister, no matter how ridulous… Of course, the “shaking” voice was just Mom trying not to laugh!

The story that she got Katie with this year was that I’d spent a night in jail after being caught driving medicinal marijuana to an ill friend of the family – Katie likewise fell for it hook, line and sinker, and apparently complained that Mom always gets her with stories about me!.