Racing the Wind

[MaxBottomtime]

We waited until it was light enough at 5:30 this morning to look at the beach cameras. It was a little bumpy but calm. We hurried to the marina and managed to get in two dives before the wind came up.

There was surprisingly little water movement at the crane and Golf Ball Reef off Haggerty's. We weren't used to taking photos without getting knocked around. Visibility was OK at 15-18 feet and we had 58° during the first dive. The incoming tide dropped the temperature to 53° for our dive at Golf Ball Reef.

If we get lucky we may even try for a sunrise dive tomorrow.

Protula sp

Yellowfin fringehead, Neoclinus stephensae

California scorpionfish, Scorpaena guttata

Rockpool blenny, Hypsoblennius gilberti

Sheepcrab, Loxorhynchus grandis

Garibaldi eggs

Guardian of Golf Ball Reef

 

[htatton]

I enjoyed the pics, thanks

 

[SCRedWolf]

Very nice pictures and thank you very much for naming the critters. I love learning what that fish is.

 

[geoff w]

Great pictures as always! Yesterday at the far north end of Santa Monica Bay we got in one of the better shore dives of the year so far, which isn't saying much. At 10 ft, the viz was finally better than the surge and we were able to see more critters than we have for a while. Hopefully it's the start of a trend of returning to the much better dive conditions we're used to. Up here all the beaches have turned in to rock fields, and it looks like a lot of our smaller reef have been all or partially buried under all the sand that's washed out

I think I need to start bringing a magnifying glass on my dives to see a lot of the details and smaller critters you are always showing off. Even with viz that doesn't come close to clear tropical water you still manage to get magnificent shots on poor viz days

 

[MaxBottomtime]

My wide angle lens is collecting dust.
I don't think I've seen wide angle conditions since the beginning of the year. It cleared for a couple of days last month to bring my hopes up but soon returned to the usual 2016 conditions. We had twelve feet vis on the Redondo barge this morning but the incoming swells lowered that to less than five feet by the end of the dive.

 

[geoff w]

Earlier this year, conditions looked like they might be pretty good, so one dive buddy brought his GoPro. The surge was greater than the visibility, and we figured the presence of the GoPro jinxed us to 6 more weeks of crappy conditions. Since then nobody has been allowed to bring a GoPro on a shore dive with us. We're still waiting for the jinx to end

Maybe if I start diving with a magnifying glass the scuba gods will bring back good underwater visibility