FrankPro1
Contributor
Location: Marineland 120 reef
Visibility: 10ft “with mild particulates”
Water Temp: 52*f
Max Depth: 40ft
April brought consistent heavy swells which left me high n' dry but I finally got back in the water. Today's conditions were not ideal but SpKelpDiver and I were determined to get wet no matter what. We wanted to do Long Point but with heavy surge hitting the entry we opted for the 120. At the start we couldn't find any reef fish besides a lonely Garibaldi and a few Sargo, the 120 reef were eerily quiet. Of course the usual invertebrates were around and KelpDiver found a unique snail, but it felt very out of place that there was not the usual cast of reef fish present. Near the mid point of the dive we came upon a very large structure, one of the largest reefs I've seen at the 120. It was terraced and had many levels, crevices and overhangs on it. Here we found lots of dorids, Shawls, a very large male Sheephead and finally some decent grouping of fish. Charlie also spotted a huge Calico and I found my first Marineland Abalone. While it wasn't a Long Point dive, Charlie and I were ecstatic to finally be back in the water! This winter/early spring hasn't been kind to us divers. I would usually have about 16 dives by this time of year but today was only my 6th. One of them was an absolutely spectacular Long Point dive but the other four were plagued by poor conditions and/or insta-buddy fowl ups. Lets hope King Neptune grants us a calm and swell free summer. A decent amount of suspended particulates were present for most of the dive which made photography difficult, but I managed to save a few.
Visibility: 10ft “with mild particulates”
Water Temp: 52*f
Max Depth: 40ft
April brought consistent heavy swells which left me high n' dry but I finally got back in the water. Today's conditions were not ideal but SpKelpDiver and I were determined to get wet no matter what. We wanted to do Long Point but with heavy surge hitting the entry we opted for the 120. At the start we couldn't find any reef fish besides a lonely Garibaldi and a few Sargo, the 120 reef were eerily quiet. Of course the usual invertebrates were around and KelpDiver found a unique snail, but it felt very out of place that there was not the usual cast of reef fish present. Near the mid point of the dive we came upon a very large structure, one of the largest reefs I've seen at the 120. It was terraced and had many levels, crevices and overhangs on it. Here we found lots of dorids, Shawls, a very large male Sheephead and finally some decent grouping of fish. Charlie also spotted a huge Calico and I found my first Marineland Abalone. While it wasn't a Long Point dive, Charlie and I were ecstatic to finally be back in the water! This winter/early spring hasn't been kind to us divers. I would usually have about 16 dives by this time of year but today was only my 6th. One of them was an absolutely spectacular Long Point dive but the other four were plagued by poor conditions and/or insta-buddy fowl ups. Lets hope King Neptune grants us a calm and swell free summer. A decent amount of suspended particulates were present for most of the dive which made photography difficult, but I managed to save a few.
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