Dive Report 5.22.12 – A Crabby Night

La Jolla Shores, Night Dive!

Oh what a night! Met up with Kimo, Betty, Shaun, Daniel (Betty’s co-worker diver dude), Ashley, and Matt for an evening dive at the Shores. And what a dive it was! Waves were 1 footers except, of course, when we were entering and exiting, which was when they then temporarily got bigger. But ONLY when when we were entering and exiting… (insert eye roll here) Otherwise nice topside conditions! Viz ranged from 10 feet to 20 feet in pockets still with a haze but I was stoked. We drop down and end up a little north of Vallecitos Point which was a blessing in disguise because we came across either a crab orgy or baby crab central which ever you prefer. There were small sheeps crabs and decorator crabs COVERING the ground. We’re talking anywhere from 30-40 of them all in a grass patch. Very cool to stumble across at 87 feet. Shaun really liked them… (snicker, snicker) I also noticed a school of juvenile rock fish (I think) hovering over the point. Interesting and very serene to watch. I’m not as comfortable with the video settings yet on my camera. I’m working on it, but I wish I got some good footage of that. Other than that there was an abundance of the usual suspects out and I was like a kid in a candy store! But the HIGHLIGHT of the dive (at least for me)…. We found a WOLF EEL!!!!!!! It my first time seeing an eel at the shores EVER (minus the cusk eels of course) And yes there was a happy dance in the water. This was definitely a dive I was pouting at the turn around point and wishing I had a second tank in the car.

Max Depth: 95 feet
Temp: 50 degrees
Viz – 10-20 feet
Current: light current
Surge: light
Bottom Time: 38 min

Eye Candy: graceful crabs, box crabs, decorator crabs, sheeps crabs, swimming crabs (it was a crabby night), lizard fish, staghorn sculpin, juvenile fish, sarcastic fringehead, ronquils, gobys, brittle star fish, sea lemon, San Diego dorid, poachers, sea hare, anemones (even a deep purple one!), and a WOLF EEL