It almost didn’t happen due to low turnout on the boat, but we managed to head up the coast with DCI to Scripps Canyon. I’ve gotta say, the boat is a lot nicer than doing the long swim from Scripps Pier or the walk from the access road. Luxury!
The first dive was down to a max of 125 feet*. It was cold, around 50F on my computer, which means it is really more like 48F. Visibility was bad up top due to the green bloom, but opened up to around 15 feet past 90′. Of course the batteries in my strobe decided to die after a couple shots, so I didn’t get much in the way of photos.
The second dive was mostly in the 110-120 foot range. The tide had come up, and the water was even colder than the first dive. But the freezing temps were well worth it, the visibility was 30+ in certain spots. It was too bad it was still so dark from the green water, as it was really nice to be able to see the topography of the canyon.
* I dove 29% nitrox on the first dive and air on the second. My computer is very conservative compared to others (e.g. Mani gets 13 minutes at 130 feet, I get 9), so the nitrox helps me stay within limits without going into decompression mode. Plus, I generally feel better after diving deep with nitrox.