Diving La Jolla Cove

Easter morning came very early this year.  Marisa came to visit from Hawaii and we decided to to attempt another cold dive here in Southern California.  She was staying with her auntie and cousin in Carlsbad, so we decided to check out a shore dive at La Jolla Cove.  I have only ever gone to Catalina to dive and was impressed the first time.  After all, once you dive through the kelp forest and see the vibrant orange of the Garibaldi, there's not much more excitement.  At least in my 4 dives experienced off Catalina.

I had a lot of anxiety before this dive and I'm not sure why.  Perhaps it was because I wasn't spending Easter with my family.  It was the first Easter each of us had spent separated from other family members.  Or perhaps it was because I was not looking forward to diving in the 55 degree water.  But, we woke up early and drove down to La Jolla to meet our guide, Dover.  He gave us the dive briefing and we geared up then climbed down the 50 something step staircase.

We got in the water, which Dover had informed us that the conditions had not been this good in at least three months!  Perfect diving conditions!  We swam on the surface to the buoy that was 250 yards out.  As we were swimming, masks in the water, we spotted a couple of Horn Sharks!  Maybe this was going to be a good dive!  We had heard about the different sharks that had been spotted the past few days and this was a brilliant way to start the dive!

We descended and our dive really began.  It turned out to be one of our top five favorite dives EVER!  This includes all of Hawaii, Costa Rica, and even The Great Barrier Reef dives!  We saw three different types of sharks we had never seen before, including the Horn Sharks, Soupfin Sharks (or School Sharks), and the amazing Sevengill Shark!  It was a dive meant for spotting sharks and we had great success as we kept encountering them!  It was just amazing!

When we finally surfaced due to how cold we were getting, Dover was just impressed as could be.  He asked us how much air we had left in our tanks.  1300 PSI left.  He then asked us if we knew how long we were down for.  61 minutes!  He told us he has never dove with anyone with such good water times and that we compare and are even better than dive instructors!  He told us we could come back anytime, and although we do not need to dive with him, he would dive with us anytime!  He then told us we could dive with him for free!  Haha!  We went back up to the park where Dover bragged about us to the other divers he knew.  Just brilliant!  Not a bad way to start Easter Sunday! :)

(La Jolla Cove with Sea Lions and Pelicans.)

(Marisa going through some kelp.)

(Self portrait going through some kelp.)

(Garibaldi)

(Dover loved the lobsters.  He pointed out almost every one he could find!)

(Sevengill Shark.)

(I love this picture of the Sevengill.)

(Check out that tail of the Sevengill!  Just amazing!)

I call Bull.

We woke up early feeling more exhausted than we had the whole trip.  Seems all of our adventures were catching up with us finally!  Not to worry, it did not slow us down!  We made like sloths and got ready for one of the best dives we've ever done.  Today, we were doing Bats Part 2.  We needed a do over since we didn't see any Bull Sharks the first time.  This was Marisa's brilliant idea and one we will never forget!

We made way to the beach to meet up with Rich Coast and made our way to the Stray Dog (our dive boat).  The sun was shining down on us with blue skies, which made for a very warm day.  We were ready.  We went out for our hour and a half boat ride, talking story getting to know the dive staff more.  Let me stop right here.  I cannot tell you how cool most divers are!  They all have such amazing stories to tell and are all such amazing people.  The kind of people you keep in your life for good.

The nerves began to hit as we geared up and got ready for our back roll into the water.  Our guide, J.P., was sure to make us aware that he will only be pointing out sharks and not making noise so they didn't swim off.  We descended to the bottom and after only a few minutes, the Bulls appeared.  It was incredible, to say the least.  These sharks are very big.  Much bigger than the White Tips we're so used to.  The biggest female was about 14 feet long.  That's a couple feet longer than we even knew Bull Sharks got!  we knew they were big but we thought it was just girth and not length, but WOW!  After hanging out with 8-10 Bull Sharks, we can now dive anything!  What an amazing dive!

(One of the only pictures that turned out on my camera.)

