Needing to gas up our boat today, we rejoiced at the swell model predictions of two feet swells and light wind. Kevin Lee joined us for his first cold water dives since returning from Anilao. Our plan was to fuel up in Los Angeles Harbor and then hit one of the deeper shipwrecks on the San Pedro Shelf.

We left our house this morning to a stiff breeze. Not a good sign, but we hoped it would calm down soon. As we rounded Rocky Point it became clear that we would take quite a pounding if we continued eastward. We tucked our crotch straps between our legs and headed back toward Redondo Beach.

At the Palawan, whitecaps and a strong current helped us decide to dive nearshore. The surface water over the Landing Craft was green and didn't look good, but Kevin really wanted to take his leaking drysuit into the 51° water.

We dropped through a dirty layer, making me think we would have similar conditions to our last few weeks. Suddenly, the visibility opened up to well over twenty feet. It was cold, but some of the best visibility I had seen on this little wreck. The highlight of the dive for me was finding a purple stripe jelly at the end of the dive.

With conditions like this at the Landing Craft, I hoped for better visibility on the barge than we've experienced lately. It turned out to be the best visibility I have seen here. Kevin spotted another purple stripe jelly about fifty feet from the barge. I had my macro lens for this dive, so my attempts at photographing something the size of a basketball failed miserably. I'm sure Kevin scored big time.

I headed back toward the barge and was surprised to see the entire length of the rusting hulk. That was a first for me. It was at least thirty-five feet visibility despite the lousy surface conditions. Before surfacing, Kevin saw another purple stripe jelly.

I read a report of fifty feet visibility at Redondo Beach last Wednesday. After finding brown water and two feet vis on Sunday, I was more than a little skeptical. I planned to dive off San Pedro this morning but the south swell kept me close to King Harbor. One more dive on the barge...

The brown water is still here, but the visibility has improved to over six feet! My focus light barely penetrated more then a few inches, though. I made the best of a bad situation and concentrated on the tiny animals.

Beroe gracilis

Ancula gibbosa

Flabellina iodinea

Flabellina trilineata

Tritonia festiva

Doto kya

Rictaxis punctocaelatus

Merry and I made our first dive since returning from a grueling eleven days in warm water. Visibility on the Redondo Beach Artificial Reef was about two feet in brown water. I planned to try for some photos of the tiny Doto kya nudibranchs laying eggs with my new diopter, but I was lucky to get one shot in the pudding.

Visibility was slightly better above thirty feet. There were tons of sea butterflies, Corolla spectabilis and a few Fried Egg jellies, Phacellophora camtschatica. Near the end of the dive, a Lion's Mane nudibranch, Melibe leonina came swimming by. It made up for one of the worst dives of the year.

Doto kya

Phacellophora camtschatica

Melibe lionina

Merry and I joined Kevin Lee for a couple of weeks in the Philippines for some warm water nudibranch hunting. We flew Asiana Airlines aboard a 777 that made the long trip the most comfortable plane ride I've taken. It was over sixteen hours in the air, including having to go around North Korean airspace, but the appointments were incredible, and Kevin described the flight attendants as "dolls".

The first leg of our trip was LAX to Seoul.

So Jung Cho (Julia), our new best friend

We arrived in Manila, a city of eleven million bad drivers, where Reggie picked us up for the two and a half hour drive to Club Ocellaris. He told us that the traffic signs in Manila are merely suggestions.

The money in the Philippines doesn't seem to trickle down much outside of downtown Manila. The rest of the island seemed very poor, although the people we met were very nice and worked long hours. The boatmen and the resort staff were already working before 6:00 each morning and would work until well after 11:00 most nights.

Cashews dropped from the trees.

Our dive guide, Peri Palerecio

We had a little wind chop a few days, but not enough to keep most of the divers from making four dives. Merry and I wussed out, making three dives only once. This was Kevin's fourth trip to Club-O. We followed his lead for a few dives, trying not to act like newbies. After a couple of days, we were in the swing of things.

