Nudies galore at Anacapa

[fnfalman]

Taking advantage of my business visit to Bakersfield, I snuck off on Saturday for a quick run to Anacapa on the Spectre.

The four dive sites were the sea lion rookery, Cathedral Cove, Goldfish Bowl and Channels.

The first two sites, there were lots of particulates in the water and viz was at best 10-ft. Temps ran around 55-F with some minor surges.

Viz at the last two sites were much better at around 30-40 ft. Also temps went up to 57 and 60-F respectively.

Boy, it was nudie fest and a half. The fattest Spanish Shawls I've ever seen, some of them were around 2" plus. Also at the sea lion rookery and Cathedral Cove there were tons of Hermissendas. Small, but everywhere. Oh yes, and various types of sea lemons too. The sea lemons were most bountiful at Cathedral cove. We even spot a San Diego dorid.

There was a massive California seahare at Goldfishbowl. Lots of jellies and tunicates as well. There was a decent size group of sea lions at the rookery but I think that there were more divers than sea lions, so we didn't get as much interactions as we normally would get.

All in all, a great shallow diving day with a nice boat. The weather was cloudy but sunny by the third dive and gorgeous by the fourth dive. Beats the hell out of muck diving in Idaho.

 

[Thiad]

I love diving the Spectre. Great crew, great lunch and great diving.

 

[bperc]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a good trip. I am looking forward to returning to Anacapa soon.

 

[fnfalman]

It was the sheer quantities of nudiebranches that surprised me. There were dozens upon dozens of Spanish Shawls, Hermissendas, and sea lemons.

 

[Craig Hoover]

Sounds like fun. I have spent most of my dive days at the beach - any boat trip is a special treat.

 

[fnfalman]

Some photos taken by my dive buddy. He's 16-years-old and been diving less than a year yet he composes himself extremely well in the water AND take some mighty decent photos.

 

[bperc]

Thanks for sharing the photos.