We surfaced and debriefed a bit, just in awe at these gorgeous sharks.  The nerves had turned into excitement and we now have an even greater appreciation for our most feared shark.  We enjoyed another boat ride out to Ranger's House, which is this beautiful bay-like area.  Kat and some of the crew swam to the island and hiked up the hill, checking out the view.  Jen, Marisa and I jumped in the water and lazily swam around, doing a little bit of sight seeing under water.  Just a nice lazy time in the warmest water I've ever been in.

(Risa, Jen and Kate with Tom "hiding" during our surface interval.)

(Me in a rental wetsuit.  Poor Xcel wetsuit, may it rest in peace.)

Next stop was Black Rock.  This dive was definitely more chill and just beautiful.  We could not believe how many schools of fish we swam with!  There were several different kinds just schooling and enjoying the water like ourselves.  In the midst of them, a couple of Spotted Eagle Rays hung out and we were able to take more photos and videos.  We also came across a couple of Nurse Sharks along the way!  This was our first time spotting these sharks as well!  Not bad at all!  This was a very relaxing dive and a nice way to end our week of diving.

(Risa caught some gorgeous shots of the schools of fish surrounding us.)

(Me, completely stoked after a very successful day of diving.  Look at how gorgeous Costa Rica is!)

We sunbathed on the way back and then took our daily dip in the Toro Blanco hotel Pool.  Martin, the other owner of Rich Coast Diving, stopped by and enjoyed a quick dip as well and invited us to lunch.  We obliged and went along, picking up Brenda on the way.  We had delicious food (Seafood Rice, Chicken Rice, Shrimp Rice, french fries and salad) and lovely conversation.  Martin had taken some footage with his camera during the dives and even got close enough to get smacked by a Bull Shark!  They invited us to their home so we could view the footage and continue the pool session.  It was a fantastic evening just chilling in the pool and getting to know each other.  We enjoyed a lightning storm from afar and as the lights went out, the fireflies came out.  A perfect way to end out time in Playas del Coco!  Kat and Risa are now talking about doing the Dive Master Program here in Costa Rica with Rich Coast!  Who knows?  Maybe I'll join them... ;)

(One of the amazing shots Martin from Rich Coast Diving got of a pregnant female Bull Shark.  She was about 14 feet long and all scarred up from mating.)

Channel of Sharks.

The next adventure was another big dive we were looking forward to:  Catalinas!  These are a bunch of small islands out about 45 minutes from shore in the opposite direction as Bats.  These dives are known for all of the rays that frequent the area!

This dive trip was also the very last one for my poor Xcel wetsuit.  It is no more for I have destroyed it.  Luckily, it was free ;)

We dove at the first site which was on the calmer side of the rock island.  We were down for about maybe 10 minutes when finally Spanish Jemaine (remember him from a previous post?) decided to cancel this site.  We surfaced and he said, "I refuse to dive in such a place as this.  I refuse to do only 3 meters."  That's right, the dive was maybe 15 feet deep with pretty much nothing to see.

We hopped back on the boat and went on the other side which faced the open ocean.  We dove to about 70 something feet and were greeted by beautiful schools of fish.  As we cruised around, we found a giant Red Snapper and many Eagle Rays, which we never tire of.  We saw another turtle but it was difficult to determine which type it was because the visibility was less than it had been.

We did a total of 4 dives, if you count the little "pre-dive" and they were VERY intense!  The 3rd dive was amazing!  This site was called Sharks and we found out why.  It was full of channels and a crazy surge.  In the main channel we came across a mama White Tip Reef Shark with 7 babies!  We sat and watched them forever as the surge moved us back and forth.  It was just incredible to see them all swimming in this surge and all so close to us!  Kat did super well for her first time in such a surge.  We were all very impressed!

(FYI, I did not chase this shark.  This was actually the surge helping me get this video!)

As the diving continued we saw more Octos, Eels, a couple of gorgeous Round Rays, and more!  This area was definitely worth the trip out!  And of course, we more sun while eating the delicious pineapple between dives.

(Poor wetsuit.  That was just the beginning!)

