11/3/2007 - Overtime Blues

Merry and I had a tremendous dive experience at Cabrillo Beach this afternoon. No, seriously! After having to work in the morning, I needed to get in the water.
I've never had more than a few feet vis here before, and the muddy surface water wasn't changing my opinion. We swam out past the swim buoy, followed all the way by a Harbor seal at the surface. Each time he surfaced he was closer than the previous time.
We dropped down just outside the kelp through the green-brown haze. Almost immediately I found a round stingray. We followed the reef south until we found 12-15 feet vis. Suddenly, it turned into a real dive. Now there were two Harbor seals buzzing us for the next 76 minutes, plus several minutes on our surface swim back to the beach.
The kelp was full of life. Calico bass were everywhere, as well as Rubberlip seaperch, large Sheephead, Senoritas, large Topsmelt, Black perch, a single Garibaldi, Rainbow seaperch, halibut, Blacksmith, Rock wrasse  and juvenile Rainbow seaperch along with one inch Senoritas. Piddocks lined the rocky bottom.
I found two new shells for Merry's collection, to be identified later.  One of the shells is a Gould's Bubble Snail, Bulla gouldiana. We saw a couple of egg masses drifting along the bottom that turned out to be from Gould's.

As we made our safety stop, one of the seals rested his nose on Merry's arm. He seemed to be reading her dive computer.  When she turned to look at him, he gave her a gentle nudge as he turned and swam away.
As we approached the beach, we could hear the crowd's excitement over the seals. Jeff Shaw even made an appearance to carry Merry's fins for her. :)
I'll never make fun of Cabrillo Beach diving again.