And it feels great.
I had not been in the water since early April while waiting for the hole in my leg to heal over. Missing a season is hard, but it really sucks when you're 79 and don't know how many seasons you have left. I got the OK from the doc a couple of weeks ago, but Terrafin kept showing horrible chlorophyll along the coast and even at the islands, and I seem to have lost crew over the summer.
Yesterday Terrafin still looked bad along the coast, but I found a crew and decided I just had to quit waiting for perfection and go for it. At some of our spots south of the Dana Point the kelp showed pretty thick on the sounder but wasn't reaching the surface and the vis didn't look very good from the boat anyway. But finally we found a couple of beds with 20 to 25 foot vis. We didn't see any white sea bass or yellowtail, but it seemed just great to finally be back in the water. It was probably just as well that my watch needed a new battery, but I don't think I was too much worse than I was in April. After all, how low can you go and still be under water?
The high point was a spot where the black sea bass were as thick as flies. On one dive I had five of them circling me. It was almost scary. Last year I had seen the same thing at this kelp bed and figured it was a fluke, but it seems that there must really be something special about that spot. Anyway, even if they are protected and we can't shoot them, its fun to see a lot of fish as big as you are.
There isn't much season left, but at least I now I can try to make the best of it.
I had not been in the water since early April while waiting for the hole in my leg to heal over. Missing a season is hard, but it really sucks when you're 79 and don't know how many seasons you have left. I got the OK from the doc a couple of weeks ago, but Terrafin kept showing horrible chlorophyll along the coast and even at the islands, and I seem to have lost crew over the summer.
Yesterday Terrafin still looked bad along the coast, but I found a crew and decided I just had to quit waiting for perfection and go for it. At some of our spots south of the Dana Point the kelp showed pretty thick on the sounder but wasn't reaching the surface and the vis didn't look very good from the boat anyway. But finally we found a couple of beds with 20 to 25 foot vis. We didn't see any white sea bass or yellowtail, but it seemed just great to finally be back in the water. It was probably just as well that my watch needed a new battery, but I don't think I was too much worse than I was in April. After all, how low can you go and still be under water?
The high point was a spot where the black sea bass were as thick as flies. On one dive I had five of them circling me. It was almost scary. Last year I had seen the same thing at this kelp bed and figured it was a fluke, but it seems that there must really be something special about that spot. Anyway, even if they are protected and we can't shoot them, its fun to see a lot of fish as big as you are.
There isn't much season left, but at least I now I can try to make the best of it.