4/8/2010 - The Return Of Diver Merry

After 89 horrible days of illness, poor dive conditions and tax preparation Merry finally got back in the water this afternoon. We had planned to make a quick dive on the Avalon wreck but the water in the south bay is a chocolately goodness. Red tide has spread nearshore all along the west side of Palos Verdes. We headed around to the south side, but the wind and swells made a day of diving look like a distant memory. We ducked around Long Point and the swells diminished. The water was a dirty green so we moved over to the Marineland Platform. It's been a couple of years since we dived here so we decided to go for it.

Water temperature was a brisk 53F and visibility was only six to eight feet, but any dive is good after three months.

We found a nice assortment of nudibranchs, sheep crabs, rockfish and a nice California Scorpionfish that Merry got a good photo of. I got a lot of backscatter-filled images today, thanks to the dirty water. Swell models are promising a better day on Sunday, so maybe we won't wait three months for Merry's next dive.