In Case You Haven't Had Enough Barge Stuff...

[MaxBottomtime]

Merry wanted to go back to the Redondo Barge today to shoot video of the fried egg jellies, Phacellophora Camtschatica. Our neighbor at the marina warned us about rough conditions but we decided to try anyway. He was right. We bounced our way at half speed to the artificial reef. Whenever we need the wipers on early in the morning, it's probably a day to stay inside.
We had a difficult time gearing up and couldn't wait to get in the water. Once we dropped below the surface it was like a different day. We had the same bluish water at the surface as yesterday, but this time it reached all the way to the bottom. No chunks floating by, no brown mid-water and I was set up for macro. Naturally.
I made the most of it by finding an Acanthodoris rhodoceras and several tiny Aegires albupunctatus on the barge. Merry shot video of the jellies while a few sea lions hovered over her head. She held her ground and refused to give in to those camera hogs.

Aegires albupunctatus

Hermissenda crassicornis

Tritonia festiva

Acanthodoris rhodoceras

Merry's video;

[youtubehq]tieHOcKLA3c[/youtubehq]

 

[blkirk91]

awesome nudi's. thanks for sharing the pics and vid

 

[FrankPro1]

No chunks floating by, no brown mid-water and I was set up for macro. Naturally.

:snicker: King Neptune likes to toy with underwater photographers.

Its been a while since I've seen you do macro outside of your boat "cleaning" sessions and all I can say is WOW. That final shot of the Acanthodoris rhodoceras is stunning. As good as it gets.

 

[Freezerbrn]

I saw one of those jellies for the first time last Thursday night at Vet's park. I nearly swam into one. As I swam happily a long, I suddenly I started seeing what looked like a bunch of discarded fishing line coming from above me. My dive buddy and I are reaching out to see what is was, then look up and see this large sunny side up looking jelly right over us. I don't know him but major pucker factor for me as I turned tail as fast as I can. Kinda of cool looking things.

 

[Sinbad Scuba]

All I can say is woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow! Awesome pics and video!!!

 

[weiland]

Nice shots - thanks for sharing!

 

[Craig Hoover]

Congrats on another good shoot Max.

One of our SoCal nudi experts, Jeff G., is looking for a shot of Atagema alba eggs. Do you have a shot of them? If not, do you know if A. may still be found at White Point Rock or do you have any plans to return there soon?

 

[Merry]

Hi Craig,
We've seen Atagema consistently from July 24, 2010 through Feb. 22, 2011 on the south side of PV. But none with eggs! Conditions (and fried egg jellies) have prevented us from returning. When conditions improve, we'll go back. I sent Dr. Goddard an email to that effect.

 

[Dive California]

as usual...very cool pics...thanks guys