Diving with Sea Lions
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2006
1
279
551
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
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Cabo Blanco,
Argentina
Friday, March 2, 2007
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On the way to Cabo Blanco, Hector had warned us this was going to be an "adventure dive" (un busceo de aventura). It was also not certain that we could dive at all.
When we arrived at cabo blanco, Hector showed us the dive entry: it was on a gravel beach, with bigger rocks everywhere. The waves were too strong, and we could not dive.
It was a few hours before high tide, so we went to visit the lighthouse while Hector prepared the asado, hoping for better condition at high tide.
The wind and the waves were still too strong in the afternoon, although we had a blue sky with only a few clouds.
We had a lengthy asado, with more walking in the rocks, watching the cormorans, chating.
We got ready to leave at about 6pm. Just as we were going, Hector said that it was a shame, because the conditions were ok then. I said I could go. Fabio said he could go.
The only problem was the friend of Hector, who was waiting for us at around 7pm: that was the agreed time, after which he was supposed to assume that something had happened and come to get us. Hector and Leonel decided to go for the dive anyway.
Lionel decided not to dive, so it was only Fabio and me, with Leonel the lifeguard as divemaster.
We got ready on the beach, it was cold.
Entering the water was not that easy: we had to walk between rocks, and then take the wave to swim away from the shore, with rocks all around and under us.
Leandro took the equiment into the water afterwards and gave it to us 15 meters from the shore, behind the waves. We put it on, swam a bit further, and started the dive.
I could not sink, even though I had 12kg of lead on my belt! I was almost there though, so I dived down, and once on the seafloor, I stayed there, as my 7mm neoprene suit had got compressed and was therfore less buoyant, as any diver knows.
The visibility was awful: 3 meters maximum, and there were huge brown alguaes growing from the seafloor up to the surface.
We were 6m deep, and the swell was taking us to one side and then the other, there were lots of particles in suspension and we had to hold on the rocks to progress.
We saw a few starfish and small crabs, and I thought we were not going to see any sea lions (lobos). From the shore we had seen that a lot of them were back on the rocks anyway. But I was happy to try, this kind of shit visibility dive was a new experience.
After a while we had approached the rock island where the sea lion were, and suddenly Leonel pointed his finger up: a shadow passed above us. We kept looking around, and saw a few lobos speeding through the water, 2 meters away from us. It was great.
We continued the dive, seeing them occasionally, as we were going around their island. We passed a small canyon and reached 10 meter depth. From then on, wehad a magical moment: there were plenty of lobos around us, staying betwen 1m and 2m away, watching us, swimming away, swimming towards us to have a look and suddenly turning away.. it was so great, really magic. They don't swim with their paws, but rather by ondulating their whole body, in any direction. It's very funny to see, and makes their moves totally unpredictable.
That wasthe closest I ever got to a sea lion too, as on land they don't let you approach.
All the while, a strong current was dragging us parralel to the coast. I knew the direction because I could see the light of the setting sun, which was behind the beach from our point of view.
The current became really strong, stronger than what I could swimm against. I grabbed a rock and stayed there, while Leonel was swimming to stay at my level, and Fabio went away with the current...
Leonel ordered to surface, he was a bit hurried...
I waited for him to find Fabio, whi was a few meters away but who I could not see, and he turned back to me and ordered to surface again, so I did that with him.
Up there we waited for Fabio for less than 30 seconds, but it seemed long. I looked around and saw that we were way too far offshore: The sea lions island was some 50 meters from the beach, and we were another 50 meters away... not good, but hey, that's where we were.
Oh and did I mention that the water was bloody cold? I was comfortable with my wetsuit, but I had problems speaking in spanish cause my face was semi-paralysed, haha.
And during the dive, the sea had become more agitated again.
Fabio surfaced even further than Leonel and me... and he was not coming back towards us. Leonel took out his diving equipment, gave it to me, and started to swim towards Fabio.
Leonel being a lifeguard and divemaster, I did not have to wait for them, and I started to swim towards the rocks, where we had a buoy attached, and which should have been our dive exit, 50 meters from the beach.
I had cramps in the calves, so I had to go slowly, dragging with me Leonel's equipment. But very luckily, contrarily to the bottom current which was going offshore, the surface current was going towards the beach.
I arrived to the buoy, and waited for Leonel and Fabio. Fabio was too tired, so Leonel had dragged him all the way. Note that with our equipment and wetsuit, we all floated, we only had to swim to move arount, not to stay on the surface.
Leandro was on the shore rocks, some 20 meters from us, and waved at us to get out where he was...
Leonel started to swim there with Fabio, then took back his equipment from me, an brought it to Leandro. At that point a serie of big waves arrived, and I think it was pretty dangerous for them. I swam away from the rocks, as I had no desire to be thrown against them by the waves.
Clearly, Leonel was not sure if we would be able to swim back to the beach, an was not sure if it was a good idea to get out on the rocks... so I took the decision and told him I was swimming back to the beach. He was still not sure, and I did not want that anybody separated from the others, especially since I had cramps, Fabio was exhausted, and Leonel had done a fair bit of swimming so far.
After a few minutes I told Leonel again that we should go to the beach, and I started swiming in that direction waving at Fabio to follow me. I was waiting for him, as each time he started swimming he turned around and did not progress much. Leonel got to him, and they came to me together. It was quite easy to get near the beach,as the current and the waves were pushing us in that direction. Had it been the contrary, I don't know where we would have ended up, and how long we would have had to wait for a ship to pass by and look for us, especially since we were two hours from the night and did not carry lights...
But anyway, we were near the beach. Leonel took Fabio near the exit point, which was a two meter pass between the rocks, with rocks underneath too, and a gravel beach to land on in the end.
My turn came, not a big deal, as it was just going out with the waves, which we always do at home. But for people not used to it, it could be a great opportunity to break their teeth on he rocks.
I made the remark that we were lucky that after going too far from the shore under the water, the surface current took us back, otherwise bye bye. I think that was just what everybody thought.
The three of us were all happy to have shared that incredible moment with the lobos, and Fabio was throwing up on the beach. ___________________________________________________________
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