Wreck Ally and a Kelp Dive with Marissa Charters
Dive #1 – Yukon
It was a beautiful day to dive! Ryan and I decided to book a 3 tank dive on the Marissa, a local San Diego dive boat with an awesome crew. First stop was the Yukon. The Yukon is a 366 ft Canadian destroyer that was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef in July of 2000. I’ve enjoyed diving this wreck time and time again. The anemone growth covers the ship and you’ll find fish and nudibranchs crawling all over. Not only did we have excellent visibility that ranged between 25-30 feet, but also a special little surprise at the end of the dive. It was about that time to start heading up the anchor line when I notice a large dark mass moving slowing about 25 feet behind Ryan. He notices my weird and perplexed “off in the distance” stare and thinks either I’m narced out or…… what the hell is behind him! As he turns around the MOLA MOLA comes into view with his cleaning crew!! First time I have ever seen a sun fish and first time Ryan had seen one that big! We slowly approach it cameras in hand. We didn’t want to scare it off especially since two other divers noticed it too. He was quite friendly but we still kept our distance to not ruin other people’s photo ops. And yes, underwater happy dances ensued! What a treat on our first dive!!
Max Depth: 92 feet
Temp: 51 degrees
Viz – 25-30 feet
Current: none
Surge: none
Bottom Time: 36 min
Eye Candy: Rock fish, painted greenlings, spanish shawls, hermissends crassicornis, sheeps crab, strawberry anemones, white-plumed anemones, gorgonians, warty cucumbers, sea stars, bat stars and a MOLA MOLA sun fish!!!
Dive #2 – Ruby E
I haven’t dove the Ruby E in years! At 165 feet in length, the Coast Guard Cutter Ruby E is a lot smaller than the Yukon. It was built in the 1920’s and sunk about 1985. Also covered in beautiful anemones this wreck was NUDI CENTRAL! I had a field day with macro photography here with no surge! I even came across 3 types of nudibranchs I’ve personally never seen before! I love expanding my nudi photo albums!
Max Depth: 78 feet
Temp: 52 degrees
Viz – 25-30 feet
Current: none
Surge: none
Bottom Time: 30 min
Eye Candy: Rock fish, painted greenlings, spanish shawls, hermissends crassicornis, strawberry anemones, tube dwelling anemones, sea stars, bat stars, Catalina Triopha,Tritonia festiva, mimic dorid, Polycera tricolor
Dive #3 – The Green Tank Kelp
I love, love, love kelp dives! Especially in good visibility!! Those stalks of kelp swaying in the ocean with sunlight trickling through is beyond beautiful! This area had a great rocky bottom too, plenty of rocks, holes and ledges to explore! I caught a glimpse of two good sized C-O Sole swimming through. (Thanks Herb, for the fish ID :D) I managed to take a few pics but they bolted quickly. Again tons of nudibranchs, and fish. Light surge was a little more noticeable on this dive, but we had already been completely spoiled with the whole day’s awesome conditions, so no complaints from me! It was unfortunate that I ended up freezing my patootie off and for the first time ever, called the dive because I was cold. I managed to tough it out to about 1200 psi, but when the cursing in my head starts sounding like chattering teeth, and I could no longer press down on my shutter button, I knew I was done. HA. I have never been more jealous of dry suit divers in my entire life then on that dive!! 😀
Max Depth: 64 feet
Temp: 52 degrees
Viz – 20-25 feet
Current: none
Surge: light
Bottom Time: 37 min
Eye Candy: Rock fish, painted greenlings, spanish shawls, hermissends crassicornis, strawberry anemones, tube dwelling anemones, sea stars, bat stars, Kellet’s whelk, mimic dorid, tree fish, black and yellow rock fish
beautiful pics jami! you have definitely gone pro on us! i particularly loved the white (tritonius ?) and the clown nudibranchs. excellent, excellent excellent!. only one correction 🙂 – technically the yukon isn’t an artificial reef. although it was planned as an artificial reef and towed into position for that purpose, it sank on it’s own during the night prior to the planned sinking, so it is technically a ship wreck. that’s essentially why it lays on its port side rather than standing upright as intended.
have an awesome time at the hammerhead get together on friday, dive S.A.F.E, and say howdy to everyone for me.
love you – marcus
These pictures take my breath away. So beautifully done. <3