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

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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

Dive Report - La Jolla Shores 8/7/10

Date: 8/7/10
Location: La Jolla Shores, Main Wall
Time in: 7:29 am
Time under: 73 min
Max depth: 77ft
Min temp: 53F
Vis: 5-7 ft above 65 ft, 15+ below
Waves: small
Buddy: Mike, Spencer, Bill


Mike in the gloom at 70 ft.

A couple more photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100807-Scuba-LJS/

Highlights: Seeing the gang at La Jolla Shores and experimenting with wide angle shots in low vis.


Dendronotus iris on the sand at 45 feet.

It wasn't a good day to go wide-angle, but I had hopes of seeing some more jellyfish. I haven't seen a fried egg yet, mostly because I haven't been diving LJS. Needless to say, we didn't see any. Not because they weren't there, but because we couldn't see them in the pea soup above 65 ft. It was a nice long, relaxing dive and it was good to see Mike H., Spencer, Bill, Terry, Kim and Newell.


Mike looking for nudibranchs along the South Wall at La Jolla Shores.

Scott

Dive Report - N Crescent / Seal Rock 8/1/10

Date: 8/1/10
Location: N Crescent, Laguna Beach (Seal Rock)
Time in: 8:06 am
Time under: 92 min
Max depth: 27 ft
Min temp: 59 F
Vis: ~10 ft or less
Waves: sets of 3-4 footers, rip current and surge
Buddies: Graham & Brad





More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100801-Scuba-Seal-Rock/

Highlights: Lots of quality time with a frisky bunch of sea lions.

Graham, Brad and I headed out to Seal Rock on Sunday morning. There were large sets coming in, but there was a long lull in between and it was easily timed (for the patient). On the way out, I noticed how easy it was swimming. Turns out there was a bit of a rip going out along the west end of the reef, probably a result of the south swell being diverted through the reef. Visibility wasn't great, but the sea lions were very frisky. We could see them leaping out of the water and frolicking on the surface as we approached Seal Rock.



We parked ourselves at the base of Seal Rock and waited for them to come to us. We didn't have to wait very long before we were being buzzed by the curious ones. Underwater, you could hear them barking and a large (momma) sea lion kept watch as juveniles would swim around us. Photography was very challenging as we couldn't see them until they were right next to us. They would swim up, stare you in the face (or blow bubbles like they did to Graham) and then jet off in another direction. We also saw them rubbing their backs and bellies along the reef.


Seal Rock, Laguna Beach

Brad had to leave after 1/2 hour and Graham and I stayed until we were below 1000 psi. It was a long swim in, made even longer by the outgoing rip. I charged straight in and noticed that Graham kept getting farther away. He finally made it through and we easily timed the large sets to walk out to a full beach and sunshine. Later in the day, we heard that the beaches in Laguna were closed to diving due to the surf.

Seal Rock:

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Scott

Dive Report - 2 dives off Pt Loma 7/24/10

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.


Red Gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis) and kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera)

Scott

Dive Report - Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach 7/17/10

Catalina Triopha (Triopha catalinae) aka Clown Dorid

Date: 7/17/10
Location: Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach
Time in: 7:51 am
Time under: 84 min
Max depth: 28 ft
Min temp: 57 F
Vis: 10-12 ft
Waves: 1-3 ft
Buddy: Graham

Photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100717-ShawsCove/


Christmas tree worm

Highlights: An abundance of life in shallow water. Saw a (single) hopkins rose, one clown dorid, one zebra goby (no pics), a couple of rockpool blennies, a moray eel deep in a crack and lots of garibaldi eggs.


Urticina mcpeaki anemone

It was beautiful above water, but cold below! Graham and I dressed for summer - thin gloves and Graham with no hood. Even though we stayed shallow, my hands and Graham's feet ended up numb. We still had a fun time exploring the outer reef, while large groups of students stayed in the shallow sand. There was a bit of surge that made taking macro photos all the more exciting. Graham stayed lower on the reef while I ventured up higher where there was more life. We stayed down as long as we could, but in the end, the cold got to us and we had to return to the warm sun.

Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach:

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Scott