Sometimes the surface interval is better than the dive

[MaxBottomtime]

It was too rough to dive yesterday so we waited for better conditions this morning. We arrived at Golf Ball Reef to find green water with cloudy surface visibility. The bottom was worse. Two feet vis and surge forced Merry to abort the dive after six minutes. I stuck it out for seventy minutes but came away with only two photos.
After surfacing, washing gear and changing clothes the visibility began to improve. Merry decided to finish her tank while I had lunch. While cleaning the deck I spied a floating strand of kelp with some bryozoan on a few of the fronds. I found several nice looking nudibranchs and hoped Merry would surface soon so she could photograph my find.
I finally got tired of waiting and put my freshly scrubbed gear back on. I got just enough images to salvage what would have been a lousy dive.

Eubranchus rustyus

Dendronotus venustus

Corambe pacifica

While I was waiting for Merry I watched a flotilla of boats checking out the Humpback whales that have been hanging around Redondo Beach for the past couple of weeks. Once Merry was back onboard we motored over to see the whales. Before we could turn our cameras on one of the whales breached almost completely out of the water next to some paddleboarders. We watched as the whales tail-slapped the surface and inverted their flukes high out of the water. It was as if they were showing off for us.

 

[drbill]

Corambe on the Membranipora?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Merry first spotted them last week, pacifica and steinbergi together. I found three pacificas yesterday while she found another one. They've been laying eggs, so we don't know how much longer they will be around.

 

[TSandM]

I saw your thread title and giggled a little, because my surface interval yesterday was better than the dive, too -- but not as exciting as yours was! We had strong current and lousy viz for our dive, but the SI was spent laughing with 20 other people in a pub . . .

 

[Akimbo]

… We had strong current and lousy viz for our dive, but the SI was spent laughing with 20 other people in a pub . . .

I thought that divers gathering at pubs was to tell sea stories that made the dive better (and the fish bigger)???

 

[Merry]

Corambe on the Membranipora?

Here's an interesting article on the two Corambe species: http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/33/m033p081.pdf
I've spotted many egg masses that resemble those shown in the literature, but the adults are few and far between. The eggs will hatch into planktonic veligers, so I'm curious as to when adults might appear again.

 

[drbill]

It seems to me I used to see a lot more Corambe in the distant past than I have recently. Ofc ourse with almost no kelp this winter, I don't even see Membranipora!