12/15/2007 - I Love Boat Diving

Frank O'Donnell invited Merry and me to join him and Jon Davies on the Boat With No Name for some Palos Verdes diving. We began our day at the Pt. Vicente pinnacles offshore from Whale Rock. A school of Sheephead greeted us as we neared the bottom. A large male cruised between the tops of the spires, but never close enough for a photo. Nudibranchs, shrimp, octopus, rockfish and the largest Blue-ring top snail I've ever seen made for a fun dive. Merry and I spent most of the dive below eighty feet, so we had to cut the dive to about forty-five minutes.
After a ninty minute surface interval we droppped onto the underwater arch at Neptune Cove. Frank anchored right on the top of the arch, so we didn't have to swim much. After the obligatory swim-through we headed to the east side of the reef in search of the numerous nudibranchs Kevin Lee and Scott Gietler found earlier. I didn't find many, but I did see my first Dendrodoris behrensi. Merry also spotted a Tylodina fungina next to a yellow sulpher sponge. The perimeter of the reef seemed to be patrolled by Sunstars. They were everywhere.
The water was clear and cold, and we had two wonderful dives. Thanks again, Frank.