Another dock dive

[MaxBottomtime]

The ocean continues to be a bit rough, so I made another dock dive. Visibility was near zero in the top ten feet. I was about to abort the dive when it cleared to nearly a body length on the silty bottom. I stuck it out for nearly two hours and managed to come away with a few decent shots.

 

[ginkgo]

Great shots! You should sell charters to dive your dock. As a nudibranch lover, I'd be there in an instant.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

There is similar life at Long Wharf at Will Rogers Beach. Unfortunately, it usually has similar vis as well.

 

[ginkgo]

That makes my day! I live right there, and I had no idea.

Where would you say the best nudibranch areas are there—on the old wooden pilings? Otherwise it looks like almost all sand. How far out is it? I guess it can't be very deep.

Here's a Google Maps screenshot (link) centered on the lifeguard headquarters, from where I guess the dock went out. (Is that right?) There's a historical marker next to the headquarters, too (Santa Monica to Port Los Angeles, CA - Abandoned Rails).

From Wikipedia: "When it opened in 1894, it was the longest wharf in the world, measuring approximately 4,700 feet (1,400 m)." Long Wharf (Santa Monica) - Wikipedia

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I've entered right in front of the lifeguard building. The pilings begin in about 25 feet from shore and go out for 3/4 mile. Many of the pilings are hollow on top. You will find octopus and crabs inside, with nudis on the pilings and the surrounding sand. Visibility may clear a bit the farther from shore you get. Navigation is pretty easy here. I found a sixty-year-old brass Seagull outboard gas tank here once. When I opened the cap, I was surprised to find it was still full of gas.

 

[ginkgo]

Okay, I tried this dive, Long Wharf at Will Rogers Beach. Visibility at its worst was <1 foot, but sometimes cleared up to 3 feet. I went out to 25' depth, and swept from south to north. Found a piling! And it had an octopus in it! Then a cloud swept in and I couldn't find the piling again. (How is that possible?! It was right in front of me. Maybe I turned slightly and swam past it?) I surfaced and seemed to be directly out from the breakwater just east of the lifeguard headquarters. Descending again, I couldn't find the first piling, but found two or three more. And a few rock piles. I carefully examined a couple of pilings, but didn't see any nudibranchs. Then I must have lost the line, because for the rest of the dive despite zig-zagging back and forth (east and west) I couldn't find any more. I may have gone too far west.

A bit frustrating. I don't mind poor visibility, but the absolute soup that sometimes swept through made it difficult to see my compass. I am a not a great navigator.

Too bad, because a nine-minute drive, versus an hour to/from Terranea, is pretty attractive. What do you think about the northwest side of the Redondo Beach (King Harbor) breakwall, for nudibranchs?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant One-Mile Outfall Pipe would be better. Most of the nudis there are small, but there are thousands of them.

Santa Monica Bay Dive Site; Elevated Pipe

Park in the lot just south of the treatment plant.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

The pipe begins just off the volleyball nets and can be seen easily at low tide. The pipe is a mile long so there are lots of opportunities for nudi hunting. The pipe is elevated, so look under the pipe and on the stanchions as well.

Santa Monica Bay

Shipwrecks, scattered natural reefs, artificial reefs constructed of rockpiles, concrete bunkers and toilets plus a few small surprises among the sand flats between Malibu and Redondo Beach. One of my favorites is a six foot tall anchor covered by corynactis anemones deserted in eighty feet...

www.flickr.com

 

[ginkgo]

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried that site out. It has very interesting topography. Dozens of horn sharks, lobsters, sheep crabs, garibaldi… I only saw Spanish shawl nudibranchs. Possibly I didn't go out far enough, though. (The visibility actually got worse when I went farther out, which stopped me from going on, until the end when I pushed through it and found decent visibility again.)

Or maybe I'm losing my touch. I did another dive at Old Marineland, and only saw one non-Spanish shawl nudibranch. That's got to be a record.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Did you go out as far as the pipe being elevated off the sand? A lot of the nudis are on the stanchions and sides of the pipe.
At Marineland, the best nudi area is off the point with the cement post. Straight out to 65 feet is the edge of the reef at Ted's Pinnacle. I usually drop there are make the 1/4 mile swim back to the cove underwater. When entering from the cove, the reef to the left, 120 Reef doesn't have many nudis.

 

[ginkgo]

I didn't go that far out, no. Next time.

I've dived Marineland a bunch of times, but only entered at the point once, I think. Never done 120 Reef. Usually, entering from the cove, we descend a little past the concrete landmark, and go out in the direction of the point until halftime before turning around. I'm not sure how far we get, but max depth is ~45 feet generally. Even still, I usually find a bunch of non-Spanish shawl nudibranchs.