The weather looked really wet on Saturday morning. Dave Wakeley had a moment of concern on the freeway when he was blinded by a wall of water thrown by the car next to him. We did all arrive safely. Eleven people made it to the Fall Club Picnic. Pieter and I were the first there and sat and talked to each other from our cars in the pouring rain. Five minutes later we unloaded the BBQ and coolers to the shelter behind the cafe', and the rain quit! More people showed up and we geared up to dive just as some blue sky appeared.
The first dive was six of us in two groups. What a dive. I'll tell you one more time IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE SPECTACULAR VISIBILITY WE ARE HAVING GET OUT THERE NOW. These rains will be taking it away soon. We had 40 to 50 feet of visibility on this first dive, and no current.
The Saltwater Park reef has done a spectacular job of attracting sea life. We saw four kinds of rockfish, brown, quillback, copper, black, numerous lings, kelp and painted greenlings, shiner, barred and striped surf perch, lots of shrimp, sea stars and crabs. Some of the rockfish are 15 to 20 inches long. These are old fish that have moved onto this reef because is suits them so well. Huge schools of shiner perch and tubesnouts cruise around the piles of rocks.
The special find on the first dive was a medium sized giant pacific octopus. This animal is on the north side of the north rock pile. It was shy and retreated deeper in its den when we shined lights on it (see photo).
We got out and the rain held off to get the food going. Then it started again. Fortunately we were under cover and listening to Native American wood flutes (being played inside the cafe') we had a wonderful lunch of burgers, hotdogs, potato salad, vegies, chips and cookies. We munched and talked and listened to the rain and the flutes. It was fine meal and great company. The rain stopped again as we did clean-up.
One more dive... Four of us went in. The visibility was slightly diminished, 30 feet or so. In addition to the medium sized octopus, Brian and Pieter found a very large octopus on the south side of the south rock pile. Pieter said it is possibly the biggest he has ever seen. And Brian was visited by a large sea lion, with the name IGY branded on its side.
Saltwater reefs have turned into a really great dive location. You will want to visit it to see what all the fuss is about. Our two picnics this year had good turnout (the July 4th one we had 31 people). Next on our schedule is the Randy Glen Memorial Photo Contest, just a few days away. If you don't have an entry, please come anyway to help judge the great photos that show up. And an added treat is the Shoot-out judging. See you there!