Merry
Contributor
With northeast wind hammering us on the west side of PV yesterday, Phil, Kevin, and I headed for the south side of PV. Once we were out of the wind the ocean was calm, but the kelp on Buchanan's Reef was horizontal. To get out of the current, we moved over to Ted's Pinnacle and dropped anchor. Just as we were about to jump, I noticed that we were smack dab in the center of a narrow current line. Good times! This meant that there might be some zooplankton in the current to shoot.
Not so much. We needed a granny line to get to the anchor rode, and a blistering westerly current stayed with us all the way to the bottom. Reminiscent of Cozumel, I thought. On the upside, viz was at least 30 feet, 59 degrees. We saw a school of sargo but not one pelagic gelatinous critter.
By the time we returned to the west side to check out a new site near Rocky Point, wind had died down. But again we were greeted by a stout current all the way to the bottom. As on the first dive, I hunkered down and worked on some very small stuff with my 105 mm lens.
This 3/16" Hopkin's Rose (Okenia rosacea) hasn't grown into its rhinophores yet.
Note the eye spot.
Kevin found this 1/4" Polycera atra laying eggs.
A miniscule Doto amyra on the tube of an amphipod. (I can just barely make out the crustacean at the bottom of the tube). The low growing algae gives some sense of scale.
Lots of beautiful worms at the Rocky Point site:
Not so much. We needed a granny line to get to the anchor rode, and a blistering westerly current stayed with us all the way to the bottom. Reminiscent of Cozumel, I thought. On the upside, viz was at least 30 feet, 59 degrees. We saw a school of sargo but not one pelagic gelatinous critter.
By the time we returned to the west side to check out a new site near Rocky Point, wind had died down. But again we were greeted by a stout current all the way to the bottom. As on the first dive, I hunkered down and worked on some very small stuff with my 105 mm lens.
This 3/16" Hopkin's Rose (Okenia rosacea) hasn't grown into its rhinophores yet.
Note the eye spot.
Kevin found this 1/4" Polycera atra laying eggs.
A miniscule Doto amyra on the tube of an amphipod. (I can just barely make out the crustacean at the bottom of the tube). The low growing algae gives some sense of scale.
Lots of beautiful worms at the Rocky Point site:
