Labor Day Dives

Date: 09/05/2009

Time In: 8:51am / 11:24am

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Sites: S. Crescent, N.Crescent - Seal Rock

Waves: 1-3'

Viz: 10'+ / 15'-20'

Water Temp: 73-75°f, thermocline to 68°f at 33'(SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 36' / 35

Bottom time: 82 / 69 min.

Buddies: Rob C, Ice, Richard G, Bob W

Met up at South Crescent today for a couple dives. Ice drove down from LA for his very first OC dive, so the expectations were set high. I suggested a couple different dive plans and we agreed on South Crescent for dive #1 and Seal Rock for #2. We entered in to 75 degree sub-tropical water - nice! The beach has definately suffered some errosion during the last several weeks.

We descended into two groups, Rob C, Richard G, and Bob W led Ice and me along the reef. On the way to the reef we were treated with a large school of rubberlip perch swimming over a white sandy bottom with a beautiful blue water background. Wait, where are we again?

The strong surge quickly reminded us we were indeed in Laguna. I noticed an octopus take cover under a small kelp plant and went in for a closer look. I was treated to a very colorful demonstration of the creatures camoflauge ability before it took cover further up the reef. The next stop was a small lobster trap (I think) that had been disassembled sometime after it had been abandoned. Hidden in the bait compartment was a small curled up octopus. As I pointed the little guy out he lunged from his compartment and took cover beteen my BP and wing. I pointed to Ice and he took some quick shots before my 8 legged friend went back to the trap. As I was getting ready to get some video footage, the octopus again went on the move. First stop was on my mask, and the he quickly moved back under the cover of my wing. I had Ice confirm that he had moved on before we did. A very interesting, and comical, encounter.

We had hopes of being able to take the crevice to Shaws, up the reef and back over. This plan never took shape as we could see a blinding wall of bubble wash shoot out of the crescent side of the crevice. The Crescent reef provided plenty of action, including a brief visit by a harbor seal. We exited after 82 minutes of bottom time - which unfortanetly had been a little bit too toasty for Ice in his drysuit.

Richard, Rob C and I opted for one more dive. I left behind the video camera and decided to just enjoy the freedom of free hands on this warm water day (ok - so this also meant the fish were going to enjoy a small urchin snack). We descended at the end of the inner reef and swam towards the first large pinnacle. The reef was teaming with life. Rob requested me to rally the troops for some photo ops. I banged my knuckles on a rock and within seconds I was surrounded by dozens of garabaldi, calico bass and other fish. As we worked our way to seal rock I picked up a couple tasty urchin samples that I offered up to the fish that were brave enough to approach me. We passed by the south side of seal rock and a couple sea lions jumped in to to see what was generating all of the bubbles below. We continued on for another couple of minutes, before returning for another pass. This time, Richard and Rob noticed that the sea lions (unlike me) were curious and intrigued by their noise makers. A few more minutes of sea lion action and we headed back towards the north crescent reef. I headed back in a few minutes early, ascending after 70 minutes. Rob and Richard completed another 82 minute dive. 164 minutes underwater - not a bad dive day in Laguna Beach! A worsening cold has kept me out of the water for the rest of this Labor Day weekend - I hope others have continued to enjoy it!

Rob's pics from the dives:

 http://www.our-sea.com/Diveblog/CrescentAlbum09_05_09/Crescent09_05_092.html

10:54 PM - 9/5/2009 - comments {7} - post comment

Looooong Dives at Crescent Bay

Date: 07/17/2009

Time In: 10:26am / 1:19pm

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Site: N. Crescent - Inner Dead Man's Reef/Pinnacles

Viz: 10ish

Surge: Yeeeee-haaaaaaa that's what's on the other side of the viz!

Water Temp: 57-64°f (SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 50' / 32'

Bottom time: 88 / 109 min.

Buddies: Ruth "45 minute dive - BLEH!" Harris

I met up with Ruth to get a couple dives in at Crescent Bay. The side goal, of course, was 200 more minutes on Ruth's Dive-a-thon minute meter. I can maybe squeeze 200 minutes over two dives out of my HP100's. Ruth can easily do a 100 min dive on a 100. Solution? Ruth used my 100's and I had the luxury of diving with her and Larry's HP130's. Yeah-baby - who needs doubles (double 130's, however...).

The plan for our first dive was the front side of Dead Man's. We swam out and dropped down right on the edge of the reef. Keeping the reef on our right we quickly hit dead henge, and more importantly our first target, Dudley of Dead Man's. Viz far from being ideal for wide shots, and since I had my diopter on, I quickly snapped a few pics and moved on (no camera for Ruth today.)

My internal compass went haywire, and instead of heading in the general direction of seal rock, we ended up heading towards the deep end of Dead Man's. A little deeper than planned, but we still managed to squeeze out a decent 88 minute dive.

The dive-a-thon has a daily max of 200 minutes. That left 112 minutes for dive #2. Ruth wanted to hang around the pinnacles that lie between N. Crescent and Seal Rock. We dropped down at the edge of the reef, and within a minute of kicking hit the first large pinnacle - almost literally. The surge was strong today, and viz varied from 5-10'. With the large urchin population on this reef - you really have to be weary of where the surge is moving you. As we combed along the reef, Ruth came across a nudibranch that neither of us could ID. I tried to ease my way in for a pic, but with the combination of the surge, viz, extremely small DoF of my diopter, and Ruth having to hold some algae growth out of the way for the shot - all of my ID shots ended up in the trash can.

We continued around the reef, making at least one full loop around the pinnacle. As I was turning over rocks looking for the shy inhabitants of the reef, I came across a large flatworm. These are more commonly seen on deeper reefs like La Jolla Shores, so the find was a pleasant surprise in 30fsw at Laguna Beach. We made our way back inside the reef, where the surge and viz was even more of a challenge. We ended up getting separated in the shallows, but ended the dive safely and managed to come pretty close to the 200 minute goal.

Christmas Tree Worm

Dudley Lies here, Dudley of Dead Man's that is

Club Tipped Anemone

Limacia cockerelli

Mexichromis porterae

Peltodoris nobilis

Polyclad Flatworm

9:40 PM - 7/17/2009 - comments {7} - post comment

Independence Day Dives

Date: 07/03/2009

Time In: 8:54am / 11:45am

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Site: N. Crescent - Dead Man's Reef

Waves: 1-2', occas. 3'

Viz: 10'+ in the shallows, 15'+ deeper

Water Temp: 54-55°f deep, 61-63°f surface(SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 65' / 64'

Bottom time: 59 / 52 min.

