Old dives

Fiji

Gary Schleimer recently returned from a trip to Fiji.

Vision trip to northern Channel Islands, July 4-6, 1999
John Beland

John and Vicki Beland had a good trip on the Vision, not a great one. After a day at Santa Cruz Island, we headed over to San Miguel for the last two days of the trip. Water temp at Santa Cruz  $63^\circ$. Water temp at San Miguel  $51^\circ$ (range $49^\circ$ to $53^\circ$)!! Why drive 350 miles just to dive in Monterey waters? Just to make things interesting, the wind was a steady 20 knots at San Miguel, increasing to 25 mid-morning on the sixth, with gusts to 30!!

Boat was 1/2 chartered by Tom Campbell, an apparently well-known U/W photographer and videographer. Interesting crowd ... N5's very passe ... lots of video, housed Nikons, etc., + eight (count 'em ... 8) rebreathers ... Buddies and Draeger Dolphins. I wasn't too happy the way they were tossing pounds of lye pellets around like they were candy! A big part of the group is off to Cocos Islands in two weeks .... and a bunch just got back from PNG three weeks ago ... seems like they have more time and money than they know what to do with.

Saw the usual list of players: lots of nudibranchs, lots of abs (at San Miguel ... much fewer at Santa Cruz),lots of rockfish, an occasional scallop, and a short visit by a BIG harbor seal on our last dive. What with the cold water and a lightweight dive buddy, we only got in 6 dives over three days ... but I think I've got Vicki convinced she needs a drysuit now!

I think our next Truth Aquatics trip is going to be a Southern Islands trip!!

Monterey torpedo dive

John Beland and Kevin Dalley enjoyed a 3 dive day on the Cypress Point in the Monterey Bay on Saturday, July 17. During the previous week, the visibility in Monterey Bay was about 60 feet. By the day of the dive, the visibility dropped to about 30 feet. The diving was still pleasant. The day started south of Pt. Lobos. At 100 feet, there were some nice Metridium. The divers found many nudibranches. As the divers moved toward Monterey, they found an enormous number of rockfish, mostly blue and vermilion.

During the second dive, John and Kevin brought a small, rubber torpedo on the dive. By throwing the torpedo very softly, the torpedo moved slowly through the water. Kevin was ambushed in the dark recesses underneath a rocky overhang. He escaped unharmed.