All this week, an amazing thing has been happening - the annual SoCal squid run moved to La Jolla Shores ("LJS".)
The squid are calling.
Reports were coming in as early as last Friday (1/18/08) that it was starting. On the full moon, Tuesday 1/22/08 the major explosion started, running nightly for at least four nights.
Its been raining in L.A. since Tuesday night. With the storms, the shore diving is very rough (and frankly, pretty yucky) and most of the boats have been canceling - even the reliable Catalina express turned back when the Lighthouse at the mouth of LA harbor was reported as "engulfed."
The squid are calling.
I've been sick since last Friday (my return from Seattle) - I was grated a day of grace for my rigs dives last Saturday, then snotted in Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. This Wed I had major dental work done, so my face has just been abused for the last two weeks. I'm getting twitchy to get back in the water and keep my 7-day unbroken streak alive for 2008... but I feel like crapola.
But the squid are calling.
I've been following the LJS run with interest, as last year Claudette and I were at ground zero for the first night of the LA squid run at Vet Spark. We did something like 10 dives in over 12 or 13 nights. Its a sight to see, a true Blue Planet meets National Geographic moment.
So on Friday I call Claudette. Quasimoto answers the phone (OK, maybe not... but she's dog sick, as well.) I propose we get up early on Saturday, drive to LJS and go see the squid eggs (squid run at night), then turn around and come back home. Essentially a 9 hour day for about an hour of bottom time. It looks like we'll have about a half-day break in the non-stop SoCal rain - so maybe we can get down, get in and out and get back before "the big storm" comes in on Sat afternoon.
The squid are calling. Claudette hears it too. She said YES!
So I pick her up at about 6:30 AM and we make the drive to LJS. We get there at about 8:25 AM. We set up and are waiting for Josh and Jen to get out of their first dive (they went in before we got there...) As we're waiting, none other than our own Jennifer comes by. WOW. Live from Indiana! She and James, and some friends Brian (and I'm gonna hack this one) and his wife Bryn (?) were on a local SD boat that was canceled, so they're going to dive LJS. So a couple of sicky, mental SoCal's drive to LJS and just happen to run into some other DMX divers from out of town... wow.
Josh & Jen emerge at about 9:30 AM. The report was the viz was much poorer than the day before (it gets bad as the dying squid rot and all manner of critter move in to munch and stir things up), but the dive will be great.
The squid are calling.
I put on the 60mm (as opposed to a wide angle like the 12-24mm) lens as it will enable me to get some egg shots, and I can sort of push the 60 like a crude wide-angle lens once down there. Its probably my most versatile lens - the W/A's will be grainy, but you'll get the idea. We confirm the directions, grab the scoots and the cam and we head in through hip-high surf.
When you head "straight out" from the lifeguard tower, LJS forms this large, downward slopping saddle gully with gently sweeping sides. We head down into the saddle, and at about 60 FSW it starts. I'm amazed at all the dead squid. I expected carpets of eggs, like at Vets. But instead we're greeted with carpets of dead squid.
This saddle has "Secret Gardens" on the left (south) at about 110 FSW. Or you can hit the 70 foot line and go North to "the North Wall." The saddle serves as a collection area - a grass catcher for all manner of stuff that is light, doesn't swim strongly and isn't stuck to the bottom. Usually its filled with Sea Hares, loose grass, Nudibranchs and some other stuff.
Today, its carpeted with dead squid.
There is also something we didn't expect in the daytime. Lots of live squid. Thousands of them forming polarized schools about 6 inches over the carpets of their dead cousins. Doing the squiddy dance of finding a mate, fighting off competition and looking for a suitable place to plant the egg pack. There's now a new step to this dance... its "lets run away from those crazy scooter people..."
After spending a brief time on the saddle at about 60 FSW, we cruised down to the Secret Gardens at about 110 - 115 FSW. There really wasn't much going on there. We rose to the top of the Gardens (they sit at the bottom ledge of this wall / plateau) to the plateau. Not much going on over there. We went back up the gully a bit, chased some schools and decided to put it North to the North Wall.
After turning North at about 70 FSW, we shortly came across Brian and Jason! We waved "HI", did a quick buzz with the scoots and headed to the North Wall.
THAT is where the action is! Tons of Sea Lions barking and diving, rock fish all over the place, and rows and rows of squid eggs. We spent most of our time at 70 t 80 FSW on this side of the gully.
