Eureka! We found them...or they found us!!
Date: 2/25/05
Dive Location: Redondo Submarine Canyon
Time: 7:10 PM
Bottom Time: 1 hour, 17 minutes
Max Depth: 66 fsw
Vis: 15 feet, sometimes a little more, if we could see past the SQUID
Wave height: 1-2 feet
Temp at depth: 57 F
Lunar phase: 2 days after Full moon, 90 minutes after sunset.
Tide information: about 3 hours after low tide.
Comments:
Carlos and I spent a glorious hour surrounded by thousands of mesmerizing squid spinning in a huge mating school! 3 squid boats were out, and birds were flocking at the surface as we walked in. Lousy viz and choppy conditions inshore, but the bottom was OK at 20 fsw when we dropped down. Heading toward the canyon, we found many crabs, a little thornback ray, one squid egg sac, one squid, then another at 35 fsw, then a couple of mating squid at 40 fsw, then a dozen shooting by at 50 fsw, then groups on all sides at 60 fsw. As we hovered at 65 fsw to watch, our stationary lights drew in group after group until my entire view was filled with opal-eyed, pearlescent squid schooling in unison in a giant sphere around us. As the water thickened the world lit up with both our lights bouncing back from the sinuous river of lustrous bodies. Many were mating, both bodies white but highlighted by the males arms which had turned dark brick red. We could both feel squid bumping us constantly, head to foot, feeling like tiny taps with a pencil. Squid wriggled into every crevice in my BC, slid against my face, blocked my mask, obsured my gauges. Carlos disappeared in a whirling wall of white squid. All I could see was the bright glow of his light, or a flash off his mask. And they kept pouring in! I could feel tentacles and arms against my face and lips as they swarmed around my regulator and mask. I caught many gently and easily, just barely restraining each to feel it push and pulse, then releasing it to the flow. It was beyond belief, beyond delightful, truly beyond all words or even photographs. The longer we held our lights stationary, the thicker the squid gathered. I was shivering almost uncontrollably as we came to the end of NDL at 65 fsw. We reluctantly rose to 50 fsw, preparing to leave them, when, to our astonished delight, the entire school followed our lights up and the show continued as we hovered at 50 fsw and were surrounded again. I could see glimpses of the sandy slope, but the constant swirling motion was completely disorienting. A BIG sealion lazily floated by about 2 feet away, a partially eaten squid dangling from it's mouth. The school finally thinned as our air supplies dwindled and we passed the thermocline at about 40 fsw, but several individuals continued in our lights all the way to the sand dollar beds at 10 fsw. Many female squid were roaming the sand flats, holding egg sacs, palpating the sandy ridges for anchoring spots. Carlos and I surfaced, unable to find words to describe the joy of this dive, but unable to stop trying. This is a world beyond my most intense imaginings. Thank you, Carlos, for being there to share this astonishing experience.
retty high 
