Fog Days of Winter

[MaxBottomtime]

Just as we were ready to go diving this morning a thick fog bank rolled in. We waited for a long time, then went to breakfast. It cleared enough to go out so we rushed back to the marina. As we motored out of King Harbor the fog returned, but opened up outside the breakwall enough to dive.

The visibility on Golf Ball Reef seemed as if the fog had reached the bottom. The surge was so strong in places that I saw three kelp plants bobbing by, their holdfasts hovering off the bottom. Sand was stirred everywhere and there was enough surge to knock a few animals around. I saw a limpet rolling across a rock. I thought about turning it upright, but decided to go for the photo op instead.

While looking for nudibranchs I saw a thick school of mackerel swim overhead. I turned to photograph them and a Giant Sea Bass came up to me. It swam around me for a couple minutes and then slowly headed up toward the mackerel.

In spite of the poor conditions I was able to find a lot of variety on the reef. I can't wait to see what the reef actually looks like some day.

 

[TSandM]

Love the snail photo!

Is that black thing with the brittle star wrapped around it a compound tunicate of some kind?

I know your feeling about wanting to know what the reef looks like. I dove one of our usual sites here for several years before I hit a day with good enough visibility to get any sense of the actual layout of the place.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

It's a sponge. Some day I should take only sponge photos. Some of our reefs have a great variety.
In four dives on this site I have ascended via the anchor rode twice. The reef only has a few feet of relief, so there are no prominent markers to find your way. We used spools on our first dive. Yesterday I made two ascents along some kelp and had to make a surface swim back to the not. NOT recommended on a foggy day. One of my biggest fears is surfacing and not knowing which direction the boat is. I was able to keep my whistle clipped in my pocket this time.

 

[Fundive123]

Very nice photos! The photo of the crab's face is really cool. If you don't mind me asking, is the last photo of a sponge? I also really like the 3rd to last photo; was it eating something?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The last one is an orange sea cucumber. I don't see them out in the open often. Usually only their feeding plume extends from cracks in rocks. I saw the little goby swimming around with something in its mouth. He finally settled for a shot, but I can't tell what he was eating.
Most of the diving here is either sand flats, rocky reefs with large boulders or wrecks. Golf Ball Reef is more like the muck diving in the Philippines. I'm surprised to see such variety on rocks that only rise a foot or so out of the sand.

 

[FrankPro1]

Superb composition on the snail capture. Great Series!

 

[keithbt]

It's a sponge. Some day I should take only sponge photos. Some of our reefs have a great variety.
In four dives on this site I have ascended via the anchor rode twice. The reef only has a few feet of relief, so there are no prominent markers to find your way. We used spools on our first dive. Yesterday I made two ascents along some kelp and had to make a surface swim back to the not. NOT recommended on a foggy day. One of my biggest fears is surfacing and not knowing which direction the boat is. I was able to keep my whistle clipped in my pocket this time.

This also one of my fears!