Buddies: Rob C

Rob C drove up for two dives in Laguna to start the Independence holiday weekend off right. By 7:15, we were taking some of the final parking spots at N. Crescent. We chatted with a couple of the DMR regulars, then got suited up and headed out to the DMR dropdown point. As we arrived we saw a circle of bubbles from Flo and his buddies, we descended and headed southwest past them down to the backside of the reef.

Since my last dives here on Memorial Day weekend, the invertebrate life, especially nudibranchs, has exlpoded. We started seeing ton's of spanish shawl's, and then some Porter's Chromodorids, Clown dorids and finally came across an area that was covered with Hermissenda's. While more common in La Jolla, I had not seen any Hermissenda on DMR since last spring. Another nudi highlight was seeing a Polycera Tricolor, another more uncommon (I've only seen two at Dead Man's in the last year, and the most recent was spotted by Ruth a couple months ago) nudi for Laguna.

For our second dive, we planned to head back to hermissendaville, and continue around the point of the reef and back in instead of completing a 4th surface swim for the day. We fought a small current on the second trip out, but within 20 or so minutes we were at the drop point. We started right about where we had hoped and continued to take advantage of the nudi explosion, finding more of the same from the first dive, including another P. tricolor! I took more video, and kept snapping away until I filled my memory card (I knew I should have formatted it first today!)

Nudi List for the day:

Polycera tricolor

Doriopsilla albopunctata

Polycera atra

Peltodoris nobilis (lemon dorid)

Flabellina iodinea (Spanish Shawls)

Triopha catalinae (Clown Dorid)

Chromodoris macfarlandi (Macfarland's chromodorid)

Mexichromis porterae (Porter's chromodorid)

Cuthona divae

Flabellina trilineata

Hermissenda crassicornis

Chromodoris macfarlandi (Macfarland's chromodorid)

Cuthona divae

Flabellina iodinea (Spanish Shawl)

Hermissenda Crassicornis (Horned nudibranch)

Peltodoris nobilis - Lemon Dorid / Noble Dorid

Polycera atra (Black dorid)

Polycera tricolor

Triopha catalinae (Clown dorid)

Trivia solandri

1:49 PM - 7/3/2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Mist Again

Date: 06/20/2009

Time In: 9:49am

Dive Location: San Diego, California

Dive Site: La Jolla Shores

Viz: 5-10' in the shallows, 15-20'+ deeper

Water Temp: 61-63°f at 75fsw, 68°f @ surface!(SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 75'

Bottom time: 63 min.

Buddies: Rob C

Lelaina and I loaded up the car with dive gear and bbq stuff and headed to La Jolla. The plan was for Rob and I to get a couple dives in and Lelaina to enjoy the San Diego sunshine (???????). Leaving the windshield wipers on intermittent was an unwelcomed accompanyment to the ride down the I-5.

We arrived and setup our beach area, in hopes that this was just June gloom and not another mis-calculation by the local weather people. Rob and I suited up and entered right in front of the main lifeguard tower. The seas were flat with an occasional 3' roller, the chop from last weekend was thankfully gone.

We descended into about 23fsw, headed west to 30', then took a left turn until we hit about 65'. Along the way we came across an area with at least 10 Hermissenda crassicornis, Horned Nudibranch. We watched them criss-cross each others paths, climb twigs, and just munch away.

At about 65fsw, we hit a small wall and took a right turn. The wall was covered with Fringehead, blennies, piddock, and other sand-wall natives. I saw a small bat ray cruise by below us, so I followed slowly for about 15' and stopped. Within 10 seconds a huge plume of sand dust was coming towards me - either the small bat ray warned others of intruders, or there was some serious sand hunting up ahead. Rob joined me and saw one large bat ray cruise above the wall. A few feet into the cloud, and we saw another large ray scooping up the sand in search of breakfast.

We explored a little deeper before our personal decompression cop (Rob's Suunto) gave us a nudge and we headed upslope. At about 45', I noticed an eye sticking above a mound in the sand. I signaled Rob and we circled around to see what kind of flattie was hiding in the sand. As I got closer I realized it was a large halibut. We continued in and surfaced in about 12fsw, we were still about 50yards north of the lifeguard tower, so we kicked south-east to avoid the surfers and larger sets.

As we were on our dive, the weather had deteriorated a bit. It was still drizzling and the wind had picked. Lelaina had tolerated enough of the less than ideal beach conditions, so we packed up and called it a day. A great day for diving apart from missing our goal again (secret gardens), but the bbq will have to wait until next time!

5:29 PM - 6/20/2009 - comments {0} - post comment

My Lion's Share - La Jolla Shores

Date: 06/14/2009

Time In: 8:54am / 10:48am

Dive Location: San Diego, California

Dive Site: La Jolla Shores

Viz: 5-10' in the shallows, 15-20'+ deeper

Water Temp: 57°f at 85fsw(SUUNTO)

Max Depth: 85' / 74'

Bottom time: 64 / 58 min.

Buddies: Rob C

I recently found that spending an entire weekend at the Scuba Show, dry, sans bubbles, while stellar dive conditions were just outside the door (no - not in Long Beach Harbor, a little further than that) can ACTUALLY be considered a form of torture. Bubble therapy was definately needed. With another bout of southwest swell, Laguna was out for my road to recovery. San Diego it is! I drove down to La Jolla and met Rob C. in the main parking lot. Prime parking was easy to find before 8am on Sunday morning (thanks June gloom!). We made plans to dive straight out from the main lifeguard tower. Tide was really really low on Sunday morning. The surf was frequent at 1-3', with the occasional overhead rogue wave. It took a little effort, but was definately worth it. Viz was not nearly as stirred up in the shallows as it was last time I was down here. We dropped into about 20' just short of the lifeguard buoy and found 10-15' viz.

As we worked our way west, we stopped for a few photo ops. The first thing I noticed were several decorator crabs hiding amongst the sand dollar fields. The first was a WELL decorated adult, but there were also many not-so-decorated crabs.

Upon closer look were several Three-lined Aeolids and we also came across several groups of Black Dorid's.