By the time we got back we were all so super tired -- the usual.  You just don't realize how much work you're really doing when you dive!  It's all so relaxing and just peaceful that it's easy not to notice!  As per usual, we took a dip in the pool to wind down and had our Monkey Time.  Then we decided to start getting ready for dinner, which was at La Caveja again like the night before with the owners of the dive shop.  Hey man, the food is good and who knows when we're coming back!  As we were about to leave the rain came pouring down!  It poured and poured and that's when the thunder started.  Let's just say I'm not so good at pretending I'm not terrified. :(  We were eating in the restaurant and the girls were trying so hard to soothe my nerves.  Let' just say I may have made myself sick after such a freakout.  The lightning was literally right over us.  It was insane.

(Proof as to how close the monkeys really are here!  That's Kat standing outside her and Risa's room!)

(Just after checking out his reflection by mine and Jen's room.)

(Sweet mama and baby.)

We made it back to the hotel, thanks to Jen's skill of driving in the snow, and got ready for bed.  Of course, the thunder storm continued and I did my best to try to get use to it.  So, I decided to join Risa in trying to capture photos of the lightning!  We didn't do so hot, but at least it helped get my mind off of it. Finally, we all got too tired to stay awake and I'm pretty sure we went to bed at about 8:00pm!  We're such grammas on this trip because we are so active during the day!  The sun goes down, we go down!  It's been so amazing though, I wouldn't change a thing!

And Suddenly, The Boat Was Empty.

Our next big day was one we were ALL looking forward to!  It was time for the epic Bats Dive!  This island is about a 2 hour boat ride so we had to be at the dive shop at 6:30am.  The thing that is so intense about this dive is that it's known for Bull Sharks.  Now those of you who know us, we love our sharkies!  But when it comes to Bull Sharks?  We tend to get a little nervous.  None of us had encountered one before so it was going to be a little anxious the whole dive.

 After a nice cruise out to the dive site, Big Scare, we did an immediate descent and the dive began.  The visibility was pretty fantastic so it was nice to be able to look in every direction to be sure were weren't being stalked.  We saw plenty of fish but none of us were really paying any attention to the critters before us because we were all keeping an eye out for the big guys!

Sadly, the dive was a bust.  We still have yet to encounter a Bull Shark.  But even during our 3 minute safety stop we were leery of our surroundings and Kat was teasing us underwater saying she was keeping an eye on the abyss below.

(Such a tuckered out Octopus!)

The next dive was at Black Rock.  This site is not known for Bull Sharks so we were able to breathe a little lighter.  Here we encountered for huge schools of fish that reminded us of the movie Finding Nemo where the Sardines are schooling together and change suddenly into an arrow to show them which way to go.  It was pretty cool.  We saw a couple of Spotted Eagle Rays and some more fun stuff, then it was surface time. 

(Risa and Jen enjoying the site.)

(Kat still aware of her surroundings.)

We were a little saddened at not seeing any Bull Sharks, but hey, you know what?  We're in Costa Rica AND we were diving in a place none of us have been to!  How bad can it be?  Besides, we decided we're going again on Monday. ;)

Gramma Time.

Yesterday was Dive Day 2.  We met up at the dive shop at 8:00am again and then were on our way to the beach.  We were escorted by a couple of different people this time, who then helped us on the little dingy to our boat.  This boat was a little smaller than the one the day before, so thank heavens there were only 7 of us instead of 10!  We all know what happens when a boat is rocking and it's small with a big crowd...

We were broken up into 2 groups again and our group was matched with Juan.  Now when you imagine Juan, think of Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords, but with blonde hair and a Spanish accent.  No joke!  It was awesome!  I'll try to take a pix of him the next time we dive with him.

(School is in!)

(I know this is horrible to say, but we got hungry when we saw him.)

Anyway, we headed out to L'Argentina for our first dive.  Seriously, we love Costa Rica for diving!  We saw more Eagle Rays, tons of lobster (which made us want to eat sushi for dinner -- well except Jen, who's allergic to fish), Octos, more White Tip Reef Sharks, and more!

Oh!  I forgot to mention one little, tiny incident.  Marisa decided she was way overweighted on the dives from the day before so she asked for 2 pounds less.  Well she ended up having to hold on to rocks because she was way too light!  The poor girl had a miserable time trying to stay down with the rest of us and none of us even realized it!  Finally during our 3 minute safety stop, the Spanish Jemaine realized she was underweighted and gave her a couple more pounds to help.  It wasn't until we surfaced and were back on the boat that we found out another guy with the same colored weight belt had grabbed her weight belt so she had his.  Total sad face.

