11/13/2011 - I Need A Surge Protector

After returning from Morro Bay, I was still in nudi hunting mode. Merry and I headed for Marineland this morning, but the poor vis made us change our plan. We dropped near Abalone Cove, but found near zero visibility on the bottom.
We try to keep our boat from getting that familiar moldy boat smell, so we don't allow wet gear inside the pilot house. This meant having to get out of our suits after a six minute dive.
We headed back toward Redondo Beach where we saw flat seas and decent vis earlier in the day. I thought I would stop and check out Christmas Tree Cove on the way. We could see at least twenty feet down the kelp, so we donned our gear and jumped in again.
We had about fifteen feet vis, but the surge knocked us around like Mike Tyson. I had a difficult time trying to shoot macro while getting pummeled. I came away from an hour dive with five photos.

By the time we got back around to the west side the vis was not as great as we had hoped, but it still looked inviting. The surface was flat and the kelp was standing straight, so we were relieved to avoid the surge we experienced earlier. No such luck. Each time I was ready to push the shutter I would be pushed and pulled around. We only made two shallow dives, but Merry said she was exhausted by the time we got home.