Stolt Dagali 6-22-13

Wow it has been over a month since my last dive, it seems that every dive I was on was blown out. Thankfully today worked out and I was able to get wet.  We were destined for the Algol via the Independence II, which is not my favorite wreck but, luckily other divers on board felt the same way and we modified our destination to the Stolt Dagali.  Today was Mako Mania so there was a lot of boats out chumming for those elusive sharks, I was quite relieved to see that there were no boats anywhere near the Stolt trying to lure in their catch.  The ocean was flat calm today and you could feel the early summer heat beginning to build.  I brought my camera in today as I splashed and was glad I brought it along.  As  descended I noticed the water on the surface to about 50' had warmed to about 56 degrees and it was that familiar shade of green.  The visibility on the bottom was about 20-25' with plenty of light.  Once on the superstructure of the wreck I saw a school of massive blackfish and coming up behind them were two Dolphin Fish.  So cool to see at the beginning of your dive.  One of the blackfish was so huge it looked to be 1/2 the size of me and it was extremely thick.  I continued down to about 80-90' and realized boy, it is still real cold down here, my gauge read 44 degrees.  The wreck this year is absolutely covered in mussels and a plethora of sea anemones and hydroids (everyone described this as that yellowish grassy stuff).  Last year there was minimal growth on the wreck and what a difference a winter makes.  This explains why the wreck was supporting so many fish from the packs of blackfish, flounder carpeting the bottom of the wreck, and tons of bergalls or cunners on the shallower portions of the wreck.

Pink Hearted Hydroids carpeting the wreck.

One of my strobes was not firing properly so I spent most of my dive on the shallower portions of the wreck where there was more ambient light for photos.  Since the visibility was not the best it was a day for macro.  I kept noticing that quite a bit of water was leaking into my drysuit from my neck seal and I started to think...I hope I don't get jolted as a result of this water coming into contact with my heated vest.  I ended up fine and even in a wet drysuit this vest made such a difference, I had 41 minutes on the bottom and was toasty warm the whole time.  It seems so weird to actually be warm while diving.  During my hang I was alone and could not see very far so I tried not to think of all those sharks that are out there today.  I have to tell you about my son Matt.  He is a big surfer and surfs all winter long.  This year in early spring he was surfing in Holgate when the surfboard came back at him and hit him in the face.  He came out of the water and was extremely swollen on his face and eye.  The waves were good so he wanted to go back in even though he should have stayed out due to his injury.  Well after he went back in and when he was waiting for a wave a Great White Shark surfaced right next to him and his friends.  It was about 15' long and very dark in color.  It scared them all enough that they all came out as fast as possible.  There were schools of bluefish swimming underneath them as they surfed which is what may have brought the Great White so close to shore.  The next few weeks there were several sitings of this Great White in the area.  I told Matt that when he was injured, God was telling him to get out of the water so next time heed the warning...This story was on my mind as I hung alone  today...  In the end there were no sharks at all seen by anyone, not even dogfish.

My second dive was going to be quick since my Fourth Element underwear was dripping wet.  I wanted to go down and grab some mussels for dinner.  I made sure that my neck seal was perfect and this time my suit did not leak.  Having longer hair is always a problem with neck seals..  I scanned the wreck to find some mussels that were nice and clean and filled my bag.  I tried to creep up on this massive blackfish because I was in awe of their size, it had been a long, long time since I saw such huge blackfish.  This dive was only about 20 minutes on the bottom and I headed up.  On the surface we had a few lobsters, mussels and lots of fish speared.  It was a productive day and we had a great time.  I hope my pattern for blowouts has ended and I am able to dive every weekend... Till my next adventure, be safe!