We stopped at the first wall at about 55'. Besides the normal residents (Blennies, Sarc. Fringeheads, Octo's) everywhere I looked I could see nudi eggs. I found a couple Cuthona Divae, more trilineatas and spanish shaw's. Rob also saw a tiny San Diego dorid before we decided to head further west.

As Rob was searching for one of the deeper walls, I stopped short, noticing a translucent blue/white bulbous object as I was examining the kelp. Could it be? YES! A Lion Nudibranch (Melibe leonina)! Another nudi first for me, compliments of La Jolla Shores! I snapped a couple stills and then got Rob's attention (I think it was one of those wooooo-hooooooo's through the reg). I filmed the nudi feeding a little (will post soon), and then signaled Rob to move in for some shots. A couple divers passed by. In my excitement I pointed my find out to them. I'm not sure if they knew what it was at first, as they didn't seem too impressed - or they might have just been wondering while I was so ecstatic about something not so uncommon at the shores.. (IT WAS A NUDI FIRST FOR ME!)

We worked our way in and ended the dive in 7fsw, giving us enough leeway to time the exit.

We quickly changed out our tanks, as Rob had to be at Birch by 1pm. We had less than an hour SI, so we knew were going to be limited on depth and bottom time. We started a bit north of where we had seen the Melibe. Heading back in the same general direction. Along the way, Rob came across what appeared to be a large white sea cucumber (not living?). We took a few pics for id, including a discoloration that could be seen inside the creature - not sure if it was the innerds or another organism.

Nearby I saw a couple Hermissenda. One was feeding on what first appeared to be the leg of a brittle star, but after looking at the pics I think it may have been a worm or sea cucumber. I'm not aware of hermi's eating anything other than the flora? It may have been that the other creature was just in close proximity to whatever the Hermissenda was working on.

We took a turn south, and eventually more southeast, noticing that we were quickly burning through our no-deco time. We startled a bat ray, which took flight in a cloud of muck, startling us in return. We enjoyed the swim back in, easily fulfilling a short obligation and a much longer safety stop, which seemed to pass very quicky as we casually searched through the many critter hiding spots the Shores possess. Again we surfaced in 7fsw, as the sun was starting to come out and the beach was starting to fill up. Can't wait to return - with more time, and nitrox!

1:51 PM - 6/14/2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Snap My Picta - La Jolla Shores 04/18/2009

Date: 04/18/2009

Time In: 6:31pm / 8:54pm

Dive Location: San Diego, California

Dive Site: La Jolla Shores

Viz: 5-8' in the shallows, 10'+ deeper

Water Temp: 50-56°f(Suunto)

Max Depth: 81' / 79'

Bottom time: 44 / 39 min.

Buddies: Rob C

Made the trek down to La Jolla for a pre-sunset dive and a night dive. Met up with Rob C shortly after 5pm and grabbed two spots in the still very full main parking lot. We quickly assesed the very manageable conditions and the got suited up (dry!) and headed out for the first dive. We thought about trying for Secret Garden but after fighting a bit of a surface current we decided to drop in 20fsw and head west.

We followed the sand dollars out towards the canyon to a wall at 80'. Not nearly as much nudi action as I expected - but did see several Spanish Shawls, some Lewis' Moon snails, and of course lots of the San Diego regulars. I was a little overweighted, which I think messed up my SAC rate. On the way back up to shallower waters we saw a horn shark and several rays (round and thornback). I also saw an Armina hunting in the sand but didn't have enough air time to get a decent shot.

As we kicked in the sun was setting and the we noticed the surf had died down a bit more. Viz was dismall in the shallows, so besides getting a workout kicking back on the surface, we weren't missing much underwater.

For our second dive we kicked straight out from Vallecitos and dropped in about 20 fsw. Our plan was to head for the mini-wall at about 50'. While searching for the smaller stuff on the way out I came across a huge Dirona picta - my first! The surge was pretty strong here, but we managed to get a few shots. At one point the poor little guy climbed up on some fauna and ended up getting blown off by the surge. After about 30 seconds of A over rhinophore tumbing, the little nudi regained his hold to the sand and moved on.

We continued on and somehow missed the little wall, turning around at 80fsw to head back in. Saw another horn shark, more rays, shrimp, crabs etc. Not as much rare life but still a great dive. Saw a hermissenda and another nudi too tiny to id (and focus on!) just before heading up. Based on the improvements in conditions seen yesterday - I'm guessing those diving the shores Sunday were in for a treat!

Yellow Rock Crab

Lobster

Horn Shark

Dirona picta

11:38 PM - 4/18/2009 - comments {2} - post comment

A PEACEfull day at Santa Cruz

Date: 03/28/2009

Time In: 8:26am / 10:43am / 1:43pm / 3:38pm

Dive Location: Santa Cruz Island, California

Dive Sites: Gull Island South / GI West / Ruby Rock / Quail Rock

Viz: 25-40'

Water Temp: 53-55°f(Suunto)

Max Depth: 71' / 67' / 86' / 64'

Bottom time: 42 / 44 / 37 / 46 min.

Buddies: Rob C, Richard G

Scott Gietler sent out an e-mail late last year asking if there would be enought interest to do a charter to Santa Cruz Island on the Peace Dive boat out of Ventura. I was super excited to go, as I've never been on the Peace, nor had I been to Santa Cruz before. It seemed like an eternity waiting for the trip to arrive, but we finally boarded the Peace for the trek to Santa Cruz on Friday night. I was joined by my buddies Richard Goddard and Rob Casagrand.

The Peace is a decent size well laid out dive boat. There is a large engine/compressor cover on the dive deck perfect for the large number of camera's Scott's trips tend to attract. Inside the Galley are two large tables and a small recharge station that was put to good use. After using the carts to tote all of our gear (my little ford escape was PACKED) to the boat, we set up our rigs, got our bunk assignments, and called it a night.

We got our wake-up call shortly after 7am. I slept so well and was so warm in my bunk that I really did not want to get up, but I forced myself to get into my drysuit undergarment and make my way for the stairs. As I enjoyed a cup of coffee and an english muffin the captain and crew anchored off Gull Island. The sun was shining and the ocean was flat - no wind, a negligable swell. After a short briefing, we were off for our first dive. As I descended I could tell that the angle of the sun, the depth and the kelp canopy was going to make this a dark dive. No worries, I brought my own sun as I switched on my HID lights and camera. Right away I could see how rich the reef was nudi food, so I began my search. Right away I started seeing super small nudis including Aegires', some small cadlina and sea lemon's. I figured if things were going to stay this small - this was going to be a frustrating day! As I continued on, the nudi list expanded including a Polycera tricolor and a Porter's hanging on a piece of kelp as well as a large Navanax - this was getting more manageable from the zooming and focus standpoint. Finally I came across a nudi first for me, a Philidiana hiltoni - Hilton's nudibranch. These guys were HUGE! And there were several of them all over the reef.

