Misty May

[MaxBottomtime]

No, not THAT Misty May. The past two days have been chilly and misty here in Los Angeles. Perfect drysuit weather. I don't overheat gearing up and stay relatively warm once I get my suit on. We loaded up the truck, including the Bottomtime Buggy. It was the first time my little red wagon has been back to Marineland since its evil little wheels broke my foot in January. No such problems today, although I did try to get Psycho Solo Diver to ride it down the hill to remove mud from the tires. He declined. He's not quite as dumb as he looks.
As for the dive, the ocean did us a favor today by remaining flat. We had an uneventful entry and headed for the Point. I told Merry it would be easier to swim inside the kelp line rather than having to make a longer surface swim on the outside. Bad idea. We had to drop into shallow water near the point and swim under the kelp. Because of the extra swimming, we never made it all the way to the pinnacles.
We did find an abundance of nudibranchs and eggs, as well as several orgies of sea hares making spaghetti.
Cadlina flavomaculata, Cuthona divae, a tiny Flabellina trilineata, Hermissenda crassicornis and Diaulula sandiegensis were everywhere to be seen. The place is crawling with slugs.
Visibility was a decent twelve to fifteen feet, with water temperature a brisk 53F. The hot water shower at the new Terranea Resort public pool felt extra nice today.
Pictures and Merry's video at
Wreckreational Diving - Misty May

 

[FrankPro1]

At 30-45 seconds in Merry's movie what is that spaghetti like grouping? I saw the same cluster of yellow strings at White Point last week and wondered if it was some sort of egg cluster. Also nice pics! I was glad to have finally been able to do a nice Sunday marineland dive with the group.

:hijackedthread:Here's my report and pictures:
Entered and exited at the Long point entry. Descended in about 45ft of water with the Sunday services group. What a magical place Long Point is. Tons of reef life, including countless Hermi and Spanish Shawl nudibranchs, Painted Greenlings, Various Rockfish, Garibaldi, Sheephead, Barred and Calico Bass, schools of Blacksmith and Senorita and one large school of Barracuda. Descended near the famed pinnacles, tons of photo opportunities abound. Though visibility was great, the lack of sun made photography hard. Had to use my internal flash which is less then adequate. "Thank Jesus I am receiving my strobe in the mail this coming week" Hung around the various pinnacles and reef formations at depth for about 20 minutes before making our way into the shallows. Saw Bottomtime and Merry in the shallows heading out to the point as we began to make our way up. Surfaced right off the point and descended back down to make a triangle circuit before making our exit. Entrance and exit at the point was uneventful and pretty easy. A great dive to end what might possibly be Todd HammerÃÔ final Marineland expedition before leaving for Florida.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The sea hares lay mounds of yellow spaghetti-like eggs. I've seen them pile up a few feet high in their mass orgies at Marineland. I read once that if they had no predators, they reproduce enough to cover the face of the Earth by six feet within a year. No wonder they look like undersea rabbits.

 

[ligersandtions]

Great pics, guys! So is Marineland officially open again? Or what's the deal....diving only certain days, certain times??

Looking forward to diving there again soon! Thanks for reminding me how great it is!

 

[FrankPro1]

Great pics, guys! So is Marineland officially open again? Or what's the deal....diving only certain days, certain times??

Sunday's only until the grand opening on June 12th. After that every day is open to the public.

 

[Codyjp]

Sunday's only until the grand opening on June 12th. After that every day is open to the public.

:banana::balloons::bounce3::bounce4::eyes::fruit:

11 more days!

 

[ligersandtions]

:banana::balloons::bounce3::bounce4::eyes::fruit:

11 more days!

We could go before then....like on the 7th

What do you think, Cody? Will Chris and Jen be back in town???

 

[Dive California]

Phil...you got me to check this out with Misty May...for a second I thought maybe she took up diiving....darn.

carlos

 

[MaxBottomtime]

She does...sort of.