11/9/2007 - A Most Memorable Dive

Tonight was my 100th dive with Merry. We decided to try Redondo Canyon because she saw her first juvenile Giant Seabass on her 100th dive. We didn't find one tonight, but we saw more amazing things than we've seen at Vet's in a long time. Even the post-dive was memorable. We got a parking ticket, despite putting in two hours worth of quarters. We forgot to push the button. Doh!
On the plus side, we got to rescue two Thornback rays. They were caught together by fishing line with multiple hooks. I cut the line between them and one swam off, but the other one was still held down by the lead sinker. I cut it free and he swam off with the hook and lure still stuck in his side.
Among the multitude os animals out tonight were octopus, shrimp, hydroids, hundreds of hermit crabs eating bryozoans and a dead halibut, nudibranchs, including the first Dendronotus frondosus I've seen in months and a tiny fish on a kelp frond, Showy snailfish, Liparis pulchellus.