Aegires albopunctatus

Cadlina flavomaculata

Navanax inermis

Polycera tricolor

Philidiana hiltoni

The entire dive probably saw me move no more the 15 feet across the reef. As we motored around to a different side of the small island (rock) for the second dive, breakfast was served. Dive two provided more of the same as well as many more nudi species.

Flabellina trilineata

Mexichromis porterae (Porter's Chromodorid)

Diaulula sandiegensis (San Diego Dorid)

After our second dive we motored around to the west side of the island. It was supposed to be about an hour to the next site, but ended up being a little further when we had to bi-pass the intended site due to strong surge. Our third stop was Ruby Rock. The plan was for a wall dive off of the island. We dropped to about 85' and found a rich reef just waiting to be explored, change of plans! Right away I found a T. Festiva crawling on the sand. This was only second my sighting of this nudi - and I knew they were more common at the northern islands.

Tritonia festiva

My next find appeared to be strange looking shrimp. I have yet to get an id on it, but after looking closer I now think it was a hermit crab in a strange dwelling.

Hermit Crab?

As I continued along the reef and a very large nearby rock, the nudi finds continued..

Navanax inermis

Peltodoris nobilis - Noble Dorid - Sea Lemon

Doriopsilla albopunctata

The fourth and final dive site was at a place called quail rock. This site was a really nice upslope that prodided tons of places for critters to hide. I was amazed by the numbers and variety of sea cucumber at this site (sorry - no photo's). Of course, the nudi and macro quest continued, though I gave up about half way into the dive as the surge got stronger..

Triopha Catalinae - Clown Dorid

Goby

Trivia Snail

Unknown Snail

Polycera Atra (Black Dorid)

What a day! After packing up my gear and hanging out on the upper deck for a bit I hit the bunk again, and didn't realize how tired four dives can make you! Thanks to everyone for a great trip!

Nudi tally for the day (17!!!!): Aegires albopunctatus, Flabellina trilineata, Polycera atra, Hermissenda crassicornis, Triopha catalinae, Diaulula sandiegensis, Cadlina Luteomarginata, Peltodoris nobilis, Navanax inermis, Tritonia festiva, Mexichromis porterae, Doriopsilla albopunctata, Philidiana hiltoni, Flabellina iodinea, Cadlina limbaughorum, Polycera tricolor, Cadlina flavomaculata

9:57 PM - 3/28/2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Shaw's Double Dose

Date: 03/10/2009

Time In: 10:04am / 1:02pm

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Site: Shaw's Cove

Viz: 15-20'

Water Temp: 57-59°f(Suunto)

Max Depth: 41' / 49'

Bottom time: 87 / 62 min.

Buddies: Ruth, John Lawton

After diving Dead Man's yesterday with Ruth, she could tell I just hadn't had enough bubble time - so she invited me along for a dive or two at Shaw's the next morning. John Lawton was coming up from San Diego and she was going to lead a "get re-acquainted with Shaw's Cove" dive. I drove up a few minutes after nine (what me early? never!) and saw Ruth and John chatting. All the really close spots were coned off or occupied by construction vehicles, so we ended up parking across from another construction site (don't know if the Cliff Drive residents ever get any peace and quiet!) I parked and we talked for a bit before getting suited up and heading down the steps.

We got to the bottom of the stairs and found complete Lake Laguna conditions. We knew as the tide went down the bigger sets (maybe 3') would require a little more timing, but for now I swear we could have walked in blind-folded. We kicked over to reef and dropped down just before the entrance to the crevice. Ruth had already informed me, but it was still hard to believe that all of the smaller rocks were just covered with sand. No shallow nudi hunting for the end of the dive *sigh*. I followed Ruth and John into the "foyer" and noticed one of the smaller then normal Hopkin's Rose turnout. They've been sparse since summer - but the numbers definitely seem thinner than normal.

Again I followed my buddies through the archway and up "star wars" canyon. No lightspeed today though, it was more like a Nile cruise... I took my time, a rarity in this channel, checking out all the life along each side. When I came out the other end (I noticed a light canon shining back at least once to make sure I was still there :) we lingered for a bit and then all headed back to the Shaw's side to visit Shelley. Along the way, Ruth started pointing out several super super tiny nudi's on the kelp. She had tentatively id'd them as F. trilineatas (three-lined Aolid's) but I really couldn't tell. I took about 10 pics hoping for something to come out. The DOF on my video camera with my diopter is super small - so this was like hitting flies with grains of sand. After a quick visit to Shelley we headed back down the reef. We surfaced in about 6' of water. John and Ruth could have lasted a little longer, and the conditions would have been perfect to search for kelp fish in the shallows, but I was running on fumes after nearly 90 minutes.

Thanks to Ruth and John for a great dive! Also thanks to Ruth for sharing her extra knowledge of Shaw's - including several moray eels, her pet Abalone and the Giant Green Anemone. Twisting John's arm for a dive #2 was not successful, so we said our goodbyes and both Ruth and I strapped on HP80's for a second dive. We wished John could have stayed for the second dive, but all was not lost, I know I made a new friend and looked forward to diving with John again in the future.

Entry for Dive #2 was still easy, even after a several foot drop in tide (1 foot per hour) had elapsed since high tide. The plan was to head out the reef and search for some pink urchins that Ruth had seen. We saw the usual mass of Tube Dwelling Anemone's, but much of the end of the reef was covered with sand. We circled around some of the smaller rocks at the end of the reef, coming across two seemingly lost nudi's, a solitary Hopkin's Rose and a Spanish Shawl, and then headed back in. Dive #2, though a bit shorter, was still a very nice relaxing dive with plenty to look at. Exit was as easy as entry (the occasional 3's looked bigger, but really didn't pack much punch), and we were definitely left wanting to return for more! The true highlight of the day was finding a Zebra goby that decided he wanted a life as a model instead of as a runaway. I was able to get some closer shots then I normally can. Ironically, Ruth also came across a willing zebra, as we had both tried so hard with two separate zebra gobies at Dead Man's on Monday with no luck.