Phil, Merry and Kevin

Kevin with Carissa Shipman

Eli, Zung and Kevin

After a few dives, Merry began demanding to be taken to her favorite reefs.

This site is called Bubbles for some unknown reason

Most reefs are full of lush coral and fish, with many others being muck dives, mostly nudibranchs under coral debris. The water was a bit stirred up with visibility slightly below April standards for Anilao, but the temperatures were a comfortable 79° to 82° throughout our time there.

Platurus colubrinus

Mushroom coral pipefish, Siokunichthys nigrolineatus

Fimbriated moray, Gymnothorax fimbriatus

Oxycorynia fascicularis

Peacock mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus scyllarus

Bubble coral, Plerogyra sinuosa

Upside Down Jelly, Cassiopea andromeda

Tubastrea faulkneri

Prosthiostomum trilineatum

Antennarius maculatus

Bobtail squid, Euprymna berryi

Bobbit worm, Eunice aphroditois

Tiger Cowry, Cypraea tigris

A few other non-nudi creatures found on the reefs...

Calpurnus verrucosus

Black Ribbon Eel, Rhinomuraena quaesita

A sea cucumber that mimics a nudibranch, Bohadschia graeffei

Razorfish, Aeoliscus strigatus

Lopha folium

Ribbon eel, Rhinomuraena quaesita

Of course, the real reason divers go to Anilao is for the nudibranchs. The place is crawling with them.

Nembrotha chamberlaini

Spanish Dancer eggs

Thecacera picta

Halgerda batangas

Phyllidia varicosa

Nembrotha rutilans

Phyllidia polkadotsa

Juvenile Spanish Dancer, Hexabranchus sanguineus

Flabellina rubrolineata

Phyllodesmium rudmani

hyllidia elegans

Plakobranchus sp. 1

Gymnodoris ceylonica

Phyllidia coelestis

Chromodoris dianae

Glossodoris atromarginata

Reticulidia fungia

Phyllodesmium briareum

Chelidonura varians

Ceratosoma gracillimum

Glossodoris cincta

Flabellina macassarana

Phyllidia occellata

Chromodoris reticulata

Gymnodoris rubropapulosa

Noumea alboannulata

Cratena lineata

Chelidonura amoena

Chromodoris willani

Chromodoris kuniei

Hypselodoris bollandi

Jorunna funebris

Pectenodoris trilineata

Hypselodoris infucata

Chromodoris fidelis

Chromodoris roboi

Chromodoris magnifica

Nembrotha yonowae

Ceratosoma alleni

Chromodoris annae

Risbecia apolegma

Hypselodoris maculosa

Risbecia bullockii

Chromodoris geometrica

Phyllodesmium crypticum

Phyllidiella pustolosa

Ardeadoris egretta

I have a few more to identify.

Trapania sp.?

Before we knew it, our last night in Anilao had come. After a day of packing and drying gear it was nice to enjoy the sunset. I hope to see a few more of them at Anilao someday soon.

The heat wave we've been experiencing this week hasn't reached the coast. It was foggy all week, but this morning looked like a typical summer day with a thick marine layer.

We wanted to check out some sites off Redondo Beach, but some fishermen told us to go away because they apparently own that part of the ocean. We settled for the barge, but wished we were elsewhere. Dark, very little visibility and an incoming tide made for a boring dive. I found another parchment worm out in the open.

We went around to the south side of Palos Verdes in search of clearer water. We found a small pod of Pacific white-side dolphins off Pt. Vicente, so we hung around with them for a few minutes.

We made a second dive at Buchanan's Reef off Marineland. Visibility was only slightly better here, but a current came through mid-dive and lowered the vis. A juvenile sea lion decided to get out of the current and spent a couple of hours lounging on our boat. She had some small cuts on the back of her head, but was otherwise fine. It was a little unnerving climbing up the ladder and having a sea lion on the swimstep.

The ocean was glassy as we headed toward Marineland this morning. A couple visiting from Spain found some uncommon nudibranchs there this week, including one I've never seen. Our plan was to dive the wreck of the Jenny Lynne, then offgas some more in ten to fifteen feet where the nudis were.

