Back to the crud

[MaxBottomtime]

Merry and I made our first dive since returning from a grueling eleven days in warm water. Visibility on the Redondo Beach Artificial Reef was about two feet in brown water. I planned to try for some photos of the tiny Doto kya nudibranchs laying eggs with my new diopter, but I was lucky to get one shot in the pudding.


Visibility was slightly better above thirty feet. There were tons of sea butterflies, Corolla spectabilis and a few Fried Egg jellies, Phacellophora camtschatica. Near the end of the dive, a Lion's Mane nudibranch, Melibe leonina came swimming by. It made up for one of the worst dives of the year.

Doto kya

Phacellophora camtschatica

Melibe lionina

 

[blue steal]

Welcome back to the "cold water" and reduced VIS.
Checked out OML on Saturday, foggy and cold in the morning, VIS looked, well not good.
Decided to pass on OML today as it again looked foggy on that side, but at Vets there were reports of 15' VIS.
I wonder how Dr. Bill is doing in Anailo.

 

[TSandM]

Having taken a lot of egg yolk jelly photos myself, I confess myself awed by the detail and the exquisite lighting on the third jelly shot. I've never noticed the dimples in the bell before. Well done!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I'd never seen that before either. The ones we saw today were juveniles, about four inches across. I wish we had better visibility. I saw the transparent fish in the second jelly shot, but couldn't get a decent shot of it. We had two feet vis on the bottom and less than five feet near the surface, but the water was filed with kibbles and bits.

 

[fnfalman]

I am fascinated with the Lion's Mane nudie. The way the hood is opening and closing, it reminds me of the balleen whales filtering for food.

 

[Freezerbrn]

I went out last night to Vets, and the Viz was horrible and eww! What what the heck was all that in the water

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I read a report of fifty feet vis at Vet's last night. I don't think I've even seen fifty feet at Catalina.

 

[FrankPro1]

The final Fried Egg jelly capture and Lion nudi shot are stunning.

I'm back in town for a couple weeks before shipping out on my first assignment "Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota".

Scouted the coast today for decent conditions. At Honeymoon Cove a free diver coming up the trail told me he encountered a trio of Soupfin sharks in the outer kelp bed in 45-50ft. He reported 40ft of vis, but I am a bit skeptical it would hold up to MaxBottomtime's patented visibility measurement system.

If conditions keep, Charlie and I are going to try and get wet there this Sunday.

 

[blue steal]

MaxBottomtime's patented visibility measurement system.

Have fun out there, weather topside looks good.
Would love to ge a printed copy of MaxBottomtimes's VIS measurement system.:worship:

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I go by what I can see clearly. If I see a shadowy figure in the distance, I don't consider that part of the vis. Most divers are about six feet long with fins, so I usually count body lengths. If the vis is better than two body lengths I'll give it 12-15 feet. I see others report 30'+ when it's barely two body lengths.