Marineland conditions

[MaxBottomtime]

Large swells kept us from exploring Honeymoon Cove today so we moved around to the south side for some protection. Marineland looked OK so we dropped anchor on the platform. Visibility looked pretty nice in the top fifty feet. On the platform we could see about twenty feet for the first half hour. After that a current came up and reduced the visibility to about ten feet of sand filled water. I decided to head up. Merry remained on the platform and watched the visibility return. Water was 57° with a thermocline one foot off the bottom.
Life has returned to the platform after the last time it was dragged by a squid boat. Corynactis anemmones and bryozoan cover the steel structure and crabs and nudibranchs are once again crawling on it.

A strange looking critter hitches a ride on a Triopha catalinae.

 

[drbill]

Is that a windmill worm, Phil? Quite different from the ones I've seen and filmed (and the ones I find here are at significant depth)

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Yes it is. They are common in the mudflats near the Marineland platform.

 

[drbill]

Interesting. You "Big Islanders" see lots of stuff I only see at depth (or not at all). Most of the windmill worms I've filmed have been at depths of 130-200 fsw.