Not so "swell" models

[MaxBottomtime]

The ocean was supposed to be calm this weekend. Everyone said so. It's the last time I listen to them. The one to two foot swells looked an awful like four to five footers as we plowed our way to Golf Ball Reef this morning. At least the water was cold and dirty again. I'd hate to think we were getting used to good conditions after one weekend.


The surface water was warm, but we could barely see more than a couple of feet. The 54° water on the bottom was marginally better. I could see shadows eight feet away, but could make them out at six feet.
I found two tiny yellow slugs/worms/opistobranchs on some kelp fronds. Even Kevin Lee hasn't identified the little guys yet.

Fingertip for scale


Golf Ball Reef rarely has fish larger than three inches, but I found three cabezons today. With the poor visibility I only got a handful of photos during our 82 minute dive.

Crab molt

 

[chillyinCanada]

Cool!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[lemke]

Those pics are amazing! Care to share your camera setup?

 

[drbill]

You three need to stop diving the murky waters of "the Big Island!" We had great conditions at Blue Car Wreck out here yesterday. Acceptable conditions at Twin Rocks. Not so great conditions on the back side.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Those pics are amazing! Care to share your camera setup?

Nikon D700 in a Subal housing with two Ikelite DS160 strobes. Nikkor 60mm lens with 1.4 teleconverter and +10 diopter for the really small stuff.

 

[thez_yo]

*Ugh* you need to stop taking such good pics so mine don't look like a 3y/o was behind the camera.

 

[geoff w]

Great visibility further up the coast this weekend. Saturday was the LA County 3R program at Leo Carrillo. I expected awful viz given the huge surf we recently had, but visibility for the 3R session, even though it was just skin diving, was better than expected close in to the shore and small surf. Sunday at Anacapa was absolutely gorgeous - warm and sunny, calm and decent (40 - 60+ ft) viz. Maybe you need to bring your boat to points north some time to explore new territory!