I see ads all the time for trips to Baja, South America and other destinations for divers to go see Mr. Big. Although seeing a Great White or Whale Shark would be an awesome experience, I find that looking for the tiniest creatures and getting an image of one is a much tougher task. I found some Doto kya nudibranchs laying eggs on a hydroid last week. Using a 90mm lens, I was unable to get a decent in-focus shot. I invited Kevin Lee, the Muck Diving Magician and Margaret Webb with her 105mm lens to try to get a shot of them.
I used a diopter over my port today and was still unable to get a shot. The nudis are too small to see clearly with the naked eye. Margaret had cable issues and was unable to take any photos today. She looked lost underwater. Kevin fired off several attempts and reported that the nudis must have moved on. When I looked at my monitor I found at least four, so I'm sure Kevin will get some incredible images uploaded soon.
We moved on to the octopus nests I checked on yesterday. One nest had 95% of the eggs remaining to hatch. I hoped to witness a few hatching today, but to my great disappointment they had all hatched overnight. If conditions hold up I will try for some images from the other nests. Visibility was down quite a bit from yesterday.
We had a full load on the No Pressure this morning
Captain Andy brought the Moby Kate down from Marina del Rey to join us on the barge. It was pretty busy down there with Merry and me, Kevin, Margaret, Andy, Patrick Smith and Cindy Shaw. Andy pointed out a small mating pair of Dendronotus iris while others were spotted on tube anemones.
I swam back to the barge and found a few more nudibranchs before heading back up to the sweltering heat.
Ancula gibbosa
Aegires albopunctatus
Aeolidiella oliviae
Pleurobranchaea californica
We headed offshore for some blue water diving. The water wasn't very blue, in fact, it got dirtier the deeper we went. I managed to get a few salps before calling it a day.
I used a diopter over my port today and was still unable to get a shot. The nudis are too small to see clearly with the naked eye. Margaret had cable issues and was unable to take any photos today. She looked lost underwater. Kevin fired off several attempts and reported that the nudis must have moved on. When I looked at my monitor I found at least four, so I'm sure Kevin will get some incredible images uploaded soon.
We moved on to the octopus nests I checked on yesterday. One nest had 95% of the eggs remaining to hatch. I hoped to witness a few hatching today, but to my great disappointment they had all hatched overnight. If conditions hold up I will try for some images from the other nests. Visibility was down quite a bit from yesterday.
We had a full load on the No Pressure this morning
Captain Andy brought the Moby Kate down from Marina del Rey to join us on the barge. It was pretty busy down there with Merry and me, Kevin, Margaret, Andy, Patrick Smith and Cindy Shaw. Andy pointed out a small mating pair of Dendronotus iris while others were spotted on tube anemones.
I swam back to the barge and found a few more nudibranchs before heading back up to the sweltering heat.
Ancula gibbosa
Aegires albopunctatus
Aeolidiella oliviae
Pleurobranchaea californica
We headed offshore for some blue water diving. The water wasn't very blue, in fact, it got dirtier the deeper we went. I managed to get a few salps before calling it a day.
