12/10/2007 - There's No Place Like Home

After two months I finally got in a dive at Marineland this morning. The waves have gone away and the visibility in the cove was close to twenty feet, with 12-15 feet at the Point. There were also no thermoclines. It was 58-59F throughout the dive. With no waves nor current, Merry and I made the surface swim in about twenty minutes. We dropped a short distance from Ted's Pinnacle where we found the anemone had moved out of the Lady of the Garden statue.
The fish were numerous, thanks to a two month closure of the beach, I'm sure. Blacksmith surrounded us while rockfish of several varities, sheephead, rubberlip seaperch, sand bass, sargo and senioritas hung out with us. As promised, I also took nudibranch pictures today.
As we made our way back toward the cove, Merry pointed out what we each thought was the largest lobster on record. It turned out to be the tail of a five foot Batray sticking up toward us.
We surfaced right in front of our exit and made it out just in time to see Divebum Don Robarge coming down the trail for a report. If he's not too tired from helping me lug the wagon up the trail he will be diving the 120 reef this afternoon.