Great weather...for kite flying

[MaxBottomtime]

Merry was in Phoenix all week, so we couldn't wait for the weekend to arrive so we could dive again. We found a tiny Metridium senile on the Redondo Barge last week but I was set up for wide angle. On Saturday I had my 60mm lens ready and all the swell models looked great.
We pounded our way to the barge and decided it was too rough to dive. We headed around the south side of Palos Verdes for more of the same. We wasted so much gas that we had to go into Los Angeles Harbor a week earlier than expected to fill up. We cruised by a couple of the ships from Navy Week in San Pedro, then headed for home.

We fought wind waves all the way home. Our gear was soaked, despite the fact that we never got in the water.
This morning we tried our luck again. The halyards were clanging against their masts and flags were stiff. We went back home and hoped for better conditions next week. After a few hours at home we were bored and decided to try again. We made it to the barge without too much effort. It was rough, but there were no whitecaps yet.
The visibility below the thermocline at thirty-five feet was very nice. I could see the sand from thirty feet above and I could see each end of the barge from the center. The metridium was gone, but I found another in a rusted hole.
The water was 53F at depth, with a nice 62F during our ascent.

Delonovolva aequalis

Metridium senile

Aegires albopunctatus

Flabellina iodinea

I'm hoping for better conditions next weekend. I may have to get Margaret Webb to wave her magic wand over the water.

 

[H2Ocean]

Nice shots! Yea what happened to the swell forecast? We got to Malaga 9PM last night 7/30/11, looked at the water from the parking lot, wind waves were coming and going over each other as if some huge storm system had been pretty close. (I heard a week ago on wetsand of 150mph winds due sometime in the middle of the week, but it was unclear if it was gonna go on by So Cal.) So we went in at RAT Beach!! What a workout!! I didn't want to loose the camera so I left it on shore. Fish were tucked in the crevices closer than I've ever seen them. 1 dive was enough.

 

[FrankPro1]

That Simnia is stunning. Wonderful shot Phil! The Metridium senile is really nice as well, perfect composition. Dived Marineland today, eventful to say the least. Scorpion Anchorage / ML report coming soon

 

[Craig Hoover]

The Delonovolva shot is excellent! I like the repeating pattern of the red branches in the background.

Dived Marineland and Point Vincente on Saturday. Though swell report was down the reality of the situation was a little violent. I got hammered coming in off the point hard enough to cut my ankle through 7mm of neoprene and Nick did the same to his knee. Vis 25 though and we found one purple Dendronotus iris. Point Vincente had 35 foot vis straight out from the dirt trail on a pinnacle out over the sand in 42 feet of water. Swell was calmer here. Lifted a cobble that had two Limacia cockerellis and found Conualevia alba underneath. Great vis and a new branch made this an almost perfect day.

Be careful in the Vincente lot though because my car was broken into. There was a latino, short hair, around 5 foot seven inches in a blue work shirt that was watching us gear up. I chatted with him and figured no problem when he headed down the hill to fish. He had a telescoping rod, no tackle box, bait or line that I could observe. He was coming back up when we headed down ten minutes later. My buddie's Olympus Stylus Tough 8010, cash and iphone were stolen. Watch out for this character!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Kevin Lee told me he turns over rocks all the time and finds nudis that I'm still looking for. I always forget to do that once I'm in the water.