Visibility on the wreck was only ten feet, but I have seen it much worse. I took as many shots of the metridiums and rockfish as I could, but didn't leave the stern area due to the poor vis. We motored toward shore, only to find milky water in the cove. Buchanan's Reef was dirty as well, so I headed offshore to let Merry and Kevin soak in the salps and siphonophores.

We ended the day at the wreck of the Avalon. Surge, dirty water and 50° temperature made the dive less than enjoyable, but I did finally get a nice picture of a Peltodoris mullineri.

Peltodoris mullineri

Naked Clam, Chlamydoconcha orcutti

With the gloomy predictions for dive conditions this weekend, Kevin, Merry and I headed offshore in search of blue water, kelp paddies or current lines. Two out of three isn't bad.

There was no blue water to be found, so I dropped Kevin and Merry in a current line with a kelp paddy in it. Kevin headed for the kelp first. He reported that the juvenile rockfish were frightened by his bubbles so he didn't get any good shots. I'm sure Dr. Milton Love will be thrilled with Kevin's "bad" images. Kevin also found several Melibe leonina with eggs. I tried to get some shots when I went in, but I only found one. I also noticed that many of the kelp fronds were covered with Gooseneck barnacles.

While Merry and Kevin were in the water, a large Fin whale surfaced just a few feet from the kelp. Kevin had just been there moments before.

We then moved inshore to the wreck of the Avalon. There was a bit of surge and visibility was only twelve feet, but at least we made it out this weekend. Merry and Kevin came back up excited about their photos of a Peltodoris mullineri, a nudibranch I've only seen once. Kevin found two on the same rock. :(

Thermograph placed on the bow by Jon Davies for the Catalina Marine Society

After finally getting some still photos of the UB88 yesterday and enjoying the deco hang with thousands of pelagic squishies, we endured dirty green water with little life on the Redondo Beach Artificial Reef today.

I checked out an octopus nest to see how far along the eggs are while Merry fired off one shot after another nearby. She later showed me an image in her monitor, but I looked quickly, thinking it was a shrimp in thick algae. It turned out that she got several nice shots of a Phidiana hiltoni, a nudibranch I've only seen once outside of the Northern Channel Islands.

Back on the surface, she told me where it was, so I jumped back in for a snipe hunt in murky green water. I didn't find it, so I fired off a couple shots of a nearby octopus before heading back up. While going through today's photos, I saw the little guy as bycatch in my last photo. After seeing Merry's shots, I'm embarrassed to post mine...almost.

Hilton's aeolid in the lower left

I've been viewing several videos from the UB88 the past two months and kicking myself for missing out on the good conditions. The best visibility I had seen on the German submarine was ten feet, until today.

The ocean was a giant millpond as we motored toward San Pedro. We could see sea lions resting at the surface from a mile away. As we arrived onsite, the sun began to peak out just as we were entering the water. I had high hopes for blue water.

It was pretty clear as I descended, getting darker as I neared one hundred feet. Suddenly, the visibility opened to forty feet as I reached the school of Squarespot rockfish that hover above the wreck. Temperature at depth was a nice 54°, only three degrees cooler than the surface.

Several species of rockfish were out and about today. I saw my first adult Starry rockfish, Sebastes constellatus. I found a juvenile at White Point a few years ago, but this guy was large and in charge. He dwarfed the numerous Honeycomb rockfish on the sub. Only the Vermilions were larger.

I looked for some of the wolfeels, but they had gone into hiding. I checked out the metridiums on the net before joining Mid-water Merry in the salp soup above the wreck. I have never seen so many pelagic squishies as I did today. Carrying a wide angle lens and monster dome port, I left the tiny critters to Merry.

Diving in Southern California in January can be tough. The snow was piled deep as we made our way through the slush that we call the Pacific Ocean.

View of Winter from Redondo Beach

I even had to soak up what little warmth I could from the Sun. It was bitterly cold today, about 72°. Fortunately there was no wind to create much of a chill factor.

