Cabo San Lucas, August 2010 - Part 1

The 'Arch' at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico


Cabo San Lucas is not the first place you'd think of when planning a dive trip to Mexico. Cabo San Lucas is better known for sport fishing and silver jewelry. There are other, more exotic places like the cenotes in the Riviera Maya, Mexico, the Sea of Cortez off La Paz, Mexico, Cozumel, Mexico or a live aboard at the Socorro Islands (which happen to leave out of Cabo). But if you do find yourself going to Cabo San Lucas, I would highly recommend bringing your scuba gear and camera. There are a few local dive shops, including Manta Scuba and Amigos Del Mar. I did my diving with Amigos Del Mar (amigosdelmar.com), based on a recommendation from another underwater photographer.

Gorgonian sea fans with a school of small fish in the background.

* Local dive sites - Pelican Rock

Right outside the Cabo harbor lies a number of local dive sites. Charter boats are there daily and get you to the dive site 5 minutes after boarding. Because the swells from the Pacific side were up the week we were there, we were limited to the more protected sites.


Panamic arrow crab (Stenorhynchus debilus)

Pelican Rock is a large pinnacle that lies on the edge of the canyon, surrounded by sand and close to shore. There were many snorkelers and other dive boats all contending for space. As we swam around the pinnacle to the canyon edge, a manta ray was visible in the distance, though too far to photograph or catch up with. There was also sand falls - a seemingly never ending underwater stream of sand, falling over the canyon edge.

Snorkelers swim around Pelican Rock, with its gorgonian sea fans and schools of tropical fish

Next I'll describe the dive at Neptune's Finger and share some more photos from the local Cabo dive sites.

Snorkeling at the Marine Room 10/10/10

Photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20101010-Snorkeling-Marine/


Leopard Shark (Triakis semifasciata) at the Marine Room, La Jolla CA

After seeing the leopard sharks in the knee deep water last weekend and hearing from Kevin that they were still there on Friday, I decided to do what I've wanted to try for some time - go snorkeling with the leopard sharks with my camera. Unfortunately, conditions were pretty bad and I chose high tide as the time to go. The small waves were crashing up against the Marine Room and the sea walls of the surrounding houses. Visibility was maybe 10 ft in some spots, but much less in others. I made a wide loop, heading north in shallow water and then ended up well south of the Marine Room entry way, where the kelp became too thick to comfortably snorkel through. Even with all that against me, I managed to find a nice sized angel shark in about 8 ft of water. It was determined to not be disturbed, even with me swimming down to photograph it from a foot away. On my way back in, I got lucky and a couple of leopard sharks swam towards me, making a couple of passes before disappearing. Then one must have been completely oblivious and swam right underneath me in about 5 ft of water. I'll definitely be coming back next summer, when the conditions are better and there are more sharks out.


Angel Shark (Squatina californica) at the Marine Room, La Jolla CA

Scott

Dive report - La Jolla Shores 10/3/10

Date: 10/3/10
Location: La Jolla Shores, CA
Time in: 7:36 am
Time under: 74 min
Max depth: 66 ft
Ave temp: 61 F
Vis: 10-15 ft
Waves: 1-2 ft
Buddies: Spencer, Terry, Merriane


Yellow Crab (Cancer anthonyi)

More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/2010-10-03-Scuba-LJS/

Highlights: Large halibut at about 40 ft, stearns aeolids, visiting Vallecitos Pt after a long time away.

We met up at La Jolla Shores as the sun was unsuccessfully breaking through the clouds. The waves were small and the water was deceptively calm. On the swim out, we quickly got caught up in a long shore current pulling south. About half way out to the drop point, the current ceased. Conditions were pretty clear (15+ ft vis) when we dropped into 60 ft of water, but didn't stay that way. 4 photographers, each shooting macro in their own little world spread out along the south wall. Some of us met up at Vallecitos Point, where the calm was invaded by new student divers.


California halibut (Paralichthys californicus)

Reaching the turn around air pressure, we started heading east, up the slope. Spencer and I found a relatively large California Halibut (~3-4 ft long). With my macro lens, all that I could get a picture of was it's misshaped face. In honor of opening weekend for lobsters, I took a couple photos of a lucky lobster, safely tucked away in the nature preserve.


California Spiny Lobster (Panulirus interruptus)

Scott

Dive Report - La Jolla Marine Room 10/2/10

Date: 10/2/10
Location: Marine Room, La Jolla
Time in: 10:47 am
Time under: 71 min
Max depth: 99 ft
Avg temp: 61 F
Vis: ~10 ft
Waves: 1-2 ft, easy
Buddies: Julie L., Mikey, NOAA Jim


Spanish Shawl (Flabellina iodinea)" alt="Spanish Shawl (Flabellina iodinea)

More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/2010-10-02-Scuba-Marine-Room/

Highlights: Leopard sharks in the shallows, lots of lobsters on the canyon rim (hiding in the preserve), a couple of sheep crabs, a cormorant, tons of pipefish, lots of small nudibranchs. Oh yeah, my 200th dive and first dive with my new (used) Transpac and wing (thanks Rob!).


