S'not Bad Conditions

[MaxBottomtime]

With a couple of days with nice weather I was hoping for a decent dive after work today. We headed for the Redondo Beach Artificial Reef where we found oily, green surface water. When we dived here last week we had a layer of dirty water that was only three feet thick. Today it reached the bottom.
While looking for some of the minuscule nudibranchs I found recently I continuously saw shadows move overhead. Each time I looked up I saw nothing but sea snot. Merry was able to get some nice jelly shots in the soupy water. I had to settle for more of the usual life on the barge.
Visibility was eight feet on the barge but much less in the water column. Water temperature was 50°.

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[dmoore19]

I always enjoy your pics and your posts. Thanks!

[TSandM]

I know how frustrating it is to find grubby viz, but I would never be unhappy with a dive that turned up that many different kinds of nudis, and those beautiful flatworms to boot!

[deeper thoughts]

nice pix

[Areprobate]

Excellent shots

[blue steal]

Hopefully conditions will improve by this weekend, weather looks great.

[FrankPro1]

Wow! Epic shots! That final capture is incredible! Tiny stars, skeleton shrimp, barnacle fingers and micro nudi.... Doesn't get much better then that! What's in the third shot? Some kind of worm?

[MaxBottomtime]

I turned over a small piece of rust and saw movement. The frondosus was about 1/8" long. The worm was barely visible. The flatworms in the second picture were just as small. In the lower right hand corner is one of the Cuthona albocrustas I found last week. I need to take a microscope to see most of the animals on the barge.

[FrankPro1]

I need to take a microscope to see most of the animals on the barge. I've been thinking about picking up a Subsee +10 diopter for that ;) Did Merry capture any good ones?

[MaxBottomtime]

She only spent a few minutes on the barge, then shots jellies in the snotty water column. She's still going through her pics, but she's making funny sounds as if she is happy with them. Hopefully she will share them soon.

---------- Post added April 18th, 2012 at 07:11 PM ----------


I've been thinking about picking up a Subsee +10 diopter for that ;)
That's what Scott Webb uses. He gets some incredible shots, but never shares them. :(
http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/x384/MaxBottomtime/Redondo%20Beach%20Artificial%20Reef/ScottWebb.jpg

[keithbt]

Amazing!

[MaxBottomtime]

I Photoshopped the original file of the Doriopsilla albopunctata to bring out the shrimp and their eggs.

[fnfalman]

How do you find these little creatures? Magnification from the camera lens?

[MaxBottomtime]

Actually the lens shoots 1:1, but I have it a couple inches away from the critters. There is a ton of photographic "bycatch" on the barge. In the last couple of dives there I've found two species of nudis that I didn't have in my collection before, despite diving the barge several dozen times. It amazes me that there is a whole other world of life that we can barely see. Before Merry retired, we used to collect water samples and look at the incredible array of life in her microscopes. Even the most boring dive sites will have millions of animals around you.

[TSandM]

Uncle Pug, who used to post here, had built himself a magnifying glass he could use underwater, and that's how he spent his deco -- watching the myriads of small animals that the rest of us lump into "schmutz".

[fnfalman]

The magnifying glass idea sounds swell. I am just about maxed out with my own eyeballs. I'd be three inches above things and I can only see so much.

[Steve Eady]

Hey how's the diving been down there. We are coming back down in June, and I want to try to do the Catalina boat trip agai. Hope the winds not blowing LOL. Are you interested in going on the Express.
Steve

[fnfalman]

Hey how's the diving been down there. We are coming back down in June, and I want to try to do the Catalina boat trip agai. Hope the winds not blowing LOL. Are you interested in going on the Express.
Steve

Water seems to be a bit cooler this year, but it's still good. I'm always interested in going on the Sundiver Express.