The dizzy Rubicon Wall, CA USA

MYKA

Hi,
it has been 5 months that I live in Davis, California. After 10 years of diving in France, I discover the beautifull diving spots of California with my rebreather (Evolution APD).
Here are the spots that I already tried, always from the shore.
On the coast in the Monterey canyon
- Point Lobos
- Monastery beach, when the weather permits to start from the beach
In the mountains, at the border of California/Nevada, lake Tahoe
- Hurricane Bay
- Rubicon Wall
Beneath, my first diving report in English, so please forgive me with all errors...

July 11.2010
After 2 hours of driving from Davis, I arrived in the lake Tahoe, which is a big lake at 2000m/6000ft altitude. I entered in D.L Bliss State Park and parked on top of Calloway Cove.
It was not so difficult to bring my dive gear on the beach : rebreather, 2 bailouts, drysuit....
It was hard to dress up with my several underwear and the drysuit ; but it is absolutely necessary, because the water is around 18 Celsius at the surface, but only 5 Celsius at 20 meters deep...
The water is blue and cristallin.

Trimix 9/58 as diluent for the rebreather
S006 with argon for the drysuit
S80 of trimix 20/25 as first bailout
S80 of Nitrox 70 as second bailout
Gradient factor GF 30/80
Immersion close to the beach... , and 5 minutes later (swimming, I don't have scooter), I was above the Rubicon wall.


The dizzy wall starts at 10 meters deep and go to 300 meters deep (1000ft!!!!!). I started my way down along some big rocks.


The wall scrolled down in front of me, sometimes crevices, overhangs or cracks. It is certainly not a dive for fauna and flora, but of course for geology.
The water is still cristallin and bright. Light blue above my head, and dark blue under my fins.
My torch is useless... Soon, I will have to stop going down, and thinking of going back up. 76m deep (around 250feet), I can not see the bottom, but a mountain stands in front of me!

No bubbles, no sounds, just a fantastic landscape in the silence.

Later on the top of the wall I met some animals. Some fishes (even in french, I don't know the species name), and a lot of crawfishes everywhere.

This group fight for their lunch...
I swam around during 1 hour, on shallow sand and rocks, taking some pictures.

After 105minof diving, it's time to reach the surface.
Before leaving, we hiked in the park. The walk around is nice, even at the surface.

If you ever think about diving in the lake, and you are looking for a buddy, just let me know!
Mickael

MYKA

Hi,
next scheduled dive, August 07th, same place, similar dive, maybe less deep, but longer (2hours).
Send me a message if you are interested to join me for this dive.
Have a good weekend,
Mickael