Fuel Economy

[MaxBottomtime]

The only good thing to come from this terrible year of dive conditions is the savings from the high cost of marine fuel. During better conditions we were filling our gas tanks every other month. Today was our first visit to the fuel dock this year. We couldn't have picked a better morning for it.

The ocean was the flattest we've seen it along the south side of Palos Verdes in a long time. We stopped along the way to dive at White Point Rock. It was dark and gloomy on the reef. A brown algae was choking nearly every invertebrate. Sponges and gorgonians were dead underneath the hairy invader.

There were a lot of fish still here but not nearly as many nudibranchs as we had found in previous dives.

Yellow zoanthids, Parazoanthus lucificum

Austraeolis stearnsi

Triopha catalinae

Aegires albopunctatus

After fueling up the ocean showed its usual face to us. We bounced our way back toward Redondo Beach, pausing for a dive at Golf Ball Reef.

Yellowfin fringehead, Neoclinus stephensae

Protula sp

Nudi nursery

Pseudoceros montereyensis

Cadlina limbaughorum

Cadlina flavomaculata

Acanthodoris hudsoni

Berthella californica

A tiny Caprella californica joined us for our safety stop.

 

[g2]

Awesome shots! You're getting an amazing depth of field.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The hard part is that I was using a 105mm lens with a Nikon 6T close up lens. The focal range is only about 1/2" so I end up deleting a lot of shots.

 

[drrich2]

Beautiful shots & subjects. About what % of your shooting is macro? From your threads I've gotten the subjective impression you shoot a lot of high quality macro photography in often low-viz. (by your reports; I wouldn't know it by your photos) conditions. Do you just love macro. subjects, or is that simply what it's usually practical to shoot in the conditions at hand?

Richard.

 

[BenjaminF]

Amazing pictures.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I shoot macro about 95% of the time but not by choice. We occasionally get better than twenty feet visibility but more often than not it is less than ten feet. We usually abort when it's less than two feet.
We're going to God's Pocket near Port Hardy British Columbia next month. I'm taking my wide angle lens just in case.
Some of my rare wide angle shots;

 

[Divebum Don]

Sweeet shots Phil!!... are you still runnin' down to Jancovich for fuel?? Caught him up in Alaska while I was there cooking/working @ SureStrikeLodge, he "tipped" me back for ALL the gallons I bought there, Haaa!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

$5.17 at Rocky Point, King Harbor. $3.50 at Yankovich. No brainer. We saved $208 and got to dive off San Pedro for a change.