We gradually made our way towards home. We ZOOMED over naked sand from 60 FSW to about 23 FSW (as there was nothing but sand...) and Claudette grabbed my arm. Apart from my unwise ascent, I couldn't figure it out. Poor thing - her sinuses we're mashing her grill into the inside of her mask. She had me spot her while she removed her mask and adjusted the pressure.
We did a very slow ascent from 23 FSW to home and came out - about 72 minutes after we splashed.
The Squid are calling. We answered.
We emerged and slowly took down, then went to the Cheese shop for some killer sandwiches, then made the drive home to LA - arriving about 30 minutes before the rain started.
I am SO GLAD we pushed through all the pressure and the snot, and shoved back the rational voice that was stating sleeping in on Saturday would be better. This is an event not to be missed, and we didn't miss it.
Only with you, Chica. Only with you.
Some images below - enjoy.
---
Ken
=======================
My Full Gallery here: Linky
Roger's video from the night of 1/23 here: Linkage (be patient, it take a LONG time to load, but he did an excellent job of capturing the POV of a diver in the middle of the thing.)
Excellent Info from Dr Bill's weekly column on the Squid. I love reading his stuff... I learn so much about what's really going on with these animals down there. Links to his work on the subject, below:
Part 1: Linky
Part 2: Linky
Bring Out Your Dead! The sheer volume of dead squid was staggering. There were so many that were rotting and dying and we're still sort of alive... staggering around, trying to mate, trying to fight, trying to hold on. It was like Night of the Squiddy Dead - Claudette was laughing at all the "zombie" squid out there.
It was pretty dark at depth, and there were still the polarized schools of healthy squid looking for love.
Another squid herd.
There is a Female in the Lower-Right that has flipped her egg case and is carrying it around, looking for a place to set it. Lots of other squid just moving around doing the rate-a-mate thing.
Solo Squiddy over a carpet of eggs at the North Wall.
A "basket" of new egg cases (the egg cases are called Candles)
More Squid Egg Close Ups. They're almost clear when newly places, them they cloud up and start to grow very fast. The transformation the eggs go through over the next few weeks is one of the best reasons to keep coming back to the site long after the squid have all died off.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The squid are calling.
Reports were coming in as early as last Friday (1/18/08) that it was starting. On the full moon, Tuesday 1/22/08 the major explosion started, running nightly for at least four nights.
Its been raining in L.A. since Tuesday night. With the storms, the shore diving is very rough (and frankly, pretty yucky) and most of the boats have been canceling - even the reliable Catalina express turned back when the Lighthouse at the mouth of LA harbor was reported as "engulfed."
The squid are calling.
I've been sick since last Friday (my return from Seattle) - I was grated a day of grace for my rigs dives last Saturday, then snotted in Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. This Wed I had major dental work done, so my face has just been abused for the last two weeks. I'm getting twitchy to get back in the water and keep my 7-day unbroken streak alive for 2008... but I feel like crapola.
But the squid are calling.
I've been following the LJS run with interest, as last year Claudette and I were at ground zero for the first night of the LA squid run at Vet Spark. We did something like 10 dives in over 12 or 13 nights. Its a sight to see, a true Blue Planet meets National Geographic moment.
So on Friday I call Claudette. Quasimoto answers the phone (OK, maybe not... but she's dog sick, as well.) I propose we get up early on Saturday, drive to LJS and go see the squid eggs (squid run at night), then turn around and come back home. Essentially a 9 hour day for about an hour of bottom time. It looks like we'll have about a half-day break in the non-stop SoCal rain - so maybe we can get down, get in and out and get back before "the big storm" comes in on Sat afternoon.
The squid are calling. Claudette hears it too. She said YES!
So I pick her up at about 6:30 AM and we make the drive to LJS. We get there at about 8:25 AM. We set up and are waiting for Josh and Jen to get out of their first dive (they went in before we got there...) As we're waiting, none other than our own Jennifer comes by. WOW. Live from Indiana! She and James, and some friends Brian (and I'm gonna hack this one) and his wife Bryn (?) were on a local SD boat that was canceled, so they're going to dive LJS. So a couple of sicky, mental SoCal's drive to LJS and just happen to run into some other DMX divers from out of town... wow.