We stopped to check out the Humpback whale that has been hanging out just off Vet's the past week. It is probably stuck in the ice flows.

The swells were nearly four inches high with less than an hour interval. We pushed on toward Haggerty's to test our thermal tolerance. The water was 51°, so we had to get out after only an hour and fifteen minutes. There wasn't anything to see anyway.

Sheepcrab with two starry hitch hikers

After scraping the ice from our toes, we made our way to the Landing Craft. It's a good place to find one of my favorite nudibranchs, Cuthona divae.
I didn't see one, but I found some eggs and clusters of their favorite food, hedgehog hydroids. When I uploaded my images I noticed a Cuthona hiding behind the hydroids. My eyelids must have been frozen shut to miss that one.

This tiny tunicate was growing from the side of a tube anemone

By the time we surfaced, the air temperature had lowered to a bone-chilling 70°. I may have to think about wearing long pants if it gets any colder.

After a day on the water like today, someone needs a hug.

We were looking for something different this weekend. We tend to dive the same sites over and over, photographing the same animals. Merry suggested, or more like demanded that we dive in mid water during the pre-dawn hours. I told Kevin Lee her plan and he was willing.

We set out EARLY this morning for a gelatinous critter search. We marveled at how lovely the city lights are in the middle of the night, yet none of us took a picture. The ocean was dead calm except for the sea lions and dolphins cavorting nearby. One pup made a **** of dive bombing Merry and Kevin. We heard the squeaks of the dolphins for several minutes during our ascent.

We didn't find anything interesting in mid water so we dropped to the bottom. I found a new octopus nest and Kevin found two Aeolidiella oliviae. I surfaced a few minutes before Kevin and Merry. The floaters showed up after I left the water, so maybe M&K got some great shots.

After sunrise, we headed for Marineland, where reports of good visibility were posted this week. After anchoring, a small Gray whale surfaced less than five feet from our bow. We could see the mottled gray patterns on its back as it cruised just below the surface. Again, nobody took pictures.

We dropped near Ted's Pinnacle. Visibility was a murky fifteen feet despite the calm, flat water. I took pictures of the same animals over and over again. I did find an unidentified worm burying itself in the sand.

Visibility at Redondo Beach was twenty-five feet. Both sites had 52° water temps. As we approached King Harbor we saw several boats just offshore from Vet's. I thought that there must have been some good fishing near shore, when suddenly a huge whale surfaced in front of us, heading our way. This time, Merry got pictures. :)

After a week of strong winds and muddy swells, it was good to see the ocean calm down yesterday. I didn't expect to have much visibility, so I set up for macro and headed for the Redondo Barge. As I approached the site I saw the Redondo Special sportfishing boat anchored right in the center of the barge. I'm not sure if they were targeting blacksmiths or nudibranchs, but there really isn't much in the way of sport fish there.

I looked for any non-brown water and decided not to waste gas by going any farther than Haggerty's. I dropped into a hazy green soup and was on the bottom before I knew it. Visibility was six feet in some spots, but for the most part it was only three feet.

I didn't find a single nudibranch. I think they all went south for the winter. I spent the entire dive trying to find anything that would make an interesting photo. Hermit crabs, tiny sculpins and a Yellowfin Fringehead filled my lens today.

Temperature was 51° at fifty-five feet with no surge.

Yellowfin Fringehead, Neoclinus stephansae

Feather duster worms, Eudistylia polymorpha

Snubnose sculpin, Orthonopias triacis

Juvenile Kelp rockfish, three inches long

Furry Hermit crab, Paguristes ulreyi

After three days of Santana winds I expected great conditions. The day began well, with flat seas and a half dozen Gray whales putting on a great show for us at Pt. Vicente.

We needed to fuel the boat, so we made a dive on the wreck of the F.S. Loop just off the Los Angeles Federal Breakwater. We had the best conditions I have ever had on the Loop last year. Today was the worst. Dark, less than three feet visibility and a soup of gunk rushing by.

