Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

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YellowEye
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Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by YellowEye »

Hi
Yesterday I went to Salt Creek and did some exploratory diving. It was a sunny day and conditions were super calm, maybe 3" waves. It was high tide with little current.

Overall the site is not looking good as compared to previous years. There are urchins all over the place and the site is quite dusty, except either very shallow or deeper than 45. The kelp is mostly gone or half eaten by urchins. Most of the rocks have an ugly brown algae growing on them and it's not pretty.

For the first dive I went east. First I tried to see if I could see the two rock greenlings I'd seen there recently (they often stay put in one place, sometimes for years). Nope, not home. I haven't seen the first one in quite a while now, and I presume they've both moved on or have been fished out.

Viz was much better in near the mussels and barnacles in the shallows so I proceeded to explore the shallows, swimming out past the nearby alternative stair case.

I found a new-to-me sea cave in that area! This one quite colorful with fluorescent green and pink anemones and orange sponges. There was a skylight in the cave which made for a very cool sight. The cave looks to go back a bit but I didn't want to risk going into it as I was solo diving. It was a very calm day yesterday, there's no way you could explore this area with any waves or at low tide. Photography was a definite challenge... it wasn't possible to show all the goodness of the cave in one frame but I got a few snaps to show a few scenes. I think this would be easier to do on video.

On my return, I went deep (45') to explore if there were any cool sights down there. I saw 3 orange peel nudibranchs which was kind of cool, and the usual fish eating anemones, but not much else.

For the second dive, I decided to explore the area to the west to look for more kelp or more life. Nope! There was not much kelp taller than about 4' here and most was munched. Given the lack of kelp and given the excellent wave/current conditions I decided that I should try to explore the point itself. I was hopeful there was good marine life out there as the point takes the brunt of the wave action during wavy days.

Nope, not great. The life out there wasn't any significantly different than right near the entrance. And boy it was a long swim. There is an expansive surf grass zone and I was able to find one rock greenling though! He was very dark, very skittish, and I got no photos of him. Shortly after I saw the rock greenling I got visited by two huge barking california sea lions (the ones with the domed heads). Perhaps the rock greenlings out there are timid due to the sea lion activity out there.

It is surprisingly flat out there at the point. I had to swim a pretty far out past the rocks to get to 8' of depth.

There is a good amount of boa kelp out there which I was happy to see. I only saw three strands of kelp longer than 4' tall in my near four hours of bottom time. Two macrocystis and one bull kelp. Hope it picks back up in the spring but it will be a tough fight with all that urchin. Funny, I went out to salt creek a couple times over the winter and there were often small commercial boats out at the site, I had always assumed they were collecting urchin. I saw no evidence of an urchin harvest.

I'm always at a loss.... Is fishing/harvesting allowed at salt creek? The sign by the entrance seems to indicate not but even the ranger there encouraged people to go fishing and there were also these commercial boats out there. I saw zero rockfish, and only one tiny ling.

The highlight of the day was definitely the cave, very cool!
Cave of wonder 3
Cave of wonder 3
Tongue Point -- looks kind of cool, but don't let the pic fool you, this little section was by far the best reef scene of the 4 hours of diving
Tongue Point -- looks kind of cool, but don't let the pic fool you, this little section was by far the best reef scene of the 4 hours of diving
Surge zone
Surge zone
The orange peels were on crap backgrounds
The orange peels were on crap backgrounds
Mussel beds in the shallows
Mussel beds in the shallows
It said Hi to Derek
It said Hi to Derek


WARNING: Be super careful if there's any waves at salt creek. The rocks are super slippery and its easy to fall and get turtled. It can be very hard to get up again with waves crashing on you. ALWAYS keep your reg in your mouth when entering/exiting salt creek and strongly consider a plan b dive site if there are waves (viz will be poor if there are waves).

Hope you enjoyed the report. Have a great weekend!

-Eric
Last edited by YellowEye on Thu Mar 11, 2021 11:13 am, edited 9 times in total.
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ScubaJess
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by ScubaJess »

Fantastic report! So sad to hear about the kelp and lack of fish... the cave of wonder with skylight is so cool! Nice find.

I think that crab wanted to go home with you 🤩🦀
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eh.haole
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by eh.haole »

I remember fantastic kelp & anemone gullies right off the point itself in Aug '19. There were lots urchins too, especially "deeper." Will kelp return by summer?

Do we know any sea otter reintroduction specialists? Is it time for another sea urchin foodie fad?
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Jan K
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by Jan K »

Great report ! And you managed nice pics in spite of poor offerings from the marine life...
Yes, it was nice and flat at Keystone yesterday and today. Just Pat and I :)
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60south
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by 60south »

Thanks for the report, even if a bit disappointing. Nice cave!
YellowEye wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:13 am ...conditions were super calm, maybe 3" waves...
Mm, well you and I have a different definition of super calm. Of course, that's probably about as calm as it gets there...
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by derekcs »

Hi to the crab!
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oldsalt
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by oldsalt »

60south wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 7:56 am Thanks for the report, even if a bit disappointing. Nice cave!
YellowEye wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:13 am ...conditions were super calm, maybe 3" waves...
Mm, well you and I have a different definition of super calm. Of course, that's probably about as calm as it gets there...
Sixty: I think 3 inch waves are calm. I bet you do too. I misread inches for feet first time I read it.
Your fan, Curt ;) ;)
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ljjames
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by ljjames »

Sounds like standard winter diving conditions at that site, perhaps slightly exacerbated by seastar wasting. But I can ask my nearshore scientist friend who lives there if she’s noticed anything out of the norm. Its been her research site for like 40 years now.
YellowEye wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:13 am Hi
Yesterday I went to Salt Creek and did some exploratory diving. It was a sunny day and conditions were super calm, maybe 3" waves. It was high tide with little current.