The next dive was at Play Pen.  This time we were sure Risa had enough weight on her belt and we were all happy to see her the same depth as us.  We saw more of the same things we saw on the first dive along with more schools of fish and less sharks.  We also saw a couple of Hawksbill turtles!  The first one was tiny and we hung out in the surge with him going back and forth like being rocked in the ocean.  It was so relaxing!  

(Sweet baby Hawksbill.)

Let me tell you this as well.  The Costa Ricans do it right in between dives and after.  They have the freshest pineapple you can get already sliced.  It is probably the best snack ever for diving!  That and their ice cold water and delicious crackers/cookies!  Seriously, amazing!

After lounging in the pool a bit when we got back, we showered and headed out for dinner.  This was supposedly the best restaurant in town.  We realized that of course, it was the employees of the place saying that because it was definitely NOT the best.  Kat and Risa only ate a few bites of their fish because the lemon whatever sauce basically tasted like butter.  Think Thanksgiving rolls but 9 ounces of them.  Blech!  I had the red snapper with macadamia nuts and it was pretty dry.  Jen got her anti-seafood plate of pork and she said it was pretty good but not the best.  Hey, at least we tried it!  We're still into our little pizza place around the corner.  Man that pizza is good!

(Our new friend at Papagayo.  We love how they let the dogs and cats chill wherever!  And yes, she is almost in my lap.)

Anyway, we had to get an early start the next morning so we headed to bed at about 8:00pm and pretty much fell asleep as our heads hit the pillows!  What a fabulous day!!

Catalina Boat Dives.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to dive Catalina, boat style!  I have always wanted to dive off of Catalina.  As you recall, I did the kelp forest at Casino Park with my friend Marisa.  Well this was another great adventure!

We took a boat out and dove 3 separate dives with the company Scuba Luv.  I don't remember if you remember the previous posting about this company but I had a little "run in" with the mayor of Avalon.  Well, he was our captain on this boat and I kept praying he wouldn't remember me!  Haha!  Lucky for me, he didn't.

We had such a blast!  The water was in the lower to mid-60's but the sights we encountered made the cold worthwhile.  On the first dive, we saw a giant Sea Bass, but unfortunately, not one, but both of my calves cramped up so tight I had to dig into the sand and try to stretch them out.  Thankfully I was able to continue on.  It's such an amazing feeling coasting through those kelp forests.  It's unlike anything else I've experienced.  It sort of remind me of driving through a thick fog until it finally comes to a clearing because the kelp can get so thick!

The second dive was my favorite of the three.  It was a pinnacle so all we had to do was swim in an upward spiral.  We saw lots of fun critters including Lobsters, Eels and an Octopus!  We were cruising along and I was looking around.  I looked down and noticed slow motion movement that I thought was an eel at first, until I saw the tentacles!  We played with him for a bit until he squeezed himself through the tiniest crack!  what amazing little creatures!

The third dive was pretty easy breezy.  As we were cruising along, we looked down and saw something that looked like a giant Nudibranch.  We went deeper, appeasing our curiosities and laid down on the sand.  The thing was huge!  As we sat there watching, he slowly moved along, inching across the ocean floor.  Come to find out, it was a Sea Hair.  I've never even heard of these before but it was pretty cool to find!

All in all, the dives were definitely worth my money.  I don't know how often I can do kelp forests because when you've done one you've pretty much done them all.  It still a  lot of fun though!

My Person Reunion, Part II.

Now where were we?

The next morning we ventured over to Long Beach without any tickets to a boat to cross the ocean to Catalina.  It was more of a spontaneous day where we had absolutely no plans.  The only things we knew were we were going to Catalina sometime in the morning and diving the kelp forest.  That was it.  That's as far as we planned.

We got to Long Beach and just made it on the Catalina Flyer at 8:30am.  While we crossed the Pacific (about 40 minutes or so) to Catalina Island, we saw a Sea Lion just cruising around, having fun on his own.  We thought it was a pretty good omen!

When we arrived, we found the dive shop that my friend Ryan recommended, Scuba Luv.  We walked in to find a middle aged man pounding away on a tank -- fixing something on it, I suppose.  After I said good morning to him, I got the feeling we were interrupting him and he was not pleased we were inquiring about a guided dive.  He seemed a little condescending and he left a bitter taste in our mouths, so we left.

