Underpressure Photography - Blog about underwater and nature photography: Dive Report

Date: 7/24/10
Location: Lazy Days Wreck, Pt Loma CA
Time in: 11:29 am
Time under: 51 min
Max depth: 81 ft
Min temp: 54 F
Vis: 15-20 ft on average
Waves: 1-2 ft swells w/ a little bit of surge
Buddy: Mikey, Z (Elizabeth), Julie w/ a NOAA Jim sighting

Location: Broomtail Reef, Pt Loma CA
Time in: 2:09 pm
Time under: 50 min
Max depth: 73 ft
Min temp: 54 F
Vis: 20-25 ft
Waves: 1-2 ft swells w/ surge
Buddy: Mikey

Black Sea Nettle Jellyfish (Chrysaora achlyos)

More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100724-Scuba-Broomtail-Reef/

Highlights: Many black sea nettles (a first for me), another McFarland's chromodorid, good conditions and great company.

Spanish Shawl (Flabellina iodinea)

I joined the Scuba Do for another great pair of dives off Pt Loma yesterday. Conditions topside were cool and overcast (our new summer norm) and it was cold at depth as well. The first dive was on the Lazy Days wreck. Before getting in the water, we spotted two different black sea nettles float by near the surface. I was rigged for wide angle and was looking forward to seeing one underwater. I followed the anchor line straight down to the wreck with Mikey and Julia. Soon after, Z joined us. As I was trying to find a good composition for wide angle on the reef, Z tapped me on the shoulder and motioned to follow her. She led me to a nice size black sea nettle floating in the water column. I spent the next 10 minutes photographing the black sea nettle. After that, I dropped back down to photograph the reef and gorgonians some more until NOAA Jim zoomed by. He motioned for help getting his flashlight unhooked, I helped him and he was quickly on his way again. Soon my time was up and I slowly made my way up the anchor line.

MacFarland's Chromodorid (Chromodoris macfarlandi)

For the second dive, I switched to macro and we lost Z and Julie due to the cold. Mikey and I dropped down and headed east towards the pinnacles at Broomtail Reef. We spotted two more black sea nettles and I was able to shoot a hitchhiking crab on one of them. I waved Mikey off as I spent the rest of the dive one the closest reef structure. There I found dozens and dozens of hermissendas, many spanish shawls, a McFarland's chromodorid, a porters chromodorid, a couple of catalina triopha, a yellow spotted cadlina, a tritonia festiva, a large yellow edged cadlina, San Diego dorids, and white spotted porostomes. I also found a blue-ring topsnail to finish off the dive. Mikey let me know when he was low on air and I reluctantly followed him up, knowing that the rest of the group was waiting topside. The vis opened up a bit on the way up and it was actually somewhat blue in the 30-50 ft range in the kelp. A beautiful way to end a day of diving. On the surface, the sun was breaking out through the clouds and the waves were getting a bit choppy. It was time to head home.