Aquarium
October/04/2007
Ross,
Erin, Gray, Elizabeth, Rafa, Daniel and myself
left the dock at 8:45 am
and headed straight for Coronado. Not a cloud in the sky, the temperature
already in the eighties and we are heading for the basalt outcrops to pay a
visit to our pride of sea lions.
The barking started about 100 metres before we arrived and continued while we
dressed and rolled in. There was a slight current so we finned to the shore
rocks and waited while Rafa and Ross tried to rescue Ross’ dumped weights. In
a few moments we were all at 24 feet and I started to lead the pack, anxious
to start interacting with our sea lion buddies. We weren’t disappointed. Soon
a couple of females swam down and we started to boogie. I’m undulating and
twisting my body in an attempt to get their attention; the sea lions thought I
was an idiot but one of them swam up to me and gave me a close fly past. I was
thrilled. Soon the remainder of the divers joined me and that got the sea
lions’ attention. Several came down, and at one point, one of the females was
swimming though and around each of us. A mom and her calf came down as well,
and I backed slowly away from the calf not wanting to incur any territorial
disputes. This is all happening in front of a gorgeous reef wall filled with
invertebrates, barnacles and the accoutrements of marine sea-life. There was
within this wall an overgrowth of rock that housed an air pocket, which Rafa
poked his head though and later remarked of the utter stench of the trapped
air.
After 10-minutes of sea lion play, we sallied forth, continuing down to total
depth of 82 feet. The fish life got scarcer as we descended and we encountered
a thermocline that was decidedly cooler than the 85 degree temperature in
which we were used to diving. A school of goatfish came by; a few surgeons,
king angels and damsels, the latter seeming to be very protective of their
turf. The damsels were engaged in nibbling little goodies off of sheer slate
walls.
We moved onto the sea floor, barren except for the detritus of shells and a
colony of sea eels who poked their long necks and mouths out from the sandy
bottom. We came across a beautiful pipe sea anemone with a gorgeous pink
collar and long white tentacles. We fought the current back to the seal wall
as we climbed upward, reached the sea lion territory and again interacted with
these wonderful creatures as we safety stopped home.
The second dive was perhaps my finest scuba experience here. We dove for
63-minutes at the cabbages site, round the corner from the pride. Called the
cabbages because the lava rock above shore resembles the vegetable, the site
is probably the grandest aquarium on the Baja. I held back from the others a
little because my regulator blew out 300 psi when its exhaust switch
accidentally turned on as I back vaulted into the water. To counteract the time
loss, I would dive shallower and what a reward! The others were down at about
40 feet finding a drift current; I stumbled onto a neap tide and thousands of
fish. I was completely gobsmacked. Huge 24-30 inch groupers, snappers,
parrotfish just hung, suspended in the nutrient-rich water, drenched in
sunlight. Enormous schools of grunts, surgeons, goatfish, barberfish and
god-knows-what-else moved blithely through me. I clutched a rock from the reef
and tried to regulate and slow my breaths. The place was as dense as Hong
Kong, fish everywhere. The bigger ones really blew me away as they were in
such copious supply. Normally wary of divers, they drew strength in numbers as
they just ignored me and went along feeding. I wanted to stay there forever,
intoxicated with the canopy of colour and light, my eyes completely glowing
with the reflection of fish. My scuba mates were heading down the current, and
reluctantly I followed. Soon, I signaled Gray to follow me as I found a small,
tight cavern that ninety-degreed back into the light and we both squeezed
through to our mutual delight. Moving down to the forty-foot level, I found
another gorgeous sea anemone like this morning and a scorpion fish so camouflaged
in the reef, that I had to pull Ross’ hand from landing on it.
It was a lovely drift and shortly we started to make our ascent. I’m yelling
to Rafa through my regulator to come and identify a marvelous shy little
6-inch creature whose hooded face carried bulbous eyes (a panamic blennie).
Soon we reached the 15-foot safety stop area where we were confounded by
enormous quantities of marine life, each of us following our own muse. It was
bliss to see each one of us completely absorbed in our delightful discoveries.
Looking up through the luminous water, we noticed that Daniel had brought the
boat and ladder right atop us. We squeezed as much air out of our tanks as we
could before drifting up to complete the dive.