Josh & Jen emerge at about 9:30 AM. The report was the viz was much poorer than the day before (it gets bad as the dying squid rot and all manner of critter move in to munch and stir things up), but the dive will be great.
The squid are calling.
I put on the 60mm (as opposed to a wide angle like the 12-24mm) lens as it will enable me to get some egg shots, and I can sort of push the 60 like a crude wide-angle lens once down there. Its probably my most versatile lens - the W/A's will be grainy, but you'll get the idea. We confirm the directions, grab the scoots and the cam and we head in through hip-high surf.
When you head "straight out" from the lifeguard tower, LJS forms this large, downward slopping saddle gully with gently sweeping sides. We head down into the saddle, and at about 60 FSW it starts. I'm amazed at all the dead squid. I expected carpets of eggs, like at Vets. But instead we're greeted with carpets of dead squid.
This saddle has "Secret Gardens" on the left (south) at about 110 FSW. Or you can hit the 70 foot line and go North to "the North Wall." The saddle serves as a collection area - a grass catcher for all manner of stuff that is light, doesn't swim strongly and isn't stuck to the bottom. Usually its filled with Sea Hares, loose grass, Nudibranchs and some other stuff.
Today, its carpeted with dead squid.
There is also something we didn't expect in the daytime. Lots of live squid. Thousands of them forming polarized schools about 6 inches over the carpets of their dead cousins. Doing the squiddy dance of finding a mate, fighting off competition and looking for a suitable place to plant the egg pack. There's now a new step to this dance... its "lets run away from those crazy scooter people..."
After spending a brief time on the saddle at about 60 FSW, we cruised down to the Secret Gardens at about 110 - 115 FSW. There really wasn't much going on there. We rose to the top of the Gardens (they sit at the bottom ledge of this wall / plateau) to the plateau. Not much going on over there. We went back up the gully a bit, chased some schools and decided to put it North to the North Wall.
After turning North at about 70 FSW, we shortly came across Brian and Jason! We waved "HI", did a quick buzz with the scoots and headed to the North Wall.
THAT is where the action is! Tons of Sea Lions barking and diving, rock fish all over the place, and rows and rows of squid eggs. We spent most of our time at 70 t 80 FSW on this side of the gully.
We gradually made our way towards home. We ZOOMED over naked sand from 60 FSW to about 23 FSW (as there was nothing but sand...) and Claudette grabbed my arm. Apart from my unwise ascent, I couldn't figure it out. Poor thing - her sinuses we're mashing her grill into the inside of her mask. She had me spot her while she removed her mask and adjusted the pressure.
We did a very slow ascent from 23 FSW to home and came out - about 72 minutes after we splashed.
The Squid are calling. We answered.
We emerged and slowly took down, then went to the Cheese shop for some killer sandwiches, then made the drive home to LA - arriving about 30 minutes before the rain started.
I am SO GLAD we pushed through all the pressure and the snot, and shoved back the rational voice that was stating sleeping in on Saturday would be better. This is an event not to be missed, and we didn't miss it.
Only with you, Chica. Only with you.
Some images below - enjoy.
---
Ken
=======================
My Full Gallery here: Linky
Roger's video from the night of 1/23 here: Linkage (be patient, it take a LONG time to load, but he did an excellent job of capturing the POV of a diver in the middle of the thing.)
Excellent Info from Dr Bill's weekly column on the Squid. I love reading his stuff... I learn so much about what's really going on with these animals down there. Links to his work on the subject, below:
Part 1: Linky
Part 2: Linky
Bring Out Your Dead! The sheer volume of dead squid was staggering. There were so many that were rotting and dying and we're still sort of alive... staggering around, trying to mate, trying to fight, trying to hold on. It was like Night of the Squiddy Dead - Claudette was laughing at all the "zombie" squid out there.
It was pretty dark at depth, and there were still the polarized schools of healthy squid looking for love.
Another squid herd.
There is a Female in the Lower-Right that has flipped her egg case and is carrying it around, looking for a place to set it. Lots of other squid just moving around doing the rate-a-mate thing.
Solo Squiddy over a carpet of eggs at the North Wall.
A "basket" of new egg cases (the egg cases are called Candles)
More Squid Egg Close Ups. They're almost clear when newly places, them they cloud up and start to grow very fast. The transformation the eggs go through over the next few weeks is one of the best reasons to keep coming back to the site long after the squid have all died off.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
