I received an email telling me about dozens of Giant Sea Bass on the Star of Scotland earlier in the week. We putted our way north under a hot morning sun to find blue water over the wreck. The top twenty feet was clear but devoid of life. At twenty-five feet I could clearly see the bollards on the rusting hulk below.
The water column was filled with the usual salps, but getting shots in the snotty water was next to impossible. Visibility on the wreck was a cloudy twenty feet, but that was enough to see two resident Giant Sea Bass and a fleeing torpedo ray. Merry saw a third, larger GSB.
As we left the northern part of the bay fog began rolling in, reducing visibility to a hundred feet and cooling things off a bit. Outside Marina del Rey, Merry saw the largest Mola Mola I have ever seen. Its diameter was longer than my height (6-2") but it wasn't interested in hanging around. We found a more willing subject near Redondo Beach.
The highlight of the day was not caught on camera. I slowed for a wake about a half mile off the Manhattan Beach Pier. Visibility was very low here. Too low to stop in time to avoid scaring away two juvenile Great White sharks on the surface. Both flicked their caudal fins at us and sank beneath the waves. It was the closest I've been to a Great White, at least one that wasn't sneaking up behind me underwater.
The water column was filled with the usual salps, but getting shots in the snotty water was next to impossible. Visibility on the wreck was a cloudy twenty feet, but that was enough to see two resident Giant Sea Bass and a fleeing torpedo ray. Merry saw a third, larger GSB.
As we left the northern part of the bay fog began rolling in, reducing visibility to a hundred feet and cooling things off a bit. Outside Marina del Rey, Merry saw the largest Mola Mola I have ever seen. Its diameter was longer than my height (6-2") but it wasn't interested in hanging around. We found a more willing subject near Redondo Beach.
The highlight of the day was not caught on camera. I slowed for a wake about a half mile off the Manhattan Beach Pier. Visibility was very low here. Too low to stop in time to avoid scaring away two juvenile Great White sharks on the surface. Both flicked their caudal fins at us and sank beneath the waves. It was the closest I've been to a Great White, at least one that wasn't sneaking up behind me underwater.
