Epic conditions at Farnsworth Bank

[Merry]

Last Sat. on the Giant Stride, 6 of us* braved flat, calm seas and 60 – 70 ft vis to dive Farnsworth Bank. We were hunting the spectacular purple-hued California hydrocoral, Stylaster californicus. Another boat was on the high spot, so for us most of the hydrocoral was 90 – 100 fsw with no current.

Although I only shot WA, I managed to find the cryptic snail, Pedicularia californica, which lives exclusively on hydrocoral (photo center).

S. californicus can reproduce 2 ways - either asexually by fragmentation, or sexually with male colonies releasing sperm into the water, fertilizing eggs brooded by females.

*Kevin Lee, John Bibb, Jerry Hall, Peter Hall, Phil Garner and Captain Jim Simmerman

Phil descending in blue water

Commensal snail, Pedicularia californica

 

[bmorescuba]

Gorgeous!

 

[drrich2]

Beautiful! Very nice to see it and a good amount of it. My one trip to California I didn't get to dive Farnsworth; fishing boats beat us to it that morning.

Richard.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Wow 60-70 ft! Reminds me of the good-old-days

 

[drbill]

My favorite Catalina dive site, but sadly one I will probably never get to dive again. Always nice to see the photos others take there, Merry!