Humboldt Bay

[rokar]

Got to go out on the bay this morning. Crappy weather in the morning but turned nice in a couple of hours.

Found a nice rig tied up at the marina.

[Tmox]

Rokar, send me a private message and I'll give you my phone number, I can answer a lot of questions. I work in Arcata, have a 26" Radon and a 7 meter navy rib. I run out of Humboldt a lot, I also trailer to Fort Bragg regularly. I was just at Albion this weekend.

There are abalone here but not so many clear days to find them in Trinidad to the north and Petrolia to the south. Fort Bragg area is the no brainer for abalone.

[Peter_C]

Tmox, what kind of vis are you finding around that area?

We have seen over 80 feet of vis around Fort Bragg, and 35 foot is common.

[rokar]

Tmox, thanks for the offer. As soon as I figure out how, I'll send you a PM.

Peter C, you're killing me! I'd love to be able to dive that kind of vis again. I first went for my C card down in Oceanside. (I didn't check to see if the dive masters ratings were current!).

[rokar]

Tmox, have you seen that almar in the Marina before?

RR

[Tmox]

Rokar, first I've seen of the Almar, its tied up on the HSU Aquatics Center dock in the space used by Cal Dept of Fish and Wildlife (DFG). I don't see any markings on it, just a cf number.Interestingly enough I did see what looked like a SafeBoat being towed north on 1 as I was going south to Albion. At least the boat was orange and aluminum and big, I had my hands full at the time- driving 1 from Legget to Fort Bragg is a full time job.

Peter C; Last week HSU had a rescue class up at Trinidad and the vis there was near zero inshore close. The last 3 weekends the visibility in Fort Bragg in the Albion- Van Damme area has been 20' to 30' in close and 40' or more out in the open. The water has been very cold these weeks, in the 44 to 47 degree range. This time of year with the strong winds we get upwelling, cold water and great visibility.

Trinidad is really hit and miss, can be epic one day and crap the next with crap being more the norm.

Tim

[Peter_C]

Originally Posted by Tmox

I had my hands full at the time- driving 1 from Legget to Fort Bragg is a full time job.

I would assume you drove down the Lost Coast? Any particular reason you don't drive down to Willit's and head West? Time difference? I will agree the Lost Coast drive is beautiful...just really windy.

Originally Posted by Tmox

Van Damme area has been 20' to 30' in close and 40' or more out in the open.

Here is Van Damme! Although this dive would have been called had we not all had bright can lights. We ran line even. (I am on the far right.)

Originally Posted by Tmox

The water has been very cold these weeks, in the 44 to 47 degree range. This time of year with the strong winds we get upwelling, cold water and great visibility.

Monterey just had 100ft of vis one day with sub 48 degree water, and less than 10ft a couple days later due to the nutrient rich upwelling combined with sunlight that formed a green goop.

(My partners 1st cold water dive after open water was at Van Damme and the temp was 46 degrees. Her second dive that day I saw my temp gauge drop to 43 degrees. I was cold, but she was moving around enough in her drysuit to keep her warm. She was OW certified in a drysuit fortunately.)

Originally Posted by Tmox

Trinidad is really hit and miss, can be epic one day and crap the next with crap being more the norm.

Tim

So you are saying there are two days a year when you have no current, lower swells, and 20ft vis? I am sure the life underwater is incredible though do to the current and nutrients??

I get to dive this Saturday, at the Sonoma Coast, for one dive, before having to rush back to Santa Rosa

[jyasaki]

I'll be at Albion with a large group this weekend. Not sure if I'll get in any scuba diving, though. I'll post conditions when I get back.

jky

[jyasaki]

So... report: arrived at Albion Friday at about 4:30pm; after a drive through near-100 degree weather over the coastal hills (Santa Rosa/Cloverdale/Booneville.) At Albion, it was about 62 degrees, and got colder as the afternoon changed to night.

Launched on Saturday for ab diving; we had 4 boats in the group: mine (18' aluminum hulled RIB/ F115); a 15.5' Zodiac RIB/Merc 60; a 19' Apex/Honda 115; and a 19' Seaswirl Striper/115 (hardboat.)

Ran immediately into our normal maintenance issues: Hardboat's radio had no power, Zodiac's VHF would transmit, and Apex forgot their GPS at home. Headed out for ab diving anyway (all lightly loaded), with a detour out a mile to drop crab traps. Then a 3 mile run up the coast with a small swell (I'd guess a couple of feet max) with a couple of feet of wind driven waves, and a foot of chop on top of that. No biggie. Vis in our cove was about 15 feet; you could spot abs 20' deep from the surface. Had one diver come up empty (exhaustion/hangover), and another finished with 2 (inexperience); the other 6 or so divers limited out (took me 4 dives; had a brain freeze on dive 2 where I couldn't decide which ab to take until I was out of time.)

Run back was just as uneventful until we tried to get back into the river: had a 20 foot stretch where I had to get the 4 pax's on my boat up front to get over the sand bar at the river mouth. Once past that, it deepened up again.

Sunday, we went out for abs again, but just the Zodiac and me (everyone else headed home early.) Only 4 divers (including a pickup diver), and a couple of those needed fewer than 3 to stay within their possession limit. Wind was howling, probably 25 to 30 mph, making for a wet and rough ride up. A little choppy in the cove but not too bad. Limited out in 2 dives (wasn't being very picky), and everyone else finished up within about 45 minutes. Headed back south to pick up the traps (running into the wind and swell), and pulled my traps. Someone had already emptied them (obvious, as they cut open a zip-tied side instead of opening the one that was unsecured.) Better than Jeff, who had his traps stolen. More water on the way in this time so boat recovery was pretty easy.

All in all, a pretty nice weekend. No scuba, but that didn't really bother me much.

jky

[rokar]

Jyasaki, sounds like a great weekend!

I finally got the nerve up to cut holes in the tubes for relief valves. Of course the weather started to change before I had all 5 installed. (Got 3 of them done).

Where I live now, about 10 miles inland from the coast, has seen 30 to 40 degree temp changes and the wife caught the tubes at 3lbs before bleeding them off.

Anyway, good to hear that you guys had a good time on the water.

RR

[jyasaki]

Not really a whole lot of time on (or in) the water, but at least we drank a lot of beer.


jky

[rokar]

Yes, but awful hard to beat good times with good friends.

RR