Flabellina iodinea (Spanish Shawl)

Flabellina trilineata (Three-lined Aolid) - For ID purposes only - BAD focus

Giant Green Anemone

Blue Banded Goby

Zebra Goby

Moray Eel - to prove to John that they were there :)

3:41 PM - 3/10/2009 - comments {1} - post comment

Dead Man's Reef 03/09/09

Date: 03/09/2009 09:19am

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Site: N. Crescent (Dead Man's Reef)

Viz: 15-20'

Water Temp: 54-55°f / 57°f surface (Suunto)

Max Depth: 67'

Bottom time: 54 min.

Buddies: Ruth

Planned to meet up with Ruth at N. Crescent at 8am this morning for a visit to Dead Man's. I received a text shortly after 6 from Ruth stating that it was dumping rain up North. I looked outside and despite being dark and gloomy - there was no rain - so we decided to chance it and hope the rain would miss Laguna.

After checking out conditions and chatting about the dive plan we finally got suited up (with only a few sprinkles from a very ominous looking set of clouds.) Surface conditions were decent. 1-2 footers with an occasional 3. As we kicked out the wind chop appeared to pick up, so it was a somewhat bumpy swim out. Ruth's only other visit to DMR was on the front side - so for this dive I was going to show her the deeper side of the reef, and hopefully a decent nudi turnout.

We descended into ~50' and worked our way down to deeper water. Viz was in the 15ish range to start - not bad but a little dark with the cloud cover. We had descended about 30 yards east of a small boat with divers - so I was hoping that would keep fishing boats of of the area. We started finding spanish shawls - but it appeared that the slug population was not yet back in full force.

Flabellina Iodinea

Within a few minutes, I found a Noble Dorid (rhinophores down in a rock crevice) and showed it to Ruth. While searching for P. atra (black dorids) I came across a small Aegires. While Ruth was positioning for a shot (these guys are tiny!) I came across a small clown dorid.

Aegires albopunctatus (White-spotted Dorids - I know - the white spots are impossble to see!)

Triopha catalinae (Clown Dorid)

Next on the Nudi list was a beautiful Cuthona divae, which I later found out was a slug first for Ruth - awesome! I found another one of these guys a little later in the dive

Cuthona divae

Cuthona divae #2 (with eggs)

As we started to work our way up the reef Ruth found a large Moray. Atop the reef in about 25fsw she found another one that she was able to coax out of it's crevice for a bit (until I came over - convincing him that 2 divers was 1 too many.) Viz was definately pushing 20' atop the reef - and looked amazing with the sun finally out and shining down on the kelp.

We surfaced atop the reef after 54 minutes. The kick back in flew by as we discussed the critter finds and didn't have to battle the wind chop. We called it a day - but promised to visit Dead Man's again very soon! Great dive Ruth!

Anemone

Sea Star Morning Stretch

2:50 PM - 3/9/2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Rigs to the Left, Reef to the Right

Let's see, what have I been doing the last 6 weeks since my last dives in PV? Packing, moving, unpacking, working, more packing and unpacking. Yep, no diving! Severe dry gill syndrom! I received an invite from Ruth Harris to join her and Larry for her 300th dive (and first) on the Oil Rigs. I didn't make any immediate plans - until I got a friendly reminder and "nudge" from Ruth last week, so I talked to Rob C and we decided to sign-up. I called Kyaa, and before you knew it, Sunday March 1st was upon us and we were boarding the Sundiver Express, the dive boat formerly known as Island Time - sorry no fancy symbols. The trip turned out to be a great one, with conditions that made March 1st 2009 almost seem like the first day of summer. The trip also reminded me of a very important lesson - details to follow..

We arrived early Sunday morning and found a boat full of eager divers, ready to set out for the rigs (many for the first time.) Among the group were the notorious Dive Matrix Duo - Ken and Claudette. I'd never met either Ken or Claudette, but of course have loved their stories and photo diaries they have shared with us over the years. Soon thereafter, Mike Bartick walked down the ramp, multiple DSLR rigs in tow. With Bart and Ken aboard - I almost considered just leaving my video camera behind! Haha - not likely - I'm far too addicted.

Rob and I were amongst the first ones in the water at the Oil Rig Eureka. We kicked over to the rig (calm surface conditions eliminated the occasional need sometimes present at the rigs to giant stride, grab camera, and descend.) After dumping the air from my wing, I dropped below the surface, turned to face down and gave a kick down towards the pilings. After about 5', I quickly returned to the surface. What? My gear is usually dialed in. 8 lbs with my XCEL wetsuit, 16 lbs with my DC drysuit. I checked my weight, I had 10 lbs to compensate for the vertical surge. I hung my head and headed over the boat and Kyaa graciously handed me 4lbs of hard lead. Rob also requested some extra weight. Wow - the day's starting off great. I figured the LP steel 85's that I BELIEVED we were diving with wouldn't have required much extra lead over diving with my Steel HP100s, and the extra 2 lbs should have more the compensated for that. Oh well, Another dump of air and I was able to kick down to the pilings. My weight still didn't feel right, and I finished the dive after 25 minutes. When I got back to the boat I realized my BIG mistake. The LP steel 85 that I thought I was diving was in fact an AL 80. ARGH! I hate aluminum tanks! Lesson re-learned. Bring my own stuff (including my tanks - I ALWAYS DO THIS), and inspect my gear closely before the dive. This should have been a no brainer.

The Rigs dives were great - these were my first two dives on Eureka, and bring my total Oil Rig dives to 4. The rigs are amazing - if you haven't dived them - do it! The life on the rigs is hard to describe. I was picturing in my head some of the shots I wanted today. I swear I spent half of the dive just staring in awe holding my camera to my side.

The last dive was at a site picked from Ray's long list of near-shore favorites (Red Tank - if you feel like you are diving in the shipping lanes - you found the spot.) The temp here was a couple degrees colder then on the rigs - but was well worth it. Several nudi's were amongst the rocks and reef structure. I came across what I thought were Janulous eggs, but I could not find the nud's themselves amongst the kelp. The dive was cut a little short due to NDL and air supply time, I would have really liked to explore more of the reef. Ray promises to visit many more near-shore sites - including advanced sites like the rigs. I know I'm looking forward to it!

