8/16/2009 - Chunky Soup At Marineland

We had a bit of current at the Point this morning. The kelp was laying flat as we descended so we didn't spend much time looking for nudibranchs. Merry practiced getting backscatter with her new camera while I made a few quick macro shots with the video camera.
I found a tiny Spotted Rictaxis head shield slug, Rictaxis punctocaelatus and when I downloaded the video I noticed a tiny flatworm at the bottom of the frame. The slug was only about 1/4 inch, so the snail was probably too small to see without the stacked macro lenses.
As we made our way slowly toward the Garden we stopped to feed Abby and look for Sandy, his new buddy. I searched on top of the reef while Merry swam around to the other side, where she found him in a little cutout. It's a perfect little home for Sandy. He even had a kelp frond with him.
Visibility at the Point was a chunky six to eight feet, but it cleared up nicely in the cove to ten feet. We were able to see the cobble as we made an excruciatingly slow exit. I had 54F below the thermocline at twenty feet.