Point Lobos

On Sunday we did a couple of fun dives at Point Lobos. We were joining our local diving club for the fun. We took a small boat from the landing around the corner to blue fish cove. And we saw the blue fish!

The day was calm and the water was super clear. We could see the kelp for 20-30ft before it disappeared into the depths. After putting around to the dive site we tied off our gear and put it overboard. Then we jumped in and got strapped in for the dive.

We dropped down to about 70 feet - in a wonderland of color. We're not experienced enough yet to feel comfortable with the camera, but another diver has some great photos from the same location.

We saw more, and less, on this dive than on other dives. On one hand, we were in a beautiful unspoiled marine reserve. It was easy to see big groups of fish - they puttered right over to check us out. We even saw a sheephead with his blunt nose and black and red body sections. On the other hand, we didn't see nearly as many crabs and small critters as we've seen in the sandy bottom at breakwater. Since the visibility was good we didn't have to look right up close to see a lot.

Some highlights: anemones that looked like they were two feet across! Another huge sunflower star on the prowel. Schools of blue rock fish hovering in the kelp. A giant olive snail! (ok - he was only about 2 inches, but by far the largest I've seen so far!)

We had two dives and gained some confidence in controlling our buoyancy. I learned an important lesson as well - I was having trouble staying at 15' for my safety stop. The dive master with us was pointing at my head - I reached up - and my hood had a big air bubble in it! I smooshed it out and then was able to easily hover for my safety stop. Curtis won't let me forget the way I told the story later. "The problem was that I had air in my head!!!"