After the dive on the Pipe Horse last week, we went to go look for some new targets. Tyler had a few areas to scan and we found something very promising:
Now that looks like something worth diving!
The problem is that we are in winter in Southern California and conditions can be completely unpredictable. We had a very short window for a dive this week so we headed out to go investigate….
We pulled up to the dive location and we were able to verify that we got another good scan so we dropped in the downline and I got suited up and all my gear on for a deep dive. We were all excited to see what was down there, figuring it was at best an airplane, if not then maybe a boat and, at worst, a barge.
I got to the bottom of the down line and found….nothing!
I put a strobe on the line and started a search pattern. When you are at 275′ deep, every second counts and decompression starts to add up fast. I spent about 10 minutes doing a search pattern and turned up very little.
I did find a blue mug but I’m not sure how it got there. Note that it was on top of something that appeared to be a rectangular shape but was buried in the sand.
I also ran across a tire but there wasn’t any rim or hub and was too small to be a car tire so I’m not sure what it belongs to.
After my 6 minute descent and my 10 minutes of bottom time, I earned myself over 60 minutes of decompression.
We have visitors…
During decompression, I heard a lot of loud noises from a boat I didn’t recognize. After you dive on a boat a lot, you get to know the sound of the motor and props and “normal operation.” This was far from anything I had heard so I dropped a few feet down on the line.
After I got back on the surface, Tyler & Lora explained that there was a TON of boat traffic near our dive site. In fact, Lora had to hail an oncoming ocean liner and have them divert off course. They didn’t answer the first call but eventually responded and begrudgingly agreed to shift course.
However, they still came really close to my downline (that small orange buoy is at the top of the downline).
That might not look close, but it is really, really close and I felt it and heard it underwater.
As if that wasn’t enough, a brand new unmanned Navy craft decided to buzz by the dive site as well:
Ed’s Mug
Well, we struck out on finding an airplane, but I did find Ed’s mug. The bottom is engraved with “To Ed ~ For The Happy Times”
Just in case Ed is reading this blog, I have built a photogrammetry model to help identify the mug. 🙂
Next Up….
While I was diving, Tyler & Lora took a look around and found another possible dive site. Of course, it is another 275′ foot deep site but it does look promising!
