Aboard the No Pressure: Phil's Reef

It took the No Pressure Duo a good while to find just the right dive spot to bare Phil's name, but they finally found one worthy of it. Phil's reef is a scattering of artificial reefs bursting with life at a secret location in Santa Monica Bay. The crab "spider" structure is its iconic identifier, a twisted series of finger like spires jutting out of the gravel sea floor. Phil's reef is also the only Southern California dive site shallower then 80ft known by us to have Metridium anemones. I spent the first few minutes making sure to capture a few good shots of them before moving on to a nearby Scorpion fish guarding his eggs. As I approached he fled from his nest, so unfortunately I wasn't able to capture a shot of him with them. From there I followed a series of pylons which led to a shadowy structure in the distance. As I approached the box "as it's known to Phil & Merry", I encountered a pair of Ronquils. The male was camera shy, so I was only able to shoot one quick snap of him before he fled in haste under a tight ledge. His mate on the other hand hung out and seemed curious of the giant bubble breathing behemoth blinding her with flashing strobes. From there I returned back down the pylons and saw my first Lingcod of the dive. With only 6 minutes of NDL left I started to head for the anchor line. Before I made it there and regrouped with my dive buddy Charlie, Phil pulled me over to a small gorgonian stand. He pointed out another new species for me, a pair of Simnia snails! With little time to spare, I quickly fired a few shots and headed up the anchor line. Every adventure on the No Pressure with Phil and Merry is an incredible one. I'm extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to share so many awesome experiences with them.

Here are a "few" :blinking: shots from the dive:
Trio of Metridium Anemones

Male Ronquil

Female Ronquil

Lingcod

Scorpion fish Egg's

Scorpion fish Egg's Closeup

Yellow Crab

Two more Metridium Anemones thrown in for good measure


Simnia Snail Pair

We'll have to watch the scorpionfish eggs the way we've been monitoring the octopus eggs. I can't wait to see their beady little eyes.

Hey, great shots, Frank! We didn't have all that much bottom time, and you certainly made the most of it. The nest of scorpion fish eggs is a rare find.

MaxBottomtime:

We'll have to watch the scorpionfish eggs the way we've been monitoring the octopus eggs. I can't wait to see their beady little eyes.

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Very cool! It will awesome to see their development.

Merry:

Hey, great shots, Frank! We didn't have all that much bottom time, and you certainly made the most of it. The nest of scorpion fish eggs is a rare find.

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Thx Merry I just wished he would have stuck around on the nest.... would have been a great shot. There's so much to see on Phil's reef that I was almost overloaded with too many photo subjects.