Gotta love this site for what it's worth!  Definitely an adventure!!!

 

Saturday, mid morning.

 

John and I sized up conditions.  Looked pretty good, high tide and what not.  But wow!  So much sand has disappeared from the beach.  What huge rocks and boulders that were exposed.

 

We got geared up and made our way down the steps.  Walked a few feet into the water when John exclaimed, 'Shoot!  I dropped my fin!'  With that, I saw his fin being taken out by the back-draft of the surf.  John made a leap for it, and missed.  Then another wave came in creating more froth at the surface where we lost site of it.  Ugh!

 

I proceeded to get my fins on, and surfaced scuba looking in the shallows (3' or less) pulling myself over the rocks and eel  grass.  No such luck.  John looked to the east.  Again, no such luck.  We exited, took off our scuba equipment, then we snorkeled, in search of his elusive fin.  We looked for an hour before giving up.  John exited before me, as I was having fun looking at all the critters in the shallows.  Then I looked up, and there was John standing with a fin in his hand.  I asked him if he found his fin, and he said yes!  I asked where it was, and he said it was laying on the rock at shore.  Evidently someone else found it, and placed it near our gear.  Wow!!!  Lucky Day!

 

Now the tide was going out, but John still wanted to make the dive.  I said maybe we should move to a different site, due to the tide.  But he wanted to dive the barge.  So we did.  Getting out was an ordeal, in that we had to gingerly walk over all the rocks and eel grass.  We made it out without incident.  Found the barge with lots of life and a multitude of fish swimming about.  I noticed that the bull kelp is coming back pretty strong.  Good to see.  Saw the largest Spanish Shawl's I have ever seen, at least 3-4" long, laying eggs.  On our way back in, we enjoyed exploring the different reef structures and overhands that Cleo has to offer.  I think this site is now one of my 'new' favorites!

 

Coming back in wasn't as easy (if going out was easy, yeah right...).  We surfaced right where we had entered.  The only thing was, surf was picking up.  In front of the beach, there is a trough that runs parallel.  Well, a wave took me right for it.  Ugh!  I was going to have to do a rock exit.  The next wave pushed me forward and landed me like a beached whale right on top of some rocks with eel grass.   What a sight!  I was litterally stuck ontop of the rocks.  I was able to pull myself forward a bit, but that was about it.  I maganged to move to my left a little bit crawling to where there was some water to submerge.  With that, I was able to flip over and sit up to get my fins off.  After catching my breath and getting my strength back, I was able to stand up, and walk back over the rocks and pools of water to the beach.

 

Meanwhile, the waves were not kind to John.  He got hit back to back and took his strength and endurance as well.  He decided to go for deeper waters and exit further to the east where it wasn't so rocky.  He made it out without incident.

 

Overall, it was a great dive...but lesson learned, definitely dive here when it's HIGH TIDE!!!

 

Jan