Coronado Islands 8/15/10

I know they're in Mexico, but I consider them a Southern California dive site, so here goes report #1.

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So yesterday was my first real day out spearfishing. The water was from about 55-58 degrees, and visibility averaged about 20 feet, but varied from 10-25 depending on time and location. It was a little choppy, but nothing too bad, and for the most part the currents werent too bad (the exception was one that picked up at the end of the day, where in 20-25 minutes I made about 150 yards of progress towards the boat. Thankfully the guys that had been spearfishing on the other side of the boat got to itpretty easily, hopped in, and came and picked me up. Otherwise I think I would have stopped and swam around the island in the other direction, which would have most likely put me in the boat sooner.).

Anyways, we headed to the Coronados out of Shelter Island, and stopped at the North Island. We did a nice warm up of 3 laps of a chunk of the island seaparated by a little Keyhole swim through (the current picked up later on the sheltered side of the island here). We did some warmup freediving in about 20 feet of water. I think my longest dive in there was about 1:07, but I felt I could have done about 1:30 without too much problem. I will say, I was surprised a few times while laying on the bottom to luck up and see 2 or 3 sea lions swimming circles around me about two feet away. From our warm up swim to the end of the day, there were sea lions everywhere, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves doing loops and circles around us. After getting all warmed up, we looked around and checked a few spots before settlin on a calm one for some shooting practice (learning to load and such--it was my first day afterall). Finally, we headed back over to the keyhole for some spearing to finish the day. For me, my deepest dive on the day was to 39' while spearfishing. As with the breath hold, I think I could have gone deeper, but saw no need to really push it on my first day. In the end, Connor and I both shot a Black Perch each (yeah, I know, not some super cool gamefish. There were lots of them though, and while spearing, they were the only fish I saw that seemed large enough to be worth shooting, except for one or two calicos, but they were both too far away and to the side for me to get the gun around on them.), Mark got a Calico, and Mike got a Sheephead. No one was too concerned with their fish so I took em all home and filleted them. Like spearfishing, my filleting skills will improve with time and practice, but other than one or two, they all came out in pretty good shape. I suppose I know what I'm havin for dinner tonight :D.

As for gear I used:
Dan's fins were awesome, but you all knew that already. While my feet with 3 mil socks fit the pockets pretty well, I think a pair of fin keepers might help just a bit. Anyone have a recommendation for what size fin keepers to go with a 42-44 (9-11) fin pocket for a guy with size 10 feet? Dan's weight belt worked great too. I can only guess that everything else he makes is of equal quality.
My omer socks--They worked well enough, but I can't really brag about their quality, they leaked a bit through the seams. Not bad, but not amazinf either.
I still like my mask, and I realized that my snorkel is pretty much a rebranded Cressi Corsica.
Used a Cressi Tecnica 5mm wetsuit, which was fine temperature wise. and worked well enough. I'm more impressed with Dan's suits quality and fit though.
Aeris F.10 was really easy to use and has a perfect display. Unfortunately I seem to be one of many plagued by the Low Battery signal.
Used a Cressi Geronimo Pro 95 with 2 bands, which shot right where I wanted it to. No complaints here, but I have no other experience to compare it to so Perhaps that will change in time.

Anywaye, even though conditions werent great and it didnt feel like the peak of summer, I enjoyed myself, and I have some fish to cook for dinner tonight.

Thanks guys. I meant to have pictures and such, but the camera was amongst things already moved to the new house, so I didn't bring it with me.

Don, I may or may not know of the spot you're talking about. Mark pointed out a couple spots that he really likes for YT and WSB.

Dan, I believe the Coronado Islands are around an hour or so ride from the boat ramp.

Edit: Forgot to mention, lots of good sized bat rays swimming around out there too.