Three Lined Aeolid (Flabellina trilineata) laying eggs

Had a really nice dive with Julie, Mikey and Jim. Mikey and Jim headed down the hill as soon as we dropped down, so Julie and I stopped around 95 feet and hung out taking macro photos. A cormorant buzzed us at about 60 ft and there were lots of small nudibranchs in the shallows (20-30 ft), so we took our time heading in. I'm working on getting an ID on the last photo (thanks Terry, Kim and Mike) - the tiny nudibranch. The transpac worked great and keeping good trim was super easy compared to a jacket BC.


Feather duster tube worm

As we were exiting, we were surrounded by leopard sharks in ~4 feet of water. It was awesome seeing them at our feet and through the small breaking waves. One of these days, I need to snorkel at the Marine Room with them.

Scott

Dive Report - Shaws Cove 9/25/10

Date: 9/25/10
Location: Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach
Time in: 10:01 am
Time under: 83 min
Max depth: 44 ft
Min temp: ~59 F
Vis: 15-25 ft, w/ 30+ vertical
Waves: 1-2 feet, nothing big
Buddies: my pony


Simnia (Delonovolva aequalis) on red gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis)

More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100925-Scuba-Shaws-Cove/

Highlights: Beautiful conditions above water and below water. My first simnia, a few cockerellis, hopkins roses, spanish shawls and a moray.


Abstract Spanish Shawl (Flabellina iodinea)

I had a nice, long relaxing dive at Shaws on Saturday morning, before the weather turned freakishly hot. Conditions were great and visibility was spectacular. I decided to push past the initial canyon swim through and explore the outer reef. There were lots of students in the water and I wanted to get out past them. When I got to about 40 feet deep, I found the large canyon walls, 30-40 feet vertical and filled with life. The garibaldis were out in force guarding their eggs, spanish shawls were munching on hydroids, juvenile treefish hiding sheepishly in the crevices, and blacksmith were all over the place. I spent some time just exploring the canyons that link Shaws Cove and Crescent. The kelp forest is coming along nicely (thanks!) and the snails have taken up residence. On the way back in, I stopped in the initial large canyon area to visit the hopkins roses.


Moray Eel (Gymnothorax mordax) and red shrimp

I've only dove Shaws Cove 5 times and each time I find something that surprises me. Definitely more to explore in the canyons, when the conditions are right.

Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach

View Larger Map

Scott

Dive Report - La Jolla Shores Night Dive 9/11/10

Date: 9/11/2010
Dive # 197
Location: La Jolla Shores, CA
Time in: 7:26 pm
Time under: 81 min
Max depth: 64 ft
Vis: 15-20 at depth
Waves: 1-2 ft, with wind chop on the surface
Buddies: Mike H., Terry and Kim


Bay Pipefish (Syngnathus leptorhynchus)

More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100911-Scuba-LJS-Night-Dive/

Highlights: A rare night dive for me. We saw the usual suspects - lots of shrimp, octopi, crab, sarcastic fringehead out of their holes, and a lone market squid.


Horn shark (Heterodontus francisci)

Had a nice long dive with Mike, with occasional sightings of Kim and Terry. We spent a large portion of the dive in the crap patch before heading south looking for the D. iris. We either didn't make it far enough south or they're not there anymore. We didn't find a hole lot of nudibranchs out other than a few hermissendas. Visibility at depth made it easy to keep an eye on each other from a distance, but above ~25 feet, it was cloudy. Lots of bio luminescence in the water.


Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens) and sand dollars (Dendraster excentricus)

Scott

Dive Report - La Jolla Shores 9/4/10

Date: 9/4/10
Location: La Jolla Shores, Main Wall
Time in: 7:53 am
Time under: 48 min
Max depth: 64 ft
Vis: ~15 below 25 ft
Waves: 1-2 ft
Buddies: Spencer and family, Mike H, Marla, Terry


Free swimming Dendronotus iris at La Jolla Shores.

More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100904-Scuba-LJS/


Highlights: Getting back out at LJS with good friends, seeing all the D. iris nudis.

We all met up for Spencer's 'bachelor party' dive and to take his sister and brother-in-law out for a dive. I was shooting wide angle, so the D. iris photos are not quite what I would have done with a macro lens.


Dendronotus iris orgy, with eggs.

It was good practice, in any case and it was really cool seeing them spread out all over the sand at ~25-30 ft. Some were mating, some were swimming, some were having an orgy.


Free swimming Dendronotus iris at La Jolla Shores.

Scott