squid spawning in Redondo Cyn. anyone for night dives?

[old_mike]

the number and diversity of critters off of Southern Cal is phenomenal right now! Been doing night dives in Redondo Cyn (easy shore dive near LA-LA land) to get in shape for bug season and there are tons of thornback rays, scorpionfish, horn sharks, Pacific electric torpedo rays, halibut, sole, flounder, turbot (incredible diversity of flatfishes, some very tame) even kelpfish over sandy bottom !!!!! not to mention, spawning squid at 65-75 feet!

vis was in the neighborhood of 20 feet: good enuf for macro & fish portraits!

any of you So Calif photographers up for renting kayaks, anchoring in say, 40 to 50 feet and taking the cameras down to catch all this stuff while it's here? Redondo Cyn is user friendly but i wouldn't recommend taking cameras through the breakers. last Sunday they were 2 -3 feet with choppy surface: good way to scratch ports & o-rings.

i'm free on some weekend nights, before the winter storms come roaring in!

 

[King_Neptune]

Heya Mike,

I will have to see if I can unchain myself from this monitor but I may take you up on the offer. Usually we do the "squid" thing off of La Jolla shores since surf entry is a no-brainer for the most part. It is one of the easiest surf entries I've ever done (and on a very bad day it was also the worst while I was divemastering a class when a storm came out of no where).

Filming the squid is alot of fun but I've seen divers get vertigo after losing their sence of direction with all those 1000's of white streaming squid jetting by. What kind of showing of them do you get up there? Along with the regular display of fishes we get a rather full display of little sharks that come in for the pickings.

=-)

 

[old_mike]

The squid are just beginning right now and i don't know how things will really shape up this year. It looks promising because of all the nutrient loading in the water from La Nina. This has been a good year for critters all over So Cal (and a rotten year for vis). A couple of weekends ago, baby scalloped hammerheads were seen under Hermosa Bch Pier along with tons of rays, leopard sharks and lobster strutting around like they owned the place (bet they won't be doing that as of midnight tonite!!!) Also, a buddy of mine said he saw a cormorant down at 90 feet snarfing the squid one year! That of course was a day-time dive but that is a pretty rare thing for a diver to see: birds at 90fsw!

As far as the surf entry goes, Redondo cyn buffers the entry area from some wave action so it's a major spot for newbies (did my 1st ever dive there in 3' to 4' surf..ugh) but with cameras and lights to hold onto, i think its better to get kayaks or a little 13 foot aluminum tub to anchor a few dozen yards off shore so no expensive optical gear gets scratched up.

if Paul Anes gets wind of a good run down in La Jolla, I will be there! but i think that typically happens around December to February (when shore diving can be a little bit tougher if i remember correctly.

 

[King_Neptune]

Mike,


Did you happen to find out if it's through to Feb or ?


=-)

 

[old_mike]

Yep! They should be running through Feb. Paul Anes e mailed me his squid alert (for really big runs) on 12-26 but i was in Indonesia at the time and couldn't make it (saw squid & cuttle fish there too). I'm hopin' this nasty surf dies down. Here in the LA area, viz is likely to be shot for the next few months becuase of the tremendous runoff (some areas got 5-6 inches in one day) and the waves are still topping 10 feet. Oh well! next week maybe..

 

[King_Neptune]

mike,

Well before I was diving and very soon after I could walk I was surfing (my step-father still surfs every day before he goes to work!) ... Now all we need to do is come up with some sort of hybrid "Scuba-Surfing" and the only thing left will be to actually discover an active and thriving Lost City of Atlantis and the last of the Worlds Natural Wonders will be complete, hehe.

I wonder if we have any experts or anyone at all that knows whether or not the ugly weather disrupts or delays the cycle of the Grunion or Squid runs....

=-)

 

[old_mike]

hmmmm, would that make getting out of the water something to actually look forward to?

The ugly weather shouldn't have too much an effect on the squid, especially as they tend to stay at 60 fsw or so. BTW, it's calmed down quite a bit up here. I'd say it's divable again.

 

[Mario S Caner]

Mike,
I caught onto this thread a little late, but I can say that there is squid all over the place in La Jolla's submarine canyon. I ran into a diver two weeks ago that had some of it on video. I frequent the shores, and prefer night dives, but am willing to dive anytime! Let me know if you or anyone else wants to dive the canyon here. My gear is always ready to go...