Nudi's seen: Doriopsilla albopunctata, Flabellina iodena, Dendronotus robilliardi, Diaulula sandiegensis, Cadlina limbaughorum, Chromodoris macfarlandi

Some pics from the trip (all taken with my video cam in still mode)

White Anemones

Cabezon

Cabezon / Sheephead Wide Angle Attempt (I so wanted this to happen - argh!)

Chestnut Cowrie

Corolla Calceola (Sea Butterfly) - Watch Video!

Club Tipped Anemones - just a few of these on the rigs :)

San Diego Dorid

Doriopsilla albopunctata

Vermillion Rockfish

Rob C on the Oil Rig Eureka

The Sundiver Express Buffet (Ruth and Larry re-energizing!)

Best Seats in the House (Ken & Claudette - SoCal scooter photog critter finder Extraordinaires)

9:05 PM - 3/1/2009 - comments {2} - post comment

First Dives of 09 - SeaBass Style

Date: 01/18/2009

Dive Location: El Segundo & Palos Verdes, California

Dive Sites: El Segundo Hyperion Pipe / Wreck of the Avalon (stern) / Hawthorne (Fav PV Spot)

(better pics than mine)

Was originally planning to hit La Jolla this weekend. The swell reports for west facing beaches, and the huge smiles on the faces of the surfers really put a damper on the idea as the week progressed. I checked with Scott G. to see if there was still any open spots on their Sunday SeaBass boat to PV. It was sold out - as these charters should always be, but I was able to buy a spot from Anastasia - who was getting over a bad bug. Saturday rolled around, but the big swell from the west never did.

Sunday morning I boarded the Sea Bass to many familar faces, including some new ones, and some I only knew by name or bulletin board nickname. As we set off, everyone was very hopeful based on reports from Saturday. As we neared the breakwater - all we could see was a glassy ocean waiting for us to have at it. Heading North, we could see the swell breaking on the rocks, but things definately did not appear too bad.

Our first spot was a large drainage pipe off El Segundo. Scott had dove the pipe in '08 and reported tons of life, including an abundant nudi population - music to our ears. The water looked a little green before we jumped in, but being off lovely El Segundo - I wasn't expecting much. Viz on the pipe was dismal. Unfortanetly, so was the fish life. The pipe however, was massive. I really wasn't expecting much, but this thing was large. On the North side of the pipe, there were sections that provided a large wall (the pipe) to one side, and a rocky reef to the other - with about 5' gap in between. I could definately see the potential here - but this just wasn't the day. I searched a little through sand, and saw nothing, back to the pipe, notta, save for a coonstripe shrimp or two in the rocks nearby. Hopped over to the other side of the pipe and came across several large ling cod. The big find of the dive was a bright red sculpin. I was already below 1000psi at that point, so I took a few shots (and this guy was not wanting to pose), and then headed up the line. Some pics from the dive:

Bright Red Sculpin on the sewage pipe

Bay Goby - I think - thought it was a regular black-eyed goby at first?

Coonstripe Shrimp

We headed back to PV to find more green water. The ocean was still flat - glass - but something was stirring things up. We anchored on the stern of the Avalon. Same story - bad viz - no nudi life. This is PV right? What happened? I explored the stern section of the wreck for the first time, and a little of the nearby rocky area. Came across a handfull of Spanish Shawls as I headed back to the wreck to search for the line. Did I mention the viz sucked? I ended up in huge school of Perch and then I realized, "I'm in a huge school of Perch!" It was pretty cool, but it didn't help in finding the anchor line, so I ascended into the green goo for some hang time. Avalon pics:

Spanish Shawls

Last stop was Hawthorne reef. Some discussion was going on about heading around the corner to OML - but a final decision was made to stay there - fine by me - this is my favorite PV spot. We dropped down, still crappy viz, but, alas, Nudi's! When I was here in November the reef was crawling with Lemon Dorid's, and I even came across my second ever (both in 2008!) Simnia snail. Did I mention I love this site? The Lemon's were still there, but not in the same abundance. No Simnia either, but it was still a good dive, it actually felt like a gold mine after the first two sites. Surge and viz were still working against me - but managed to get a few salvageable pics (afraid to look at the video without taking some Bonine first - weeeee!) Pics:

Lemon Dorids - not as many as in November - but still quite a few on the reef

Mating Cadlina luteomarginata - Bound to see more of these next time :)

Cadlina limbaughorum

Purple Cowrie? (I think this was an old shell with years of growth)

California Sea Cucumber

You gotta start off the new dive year eventually, but I guess you can't always start it off with stellar conditions (I know most of you did - don't remind me.) You can, however, start it off in great company - and that I did. Another great Sko-T charter. Check.

10:53 PM - 1/18/2009 - comments {4} - post comment

3 Hours of Lake Laguna

Date: 12/20/2008

Time in: 1:44pm

Dive Location: Laguna Beach, California

Dive Sites: Shaw's Cove / Heisler Park

Viz: 15'+

Water Temp: 59°f (Suunto)

Max Depth: 24'/27'

Bottom time: 86 min. / 86 min.

Buddies: Rob C.

Headed to Laguna today in hopes that the post storm conditions had subsided. Not only had any sign of run-off disappeared, but I was greeted by a Lake Laguna! As I pulled up to wide open parking (it pays to sleep in and wait for high tide!) I chose the spot right across from the stairs. Apparently everyone was out Christmas shopping. Fine by me! Rob C. pulled up moments later and we were soon geared up and walking down the stairs. Shaws was flat. Glass. Ankle slappers and probably the least amount of surge I've seen this year. We headed toward the Crevice, stopping to notice the trails of hundreds (if not thousands) of cone snails in the sand.

The plan was to work our way through the crevice, and possibly turn back and do it again, or circle around the reef. The Viz was awesome. We could see that there was no white-out in the crevice, looking through the archway from 10-15' away! I spent a lot of time looking up and down the vertical walls, getting in nooks that are usually impossible to stay in given normal viz and surge, assuming you can even see them. As we passed through the archway, surge picked up some, but was still very minimal. All of the usual suspects weere there, including tons of Garibaldi

and Hopkins Rose', and if you look closely enough at the yellow sulfur sponge and don't go cross-eyed in the process, of course a Tylodina fungina.

The swim-thru that heads north (aka star wars canyon) looked like an absolute aquarium, but we decided to stay in the crevice proper. Right before the crevice starts to narrow before the crossroads, I notice a Porter's chromodorid.

And then another, and another and another.

