Palos Verdes conditions for Week Two, 2017

[MaxBottomtime]

Last year we had great conditions for the first few days of the year followed by one of the worst years in a long time. Swell models are calling for increased surf over the next few days so Merry and I squeezed in two more dives while we could.

The ocean surface was glassy again at Kevin's Reef and Golf Ball Reef. Visibility was still marginal but with the cooler water, life on the reefs is beginning to return. At Golf Ball Reef the kelp is getting thick and the upper fronds are hosting life not seen for more than a year.

Highlights from Kevin's Reef;

Nudibranchs seem to enjoy the small concrete gnomes who guard the reef

Another good sign is the amount of mating and egg laying going on.

We planned to avoid diving Golf Ball Reef for a few months but with kelp at the surface we couldn't wait. It is not the robust reef it was two years ago but we've found more animals in the past week than we saw all of 2016.

I found two sets of egg ribbons from Thordisa rubescens on a rock in an area we had not found the large nudis before.

Corambe pacifica

I spotted a simnia snail, Delonovolva aequalis fighting the surge to stay attached to a one inch red gorgonian.

 

[Trailboss123]

Thanks Max. Keep em coming!

 

[drbill]

Great shots (as usual) I especially love the Corambe on Membranipora... one of the first nudis I learned when I moved to SoCal in the 60s.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

They may be back as well. I showed a frond to Merry with C. pacifica eggs and she found two more nudis on the edge of the frond. Last month she found C. steinbergi eggs at another site.