limeyx(Offline)

We took the "Yellow Boat", out of (somewhere close to?) San Diego harbor.

It's a small aluminum boat with room for up to 6 divers in single if you're all really good friends. In our case, there were just the three of us, and we had planned on two dives.

On the way out, we passed by the "Mushroom" house, which my buddies (and the boat captain) tried to convince me was the home of Dr Seuse's Widow. Still not sure if they were pulling my leg or not!

Dive1: Scripps Canyon
Max Depth: 106 feet (sorry Metric people)
Avg Depth: 80 feet
Dive Time: 36 mins
Water Temp: 56F at depth

This is mostly a boat dive, unless you scooter along the shore from a pier that's (mostly) too far away to easily surface swim.

Here's a ling to some info on Scripps Canyon:
http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/ocean/canyon/

Scripps is just within DIR recreational range on 32% (you can see stuff starting at 100 feet), and from what I understand it's pretty good down to 150 depending on the conditions.

Unfortunately, conditions are usually not so good at this site, and we had about 15 feet of green visibility, so none of my photos really came out.

Som hilarity ensued as we dropped down the line. One of the team had a scooter, and was going to (slowly) lead the dive. As we hit about 70 feet, she turned to me and handed me the propellor of her scooter (so much for the vaunted Gavin relibatilith . At first I thought she was joking, but nope, it had become detached.

We made a (vain) attempt to fix it before clipping it off to the line (motor still spinning -- we couldn't shut the engine off).

We proceeded throught the (so wonderfully named) "Rotting Detritus" which is basically a big compost heap at the entrance to the canyon full of rotting old kelp (luckily I didn't get any pics of that bit), then proceeded along the canyon.

This is an awesome dive, even in poor conditions as the walls just drop off into nowhere below you, and seem to close in on all sides. Apparently there is a swim-through (or some such) that you can enter at 130 feet and come out at 150 (but we're only good for 100 feet, so that's for another day).

Amazingly, despite the conditions, I could see light from the surface at 70 feet on the way back. Did a nice slow ascent through the detritus and after a rather worrying moment when we couldn't locate the scooter, ascended up the line back to the boat.

Back on the boat, Danny had hot tea and carrot cake waiting for us, and as the sun had started to come out, we soaked a little of it up while waiting for our next dive: The Yukon at night

Dive 2: The Yukon
Max Depth: 97
Average Depth: 72
Dive Time: 36 mins
Temp: 59F

I've never dived the Yukon before, so I was put in the middle with the camera.

The Yukon is a 366 foot Destroyer that was sunk as an artificial reef just outside the harbor.

http://www.cawreckdivers.org/Wrecks/Yukon.htm

Unfortunately, before the explosives that were supposed to sink the ship went off, she sank on her own due to the holes that had been drilled in her So now the wreck is sitting on its side instead of upright.

The max depth possible (without a shovel) is 100 feet, and stuff can still be seen at 70, so a perfect second dive on 32%

We descended the line into a gentle current, and spent 25 mins or so having a look under the bow and going up one side and back.

I got some OK pictures, but there was a lot of particulate in the water, and the vis was not so great, so the wreck itself is hard to make out.

This is definitely a dive I want to come back and do under more optimal conditions.

if you're trained for it, I hear the Yukon is a cool penetration dive -- but that day is very far off for me!

Attached Images

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	YukonProfile.jpeg (36.4 KB, 0 views)
	Yukon1.jpeg (641.9 KB, 2 views)
	Yukon2.jpeg (553.1 KB, 1 views)
	Yukon3.jpeg (750.6 KB, 2 views)
	Yukon4.jpeg (657.8 KB, 2 views)
	Yukon5.jpeg (529.1 KB, 2 views)

Clare Gledhill(Offline)

Great report!

My geography is awful - where is it? (to say that you must find that better than Bristol must be the understatement of the centuary - although the vis would be similiar)

I take it you found the Gavin - why had the prop come off?

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Divingniknaks(Offline)

Google Clare Google, thats what it's there for :D

http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/ocean/canyon/

HTH

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Phill
-----------------------------
Salvo Lights, DirZone Gear , Frog Wings

Dive ? http://www.divingniknaks.com

Clare Gledhill(Offline)

OK - so what am I missing - that link was in the original report but I still can't
see where it is....

I don't think I'm still drunk :D

__________________

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limeyx(Offline)

Ha, sorry -- must have been drunk when I wrote it.

It's in San Diego, California (I will edit the post) just north of border with Mexico

limeyx(Offline)

Well, luckily I never had the "fortune" to attempt diving anywhere near Bristol!

Found the Gavin. Why the prop fell off is currently under investigation It seems to like eating kelp though and I guess just finally had enough.

Amusingly good old "number 3" at the back entirely failed to notice these goings on (which took several minutes) and was quite bemused to hear that the entire dive had been on fin power!

I think he's going to need more team awareness for tech1...

breals(Offline)

That is the rumor, but we have no real way of verifying that.


Let me guess....Gina.

That part of the canyon hits bottom at about 195, however the most interesting part of it are between 120 and 150. The swim thru is more like a chminey.


Here is a video of a Yukon night dive and peneration all in one.

http://www.reals.net/medias/

Right Click (Option Click for Macs)
Save Target as:

yukon_night_dive_2.wmv

limeyx(Offline)

got me on that one. There is no stopping that woman when there's diving involved!

MarcHall(Offline)

The canyon is about a 17 min scooter run from Scripps Pier so its a bit long for non-Scooter dive.

University of California, San Diego owns an access road that is just north of the canyon and the UCSD Scuba Club has a key to gate at the top of the road. The club typically runs about 4 beach dives a week on Scripps Canyon. The club is open to all divers - no relationship with UCSD is required.

We have run into divers who have either hiked down the beach from Scripps Pier or who hiked down the access road.

Depending on where you are at in the canyon there is plenty to see in the 70-100 feet range. And the canyon goes much deeper then 150 feet. For example, at the Sealab site almost due West of the Pier its gently slopeing sand at 200-220 and then rolls over vertical from there.

Marc Hall
www.enjoythedive.com

limeyx(Offline)

yeah, my post was poorly worded. I didnt mean to say that you can only go down to 150, just that I've heard the vis is usually best below 150.

Having dived it exactly *one* time, I am far from an authority