And another about 3' away. Five Porters! Wow! I tried my best to get a shot of all of them, but it just wasn't possible.

Another nudi find, making me really wish I had chose to go macro today instead of just using my flat port, was the smallest Aegires albopunctatus I've seen.

After 86 minutes we surfaced from a final depth of 4' (still minimal surge) and headed up the stairs. What a dive!

Our next stop was Heisler. We haven't dove here since the major renovation that was done over the last year. The bad news was that parking is $2/hr. The good news is, they take MasterCard. What is this world coming to? Again we quickly worked through the pre-dive formalities and hurried down the steps, knowing that we would be surfacing at dusk, if not later. Before we entered, we noticed that the new shower at the bottom of the ramp was placed right in the middle of the sand as opposed to on the ramp as it was before. What?

Viz was a bit less at Heisler, but we still had an incredible dive. I started finding many many black dorids, but they were all too small to photograph as I was not really set up for macro today (no diopter on the video camera.) The larger critters were of course easier to get a few pics and footage of, including several Spanish Shawl and Cowrie's.

I then happened on a Laguna first, a Janolus barbarensis.

I have seen these little nudi's in Catalina before - and really didn't expect to come across them in Laguna. Shortly after that, I started experencing technical diffulties with my video lights, but we continued on for another 86 minute dive. I forgot how awesome the reef can be at Heisler. Tons of lobster (including a super-grandaddy), sheephead, octopus and the list goes on...

If you've got your holiday shopping done, or you just need a little break from the madness (and don't we all) - then don't pass up these conditions!

On a final note, if you haven't finished your holiday shopping yet and you have a photog or video-nut on your list - Bart (Mike@Saltwaterphoto.com) has you covered. I just took delivery of my Cozy - and I know it will get a lot of use in the years ahead!

11:34 PM - 12/20/2008 - comments {0} - post comment

The weather started getting rough: LJS 12/13/2008

Date: 12/13/2008

Time in: 10:16am

Dive Location: San Deigo, California

Dive Sites: La Jolla Shores

Viz: 15'

Water Temp: 61°f constant all depths (Suunto)

Max Depth: 63'

Bottom time: 54 min.

Buddies: Rob C.

Met up with Rob C. in San Diego in hopes of blowing some bubbles before the next big storm blew in. Our first stop was Scripps pier, which was quicly scrubbed as a dive site for the day. Things looked much better down south so we headed to the main parking lot.

Gail force wind warnings, drizzle and ominious looking clouds did not deter dozens of divers including us. We suited up (my first dry suit shore dive in several years - definately the way to go today - though water was still a balmy 61) and headed through the surf with ease. After about 5 minutes of kicking, getting slapped in the back of the head by swell after swell got to be very old, so we descended to about 20' in the sand.

Viz was in the 15'+ range, no complaints by us. We soon hit the wall around 50' and took a sharp right heading north. Lots of small critters, including countless gobies, several constripe shrimp and fringehead. Only a few nudi's, including a D. Albo, a Lemon Dorid and a couple Spanish Shawls. Also saw several small California Sea Hares, but not as tiny as the ones I was seeing last month. Many octopus were visible - but stayed safely in their dwellings and didn't venture out to visit or pose for a mug shot.

We hung another sharp right to complete the final leg of our triangle, surfacing once we hit about 15' at which point I was running on fumes, and wanted to save some air for the surf zone. The wind swell and chop had increased, but we proceeded to another uneventful surf exit.

After getting back to the car we decided to call it a day - we had enough nice bubble memories to hopefully weather the storm. I spent a lot of time trying to get some decent pics of coonstripe shrimp and juvi sheephead, unfortanetly none of those shots turned out - so here's what I was able to salvage from the rest of the dive..

Octopus

Spanish Shawl

California Sea Hare

12:46 PM - 12/13/2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Sshhhh, We're Hunting Nudi's

Date: 11/30/2008

Dive Location: Palos Verdes, California

Dive Sites: Wreck of the Avalon, Hawthorne Reef, and an attempt at the old MarineLand swim platform

Viz: 2-12' (milky and murky)

Water Temp: 59-63°f (Suunto)

Max Depth: 77' / 74' / 83'

Bottom time: 44 / 38 / 36 min.

Buddies: RobC&Bob W

See pics/report from others here.

Saturday Rob C, Bob W and I boarded the Sea Bass for another macro critter hunt in PV. This was my third such trip this year, and the second organized by Scott G. Unfortanetly, Scott was unable to join us, due to a last minute ankle injury that left him unable to fin for pics. We were sorry to hear of the news, but we pressed on. Thick fog hung to the harbor and to Palos Verdes for the ride out. As usual, even with a full load (12 divers) all with camera/video rigs/scoots, logistics went very smoothly on the Sko-T charter. It's amazing the difference of being on a charter where everyone is experienced, courteous and friendly.

The first stop was the wreck of the Avalon. I hardly recognized that we were at the right spot with the thick fog and high amount of kelp at PV compared to this summer. The last two times I dove this site we anchored near the crane, but I never managed to find the wreck, as there was so much to photograph on the nearby reef. This time Captain Richard said he was right on the bow of the wreck. Sure enough, as soon as I got to the bottom of the anchor line, adjusted some camera controls and cut through the horrible viz, I was at the bow. My first find was something that looked like a small dorid, but I wasn't sure. Even from the pics, I'm unsure if this is even a slug..

Unknown Nudi

We spent the rest of the dive making a circle around the bow and some of the reef nearby. Surge was much worse then my last two visits here, so the resulting tollerable pic count is very low.

Cadlina luteomarginata

Our next stop was Hawthorne reef, my favorite PV site. Ross-O and the Orion III was picking up it's anchor (with a human powered windlass it appeared) so we waited patiently and then moved in. Ross said conditions weren't great, so our expectations weren't high. Viz and surge was as reported, but of course macro subjects were in abundance here, with an incredibly high count of Sea Lemons.

Lemon Dorid

My first major find was my second ever Simnia snail, or what I'm pretty sure was a Simnia. The mantle (I think) was mostly retracted, so it looked much different then the one I found at Shaw's this summer.

Simnia Snail

Other finds included a swell shark egg (Kevin Lee said he saw several there), Coonstripe Shrimp and many Nudi's (no decent pics of most unfortantely).