We walked to a dive place we saw on the green pier.  We were greeted by two nice men, one which seemed to be pretty attractive, and they were super nice.  We explained how we did go to Scuba Luv, but the man there was somewhat rude.  They asked us the man's name (which I forget now), and they said he must just be in a mood because he's typically nice.  Anyway, we signed up with this place and scheduled a shore dive with a guide (who happened to be the guy we thought was attractive).

We went to breakfast and walked around the island.  We met back at the dive shop where one of the workers greeted us.  He got a phone call while we were there.  Turns out, the guy from Scuba Luv was waiting for us and calling them to see if we'd showed up there.  He explained yes and hung up the phone.  We had just flaked on the mayor of Avalon.  Yup.  That's our luck.  We had offended the mayor of the island.

We then went to the trailer where they kept their gear and were handed XL 7mm wetsuits!  XL?!?  Yup.  I felt like a fatty until I put it on where it was huge in most places but did the job (for the most part).  We then met our guide who gave us the diving information.  (Turns out it was quite early and we were tired and hungry when we met him at the dive shop because he was not as good looking as we had once thought.  He was a good time though and he was way cool!)

Anyway, we helped each other with our gear and then went to the entry of the dive site.  Walking down steps in dive gear is NOT easy and I'm very happy to report that neither Marisa nor I slipped on the algae at the bottom of said steps (yay!).  Because the tide was low we had to enter the water by sitting down on the bottom step and waiting for a wave to come in to jump in.  I went first and immediately felt the chill of the water!  Soon we were all on our way.

(California's famous Garibaldi.)

(Sweet looking Sea Star)

(Arch of kelp)

It was very cool to see new creatures and be in a completely different atmosphere than the tropical places we've been to!  The Garibaldi were very populous and not frightened of us at all.  Our guide took us deeper to about 65-70 feet to where there are a couple of sunken sail boats (which Marisa missed, lol!).  I tried taking pictures but was so cold, I forgot to turn off the flash till later.  What an amazing atmosphere it was!  The kelp was so tall, it really was like swimming through a forest!

(Jacque Cousteau plaque)

(Our little stalker fish that followed us throughout the whole dive.)

After a few minutes of being down, the guide turned to me and then shrugged, with an "I don't know" expression.  I turned around to see Marisa was missing!  I had lost my buddy!  My person!  What a horrible buddy I was. :(  She finally appeared and explained to me that her foot had gotten tangled in the kelp.  And yes, I understood this with her sign language underwater.  That's what happens when you dive with your buddy all the time -- it's almost like some cool secret language that only you two understand, lol!

(So sad I was too cold to think about turning off the flash...)

(Yours truly)

As we continued, our guide (man, I wish I could recall his name) took us through more of the kelp, weaving in and out of it.  Looking up towards the surface of the water was just incredible!  The sun shone through in beams of light dancing with the kelp.  It was gorgeous!  We looked in different crannies but only saw fish -- which was ok because Marisa and I have never seen these fish diving!  We even saw a sweet looking Sea Star and spikey Sea Cucumbers.

(I love this picture for some reason)

Later in the dive, our guide pointed to someone, which we later found out was the mayor from Scuba Luv.  Ooops!  Our guide also picked up two rocks and started banging them together.  Pretty soon, we were greeted by a giant fish called a Sheepshead Fish.  He was pretty humongous, although not near as big as the Groupers in Australia.

(Our new friend, the fatty Sheepshead fish.)

We surfaced and as soon as our guide looked at me, he pointed and said, "You look cold!"  I'm sure we both had blue lips by then and we finally exited the water after much tribulation getting out during low tide.  We found out later that the temperature got down to 57 degrees!!!  As most of you know, anything below 73 and Marisa and I are freezing.  That's what happens when you're part reptilian. ;)

(Not quite sure why we stopped getting hit on at this point...)

It was an amazing dive overall and I'm so happy we were spontaneous enough to just go for it!  Even if it was only 57 degrees!  I'm proud of us for surviving that dive, even though we were only under for 38 minutes....

Totally worth it!