Overall the site is not looking good as compared to previous years. There are urchins all over the place and the site is quite dusty, except either very shallow or deeper than 45. The kelp is mostly gone or half eaten by urchins. Most of the rocks have an ugly brown algae growing on them and it's not pretty.

For the first dive I went east. First I tried to see if I could see the two rock greenlings I'd seen there recently (they often stay put in one place, sometimes for years). Nope, not home. I haven't seen the first one in quite a while now, and I presume they've both moved on or have been fished out.

Viz was much better in near the mussels and barnacles in the shallows so I proceeded to explore the shallows, swimming out past the nearby alternative stair case.

I found a new-to-me sea cave in that area! This one quite colorful with fluorescent green and pink anemones and orange sponges. There was a skylight in the cave which made for a very cool sight. The cave looks to go back a bit but I didn't want to risk going into it as I was solo diving. It was a very calm day yesterday, there's no way you could explore this area with any waves or at low tide. Photography was a definite challenge... it wasn't possible to show all the goodness of the cave in one frame but I got a few snaps to show a few scenes. I think this would be easier to do on video.

On my return, I went deep (45') to explore if there were any cool sights down there. I saw 3 orange peel nudibranchs which was kind of cool, and the usual fish eating anemones, but not much else.

For the second dive, I decided to explore the area to the west to look for more kelp or more life. Nope! There was not much kelp taller than about 4' here and most was munched. Given the lack of kelp and given the excellent wave/current conditions I decided that I should try to explore the point itself. I was hopeful there was good marine life out there as the point takes the brunt of the wave action during wavy days.

Nope, not great. The life out there wasn't any significantly different than right near the entrance. And boy it was a long swim. There is an expansive surf grass zone and I was able to find one rock greenling though! He was very dark, very skittish, and I got no photos of him. Shortly after I saw the rock greenling I got visited by two huge barking california sea lions (the ones with the domed heads). Perhaps the rock greenlings out there are timid due to the sea lion activity out there.

It is surprisingly flat out there at the point. I had to swim a pretty far out past the rocks to get to 8' of depth.

There is a good amount of boa kelp out there which I was happy to see. I only saw three strands of kelp longer than 4' tall in my near four hours of bottom time. Two macrocystis and one bull kelp. Hope it picks back up in the spring but it will be a tough fight with all that urchin. Funny, I went out to salt creek a couple times over the winter and there were often small commercial boats out at the site, I had always assumed they were collecting urchin. I saw no evidence of an urchin harvest.

I'm always at a loss.... Is fishing/harvesting allowed at salt creek? The sign by the entrance seems to indicate not but even the ranger there encouraged people to go fishing and there were also these commercial boats out there. I saw zero rockfish, and only one tiny ling.

The highlight of the day was definitely the cave, very cool!

DSC_8887.jpgDSC_9386.jpgDSC_9231.jpgDSC_8963.jpgDSC_8764.jpgDSC_9482.jpg



WARNING: Be super careful if there's any waves at salt creek. The rocks are super slippery and its easy to fall and get turtled. It can be very hard to get up again with waves crashing on you. ALWAYS keep your reg in your mouth when entering/exiting salt creek and strongly consider a plan b dive site if there are waves (viz will be poor if there are waves).

Hope you enjoyed the report. Have a great weekend!

-Eric
----
"I survived the Brittandrea Dorikulla, where's my T-shirt!"
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60south
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by 60south »

oldsalt wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 10:48 am
60south wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 7:56 am Thanks for the report, even if a bit disappointing. Nice cave!
YellowEye wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:13 am ...conditions were super calm, maybe 3" waves...
Mm, well you and I have a different definition of super calm. Of course, that's probably about as calm as it gets there...
Sixty: I think 3 inch waves are calm. I bet you do too. I misread inches for feet first time I read it.
Your fan, Curt ;) ;)
Oops! you're right.
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YellowEye
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by YellowEye »

60south wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 5:20 pm
oldsalt wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 10:48 am
60south wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 7:56 am Thanks for the report, even if a bit disappointing. Nice cave!
YellowEye wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:13 am ...conditions were super calm, maybe 3" waves...
Mm, well you and I have a different definition of super calm. Of course, that's probably about as calm as it gets there...
Sixty: I think 3 inch waves are calm. I bet you do too. I misread inches for feet first time I read it.
Your fan, Curt ;) ;)
Oops! you're right.
I was gonna say :rofl:
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YellowEye
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by YellowEye »

ljjames wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:54 pm Sounds like standard winter diving conditions at that site, perhaps slightly exacerbated by seastar wasting. But I can ask my nearshore scientist friend who lives there if she’s noticed anything out of the norm. Its been her research site for like 40 years now.

That'd be great! Hope you're well.
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ljjames
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Re: Salt Creek Exploratory Dives 3/10/21

Post by ljjames »

I reached out and was told "standard winter conditions", can't comment on kelp + urchin situation until kelp comes in. the "short kelp" stalks is most likely the understory that doesn't die back and get ripped out by the winter storm in the same manner, stronger holdfasts... also why you see more understory or prostate kelp close in towards shore...

here is a nice overview of our kelp... https://nwstraits.org/media/2802/callow ... -13-19.pdf
YellowEye wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:29 am
ljjames wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:54 pm Sounds like standard winter diving conditions at that site, perhaps slightly exacerbated by seastar wasting. But I can ask my nearshore scientist friend who lives there if she’s noticed anything out of the norm. Its been her research site for like 40 years now.

That'd be great! Hope you're well.
----
"I survived the Brittandrea Dorikulla, where's my T-shirt!"
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