Flkat Rock: Hiking Flat Rock to Malaga Cove Pt. 1

Skin Dive#:024
Sun July 13, 08
Flat Rock
Purpose: inspect new terrain
Tide: Low @ 11 am
Gear: 5/3 suit, mask, snorkel, socks, gloves, fins
Temp: Air 72 F/Water 66 F
Enviroment: sunny, 1 -2 ft breaks
Visibilty: 5 - 20 ft
Conditions Synopsis: avg fair

Time to date: 18 hrs 15 min
Total time this dive: 30 min
Total time: 18 hrs 45 min

Special Notes: I tried to get my friend Victor to come along this Sunday Morning with me to help search for a deep hole that is exposed between Flat Rock and Malaga Cove at absolute low tide, according to an old-timer I met last weekend. Victor wasn't available so I embarked on my own. I drove over to Malaga Cove parkign lot and drove past it further down Paseo del Mar. I looked around for something that looked like a Flat Rock and kept driving. A minute later there were cars parked and I got out and saw the Flat Rock, a rock cliff edge that extends from the land out a bit into the Bluff Cove. I quickly sclaed down the more troublesome trail of the two offered. Previosu to this I asked a pair of free divers for tips. They said, "Just off the end". Si made my way down to the end with fisherman trialing me. I checked out all possible entries and exits and found a place almost at the end where I could sit down and put on my fins then flop in and swim out of a small jacuzzi sized wading pool, over kelp, through kelp where it opened almost immediately to 25 ft depths! It gorgeous, the kelp gre like trees and the vis was somewhat great, making my wiggles through the plants easy. I double checked to make sure my knife was secured. There wasn't too much fish. I got out to assess my surrounding some more. The fisherman with just a roll of line with a hook and wait asked me what I saw. I gave it to him straight, "Medium sized kelp bass, mother surfperch with her kids.". He was happy and his friend came over to use the area that I also said was the deepest. I went back out through my wading area and slithered into thick, thick kelp. My vision was obscurred but, I didn't bother me. It felt like climbing thorugh the chapparal in the california desert, which I've done through hours on end with hy cousins and sisters. You just have to keep moving and climbing. I used the dolphin kick and separated the kelp with my hands. I swam around diving down a few feet to emerge in an open patch and went some 50 yards off the end of flat rock and back. It was fun. I circled some rocks and then got out. I walked over to the tidal areas by flat rock and found another flop zone. I immediately was surrounded by opal eyes, scoprion fish, and perch. I thought of telling the fisherman that all the fish were in the shallows but, didn't bother. I kept thinking of eating the perch. I swam out where the waves were breaking over shallow rocks. I liked being in the small turbulence. I eventually made my way back out to to trek the coast north.