Dette and I drove down to LJS on Saturday for a couple of dives with the SoCal Wrinkles crew. We got a late start as I had an errand to run, so we didn't arrive until about 8:45. We went to the picnic area and everyone was already in the water - so we went back to our miraculous nearly-front row parking spot, geared up and walked to the sea.
It was still low tide when we walked over with the scoots and the deathstar. this is a great time to dive LJS as the walk is on the firm sand! It was quite calm and flat, so it was your basic Seattle entry.
We've done this several times now with the scoots, so we have a good bead on the near offshore topography. Our usual run will include a surface scoot out a long distance, drop into an astonishingly shallow depth (9 to 12 feet!), a blast down the center draw, a fade to the Secret Gardens, a stroll to the point, then a run cross canyon up to the North Wall.
The Dive
As we were on our fade to the Gardens there was this large detritus patch of kelp and seaweed. I found a Sweet Potato Cucumber on patch, sort of rolling around. Claudette found one at the same moment - I carried mine over to her for a surprise, only to find she already had one. I looked up, and along the edge of the patch were about 20 of them! We hovered there and juggled SP Cukes for a few moments then got back to the dive.
The Gardens were interesting. I only dive here a couple of times a year, and its always neat to see these critters carving a life out of these small mud walls.
We spotted this small white Nudi. I had no idea what it was. It was quite flat, very roundish and had smooth rhinophores. I was stumped. Its quite sandy there and I was at a bad angle when I spotted him, so as I came around to get a better angle for the shot my clipped off scooter hit the ground and caused quite the stir. Dangit. It got dark, hard to focus and the shots pretty well stink. But I figured I'd capture enough detail to be able to ID the guy, even if I wasn't able to get beauty shots.
The point was pretty. I was shooting a pair of mating Sandys that I found. Probably the best mating pair shot I've taken - they were at the right angle and I had a good look at them. I got the shots and looked up and there was a CLOUD, and I mean HUGE cloud coming at me. I look over at Claudette and she's all "this was not me..." There was either a giant Bat Ray right above me that I spooked (we'd seen a couple on the way out to the spots) or at that precise moment there was a landslide. I believe it was more of the latter, as it just kept raining silt on me. It was silly. A moment later I wouldn't have got the Sandys.
We pointed North and headed across the deep draw over to the North Wall. There we found some more Nudis (including a 'Nax spinning its eggs), lots of shrimp and some very large Sarcastic Fringeheads. At Vet Spark (our local mudhole) the Sarky's are in bottles or Wavy Turbin shells. We have a lot of them, but they're not nearly this large. Its amazing how big they'll grow when they can burrow into the mud wall as opposed to trying to squeeze into a wavy turbin shell. I also forget how colorful these guys are. They're funny.
While I was shooting Sarky, Dette found two very large Octos in a horizontal crack. I went over and shot the one, but I couldn't find the second. She brought me back to the crack, and way in the back on one side was the second one. The Big one I shot had one arm reaching all the way across the crack and was barely touching the one in the corner.
We were on 32 and had racked up some deco, so we made a slow kick back in. With the deco obligation satisfied, we fired up the scoots and scooted in the rest of the way until a wave literally sucked us out of the 3 feet of water and surfed us in.
I got back to my truck, undressed (it was a nice dive, but not worthy of two, as I had a full afternoon back at home) and grabbed the camera body. We looked over the mystery Nudi again. No ideas. So I start shopping the thing around. The first diver I saw was Terry. I bring over the body and bring up Mystery Nudi on the screen. He doesn't know. So I shop his guy to some other divers in various states of undress. There's Ken, with his camera body, going from local diver to local diver...
"Pardon me, have you ever seen one of these? He's quite lovely...."
Nothing.
So we drive home and I send off notes to all of the Nudi people I know. I wake up this morning and David gets back to me, ID's it no problem. So the mystery is solved.
Thanks, Dette. Loved the hang, loved the dive, and we have another notch in the Nudi belt.
Pics below. Enjoy.
---
Ken
======================================
Big Octo in the North Wall. Love the top knot he made from one of his arms.
No Wall Nax - I've only seen this twice. Navanax IN THE ACT of spinning their egg looms. Very cool to see!
Off Road Sandy. These shots show best how I see LJS. Sandy, muddy, rugged, barren, and quite often full of Nudis. I like these two shots. I got off about 10 shots of this guy going all off road, kicking up dust like he's at Rincon
Big Sarky - gotta love these guys and their Andy Rooney Eyebrows!
Sandy Lovin' - A couple of Sandiegensis making more
Mystery Nudi - Even with these limp shots, he was able to ID this little guy. Turns out its a Conualevua alba. David wrote to me and stated, "No problem - photos are fine. With those huge mantle glands this is Conualevia alba. Page 77 in the 3rd edition. Good show. David Behrens"
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.
