Eureka & Ellen: Unidentified swimming objects, angry cabazons & playful sea lions
Published on 2014-01-25 21:59:52
Last year I dove the oil rig Eureka. Unfortunately, conditions were awful and we had to abort the trip after the first dive. So this year, I decided to try it again and with the epic conditions that we have had over the last few weeks and the reports of complete awesomeness at the site, I was super excited at the beginning of the week.
Then NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued a high surf advisory for the coast and all the forecast models showed 12ft (4m) swells in the channel between Catalina and the coast, right where the oil rigs are...
Oh crap.
Apparently everybody (me included) contacted Captain Jerry, owner of the Magician dive boat to see if the trip was still on and we all got the same short answer: yes this is a go.
So early this Saturday morning, I showed up in San Pedro and boarded the Magician, expecting the worse and hoping for the best.
And the best we got.
First, the weather was awesome. No fog, no cloud, just sunshine and 70F (21°C). We do indeed love Winter in Southern California!
Then, as we approached the first oil rig, Eureka, we noticed the 5 inch swell that was hammering the platform... Well it is not the first time NOAA forecasts are screwed up so we should have known.
As soon as we jumped in the water, it became clear that it was going to be a fantastic day. Visibility was in excess of 100ft. We could see way past the first platform at 60ft (20m) from the surface and horizontally, well we could see the entirety of the rig... Awesome.
My buddy and I decided to go down to around 120ft to photograph the metridiums (OK, somebody on the boat reminded me that the correct plural is metridia, however this is probably wrong since metridia is already a name for a genus of a shrimp - end of the lecture, thank you). These are nice long white plumose sea anemones which love to grow at these depths. There are plenty in shallower waters, but they do not develop as long. And as everybody knows, when it comes to metridiums, size does matter.
So anyway, we ended up at around 115ft (35m), found a couple of the said metridums, took pictures and... wandered around for about 5 minutes. Which would put you into deco, right away. I don't know if I was narc'ed or if I had just hard times kicking back up, but I was convinced I was going up when in reality I was static. Maybe it was one of these nasty vertical drafts someone mentionned on the boat at the briefing. I only know one kind of draft, and it's usually served cool so I did not pay too much attention to the warning... After realizing that static at 115ft was not the optimal way to end the dive, we finally started our slow ascent back to the surface, enjoying the pylons covered in colorful anemones, the very aggresive cabazons, probably defending their nest and obviously not aware of the size and inertia difference between them (1ft, 1lbs) and me (5'8'', 150lbs). Good thing they don't have sharp teeth though... We also spotted a few USOs (Unidentified Swimming Objects), sort of jelly fish looking animals that glow and move like manta rays, as well as a cormoran (yes the bird) at 60fsw (20m)! Pretty cool.
At the safety stop, a couple of sea lions came buzzing past us. I tried to replicate what they were doing (spinning, blowing bubbles) to attract their attention but they were totally uninterested. I must be a poor sea lion impersonator. Oh well.
The second dive of the day was under Ellen (don't quote me out of context on this one). It was pretty cool too, the structure is very different than Eureka but the colors are not as impressive. Same critters, cabazons, sea lions and all.
After lunch, we all voted to go back to Eureka and had a great time diving it a second time. The sun was then high enough to make for cool sunbursts.
Shooting under the rig was a pleasure: Tv 1/125 forced flash macro, sometimes increased to 1/80s because did wonders on the metridiums and other static creatures. Sunbursts required 1/400 and more to show the sunrays.
It was definitiely a good day to be out there and not out here because out here, the NOAA forecasted 5-8ft surf actualy happened. I wonder where it came from. Certainly not from the Eureka and Ellen!
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