Afternoon Delight at Hawthorne Reef

[MaxBottomtime]

With the swell models predicting that we will not be diving this weekend, Merry and I made a quick run after work hoping to find some diveable water. The westside of Palos Verdes had plenty of wind chop so we headed back to Hawthorne Reef.
The surface water looked nice, but a dirty layer at sixty feet turned the reef into a night dive.
We anchored within a few feet of the spot we anchored on Sunday so we didn't have to move much to get better shots of the large sponge we found. The blacksmiths were already tucked in for the night but the rockfish seemed quite interested in what we were doing there. They come right up to your mask if you try to take a picture of a nudibranch.
Visibility was twenty feet, with 57F water temp.

 

[FrankPro1]

Wow! Hawthorne reef is gorgeous! There are too many critters to count in that first wide angle shot! What's the shelled nudi or snail in the 8th and 9th photo? Charlie and I hoped for a Long Point dive today but the point was dangerously surgy and the 120/Garden looked milky. Determined to get wet before the incoming storm we checked out all the goat trail dive sites on the west end but nothing looked decent.

The blacksmiths were already tucked in for the night but the rockfish seemed quite interested in what we were doing there. They come right up to your mask if you try to take a picture of a nudibranch.

I've encountered quite a few brazen rockfish in my dives but one at Honeymoon Cove stands out the most. He was a "Black and Yellow" one and being the rarity he is in our waters I took quite a few shots of him. But when Charlie and I continued on with our dive he just wouldn't leave us alone. Taking pictures of anything else would result in him darting back and forth between my lens, my mask and then over to my intended subject. At first I thought he was just being territorial but he continued this all they way until we made our return into the shallows.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

What a camera hog! I had a ronquil today dart in after my bolt snap on my camera lantard every time I tried to get a shot of him.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Note to FrankPro1
The sponge is a
Clathria prolifera (Ellis and Solander, 1786)

RED BEARD SPONGE

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Order: Poecilosclerida
Family: Microcionidae
Subfamily: Microcionina

 

[FrankPro1]

Note to FrankPro1
The sponge is a
Clathria prolifera (Ellis and Solander, 1786)

RED BEARD SPONGE

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Order: Poecilosclerida
Family: Microcionidae
Subfamily: Microcionina

Awesome. Where did you end up getting the identification from?

Have you seen them anywhere else on the peninsula?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Exotics Guide
There are others on the reef, but I only remember seeing a couple more around P.V.

 

[Rainer]

As always, Phil, great shots. What depths are you hitting at HR?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

80' on the NE side of the reef, 90' on the west end. One cool thing I forgot to mention, a couple of years ago we dived Ross-O Reef and Merry found a 1951 Coke bottle in perfect condition. I found one yesterday and it turns out to be manufactured in 1936.
Evolution Bottle #6 - Years: 1923 - 1937

Important Words On Bottle: "PATENTED DEC 25 1923"

Description: Hobbleskirt, 6 oz. raised letter, cork/crown sealed, returnable.

Historical Notes: Coca-Cola's famous "Christmas Bottle". The Patent Office just happened to be open on Christmas, when it reviewed and approved Coca-Cola's second bottle application.

Global Mapper looks at Hawthorne Reef.