It's been a long time since I dived Honeymoon Cove. The kelp outside the cove has been thick this year, so I looked on Google Earth for any part of the reef that had enough relief to make it worthwhile. I found a few rocks offshore that top off around thirty feet with the bottom around seventy. One really stood out, so I wrote down the coordinates and motored around the hill.
The numbers put us right on the center of the reef. I made a giant stride and before my lips broke the surface I yelled, "Wow!" This was the best visibility I have ever seen near shore in Palos Verdes. The surface water was clear enough to see the stern of our boat from at least fifty feet away. I was surrounded by kelp and the ever present blacksmiths. I thought I was at Catalina for a moment. Visibility on the reef was better than thirty feet, and I always give a conservative number.
Less than a minute after checking the anchor I found two Hopkin's Rose nudibranchs laying eggs. A Cuthona divae placed its eggs next to a hedgehog hydroid a few feet away. It isn't Hawthorne Reef nor Buchanan's, but this little gem had quite a bit of life for such a shallow site. I even managed to get a blue banded and a zebra goby to hold still long enough to compose a shot.
Bryozoan on kelp
A garibaldi was kind enough to let me stick my lens in his nest.
The numbers put us right on the center of the reef. I made a giant stride and before my lips broke the surface I yelled, "Wow!" This was the best visibility I have ever seen near shore in Palos Verdes. The surface water was clear enough to see the stern of our boat from at least fifty feet away. I was surrounded by kelp and the ever present blacksmiths. I thought I was at Catalina for a moment. Visibility on the reef was better than thirty feet, and I always give a conservative number.
Less than a minute after checking the anchor I found two Hopkin's Rose nudibranchs laying eggs. A Cuthona divae placed its eggs next to a hedgehog hydroid a few feet away. It isn't Hawthorne Reef nor Buchanan's, but this little gem had quite a bit of life for such a shallow site. I even managed to get a blue banded and a zebra goby to hold still long enough to compose a shot.
Bryozoan on kelp
A garibaldi was kind enough to let me stick my lens in his nest.
