Golf Ball Green

[Merry]

Tell the truth, Golf Ball Reef barely qualifies as a reef. It lies off the drainpipe at Haggarty's Cove, and is no more than an expanse of low rock rubble delineated by sand. Right now, at 49 degrees and swathed in phytoplankton, it's not all that inviting, but it's certainly not quiet. Hundreds of one to two-inch rockfish have occupied the area, and mega quantities of inverts still provide plenty of fodder for photographs.

Juvenile Chestnut Cowry

Cowry Town

Sarcastic Fringehead

Here, large onespot fringeheads are usually out in the open and don't mind charging us!

Usually scarce as hen's teeth, Felimida macfarlandi can be seen on every dive.

 

[drbill]

49 F? No thanks. 10 degrees warmer at depth here, Merry!

Interesting on the chestnut cowries. I usually see them hidden away during the day to avoid all the hungry sheephead and then they come out at night when the sheephead are sleeping. I assume like many mainland sites there are far fewer sheephead present than in our protected waters of the dive park.

And now MacFarland's has a "new" genus name. I just can't keep track of all these taxonomic changes!

 

[Merry]

Thank you for that insight on the cowries and their predator(s) Dr. Bill. There's nary a sheephead and the other fish are very small.

Yes, it took several dives mentally acclimating to 49-50 degree water before I could think about anything other than how soon I could get out. Even with an Otter Bay hood, ice-cream headache on descent!

 

[TSandM]

Merry, I don't know what size your hood is, but on Peter's suggestion, I tried a Lavatory hood under a slightly oversized hood, and my head was the warmest I can ever remember. (49 is warming up from winter temps for us!)

 

[victorzamora]

Merry, I don't know what size your hood is, but on Peter's suggestion, I tried a Lavatory hood under a slightly oversized hood, and my head was the warmest I can ever remember. (49 is warming up from winter temps for us!)

Umm.....did you mean "Lavacore" ? Lavatory hoods sound relatively unpleasant to me.

Beautiful pictures, though.....I'm still not sure I could bring myself to dive water that cold!

 

[Merry]

Great idea, Lynne. When temps dip below 55, I wear a Lavacore long-sleeve top under my DUI undergarment. Really helps, but didn't realize they make a hood. The Otter Bay is custom-made and fits tightly, but I'll see if the hood will fit under it.

 

[TSandM]

Sorry about the lavatory . . . the autocorrect on this new computer is aggressive as all get-out.