Merry Passage and I had a weird day today. We had to wait out a heavy fog over the coast before heading out to Hermosa Beach Artificial Reef. We motored through patches of red tide, only to find a dark layer right over Spongehenge. Merry said she would abort the dive if there was no visibility on the bottom. A large bull sea lion swam by our boat before we geared up. These #!!!*^s tend to scare away the Giant Sea Bass. We dropped through a six-foot layer of yuck before the water began to clear. We reached the bottom to find about twelve feet of vis just as the sea lion buzzed us. Patches of red tide swept through the reef, including a wall of darkness that enveloped me. It felt like the lights went out, but I could see Merry ten feet away in bright water. I had four GSB sightings, but none stayed long enough to get more than a single shot. A Mola Mola swam overhead but the vis didn't allow for a decent photo. Well, that and the fact that I forgot to turn on my focus light and change my shutter speed.
