Friends At the Secret Garden of Neptune's cove

Skin Dive#:020
Sat July 05, 08
Neptune's Cove: tidepool
Purpose: have fun with friends during poor conditions
Tide: High @ 12:30 pm
Entry: large, pool-like tide pool @ 1:00 pm
Distance: n/a
Gear: 5/3 suit, mask, snorkel, boots, gloves
Temp: Air 75 F?/Water 62 F?
Enviroment: sunny, marine layer, 2-3 ft breaks to fill the pool
Visibilty: 20 ft
Conditions Synopsis: good
Sights: topsmelt, grunion, opaleye, surf perch, scorpionfish, sea hares, urchins, ochre stars, nudibranch, sun star
Exit: same @ 2:00 pm

Time to date: 14 hrs 45 min
Total time this dive: 1 hr
Total time: 15 hrs 45 min

Special Notes: Yesterday was my first time experiencing the secret garden at Neptune's Cove. It was serene so I wanted to share it with my visiting friends Jessica and Dave. We drove over to the cove right after high tide so the pool would be filled. I prepped Dave on the Scorpion fish and we walked along a small rock ridge into the pool and flopped into four feet of crystal clear water. I pointed at a baby scorpion fish and then at a larger scorpion fish. I told him not to touch them. He was wearing a spring suit so i told him to watch his knees on the many urchins. Yesterday while here I accidentally put my hand on one of the devils and the tiny points broke off into my palm. It didn't really hurt but startled me. Thankfully it was only three pokes, not too deep. We swam around I and i showed him different areas of the pool and we went our seperate ways to voyeur on the many animals. I spotted a black nudibranch with flourescent yellow and purple-blue spots. It was awesome. I've never seen one and I was able to now look at it in crystal clear water in front of my nose. I met up with dave by the diving platform, aka boulder. I motioned for him to look at something. It was a giant sun star slowly climbing up a rock garden. The sun shone trhough the shallow water in golden patches. I swam around some more. I watched baby surf perch graze in green fields. A mother opale escorted here babies into a further pool. I found a rock ridge with fifty curious fish mesmorized bu my pale garden gloves. I tried to poke the noses of curious top smelt. Some fish in the large pool were nig enough to hunt. But I would never hunt in such a peaceful garden. Dave got out after the chill got to him and I took breaks for hydrating. Jessica had fun in the shallow areas of the tide pools playing with the crabs. I had another awesome time in the fish village.

Additional notes: A group of young teenagers came flopping down the dangerous trail druing our tide pool diving. The boys were gregarious and their lone female counterpart trailed quietly in her skimpy swimsuit. The grouped climbed dangerous vantage points where waves almost knocked them down. They didn't keep an eye on the sets the came over the pool's walls. One boy had a snorkel and mask in hand. The grouped walked over to the edge of the pool near the cove's mouth and peered ino the violent waves. then two boys doffed thier trunks and jumped casually into the extreme sea with their boxers. I was impressed. It was quite stupid, they spent about twenty minutes fighting the currents and it seemed that they would swim into the nearby cove for a dangerous exit. But, eventually managed to exit where they leaped into the chaos. They must've done it before. No one was scratched. I kept thinking about the extremely poor visibilty. kelp and chaos they worked with. Maybe they did it just to impress the girl in the bikini!