.
.
.
.
.
It was still low tide when we walked over with the scoots and the deathstar. this is a great time to dive LJS as the walk is on the firm sand! It was quite calm and flat, so it was your basic Seattle entry.
We've done this several times now with the scoots, so we have a good bead on the near offshore topography. Our usual run will include a surface scoot out a long distance, drop into an astonishingly shallow depth (9 to 12 feet!), a blast down the center draw, a fade to the Secret Gardens, a stroll to the point, then a run cross canyon up to the North Wall.
The Dive
As we were on our fade to the Gardens there was this large detritus patch of kelp and seaweed. I found a Sweet Potato Cucumber on patch, sort of rolling around. Claudette found one at the same moment - I carried mine over to her for a surprise, only to find she already had one. I looked up, and along the edge of the patch were about 20 of them! We hovered there and juggled SP Cukes for a few moments then got back to the dive.
The Gardens were interesting. I only dive here a couple of times a year, and its always neat to see these critters carving a life out of these small mud walls.
We spotted this small white Nudi. I had no idea what it was. It was quite flat, very roundish and had smooth rhinophores. I was stumped. Its quite sandy there and I was at a bad angle when I spotted him, so as I came around to get a better angle for the shot my clipped off scooter hit the ground and caused quite the stir. Dangit. It got dark, hard to focus and the shots pretty well stink. But I figured I'd capture enough detail to be able to ID the guy, even if I wasn't able to get beauty shots.
The point was pretty. I was shooting a pair of mating Sandys that I found. Probably the best mating pair shot I've taken - they were at the right angle and I had a good look at them. I got the shots and looked up and there was a CLOUD, and I mean HUGE cloud coming at me. I look over at Claudette and she's all "this was not me..." There was either a giant Bat Ray right above me that I spooked (we'd seen a couple on the way out to the spots) or at that precise moment there was a landslide. I believe it was more of the latter, as it just kept raining silt on me. It was silly. A moment later I wouldn't have got the Sandys.
We pointed North and headed across the deep draw over to the North Wall. There we found some more Nudis (including a 'Nax spinning its eggs), lots of shrimp and some very large Sarcastic Fringeheads. At Vet Spark (our local mudhole) the Sarky's are in bottles or Wavy Turbin shells. We have a lot of them, but they're not nearly this large. Its amazing how big they'll grow when they can burrow into the mud wall as opposed to trying to squeeze into a wavy turbin shell. I also forget how colorful these guys are. They're funny.
While I was shooting Sarky, Dette found two very large Octos in a horizontal crack. I went over and shot the one, but I couldn't find the second. She brought me back to the crack, and way in the back on one side was the second one. The Big one I shot had one arm reaching all the way across the crack and was barely touching the one in the corner.
We were on 32 and had racked up some deco, so we made a slow kick back in. With the deco obligation satisfied, we fired up the scoots and scooted in the rest of the way until a wave literally sucked us out of the 3 feet of water and surfed us in.
I got back to my truck, undressed (it was a nice dive, but not worthy of two, as I had a full afternoon back at home) and grabbed the camera body. We looked over the mystery Nudi again. No ideas. So I start shopping the thing around. The first diver I saw was Terry. I bring over the body and bring up Mystery Nudi on the screen. He doesn't know. So I shop his guy to some other divers in various states of undress. There's Ken, with his camera body, going from local diver to local diver...
"Pardon me, have you ever seen one of these? He's quite lovely...."
Nothing.
So we drive home and I send off notes to all of the Nudi people I know. I wake up this morning and David gets back to me, ID's it no problem. So the mystery is solved.
Thanks, Dette. Loved the hang, loved the dive, and we have another notch in the Nudi belt.
Pics below. Enjoy.
---
Ken
======================================
Big Octo in the North Wall. Love the top knot he made from one of his arms.
No Wall Nax - I've only seen this twice. Navanax IN THE ACT of spinning their egg looms. Very cool to see!
Off Road Sandy. These shots show best how I see LJS. Sandy, muddy, rugged, barren, and quite often full of Nudis. I like these two shots. I got off about 10 shots of this guy going all off road, kicking up dust like he's at Rincon
Big Sarky - gotta love these guys and their Andy Rooney Eyebrows!
Sandy Lovin' - A couple of Sandiegensis making more
Mystery Nudi - Even with these limp shots, he was able to ID this little guy. Turns out its a Conualevua alba. David wrote to me and stated, "No problem - photos are fine. With those huge mantle glands this is Conualevia alba. Page 77 in the 3rd edition. Good show. David Behrens"
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