Saturday I dove with Rob, Kevin, and Matt. There was quite a bit of buddy swapping that occurred before we finally ended up with this team. But long before we even discussed who we would dive with, Rob and I were thinking of heading out to Crossroads, since we always pass it on the way back from going elsewhere, when we don't really have time to check it out. We also thought it would be a good opportunity to explore the deeper areas on that side a little bit more. So, yada yada yada, we ended up diving with Kevin and Matt. Kevin wanted to lead for some reason. He unveiled his grand plan, which was to hit Beto's, go north to the metridium rocks, and then cut to the right over to Crossroads. While this completely defeated the purpose of learning the areas on the right side, oh well. So that's how we did it.
It was a very very high tide when we got in. By the time I got to the flat area of the ramp, I could barely stand! When I looked down, I could see that the ramp was unbelievably clean. I guess we have Jeff of Otter Bay to thank for that. Strong work! As we headed out, the viz was decent on the way out. Very blue. We dropped in the sand channel and then headed out. The viz was quite good in the sand channel, and improved as we headed further out. Near the end of Beto's, there were a bunch of canary rockfish loitering. From the end, we headed out over the sand, where the viz was insanely good. Before long, we hit the metridium rocks (and the more colorful, bigger rock out near them). We should check those out sometime too. Then we headed to Crossroads. When we first got there, we did a quick circle around it, just to see it from all angles. Then we clipped off and swam around for the rest of the time there. There was a male kelp greenling sort of following us around for much of the dive. The top of the pinnacle was very pretty. But overall, I don't really think the site is worth a whole dive again. Maybe it was just a bad day for nudibranchs, and I am biased :) It would make a good stop in conjunction with another spot over there (like maybe the rocks on the way to Montana). I may also be biased because I was uncomfortably cold for most of the dive :)
On the way back in, we headed east, and followed the reef structure in, which made for a slightly longer trip than expected. Which was fine, except that I was cold! When we got to Granite Point Wall, we switched and doodled around there for a couple of minutes before heading in. Then we basically just stayed on the trigger until we got to the worm patch. We paused there briefly, and then decided to continue in on the trigger until we hit 20'. When we got to about 20', the viz went to crap. It was super murky close to the bottom, but from 10' to the surface it was very clear and blue. So, we hunkered down in the crappy viz, since it was too hard to keep four people together in that. We ended up ascending inside the cove, about halfway from the ramp to the edge of the cove. Then we surface scooted in. We had been thinking about doing a second dive to practice some skills, but since we had done that the weekend before, and I was freezing, I voted no. The boys quickly fell into line, and we adjourned for BBQ, followed by a visit to Anywater Sports.
Saturday I dove with Rob, Kevin, and Matt. There was quite a bit of buddy swapping that occurred before we finally ended up with this team. But long before we even discussed who we would dive with, Rob and I were thinking of heading out to Crossroads, since we always pass it on the way back from going elsewhere, when we don't really have time to check it out. We also thought it would be a good opportunity to explore the deeper areas on that side a little bit more. So, yada yada yada, we ended up diving with Kevin and Matt. Kevin wanted to lead for some reason. He unveiled his grand plan, which was to hit Beto's, go north to the metridium rocks, and then cut to the right over to Crossroads. While this completely defeated the purpose of learning the areas on the right side, oh well. So that's how we did it.
It was a very very high tide when we got in. By the time I got to the flat area of the ramp, I could barely stand! When I looked down, I could see that the ramp was unbelievably clean. I guess we have Jeff of Otter Bay to thank for that. Strong work! As we headed out, the viz was decent on the way out. Very blue. We dropped in the sand channel and then headed out. The viz was quite good in the sand channel, and improved as we headed further out. Near the end of Beto's, there were a bunch of canary rockfish loitering. From the end, we headed out over the sand, where the viz was insanely good. Before long, we hit the metridium rocks (and the more colorful, bigger rock out near them). We should check those out sometime too. Then we headed to Crossroads. When we first got there, we did a quick circle around it, just to see it from all angles. Then we clipped off and swam around for the rest of the time there. There was a male kelp greenling sort of following us around for much of the dive. The top of the pinnacle was very pretty. But overall, I don't really think the site is worth a whole dive again. Maybe it was just a bad day for nudibranchs, and I am biased :) It would make a good stop in conjunction with another spot over there (like maybe the rocks on the way to Montana). I may also be biased because I was uncomfortably cold for most of the dive :)
On the way back in, we headed east, and followed the reef structure in, which made for a slightly longer trip than expected. Which was fine, except that I was cold! When we got to Granite Point Wall, we switched and doodled around there for a couple of minutes before heading in. Then we basically just stayed on the trigger until we got to the worm patch. We paused there briefly, and then decided to continue in on the trigger until we hit 20'. When we got to about 20', the viz went to crap. It was super murky close to the bottom, but from 10' to the surface it was very clear and blue. So, we hunkered down in the crappy viz, since it was too hard to keep four people together in that. We ended up ascending inside the cove, about halfway from the ramp to the edge of the cove. Then we surface scooted in. We had been thinking about doing a second dive to practice some skills, but since we had done that the weekend before, and I was freezing, I voted no. The boys quickly fell into line, and we adjourned for BBQ, followed by a visit to Anywater Sports.
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