Diving this week

[MaxBottomtime]

Taking advantage of calm seas, Merry and I made two trips to the Hyperion Outfall Pipe off El Segundo and two trips to the pinnacles off Pt. Vicente. Marine life was depleted compared to before the 2014 warm water blob, even inside the Pt. Vicente MPA. Large sponges and the variety of rockfish there have dwindled to only a few species, although sheephead are there in huge numbers. The best finds of the week were both by Merry. She found five octopuses in the same area on the pipe and a soupfin shark this morning at Pt. Vicente.
Photos at Lots of diving this week

 

[Litefoot]

Those were great photos! What was the depth of the formations? It looks pretty dark.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The maximum depth is 90 feet, but the pinnacle with the yellow sponge is in 32 feet. We have plankton-filled water in SoCal, so it's almost always dark.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Are those Canaries or Vermillions?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Vermillions. The funny thing was, we found dozens of Vermillions at Hawthorne Reef, about 1/4 mile away but only two inside the MPA. We'll try the deep end the next time we dive there.