Farallons IIIB

I don't have many details about the first trip (chartered by Dolphin Divers of Sacramento) other than a few of the highlight reels. Basically, that first trip was cut short on day 2 when a diver popped to the surface un-/semi-conscious followed soon thereafter by an appearance by The Landlord (a.k.a., Mr. Whitey, The Man in the Gray Suit, Toothy, ...). While the excitement of an unconscious diver was in full flush, someone posed the question "Is that what I think it is?" Just beyond the float off the current line, a dorsal and caudal fin were spotted. The 8' separation between fins suggested the hopeful possibility it might be a basking shark (though prudence mandated handling of the situation based on a grimmer but equally exciting possibility; later checks of the reference materials verified that prudence was the correct call).

Interestingly, the diver recall siren did not result in everyone returning to the surface promptly. When those underwater sirens can be heard, they're hard to ignore. But experience indicates that it's quite possible to have a siren not be heard or heard well even when a diver is in close proximity to the loudspeaker. On this occassion, the result was that a few divers ended up completing a long safety stop directly below the boat. That was bad enough except that there was one diver who didn't stay put but, instead, slowly drifted below the current line toward the float. It took a lot of commotion from the inflatable crew to get her to come up and be unceremoniously yanked from the water and dumped in the boat. Rumor has it she became somber and sober when the response to her agitated query about what the #*@! was going on was some pointing to the shark that was now 20' away.

So this was the recap we received on arrival at the boat on Sunday night before our Monday/Tuesday trip. I think it is interesting and telling about the group on the second trip that there was no serious doubts raised about the destination for our first jump. Everyone had come to dive Noonday Rock and Noonday Rock was where everyone still wanted to go. So we came up with a plan that had us returning to Noonday Rock the day after the first encounter. If, during preparations to dive, Mr. White Shark made a return appearance, we agreed to go elsewhere. No show and we'd jump in the water.

Setting the hook at Noonday proved to be extra challenging. Though the captains repeatedly found the high spot (20'), getting the hook to stick took 5 or 6 tries. In the end, the hook ended up on a ledge at 70' near a drop-off that probably went down to 150'. By the end of the third dive, it was getting too close to the edge for comfort and we ended up having to close the gate prematurely. Until then, though, we checked out the area near the high spot quite extensively. Visibility varied greatly depending on where you were on the rock. On one side, it got as low as 25' to 30' during later dives. During those same dives, visibility on the other side was an honest 60' or so. At times, I'd say we had up to 75'. What you can see under such conditions makes all the work of getting these trips together and all the delays getting in the water well worth the effort. Scallops, big ling cod, little ling cod, cabezons, vermilion, schools of big blues and blacks, and wolf eels provided lots of distractions for the divers. Most enjoyable for me were big wolf eels we'd find out in the open, either free swimming or just lying in an open crevice.

Following three dives at Noonday Rock, we did one more jump at the Isle of St. James just outside the anchorage. This put us in water around 70' deep on a rocky reef where the visibility was pushing 100'. The bottom life wasn't as interesting as at Noonday Rock but the fish population was even more impressive. Toward the end of the dive, I became the focus of interest for a very large ling and a game of I-see-you/You-see-me. It'd swim within 5' or 6', settle on the bottom, and intently watch what I was doing... until I'd make eye contact. Then it'd turn tail, swim 50' or 60' away, and slip into a hole. Banging my dive light on a rock brought it immediately out of its hole to repeat the whole sequence. We repeated this silliness for a couple of rounds before I decided to head on up. So ended my diving on day one.

Day two included an early dive at Middle Farallons (a few sea lions, a VERY nice and accommodating wolf eel laying out in the open, and great visibility) followed by a return to the Isle of St. James to checkout the cavern under one of the islands. This year's response to the cavern was less enthusiastic than in the past. This is understandable if you compare what exists there now with a picture on the wall in the Pacific Star's cabin. In the past three years, the condition of the benthic lifeforms has noticeably deteriorated. Algae growth is a prominent feature that didn't exist at all 3 years ago. I suspect this has something to do with El Nino and hope to witness a full recovery of that area during the next few years. At the very least, it was interesting to get such a contrasting demonstration of how things are constantly changing. I only hope that it comes full circle in the years ahead (and, of course, that I get to see it).

The crew of the Pacific Star was an interesting mix of highly competent boat handlers obviously familiar with dive operations. Though it was also obvious they were still learning the ropes when it came to the Pacific Star, everything was handled in due course. Whether as dive buddies or crew on another boat, I'd jump at the chance to join them on another adventure. Too bad for us that it won't be on the Pacific Star (unless you've a ticket aboard one of the last two trips this coming weekend).

All totaled, I believe the two day's diving offered the chance to complete a total of eight dives. The 3 hour cruise back to port included a well timed showing of National Geographer's White Shark Special complete with gory footage shot at the Farallons =:^O

{norcadiver@sonic.net}