Everyone was jabbering about the dive.
Rapture.
and headed straight for Coronado. Not a cloud in the sky, the temperature
already in the eighties and we are heading for the basalt outcrops to pay a
visit to our pride of sea lions.
The barking started about 100 metres before we arrived and continued while we
dressed and rolled in. There was a slight current so we finned to the shore
rocks and waited while Rafa and Ross tried to rescue Ross’ dumped weights. In
a few moments we were all at 24 feet and I started to lead the pack, anxious
to start interacting with our sea lion buddies. We weren’t disappointed. Soon
a couple of females swam down and we started to boogie. I’m undulating and
twisting my body in an attempt to get their attention; the sea lions thought I
was an idiot but one of them swam up to me and gave me a close fly past. I was
thrilled. Soon the remainder of the divers joined me and that got the sea
lions’ attention. Several came down, and at one point, one of the females was
swimming though and around each of us. A mom and her calf came down as well,
and I backed slowly away from the calf not wanting to incur any territorial
disputes. This is all happening in front of a gorgeous reef wall filled with
invertebrates, barnacles and the accoutrements of marine sea-life. There was
within this wall an overgrowth of rock that housed an air pocket, which Rafa
poked his head though and later remarked of the utter stench of the trapped
air.
After 10-minutes of sea lion play, we sallied forth, continuing down to total
depth of 82 feet. The fish life got scarcer as we descended and we encountered
a thermocline that was decidedly cooler than the 85 degree temperature in
which we were used to diving. A school of goatfish came by; a few surgeons,
king angels and damsels, the latter seeming to be very protective of their
turf. The damsels were engaged in nibbling little goodies off of sheer slate
walls.
We moved onto the sea floor, barren except for the detritus of shells and a
colony of sea eels who poked their long necks and mouths out from the sandy
bottom. We came across a beautiful pipe sea anemone with a gorgeous pink
collar and long white tentacles. We fought the current back to the seal wall
as we climbed upward, reached the sea lion territory and again interacted with
these wonderful creatures as we safety stopped home.
The second dive was perhaps my finest scuba experience here. We dove for
63-minutes at the cabbages site, round the corner from the pride. Called the
cabbages because the lava rock above shore resembles the vegetable, the site
is probably the grandest aquarium on the Baja. I held back from the others a
little because my regulator blew out 300 psi when its exhaust switch
accidentally turned on as I back vaulted into the water. To counteract the time
loss, I would dive shallower and what a reward! The others were down at about
40 feet finding a drift current; I stumbled onto a neap tide and thousands of
fish. I was completely gobsmacked. Huge 24-30 inch groupers, snappers,
parrotfish just hung, suspended in the nutrient-rich water, drenched in
sunlight. Enormous schools of grunts, surgeons, goatfish, barberfish and
god-knows-what-else moved blithely through me. I clutched a rock from the reef
and tried to regulate and slow my breaths. The place was as dense as Hong
Kong, fish everywhere. The bigger ones really blew me away as they were in
such copious supply. Normally wary of divers, they drew strength in numbers as
they just ignored me and went along feeding. I wanted to stay there forever,
intoxicated with the canopy of colour and light, my eyes completely glowing
with the reflection of fish. My scuba mates were heading down the current, and
reluctantly I followed. Soon, I signaled Gray to follow me as I found a small,
tight cavern that ninety-degreed back into the light and we both squeezed
through to our mutual delight. Moving down to the forty-foot level, I found
another gorgeous sea anemone like this morning and a scorpion fish so camouflaged
in the reef, that I had to pull Ross’ hand from landing on it.
It was a lovely drift and shortly we started to make our ascent. I’m yelling
to Rafa through my regulator to come and identify a marvelous shy little
6-inch creature whose hooded face carried bulbous eyes (a panamic blennie).
Soon we reached the 15-foot safety stop area where we were confounded by
enormous quantities of marine life, each of us following our own muse. It was
bliss to see each one of us completely absorbed in our delightful discoveries.
Looking up through the luminous water, we noticed that Daniel had brought the
boat and ladder right atop us. We squeezed as much air out of our tanks as we
could before drifting up to complete the dive.
Everyone was jabbering about the dive.
Rapture.