FrankPro1
Contributor
SpKelpDiver and I dove Long Point Marineland this afternoon. Conditions were set to be pretty solid, so we opted for a point entry/exit. The wind decided to stay low into the early afternoon so entry was made without a hitch. Visibility is down since last week "10ft with lots of suspended particles". The goal of today's dive was to find and photograph a Dendronotus iris nudibranch. Craig Hoover was able to find them at Long Point by following the advice of MaxBottomtime, who said they inhabit the outer reaches of the reef and usually can be seen munching on tube anemones. We cruised along the fringes of the reef, carefully inspecting the tube anemones we came too, but no luck. About half way through the dive Charlie spotted an extremely tiny nudibranch making its way along a sponge. As soon as he showed me it I knew it was a nudi I have been searching for quite a while, a Cuthona divae. She was about the size of my pinky finger nail and due to increasing surge was hard to photograph. Regardless, I was happy to knock another species off the list. Did I mention surge? Well conditions decided to rapidly change on us during the dive. Charlie signaled to me that we should head towards our exit soon because the surge even at 65+ feet was getting strong. By the time we surfaced the point was breaking hard but with a long enough lull that we thought we could time it safely. In the end we got out without being severely bludgeoned but there were some intense moments. On the walk back we encountered a large group of Middle Eastern tourists. After answering a multitude of questions regarding what we saw on our dive, an older Jewish fellow ran over to Charlie, attempted to take his fins and motioned that he was heading out to the water. We were a bit surprised at this and even more so when they invited us to join them for a meal. They had quite a spread of tasty treats but with both of us wet and carrying 45+ pounds of gear, we had to decline. I only mention this encounter because as Go-Go Fast-living Angelinos its extremely rare to find such friendliness and hospitality in strangers. A strange sight in SoCal indeed.
Here are some shots which came out despite the surge and tons of suspended particles:
The Cuthona divae:
Interesting Shrubbery:
Club Tipped Anemones eating a Salp:
Here are some shots which came out despite the surge and tons of suspended particles:
The Cuthona divae:
Interesting Shrubbery:
Club Tipped Anemones eating a Salp:
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