I fired off several hundred pics this weekend over the 13 dives I did between Friday and Monday.
Most we're wide angle (if you can believe that) as we had stellar viz on Friday and Saturday. It got a little snotty on Sunday with the wind, and Monday was just starting to recover.
Here are the Macros. Wide Angles will be up tomorrow. Everyone else will be posting reports so you can get the flavah of the weekend.
The full gallery from the weekend is here.
RocketMan report is here. If you were there, you saw it topside. Here are the underwater pix.
With the new moon this weekend, the tide swings were nuts - over a 6 foot swing each day right across the 7 hours of diving. It made for interesting exits through the surge, over exposed rocks with a e8-130, scooter and big camera rig. All of us who did 3 or 4 dives a day over the weekend came away with bashed shins.
It was Octo Weekend at Catalina. 'Dette and I saw Octos on nearly every dive. The place is stupid with Octos right now. On the Two dives I didn't take a camera (to Lynne's point) we saw great photo-worthy stuff. On Saturday's RocketMan trial run we saw a Pacific Electric Ray at 25 feet over the sand. On the Friday night dive we had an Octo parachute from the Sue Jac in the most spectacular display ever. Of course, no Cam.
An Electric Ray made another appearance - this time at the Valiant. Of course, I had on the 105mm Macro lens. OY!
But the real star of this Macro Showcase is the Hypselodoris californiensis. I found a huge one in the dive park last August 2006 that went on to BOW. Claudette and I still, on every visit to the park, return to the place where we last saw this one, as he was there for about 13 weeks.
The little one below I saw on the way back in to the steps, in about 8 feet of water. The pink algae blew back in the surge and I went nuts, got Claudette's attention and we were able to get of a few shots as I blew back and forth.
Great dive weekend. Many thanks again to Claudette, who makes all of what I do underwater safer and more fun. You rock, 'Chica.
---
Ken
Octo Mania! On the Valiant (2 of them), in the Park, at Big Casino Reef, On the night dives - Octos were all over the place! I love that most of the Octos I see have a Blue-banded Goby buddy, sort of hanging out with them.
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.
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We wanted to go exploring, and I really wanted to find Big Casino Reef. Someone hooked me up with the compass heading, and we nailed it. 127 feet, clear, gorgeous. Here are some fishies from one of the pinnacles there.
Juvi Kelp Fish
A pair of Juvi Sheephead. This was Juvi Sheephead weekend, too. Every Gorgonian seemed to have several baby Sheephead.
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.
.
.
.
Nudis. Lots of Nudis this weekend - not in volume, but in variety. Claudette and I saw 12 species this weekend. Pretty cool for the Dive Park and its vicinity, as this is not a Nudi haven.
Fed Ex and the Fire - we saw this one at 127 feet at Big Casino Reef, and I composed it against the Red Gorgonian. I wish I took the time to make this shot technically better - but we saw this pretty far into the dive, and I was rushing at that depth. You get the idea. I like what I'm trying to do here and will compose another like this soon.
Janolus on the Sat Night dive. Claudette spotted this one.
Hypse at the steps. Unreal find. I did a dance and 'dette almost spit her reg!
Clownie on the Valiant
Baby Cockerell's on the Sue Jac from the Saturday night dive
Hudson's at the Valiant. I love their floppy ears. Reminds me of Ber!
Limbaugh's in a shell - Claudette found this at the Valiant. That's her blue glove.
Biggest, fattest 'Nax I've ever seen. This is from the Saturday night dive. This thing was enormous. Think BallPark Frank - all plumped and you get the idea. What a fatty.
.
.
.
.
.
Most we're wide angle (if you can believe that) as we had stellar viz on Friday and Saturday. It got a little snotty on Sunday with the wind, and Monday was just starting to recover.
Here are the Macros. Wide Angles will be up tomorrow. Everyone else will be posting reports so you can get the flavah of the weekend.
The full gallery from the weekend is here.
RocketMan report is here. If you were there, you saw it topside. Here are the underwater pix.
With the new moon this weekend, the tide swings were nuts - over a 6 foot swing each day right across the 7 hours of diving. It made for interesting exits through the surge, over exposed rocks with a e8-130, scooter and big camera rig. All of us who did 3 or 4 dives a day over the weekend came away with bashed shins.
It was Octo Weekend at Catalina. 'Dette and I saw Octos on nearly every dive. The place is stupid with Octos right now. On the Two dives I didn't take a camera (to Lynne's point) we saw great photo-worthy stuff. On Saturday's RocketMan trial run we saw a Pacific Electric Ray at 25 feet over the sand. On the Friday night dive we had an Octo parachute from the Sue Jac in the most spectacular display ever. Of course, no Cam.
An Electric Ray made another appearance - this time at the Valiant. Of course, I had on the 105mm Macro lens. OY!
But the real star of this Macro Showcase is the Hypselodoris californiensis. I found a huge one in the dive park last August 2006 that went on to BOW. Claudette and I still, on every visit to the park, return to the place where we last saw this one, as he was there for about 13 weeks.
The little one below I saw on the way back in to the steps, in about 8 feet of water. The pink algae blew back in the surge and I went nuts, got Claudette's attention and we were able to get of a few shots as I blew back and forth.
Great dive weekend. Many thanks again to Claudette, who makes all of what I do underwater safer and more fun. You rock, 'Chica.
---
Ken
Octo Mania! On the Valiant (2 of them), in the Park, at Big Casino Reef, On the night dives - Octos were all over the place! I love that most of the Octos I see have a Blue-banded Goby buddy, sort of hanging out with them.
.
.
.
.
.
We wanted to go exploring, and I really wanted to find Big Casino Reef. Someone hooked me up with the compass heading, and we nailed it. 127 feet, clear, gorgeous. Here are some fishies from one of the pinnacles there.
Juvi Kelp Fish
A pair of Juvi Sheephead. This was Juvi Sheephead weekend, too. Every Gorgonian seemed to have several baby Sheephead.
.
.
.
.
.
Nudis. Lots of Nudis this weekend - not in volume, but in variety. Claudette and I saw 12 species this weekend. Pretty cool for the Dive Park and its vicinity, as this is not a Nudi haven.
Fed Ex and the Fire - we saw this one at 127 feet at Big Casino Reef, and I composed it against the Red Gorgonian. I wish I took the time to make this shot technically better - but we saw this pretty far into the dive, and I was rushing at that depth. You get the idea. I like what I'm trying to do here and will compose another like this soon.
Janolus on the Sat Night dive. Claudette spotted this one.
Hypse at the steps. Unreal find. I did a dance and 'dette almost spit her reg!
Clownie on the Valiant
Baby Cockerell's on the Sue Jac from the Saturday night dive
Hudson's at the Valiant. I love their floppy ears. Reminds me of Ber!
Limbaugh's in a shell - Claudette found this at the Valiant. That's her blue glove.
Biggest, fattest 'Nax I've ever seen. This is from the Saturday night dive. This thing was enormous. Think BallPark Frank - all plumped and you get the idea. What a fatty.
.
.
.
.
.
:monkeydan
