So yesterday I dove solo at Shaw's. Today I had a buddy. We did two dives and my electrical tape patched dry suit stayed dry. On the first dive, we went in the water at around 10:30am. Viz was good, in the 10-15ft. We went in the crevice, past the archway. The surge was not too strong so we carried on until we found the tunnel on the left that brings you back to the main reef. We had a smooth ride in the surge and ended exiting where the big green anemone sits on a rock, marking the access to the main reef structure. We followed it South until we reached about 30ft. There is a little patch of kelp growing at about 20ft on the upper ridge of the reef and I spotted a giant kelp fish! I swear! That's the first time I see one here! It could mean that the kelp is thriving... Thanks Nancy! (Check her website.) Of course I couldn't take a picture, that guy was shy... We spotted a couple of Calfornia Scorpionfish and a few lobsters. On my way back I found the biggest lobster carapace I had ever seen. The animal that left it must have been 30 years old!

The second dive was sporty... We dropped down past the crevice, followed the reef to turn around rock, spotting a fairly sized octopus en route. We missed the first canyon on the right. When I realized that, I thought: hey! that's where I spotted the giant kelpfish on the previous dive, I wonder if it's still here... And it was! With a friend. This time, I managed to take a couple of shots, most came out blur, but, hey, now I've got proof!

We took the second canyon, past the crevices where the resident eels used to be. The viz inside the clearing past the canyons was far better, maybe in the 20ft range. We ended up at the southern tip of the reef, cut accross in the direction of Crescent, found the growing kelp patch (maybe a forest next year, I heard Shaw's is considered as a potential site for reforestation and de-urchinization) and carried on until I decided to follow the similar path I took solo the day before. I messed up a little, but we ended up in the canyon, a little past the window. The surge was way strong. Maybe stronger than the day before. My buddy bailed out and we decided to turn around. BIG MISTAKE. Of course I got lost, because the only way I knew back to the shore, was through the canyon to the Crescent entrance to the crevice. Instead, we ended up crossing the reef structure, and started ascending. That's when the whirlpool started. We got whited out pretty BAD. I hung on kelp for a few second and got totally disoriented. We were in 15ft of water, the surge was VERY strong but somehow we both managed to stay zen. I lost track of where my buddy was, lost in the bubbles. Then it cleared out for a fraction of a second and I spotted my him again, going to what I thought was deeper into the reef structure. I thought it was a bad idea, but still I followed him. I turned out that he was actually going back South... We were safe. We ended up at the kelp patch, then from this point, backtracked to the shore. I finished the dive with about 300psi, I probably used 1,000 in the whirlpool...

Total bottom time 133 minutes, temperature dropped in the 57°F area (was 64°F the day before). Now I've got Labor Day week-end to recover...