Palos Verdes Dive Report, Jim Lyle Style

[MaxBottomtime]

Occasionally Mother Nature smiles upon us and brings blue water to our local mudholes. Yesterday was absolutely perfect conditions at Pt. Vicente. The kelp surrounding the pinnacles was standing tall and straight and our anchor could be seen at fifty feet from the surface. Merry and I had our 60mm lenses on, mine with a 1.4 teleconverter making it 85mm. I was hoping to capture images of the numerous rockfish we had seen flourish since the reefs became a Marine Protected Area. I guess the recent warm water forced them northward. I saw two Gopher rockfish and one treefish. I settled for shooting the variety of sponges, bryozoan and tunicates instead. At one point I looked up to see a school of Sphyraena argentea, Pacific barracuda. With 85mm I was unable to get a decent shot, but at least I saw them.

My favorite bryozoan, Disporella separata is only found in Palos Verdes on the pinnacles at Pt. Vicente.

It is normally a current swept reef, but yesterday there was no water movement at all. Visibility was forty feet with 68° temps.

We moved to Halfway Reef for our next dive. Despite the distance between the two, visibility was only twelve feet here with 57° water. A few nudis dotted the reef but it seemed anticlimactic after the first dive. Now that it is the season for clearer water, colder air temperatures and lobster traps we will continue our search for clear water.

The rest of the photos are at Palos Verdes Dive Report, Jim Lyle Style

 

[Ojai Diver]

Man, I wish I could have seen that. I dove on Saturday at Crescent Bay in Laguna, and the visibility was more like 10 feet.

 

[iamrushman]

thanks for sharing your part of the underwater world....great photos.

 

[Kensei]

Great report! Diving off of a boat in PV is the only way to go.

A bunch of us dove Vets Park last night. Great dive! Saw a big puffer and lots of other interesting little critters. The shrimp were in full rut. I was literally attacked by a crab (swam right into me with his pinchers) who it appears was trying to protect a bunch of little crabs. One guy saw a big octo hiding under part of a wreck (I missed that one).

Looks like we'll be doing Malaga Cove this weekend.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

“68 degree water temps” wow!
3 mil tropical to me

 

[MaxBottomtime]

It's been miserable this summer. All the marine life moved up to your neck of the woods. I hope things get back to normal by November.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

It's been miserable this summer. All the marine life moved up to your neck of the woods. I hope things get back to normal by November.

Well, that sounds like a good reason for you and Merry to make a trip up here to check it out. Mendocino is waiting.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Opening day of lobster season, officially 6am Sat 29 Sept, and it's gonna be total carnage out there in SoCal waters (and I'm not talking 'bout the lobsters either!). . .

 

[shucksun]

40' viz and no current at Pt. Vicente! Wow!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

That was only the third time I've seen that in 30 years.