11/4/2006 - Lineman For The County

Scottfiji reported that the line to the Marineland Platform was broken yesterday. I grabbed my tools (reel and camera) and surface swam out to the buoy this morning. The kayak divers beat me out there. I need one of those things. I looked down the line and told them where to anchor. Naturally, the anchor dropped right into the nets. I spent my first minute of bottom time moving the anchor out to the sand.

I decided to have a few minutes of play time before work, so I began my nudibranch hunt. They're pretty easy to find. I took a shot of a Hermissenda crassicornis and noticed later that there are a few more nudis in the frame, including a Polycera atra that I would have shot if I had seen it under water.

I shot a few more nudis and a tiny crab before trying some wide angle. Most of it was pretty bad, but I managed to save a couple fish pictures, including the preggers rockfish Scott saw yesterday.

Along the way to my sand anchor I came across an interesting sea star and snail. The line between the sand anchor and the 120 Reef was broken, so I pulled it back in, added another 100 feet of line and tied it to the end of the reef. I then located the other section of the line and re-attached it. Let's see how long it lasts.
While making my way back along the 120 Reef I came across a large octopus. It wouldn't come out to investigate me so I took one picture and said goodbye.
The vis at the Platform was about twenty feet, with 8-10' on the reef.