Solo dive at Shaw's Cove: Giant everything and more
Published on 2013-03-29 21:04:30
I had everything figured out: I had just received my brand new regulator, a Scubapro MK-17 and a 2013 G260, I had two fills and I was ready for two test dives at Shaw's Cove, one the few dive sites in Laguna Beach where I feel comfortable diving solo. And then some dude from the other side of the world shook my hand on Wednesday and gave me a freaking cold.
I was so bummed out, I decided that the pack of corticosteroids, which I always take with me to warm water dive trips in case I catch a cold, were going to expire anyway and I might as well use them now. I had not used this medication since 2002, when a doctor gave that to me on a live-aboard in the Maldives and saved most of my dives! This thing is not for beginners and long-term use has some serious side-effects, but it worked and got rid of my runny nose, aches and sore throat in a day. Don't do it at home kids.
So anyway, today, I went down to the beach and found Lake Laguna at its best. A couple of ankle slappers and a set of dreadful three-footers were confirming the surfline forecast of a very bad day for surfing. But not for diving!
It was indeed pretty good! Visibility was in the 15-20ft in the crevice. The Hopkin's Roses were out in numbers, so there was plenty of opportunity for macro. 1/125Tv, forced flash, auto-macro did the trick. I even zoom a little to get rid of the awful lens-tunnel shadow of my G12 housing and the results were pretty descent. The path to Crescent was badly whited-out so I did not go further and turned left on the tunnel. The surge was very intense and I was "flying" fast when it pushed me and had to crawl and grab anything I could when it pulled. At one time, the biggest baddass octopus I had ever seen in this reef came out of nowhere and cut in front of me. That startled me for a few seconds, just enough for the surge to push me further! I tried to turn around but the surge seemed to have another idea in mind... I ended up with my fins flapping in the current like a palm tree in the wind... Not good! I managed to recover without scratching myself on the surrounding walls (the canyon is about 6ft wide there) and grabbed the rock under which the giant octopus had fled. It was all in vain as it was already curling deep under it, looking for protection. I tried to shoot the picture at the best angle I could managed considering my awkward position fins up in a 20ft surge... Not a cover shot. Again.
I decided that I had wasted enough air chasing the Elusive Giant Cephalopod of Shaw's Cove and headed out to the main reef structure. Here the visibility dropped to about 10-15ft in the deeper part of the reef and even lower in the thickening kelp forest. There I saw the second big badass animal of the dive: a giant male sheephead with a size approaching Oscar's, the alpha male from Catalina. It took off after circling around me for a few seconds and with the camera set for macro, any attempt at a picture would have been a waste of virtual film.
I carried out toward the Southern part of the reef, encountered more octopus than I could count. At one time I was taking a picture of one of them, curled into its cracks, covering itself with mussel shells when I realized another one was a few inches below, out in the open! Octo-Day!
At one point, I tried to feed some kelp to an abalone, just to realize that it was probably a rock. It seemed I suffered a mild case of nitrogen narcosis at very low depth. Hope it's not a side effect of the drugs... Most likely old timers and poor eyesight though...
On the way back, I was looking for Spanish Shawls, the season is starting, but could not find any on the first dive. Hopefully on the second dive, on my way back from an infructuous search for the sunken statue of Shelly of Shaw's which is usually covered with these nudibranchs, I found a family of two. I had mastered my old Powershot A85 manual focus and could take great shots of these guys. Unfortunately, the equivalent feature on the G12 is not as straightforward. It takes quite a few setting changes to access the menu and then the results are poor... Oh well. I still managed to shoot a couple of cool shots in auto-macro, especially with the Garibaldis dancing in the background.
Speaking of Garibaldis, as you know if you've read my previous chronicle, they're in heat and snapping at everything that approaches their nests. So I had a little fun again and placed an urchin and took a picture of the little guy taking the intruder in its mouth and carrying it away. Then I did it again on another nest, and I saw that Garibaldi darting out of nowhere, taking the urchin in its mouth and swimming for about 50 ft before finally releasing it! Hilarious! I was laughing so hard in my mask that a couple of divers passing me by must have thought I was on drugs or something. They were right by the way. But not that kind of drugs.
Approaching the beach, I found the last biggest badass animal of the day. I was looking down, sometimes there are mini soles around, when I noticed a big indentation in the sand. It was a little more than a foot in length. As I approached, the large halibut that was there shook the sand out of its "face" and let me shoot a picture before taking off for better horizons. I decided I had enough and surfaced. What a cool day.
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Posted by Ross
On 2013-03-30 10:54:42
Memories of diving Shaws weekly back in the mid-70\'s:-)Take me back home