Swell Shark Egg

Flabellina trillneata

Spanish Shawl

Cadlina limbaughorum

The decision for the third site was left up to the group. Many people wanted to do a Marine Land dive, so we picked up the anchor and motored south. The wind was ripping through the cove, and we ended up passing on two sites before making an attempt to anchor near the old Marine Land swim platform. We descended down the anchor line to strong surge and dismal viz over a very silty mucky bottom. I followed the anchor line and found several photo subjects, but alas, no platform. The scoot-togs of the boat were able to make the swim and see the platform, and reported alot of life around the still very intact structure. Here are the few pics I got with the lowest amount of backscatter and complete wash-out:

Hermissenda crassicornis

Dendronotus robilliardi (A first!)

Armina californica

Desipite the conditions, a great time was had by all, a common theme for Sko-T charters! Looking forward to the next!

8:43 PM - 11/30/2008 - comments {3} - post comment

DMR x 2

Date: 11/22/2008

Time:  8:20am

Dive Location: Laguna Beach

Dive Site: Dead Man's Reef (backside then frontside)

Viz: 20-30'

Water Temp: 60-63°f (Suunto)

Max Depth: 63' / 48'

Bottom time: 57 / 72 min.

Buddies: RobC / RobC&RG

One thing we should definately be thankful for is November diving in Laguna Beach. Conditions have been stellar lately, and after I had missed a couple weeks of the good conditions I decided to hurry before I missed out and the winter storm action began. Rob C stopped by my place around 8:30am on his way up for San Diego. We loaded up the 'Hoe (which hadn't seen any saltwater in quite sometime since I've had it up in NorCal for several months) with 6 tanks (wishful thinking?) , 2 full sets of gear, and 2 coolers full of water and video/camera rigs.

We shoved off and landed at N. Crescent (a great name to use in dive invites BTW if you don't want to scare away those individuals adverse to long swims out to Dead Man's.) We took a walk down to the beach and saw what looked to be very favorable surface conditions. A decent set of 3-4 footers was seperated by a very long lull.

Before we descended a boat passed between us and shore. I doubt the drivers (of the rental boat) even saw us. Making the long surface stroll out to Dead Man's is definately a risky undertaking. As I was just about ready to deflate the wing a Sheriff boat approach about 30 yards south of us. Using a haler he asked us where our dive float was. I attempted to answer twice, but since the obviously inept officer refused to throttle down his engines (or kill them entirely), my responses fell upon deaf (or should I say daft?) ears. We descended and carried on with the mission we set off to complete. I don't disagree with carrying a surface float out to exposed sites like Dead Man's - but I doubt that it would really make too much of a difference with people in rent-a-boats or even the common private boater (crap, how many times have I had to yell at other boats passing between the charter boat I was DMing for and the class of 8 newbies who periodically were shooting to the surface doing CESA drills?)

So, on to the diving. We were able to see the see the reef as we past over, so we knew we were in for some great conditions. The viz opened up to an easy 20'+. One of my first sightings was a coonstripe shrimp. I had seen these guys in La Jolla and Palos Verdes, but this was definately a first for Laguna! I love that these guys are almost always photogenic, and don't scare off as all other shrimp do. As I moved on I came across most of the regular critters, but not much on the nudi front. I found several Spanish Shawl's, and one clown nudi. Rob spotted a Moray, and Lobster were in abundance. Time passed quickly and we both signalled that we were at 1000 psi, so we headed to shallower waters, but not before seeing another Moray and many more lobster. After completing a 3 min safety stop, we stayed at 15-20' and headed in a bit. We were able to clearly see the bottom and the surface from this depth -definately not a bad day of Viz in Laguna! When we surfaced we noticed that a thick fog had rolled in. I'm glad the fog waited to hide our DMR line-up's until AFTER we had completed our dive! :)

During our surface interval we waited for RG to drive down and join us. Our plan for dive #2 was to make a line for north side of the reef, then head to Seal Rock for some seal action. Before we surfaced, Richard asked if we had seen Dead Henge before. We had not, but I understood that it was a heading of someting like 220-240 from the edge of the main reef. Within 5 minutes on the bottom, we coincidentally happened to stumbled upon it! We followed it out and made a right turn once we hit the reef. Lobster and Moray galore! I think I counted 7 eels and countless bugs as we worked very slowly in our planned direction. Movement was too slow to complete the proposed dive plan, but we ended up having an awesome dive. Tons of Garibaldi, Sheepshead, bass, treefish etc etc. We headed back in and surfaced in about 10' of water. Timing couldn't have been better for our exit, and we were quickly (riiiight) back up the stairs. We luckily caught the last 30 minutes of breakfast/lunch service at the Cottage, with the fireplace roaring right next to our table (which was very welcome after 2 chilly SoCal dives). Another great day of diving in Laguna!!!

Bat Star Collecting Shells?

Coonstripe Shrimp (first time I've found one in Laguna!)

Spanish Shawl

Hedgehog Hydroid

Nudi (Sea Lemon?) Eggs

T. catalinae (Clown Nudi)

Cabezon

Moray Eel (Counted at least 7 on Saturday!)

White Sponge of some sort? Thought this might be a nudi for a sec but Scott G. set me straight!

11:37 PM - 11/22/2008 - comments {0} - post comment

DMR & Shaw's Cove 11/8/08

Report on the way...

Urchin Shrimp

Giant Sea Clam

Spanish Shawl

F. trilineata

Tiniest Sea Lemon I've ever seen (at Shaw's)

P. nobilis - Normal size (at Dead Man's)

Clown Nudi

11:36 PM - 11/8/2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Catalina 11/1/08

Report on the way...

Baby California Sea Hare

Garibaldi

Gorgonian

Jellies

Obligatory Kelp Shots

Octopus

Rob C.

Sea Star

TDA

SumtinGrowinOnKelp?

11:34 PM - 11/1/2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Marine Room

Report on the way...

Anemone?

Crab

Flounder

Navanax Eggs

Pipefish (internal flash started to fire)

Plainfin Midshipman (I think)

Roughback Sculpin

Sculpin

Shrimp

11:26 PM - 10/24/2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Wakatobi - The Nudibranchs

Watch the video!

Watch the video in HD!

9:52 PM - 9/19/2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Video Collection: August 2008

A collection of video footage from my August 2008 SoCal dives

NOTE: If the video window below does not work - please use this direct link:

 August 2008 SoCalDives

August 2008 Video Collection

11:58 PM - 8/31/2008 - comments {1} - post comment