We didn't find the large number of Doriopsilla spaldingi we usually see here, and not a single Tritonia festiva was spotted. None of us reported anything good after surfacing.

After topping off with petrol, we headed for Marineland in search of nudibranchs. They have been suspiciously absent from our recent dives. Even Marineland was a disappointment. I only found a few species at a spot I found seventeen on a single dive before. Maybe the cold, dirty water is scaring them away.

I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I hope conditions improve soon.

We made two more dives today to pad our logbooks for 2012. I finished the year at 117 dives. This was an interesting year of diving for me.

We found several octopus nests and even got to witness some hatching. Last February we made a trip to Morro Bay where Kevin Lee found a couple of nudibranchs we hadn't seen before. We spotted an otter right off Redondo Beach. I found a couple of nudibranchs on the Redondo Barge that were previously missing from my collection.

In May, I finally published the book I had been planning for twenty years, Diving the Palos Verdes Peninsula. It has sold over two hundred copies, about 190 more than I expected.

In June, I flooded my housing, toasting my camera and lens. DAN insurance was painless to work with and I was soon back in the water with a new camera and housing. It came just in time for our first warm water trip. Merry and I went to Cozumel to experience drift diving. It was not what I expected, but I got a few decent photos from the trip.

Merry made her 500th dive this year. She was a newbie when I met her. She is now a self-sufficient solo diver who gets better photos than I do.

Earlier in the year, I laid lines between all of the pilings near the Topaz Jetty in Redondo Beach. By August, sand and plastic debris began to be dumped on the site. Volunteers have been cleaning up the area for the past month, but it will take years before the life returns.

In September, we were able to photograph a wolf eel at the Redondo Beach artificial reef. Ian Uhalt recently found a juvenile wolf eel off Palos Verdes. It's good to see a variety of marine life in our little neck of the woods.

October brought blue water nearshore throughout California. It was amazing to see the surface from eighty feet below. We're not used to seeing more than eight feet!

This month we took Kevin Lee to Catalina where we photographed our first Hypselodoris californiensis. I think Kevin's collection is somewhere around ten thousand nudibranchs by now.

We ended the year by diving the Marineland Platform and Redondo Barge today. We had the same conditions we've had for several weeks. Decent visibility in mid-water gave way to dirty muck on the bottom. Kevin found an Acanthodoris brunnea, only the second time I've seen one. On the barge, I found a few nudibranchs and a single simnia. I guess it is the wrong time of the year to dive close to home.

I don't know if 2013 will top this year for us, but I'm looking forward to more great adventures under the sea.

We sat in the marina for nearly three hours yesterday waiting for the rain to let up so we could go diving. We finally gave up and dragged ourselves back home. This morning was a crisp, clear Winter day, complete with frost on our windows.
We arrived at the marina and turned on our heater before our usual routine of setting up gear.

With the high gas prices of 2012, I've been trying to get as many dives out of a tank full as possible. Being cheap has put a lot of dives in our logbooks from Redondo Beach and the west side of Palos Verdes. I decided to splurge and re-visit the south side today.

Buchanan's Reef look decent. We could see about fifteen feet down the kelp, so we jumped in. Visibility on the reef was a little over ten feet. The vermilion rockfish must have known we were shooting macro because they were constantly in our faces. The usual assortment of nudibranchs were missing. Buchanan's is a spot where we typically find more than a dozen species each dive. Today, only a half dozen or so were out. I did find a Dendrodoris behrensi, only the third one I've found here.

We pushed our luck by heading back to the west side for our next dive. Although it was flat and the surface water was clear, surge and visibility of about two feet on the reef made me wish we had stayed on the south side.

Rain, rain, go away

We reminded a boat full of fisherman at Pt. Vicente that the area has been closed to fishing for 364 days now. They didn't seem too happy to have their picture taken.
Poachers at Pt. Vicente

For years, I've been trying to learn to photograph as well as Kevin Lee. It's been so frustrating that I figured the only way to beat him is to eliminate him.

