New To the Board

[dhammer]

Hey there. Hope to run into you while you're here. As far as Hermissenda are concerned, I've heard you can see many between the breakwater and the metridium fields, but I've had no such luck. HOWEVER, I think BY FAR the greatest concentration of them can be found at the Capitola Wharf. Not a great dive otherwise, but if you go down right where the wharf widens, you'll see more than you can count.
Happy Diving!

 

[bbianchi]

Just to chime in with my $.02...

You tend to find a lot at Del Monte beach. Especially young/smaller ones. Ive done some dives there, for the cleanup day, and to find the amtrack and you always find a lot of small ones. Especially if you come across a tire or some other kind of shelter.

 

[biz_nate]

Hey, welcome back! I was the guy in doubles who was with the guy in doubles parked next to you last Sunday.

I recently moved out here as well, and have been loving the area! If nothing else, being able to dive every week is such a step up for me. I was thinking to myself recently, that I haven't gone on a dive vacation in over a year, now. I started thinking I should get one together, but then realized that all I'd need to do is take a week off, and drive south a bit. Life is good...

I saw (well, noticed) my first Hermissendas this weekend. They're beautiful. I need to start learning how to identify everything I see out here, not being able to catalog in my head is driving me nuts.

Anyways, welcome- hopefully we can get you to the Metridium fields sometime

-Ben

 

[dwashbur]

I saw (well, noticed) my first Hermissendas this weekend. They're beautiful. I need to start learning how to identify everything I see out here, not being able to catalog in my head is driving me nuts.

Anyways, welcome- hopefully we can get you to the Metridium fields sometime

-Ben

For learning to identify stuff, all I can say is: books, books and more books. It's not just the gear that will break your bank. For nudibranchs, you can't beat Dave Behrens' Eastern Pacific Nudibranchs. For crabs and shrimp, Greg Jensen is THE man with his Pacific Coast Crabs and Shrimps. For fish I use a combination of Paul Humann's Coastal Fish Identification and Andy Lamb/Phil Edgell's Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest. For all other critters I go first to Andy Lamb/Bernard Hanby Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest. It omits several critters that are down here, like the warty sea cucumber, but it's a good start. If anybody can recommend a good general critter book similar to Lamb/Hanby for this region, I'd be interested in the details.

A stack of books and a decent camera are your best critter-ID'ing friends

We're hoping to get to the Metridium field soon, maybe this weekend. I'm still having some ear trouble so it's not certain yet, but hope springs eternal...

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

The current edition of Eastern Pacific Nudibranchs is by Behrens and Hermosillo.

There is supposedly a new and enlarged version of Humann out this year.

Another good fish book is Gotshall, Pacific Coast Inshore Fishes.

For jellies, Wrobel and Mills, Pacific Coast Pelagic Invertebrates.

A little bit of everything: Gotshall, Guide to Marine Invertebrates, Alaska to Baja California

If you are a member, the Aquarium book shop has a good price with the member's discount.

There's a bibliography at http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/ba_diving/

 

[alwaingold]

I mostly use the books that Chuck mentioned plus "The Rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific" which is a great book not just for ID, but to read in general. It also has some very nice fishy artwork throughout the book.