Some Non-Nudi fun at Catalina in March

[Mo2vation]

So March is Nudi Mania - but there are also some non-nudi things to see, too.

Enjoy


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Ken






Like Octos! Lots and lots of Octos. There were two of them on the swim platform. We saw another couple in the park, too.

This guy played peek-a-boo with me for, jeeze, it had to be 8 or 9 minutes. I had my legs wrapped around a beam on the platform and just waited for him to pop up. I'd shoot, he'd go back - then pop back up and look around a few moments later.




I've shot dozens of Octos in the Dive Park - but this guy just wanted to play and play. If we weren't rolling up on him at the end of a very long dive on the Valiant, I would have stayed longer. We piled on the deco hanging out with this silly guy at 60 feet.




Here's a juvi Horn Shark taquito. This little guy was wrapped in a very long Elkhorn kelp leaf in the Janolus fields. If you look closely, you can see the sand coming out of the tube on the right side of the frame - he's bolting out of the tube like a surfer on the Pipeline!




Here is sharky, resting after riding that big wave.


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[fnfalman]

How do you go about looking for octopus?

I've only spotted one in the wild and that was by pure dumb luck.

 

[Mo2vation]

How do you go about looking for octopus?

I've only spotted one in the wild and that was by pure dumb luck.

Octos are quite fastidious in their home. The go out, find a meal and bring it home. When they're done with it, they wipe their little octo lips, and toss out the shell into the front yard.

There is often a pile of shells - the Pizza Boxes and Beer Cans. Its the first thing I look for when I'm in a new area. Its not hard to tell an Octo is nearby - as they usually have a very narrow pallet. Some like clams, some like snails, some like whatever. But look for a pile of empty shells and you're half-way there.

In the Dive Park, its too easy. I've dived there so many times I know where to look. One of the near-perfect locks is the swim platform. There are steel boxes on two of the corners - and nearly all the time one or both will have an octo inside.

The Valiant - there are three spots we see them there.

On what we've taken to calling the Octo wall - half-way back from the Kismet and the Pisces wrecks, we've seen up to three on that wall. There is nearly always one on the wall next to the upline in the park, too. Often there is one under the Cousteau monument.

But - when diving a new place, look for the Pizza boxes and Beer cans. MarineLand, at the elbow. We call it "frat row" as its just stupid with octos and pile after pile of white bivalves and empty snail shells.

At Vets, you can't miss them. Vets has more octo's per dive than any other site I've ever been on. We'll see 15 or 20 on a night dive there.

Happy Hunting!!!

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Ken