We hope to have better luck tomorrow...on the south side.

A blustery Christmas morning kept me out of the water. I rarely miss a Christmas dive, so today was disappointing. By late afternoon, I couldn't stand it any longer so I grabbed my camera and headed for a quick drop on the Redondo Beach artificial reef. Merry felt well enough to sleep on the boat rather than at home.

Visibility was a hazy ten feet with some surge. As is common in December, there was not much life on the barge. I covered the entire area and found one simnia on its side and two nudibranchs.
We're planning to make a couple dives under the T-Pier in Morro Bay next weekend so it was good to get in a little macro practice.

Possibly an Appleseed snail, Hespererato vitellina
Paul Kanner will know for sure.

Triopha catalinae

I've fallen, and I can't get up!
Simnia, Delonovolva aequalis

Captain Andy called yesterday with amazing news. In spite of the depressing predictions of wind and six foot swells, it was calm and flat in the Santa Monica Bay. When he told us about thirty feet vis, I planned my dives for this morning.

With Merry at home with the cold, Kevin Lee and I trekked northward to the Star of Scotland. We anchored in blue water. From fifty feet we could look up and see the boat. Unfortunately, the wreck sits in seventy feet. Conditions on the bottom were the usual five feet vis with silt stirred up. We never went more that twenty feet from the anchor. The only photo I got was a Pegea confoederata at the surface.

Pegea confoederata

We headed to the rock piles off Marina del Rey, hoping the blue water would reach sixty feet here. Different site, same story. Visibility at the top of the rocks was a decent twelve feet, but it was five feet at the sand. I got one image of a ronquil on the reef and a couple of shots of an Apolemia uvaria at the surface. If conditions allow, I will probably stick to Palos Verdes tomorrow.

Northern Ronquil, Ronquilus jordani

Apolemia uvaria

Janolus barbarensis

Number one on Kevin Lee's Most Wanted nudibranch list was the Hypselodoris californiensis, or the accepted scientific name Felimare californiensis. Craig Hoover told us that he has been finding some at Big Fisherman's Cove while attending the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies at Catalina Island.
The ocean cooperated today as we made the crossing over flat seas with no wind.

We met up with Craig and Gary at the Two Harbors Dive Shop, then got a mooring in Big Fisherman's Cove.

We made a dive along the jetty near the pier, but didn't find anything interesting. I took one shot before turning off my camera for the rest of the dive.

We snorkeled across the cove to check out the south wall. The center of the cove was littered with a leopard shark congregation.

We dropped down and began looking in all the nooks and crannies for a nudibranch. I found a few interesting critters before the excitement began.

I looked over to a large boulder where Gary, Craig and Kevin were filling the water with bubbles. Jackpot! Kevin's life is now complete. Each of us took turns photographing the little guy. I had a hard time getting close enough with my wide angle lens and nine inch dome port. I'm sure everyone else got some great shots.

Back on the boat, everyone was all smiles.

Kevin explains how he locates tiny nudis.

That tiny one today really wore him out. Too much excitement for one day, I guess.

I was convinced I would be doing yard work this weekend thanks to the approaching storms. Seven to nine feet surf was predicted for Los Angeles County. We stopped by Vet's yesterday to check out the high surf. Instead, we saw three footers with blue water. We called Kevin Lee and told him that diving was on for Sunday.

This morning the water was even flatter! I was really getting my hopes up. We motored to the wreck of the Avalon and dropped anchor into small swells. Visibility on the wreck was three to four feet. It was as if there was a filter in front of our eyes. I made the best of the situation, but couldn't get any decent photos.

We headed for the Hermosa Artificial Reef, hoping for better vis. Gliding down the anchor rode, the water looked much cleaner. As I reached the chain however, I couldn't see the bottom three feet below. Surge and less than two feet vis made for an even worse dive than the first. I stuck it out, hoping to find something interesting. I told myself several times under water that at least the air fills were free. I had hoped to sneak in a day of diving when everyone else stayed home. I should have done the same.