Chica and I met up in Ventura on Friday to go out on the Spectre. We are disparately looking for clear water. I swear, it feels like we've had maybe one or two clear dives since January. April was so bad locally, I only did 8 dives. I think Claudette did maybe 13 or so.
That's just wrong.
So we want to kick off May with a blast. So up to the closest thing we have, and that's the Spectre. Capt'n Ted puts us on dive sites that are diveable and about the best anyone can get to, no matter how bad the weather.
This weekend the weather looked like it was going to be gorgeous (it was) so we were hopeful.
The Spectre pulled out of the harbor and immediately started pitching... Oh great - South swells. The boat is filled with students and N00bies - which isn't a problem, as we have the scoots so we can get to wherever.
First dive is Cathedral Cove. NICE! We'd got lots of great shots there in the kelp. I drop on the Wide Angle (12-24mm lens) and we splash.
YUCK.
I mean, double yuck. The water is terrible. No way I can shoot W/A in this water. GAWD - not again. After about 12 minutes of pouting 'dette comes over and suggests we go back to the boat and dump the cam. We do, and come back to play with the sea lions (when we could see them) for the next 30 minutes or so. We didn't make a single dive this day that was over about 50 minutes. For us, that's some kind of record.
Dive ("Canyons") two was not a lot better. Terrible viz, massive surge, very tough to shoot, and not a lot of cooperating Nudis. Cool topography, but not much else. However, there was an explosion of Navanax. Holy cow, they were everywhere. Remember some weeks ago when it was Tiny Toons on those green / brown Bryzoans? Well, the 'Nax got the memo, and have come to hoover 'em up. Very few Nudis on the Bryzoans, but zillions of Navanax.
On dive three ("The Garden Spot") things opened up a bit. I've always liked this place. It was the best dive of the day. I found I was finally getting into it. Then the surge started. I have this scooter clipped off and its slamming into my elbow. After missing my 20th shot in a row or something, I did what I've never done before - I called Claudette over and handed her my scoot. I was pounding my fist on the rocks I was so angry that I couldn't catch a break - so I unclipped and pushed it over to her.
Just then I found a Dendrodoris benrensi. You fellow Slug Junkies will know that as the species named after THE MAN. Of the tens-of-thousands of Nudis I've shot over the last 4 years, I've seen THREE of these. One on the back side of Catalina (a couple of January's ago), one off of La Bufafora, MX last September, and now this on off of Anacapa Island.
This was the smallest of the three. But he was the most active. I took probably 15 shots of him - he was way, WAY deep in a crevice. I had to take the strobes from my normal 9:00 / 3:00 orientation and move them to 12:00 / 6:00 to shoot him.
This is one of my favorite Nudi pics this year. Probably my fav. I just love the hanging upside-down, not a care in the world. I love how his colors blend in to the algae around him. I love his rhinophores. I just love this shot. I can't be more thrilled. It was work, for sure. Very tough shooting - but I love this shot.
The forth dive was a bit of a let down. It was at "Gold Fish Bowl" - a good site for Nudis. We saw the most species here, but the conditions were very hard to shoot in. There aren't many places to brace, the water was full of shmootz and the surge was off the charts. I had to take 4 or 5 shots of each Nudi pose and probably 3 to 4 sets of shots (like 15 - 20 shots per Nudi) because their Rhinophores and gill rings we flapping in the breeze, they were getting blown about, algae in and out of my frame, etc.
Its sad. In three dives I took about 160 shots, came up with about 120, processed about 20 and posted here about 16 - and of those, there are only about 3 that would make the cut on any normal dive trip.
Anyway - nobody cares how the sausage is made. Trust me, I worked for these shots. The Behrensi makes it all worth it.
Well, him and the Carrot cake. The carrot cake was pretty darn good.
If Chica flinched, I'd have packed the gear after dive one. But no - she would not be denied. And I love her so much for that. We pushed through, were the first off / last on each dive and managed to squeeze out some good memories from these four very average dives.
I want my clear water back, dangit.
