Point Dume Club Beach Dive, Sunday, June 21st
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
We had a great Father’s Day beach dive at Point Dume. Eight hearty Soles made the long swim out to this incredible reef. We got our just rewards seeing the rich marine life that thrives on this vast rugged reef at the northwestern edge of the Santa Monica Bay. Kaz, Lars, Jimmy, Michael and I were the Sole Searcher regulars. Also joining us was long time club member, Darrel Montague, “beach porter”, Waiki (Rick) Tang and his not-girlfriend dive buddy whom he carried the tank for, the lovely Kakani. When Rick picked up another tank and said, “Okay. Let’s go” we all wished, aloud and only half joking, wished that we had a strong buddy to carry our gear across the sands. It was good seeing Darrel again, who’s been busy teaching scuba, first with Dolphin Dive and now for Sharky’s Eco Dive Center in La Verne. We had a good bunch of very capable divers.
We also had an abundance of non-divers rounding out the gathering. Celebrating Father’s Day at the beach we had the Aizawa and Dennert families: Kari with Landon and Cece towing Max and Sven. Those little boys are always a lot of fun to be with. Also offering their support on the beach were the beautiful non-diving spouses, Maggie and Theresa.
Several people hadn’t dove off Point Dume before so we took a short walk up on the cliffs to see the reef from above. We got a bird’s eye view of the reef and saw the route we’d be swimming after we made our beach entry back near the end of the parking lot. The kelp was standing still, making us think there was no current. And this was actually the case. It turned out to be one of the easiest dives I’ve made at Point Dume in a long time.
A very friendly lifeguard met us at the shoreline with float in hand. He explained the reef location and warned us to watch out for long-shore currents. He told us of 25 to 30 knot winds that were predicted for later in the day, but the winds never materialized. We assured him we’d been here before and when he saw we did indeed know which feet our fins go on he was a lot more relaxed. There was a strong presence of Sherriff Deputies on all-terrain vehicles looking for open containers and working to keep crowd family-friendly. Lifeguards were going out of their way to be helpful too. It was very proactive of that lifeguard to speak to us before we entered the water. Better to be upfront and alarming than make a 300 yard rescue of some unsuspecting scuba newbie later.
Michael and I strode in first. Well, Michael strode in but I got knocked down in 6 inches of water and quickly began waddling further out into deep water like a big turtle who’d just laid her eggs. No shame here; I was getting out of that shore break. Once past the drop zone I started kicking my Jets as hard as I could for the pinnacles, expecting to fight a current that never occurred. Michael caught up with me and together we were swept off course by a mild, off-shore current that I’d never seen here before. Everyone else followed their 2 fearless leaders like lemmings until we were all about 30 yards out beyond the rocks. In a few minutes we reconnoitered at the reef for a few minutes of rest and final dive planning. There was no current out at the pinnacles so we had our choice of dive patterns. We could end the dive anywhere on the reef we wanted and still have an easy, albeit long swim back. Everyone took a compass heading on the beach exit point and down we went.
Darrel and Jimmy saw plenty of Spanish Shawls, a small crab, several large Cabezon and several really small flounders. Kaz and Lars found a two foot long swell shark, large cabezon, a large sheep crab and a shovelnose guitar fish. Michael and I took the classic tour around the two pinnacles where we discovered an abundance of marine life: feathered tube worms, Spanish Shawl, barred sand bass, opeleye, a garibaldi and nest, muscles, a sheep crab and so much more. The reef is teaming with life. Few divers or fisherman get out to disturb this place which is why there’s so much life here. It’s a sure bet you’ll see a wide variety of marine life on any given day of diving at Point Dume.
After a leisurely circular dive around the reef, Michael and I decided to make the long swim back underwater, following the compass course we’d taken at the surface. Within a short swim from the rocks we were motoring across the sand in 20 feet of water looking at dungeness crabs, burrowing sand crabs and sand dollars. The open sand is also a good place to spot halibut and flounders. Michael eventually signaled to surface and he swears he knew we were right in front of the beach when we came up, based on distance pacing and civil engineering judgment. Oh, and running low on air had nothing to do with it. That was perfect navigation on Michael’s part and I was ready to make my exit a bit more gracefully than my entry.
Back on the beach every one made good use of the showers to wash off the sand. Some of us stayed all day to enjoy the beach. Darrel, Rick, Kakani and Jimmy carpooled in Darrel’s diving machine. They headed for home soon after the dive. Michael and Theresa said their goodbyes and headed off to spend Father’s Day closer to home. The Dennert and Aizawa families stayed to spend the day playing with the boys in the sand. Maggie and I had our picnic and napped on the beach. So did Lars - he slept for a long while in spite of our noise. Maggie and I both enjoyed being on the beach with the kids. We all finally packed it up around 4:00 and headed back. It was a great dive and a good day on the beach with friends.
Did I mention the vis’, water temps, max depth and nudies we saw? Well, come to the dive club meeting and we’ll fill in the details. Join us for the next beach dive. It’s always a good time, no matter what the dive conditions may bring. And this day the conditions were as perfect as it gets at Point Dume.
Dave Gaines
