Dive: 35
Season Dive: 3
Date: 7/12/09
Site: Huntington Access, Huntington
Avg/Max Depth: 19/40
Temp: 63
TBT/CBT: 1:09/27:56
Buddies: Curtis & Kristen

Once again, Curtis’s rendition:

The “winter like” morning wasn’t very inviting in regards to diving. The morning air was crisp at 55 degrees. We took our time eating breakfast and drinking cabin coffee before packing the car and heading out. We first stopped at the west end of Huntington looking for a site called “Gettin’ the Shaft” which is a “must see” and I’ve never been. Trouble is the road is blocked off and is meant only for pedestrians. There is a steep goat path that can be used but isn’t exactly a dive site. We decided against the treacherous climb and headed for the Huntington Public Access. As we piled back in the car the MSD van showed up with Mark C. bringing some students out.

When we arrived at the site the cold weather was gone and it was a beautiful mid morning. We had the site to ourselves except for a fisherman dropping his boat in. I snapped a few pics while getting ready. Such fantastic scenery…

We started the dive by placing the flag and swimming to the right, following the old mining road. Holy smokes was visibility good!

We dipped down to the 40 foot mark which would be like the second spiral of a circular road. Not much to look at, no trees, no fish, just loose rocks, and weeds. We ascended a bit to another flat area with more weeds. This entire side of the pit reminds me of a giant staircase. Flat road beds separated by sharp drop offs. I think we saw at least three levels of it. There were a few suckers swimming around and I even caught a glimpse of a trout but not much else. Around 30 minutes in to the dive I dipped back down to 35 feet to cool off before heading for the shallows and turning around.

The way back had more fish life. The terrain was flat weed beds between gentle slopes. The weed beds had all sorts of small fish. Kristen and Jill got a kick out of laying down in the weeds and watching the fish at eye level with the blue abyss as a back drop.

There was one rocky area that was swarming with fish for no apparent reason. It didn’t seem to be any special structure. We stopped for a while and I was surrounded by the little devils. Making me go cross-eyed. I didn’t notice them harassing the ladies. I thought of Mike S. getting viciously attacked in the lip by a sunny at this very site. Haha!!! Further along I noticed a ledge in 3 feet of water. I creeped up and found numerous sunfish guarding their spawning beds. The sunlight beating down made it quite a sight.

Getting close to the exit we grabbed the flag and headed for shore. As we went I found another bunch of spawning beds. They look so darn pretty snuggled in their little beds.

What a turn around from the early morning. It turned out to be a perfect day. The dive was awesome, spectacular visibility, fish life, and buddies.

Source

I really must get in the habit of dive blogging right away.