I did learn a lot on these dives. I was FILLING the frame. There was so much crapola in the water, and so much surge that I wanted more Nudi less space. I usually leave lots of space - not so much this time. With the possible exception of the TriLinny shots and the Polycera TriColor (the were ridiculously small) each shot is presented here full frame. No cropping! With a 105. In the surge.
If you've made it this far through my whining, thank you. I'll be better soon.
Enjoy!
---
Ken
===================================
Full gallery here on Dive Matrix: Linkage
===================================
'Nax Attack! We saw 'Nax on all 4 dives. Very unusual. In this first one, you can see a Black Dorid (remember, they live and lay eggs on the fluffy Bryzoan here) swimming away from the Nax as he's cruising for a little BD snack!
Nax Pair - There were so many, they were hunting in packs!
Big Nax! Some full frame detail studies of these carnivorous Nudis. Check the mouth on these guys...
Black Dorid on the lookout - of course, they don't have eyes. Maybe on the "hearout?" Whatever. You know me - I love it when Nudi's "do something", and this was a cool shot of a guy who just laid these eggs.
'Nuther Black Dorid
Teeny Black Dorid (Thanks, Terry!) - Claudette pointed this one to me after I just shot something else. We both lost it. This was maybe 1/8" long. We weren't sure what he was as he was so pale. He was flapping in the breeze. Of the 8 or 9 shots I took, these two came out. Look at his gill ring getting blown forward and you can feel the surge!
Teeny McFarlands - I like this shot as he's so out of place. Not even making an effort to blend!
'Tata - This guy was reaching
Hermi-mania! - Lots and lots of Hermis. They're one of the fav 'Nax Snax. Its no wonder when we see lots of Hermi's we see lots of Nax.
Upside Down Hermi - I swear it was upside-down Nudi day. A full 1/3 of my shots were of Nudis on the bottom of rocks and things. Probably to escape the surge. This was the shot that made me hand off the scoot to Dette. He was under a ledge, and the scoot kept hitting me in the right arm as I was trying to compose this tough shot. Thanks, Chica!!!
Trilinny - here's a three liner looking into the abyss.
d. berensi - this is my fav shot of the trip, and maybe my fav Nudi shot of 2008. Sometimes you get lucky, and this guy was performing. I cracked off about 15 shots on him. I like this one the best.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
That's just wrong.
So we want to kick off May with a blast. So up to the closest thing we have, and that's the Spectre. Capt'n Ted puts us on dive sites that are diveable and about the best anyone can get to, no matter how bad the weather.
This weekend the weather looked like it was going to be gorgeous (it was) so we were hopeful.
The Spectre pulled out of the harbor and immediately started pitching... Oh great - South swells. The boat is filled with students and N00bies - which isn't a problem, as we have the scoots so we can get to wherever.
First dive is Cathedral Cove. NICE! We'd got lots of great shots there in the kelp. I drop on the Wide Angle (12-24mm lens) and we splash.
YUCK.
I mean, double yuck. The water is terrible. No way I can shoot W/A in this water. GAWD - not again. After about 12 minutes of pouting 'dette comes over and suggests we go back to the boat and dump the cam. We do, and come back to play with the sea lions (when we could see them) for the next 30 minutes or so. We didn't make a single dive this day that was over about 50 minutes. For us, that's some kind of record.
Dive ("Canyons") two was not a lot better. Terrible viz, massive surge, very tough to shoot, and not a lot of cooperating Nudis. Cool topography, but not much else. However, there was an explosion of Navanax. Holy cow, they were everywhere. Remember some weeks ago when it was Tiny Toons on those green / brown Bryzoans? Well, the 'Nax got the memo, and have come to hoover 'em up. Very few Nudis on the Bryzoans, but zillions of Navanax.
On dive three ("The Garden Spot") things opened up a bit. I've always liked this place. It was the best dive of the day. I found I was finally getting into it. Then the surge started. I have this scooter clipped off and its slamming into my elbow. After missing my 20th shot in a row or something, I did what I've never done before - I called Claudette over and handed her my scoot. I was pounding my fist on the rocks I was so angry that I couldn't catch a break - so I unclipped and pushed it over to her.
