Snow in July

[MaxBottomtime]

The ocean was nice and flat this morning as we left Redondo Beach. Salps were drifting just below the surface along the west side of Palos Verdes. The water was clear enough to see them, but it was the color of green harbor water. We headed to the south side looking for anything nice.
Fishing boats were over many of our favorite sites, so I decided to check out Ted's Pinnacle at Marineland. It had been a long time, and I needed a fix.
The surface looked nice. There were a few small salps and we could see down the kelp about ten feet. We dropped through a mild current and watched the visibility drop as we descended. There was a snow storm of particulates in the water, which my camera tried to focus on all day.

Not too bad near the surface

Jesus Blob is hardly recognizable

Our Lady of the Garden in winter garb

The crack on the north side of Ted's Pinnacle. It is usually filled with fish, but only a few sheephead darted in and out today.

This is the rock just to the north of the statue. I usually find Hopkin's Rose nudibranchs here, but there was a larger surprise in store.

We're hoping for better vis tomorrow when we head to Long Beach for Wolfeel, metridium and Blue Whale photos. Hopefully it won't snow.

 

[Mopar]

Beautiful pictures I would love to get out that way and do some diving.

 

[diablox1]

ya those are some great pictures. How long were you there for? how deep? I'd love to make it down there again.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

We were only down for 49 minutes due to the current and snow. Depth at the pinnacle is 64'.

 

[Craig Hoover]

I would like to see the Lady of the Water Garden again. I found her only once five years ago. These days I am too happy with the beauty of this site to move far.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

And how she has changed...

 

[FrankPro1]

Despite the particulates, you were able to capture some nice shots. My dive at Long Point on the 21rst of last month had the same deceptive conditions. Clear blue up top but dark particulate plagued green at depth. Next time I'm there in similar conditions I'll just smile and think "what bad conditions? its only snowing"

And how she has changed...

Wow! Never saw her so clean.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

She was sitting in a pile of junk in Merry's backyard when I moved here from San Pedro. I hauled most of the junk to the recycling center, but kept the statue, actually a garden fountain. Evil Jeff Shaw and I had talked about making an artificial reef out in the sand at Marineland for a few years and this seemed like a perfect object. He wanted to make a gnome garden like the deep dive in England, but I wanted to keep it small. Although the statue is only a couple feet tall, it was a G#%!! carrying it down to the beach, dragging it against a surface current and finally setting it up at Ted's Pinnacle. I made it as far as Rainbow Nudi Bank the first day, then carried it the rest of the way on Christmas 1996. We added the Jesus blob later, but we had to use a sand screw and fill the inside of the statue with cement. The plaster statue dissolved in a few weeks. All that remains is the cement, now covered with bryozoans and sponges.

 

[H2Ocean]

We seen you out there today Maxbottomtime! Matter of fact we photographed your anchor. I'll post it tomorrow, I think it has made in Brazil stamped on it. ahaha we were hoping to come across you two somewhere down there. Pretty nice out there today. Big current, schools of fish!!

 

[clownfishsydney]

Very colourful dive site. Looks a lot like the sites in Tasmania, Australia.