Guest Dive Report: Scott McGee: ‘Lazy Days’/’Broomtail Reef’
Date: 10/3/09
Location: Lazy Days Wreck, Pt. Loma
Time in: 11:52 am
Time under: 54 min
Max depth: 78 ft
Min temp: 64 F
Vis: 50+ ft!
Waves: small swells, glassy surface
Buddies: Mikey Bear, Barbara Lloyd, NOAA Jim
Dive #2
Location: Broomtail Reef, Pt. Loma
Time in: 2:30 pm
Time under: 52 min
Max depth: 56 ft
Min temp: 62 F
Vis: 15+ ft
Waves: 2–3 ft of surge
Buddies: Mikey Bear, Barbara Lloyd
Photos (mostly wide angle):
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First dive was absolutely spectacular. Visibility was awesome, with crystal clear blue water in the top 40 feet. >From the boat, we could see down about 30 feet into the kelp. At the bottom, I found my first MacFarland’s chromodorids (I’ve been looking for one of these for a long time). There were four or more of them on the reef at about 70 ft, but I had my fisheye lens on and couldn’t get a pic of them. I spent the dive shooting the kelp, gorgonians and following Mikey and Barbara around.
- On the second dive, I switched to macro and we headed east to shallower water and Broomtail Reef. Visibility was less and once we got to the bottom, the surge was pretty strong (2–3 feet in both directions). After searching a small pinnacle for life to photograph, Mikey brought me to a giant structure that was full of life. Unfortunately, I was at my turn around pressure and had to head back after a quick pass. There were lots of Porter’s chromodorids on this structure, but no MacFarland’s. I had taken so many photos on the first dive (~300), one of my strobes died at this reef structure. The second one died while I was ascending and taking pictures of kelp. Coming back to the boat from underneath at about 30 feet, I could only tell that I found it because there was a roughly boat shaped mass of kelp. Conditions topside had started to change for the worse as the sky was full of clouds, the wind had picked up and swells were increasing in size. We all got back on board, careful not to slip on the kelp as we climbed the ladder, very grateful to have witnessed the spectacular conditions before the storm cancelled diving for the rest of the weekend.
scott McGee