Just then I found a Dendrodoris benrensi. You fellow Slug Junkies will know that as the species named after THE MAN. Of the tens-of-thousands of Nudis I've shot over the last 4 years, I've seen THREE of these. One on the back side of Catalina (a couple of January's ago), one off of La Bufafora, MX last September, and now this on off of Anacapa Island.
This was the smallest of the three. But he was the most active. I took probably 15 shots of him - he was way, WAY deep in a crevice. I had to take the strobes from my normal 9:00 / 3:00 orientation and move them to 12:00 / 6:00 to shoot him.
This is one of my favorite Nudi pics this year. Probably my fav. I just love the hanging upside-down, not a care in the world. I love how his colors blend in to the algae around him. I love his rhinophores. I just love this shot. I can't be more thrilled. It was work, for sure. Very tough shooting - but I love this shot.
The forth dive was a bit of a let down. It was at "Gold Fish Bowl" - a good site for Nudis. We saw the most species here, but the conditions were very hard to shoot in. There aren't many places to brace, the water was full of shmootz and the surge was off the charts. I had to take 4 or 5 shots of each Nudi pose and probably 3 to 4 sets of shots (like 15 - 20 shots per Nudi) because their Rhinophores and gill rings we flapping in the breeze, they were getting blown about, algae in and out of my frame, etc.
Its sad. In three dives I took about 160 shots, came up with about 120, processed about 20 and posted here about 16 - and of those, there are only about 3 that would make the cut on any normal dive trip.
Anyway - nobody cares how the sausage is made. Trust me, I worked for these shots. The Behrensi makes it all worth it.
Well, him and the Carrot cake. The carrot cake was pretty darn good.
If Chica flinched, I'd have packed the gear after dive one. But no - she would not be denied. And I love her so much for that. We pushed through, were the first off / last on each dive and managed to squeeze out some good memories from these four very average dives.
I want my clear water back, dangit.
I did learn a lot on these dives. I was FILLING the frame. There was so much crapola in the water, and so much surge that I wanted more Nudi less space. I usually leave lots of space - not so much this time. With the possible exception of the TriLinny shots and the Polycera TriColor (the were ridiculously small) each shot is presented here full frame. No cropping! With a 105. In the surge.
If you've made it this far through my whining, thank you. I'll be better soon.
Enjoy!
---
Ken
===================================
Full gallery here on Dive Matrix: Linkage
===================================
'Nax Attack! We saw 'Nax on all 4 dives. Very unusual. In this first one, you can see a Black Dorid (remember, they live and lay eggs on the fluffy Bryzoan here) swimming away from the Nax as he's cruising for a little BD snack!
Nax Pair - There were so many, they were hunting in packs!
Big Nax! Some full frame detail studies of these carnivorous Nudis. Check the mouth on these guys...
Black Dorid on the lookout - of course, they don't have eyes. Maybe on the "hearout?" Whatever. You know me - I love it when Nudi's "do something", and this was a cool shot of a guy who just laid these eggs.
'Nuther Black Dorid
Teeny Black Dorid (Thanks, Terry!) - Claudette pointed this one to me after I just shot something else. We both lost it. This was maybe 1/8" long. We weren't sure what he was as he was so pale. He was flapping in the breeze. Of the 8 or 9 shots I took, these two came out. Look at his gill ring getting blown forward and you can feel the surge!
Teeny McFarlands - I like this shot as he's so out of place. Not even making an effort to blend!
'Tata - This guy was reaching
Hermi-mania! - Lots and lots of Hermis. They're one of the fav 'Nax Snax. Its no wonder when we see lots of Hermi's we see lots of Nax.
Upside Down Hermi - I swear it was upside-down Nudi day. A full 1/3 of my shots were of Nudis on the bottom of rocks and things. Probably to escape the surge. This was the shot that made me hand off the scoot to Dette. He was under a ledge, and the scoot kept hitting me in the right arm as I was trying to compose this tough shot. Thanks, Chica!!!
Trilinny - here's a three liner looking into the abyss.
d. berensi - this is my fav shot of the trip, and maybe my fav Nudi shot of 2008. Sometimes you get lucky, and this guy was performing. I cracked off about 15 shots on him. I like this one the best.
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