Dive Report - Pt Loma Kelp 3/24/13

Date: 3/24/13
Location: Pt Loma Kelp Beds on the Humboldt


More photos: http://www.underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20130324-Scuba-Pt-Loma/

Dive #1:

Time in: 8:58 am
Time under: 54 min
Max depth: 81 ft
Ave temp: 52 F
Vis: 5-10 ft, mostly 5 feet of dark pea soup green
Waves: minor swells
Buddies: Marla, Mike, Terry, Kim, John


Cabezon (Scorpaenichthys marmoratus) resting on the reef in the Pt Loma kelp beds.

Dive #2:

Time in: 10:54 am
Time under: 54 min
Max depth: 67 ft
Ave temp: 54 F
Buddies: Marla, Mike, Terry, Kim
Vis: 10-15+ much better
Waves: Surgey

Highlights: First time in the water with my D800. Good times with good friends.


Giant Acorn Barnacle (Balanus nubilus) and Club-tipped Anemone (Corynactis californica) on a reef off Pt Loma, CA.

On the first dive, I was setup for wide angle and eager to try video. Of course, conditions were pretty murky with very bad vis and murky green water. I spent the dive playing around with the camera settings and experimenting, trying to keep my dive buddies in sight. Turns out leaving the camera set to follow focus for video underwater is not a viable option. The camera spent most of the short video sequences hunting focus. Manual focus is not an option either, so I'll have to see how setting focus periodically works (with a decent f-stop). Lots to learn there.


Spanish Shawl (Flabellina iodinea) on a reef in the Pt Loma kelp beds.

For the second dive, I switched to macro. Visibility was quite a bit better, on a shallower reef (~60 ft). I followed Mike and Marla and we found a nice pinnacle to investigate. I spent the whole dive there, going back and forth in the surge. There we found a nice cabezon resting on the reef, lots of flabellina trilineata nudibranchs, hermissendas, spanish shawls, etc. As we did our safety stop in the bluish water, surrounded by swaying kelp, a large school of senoritas swam under us. They were followed by a sea lion doing somersaults. Mike and I surfaced a little ways away from the boat and I guess they took a vote and decided to watch us swim to it (even though Ryan was going to come pick us up) since we were the last ones up.

Scott