Merry Passage has been my dive buddy for the past nineteen years. I introduced her to streamlined gear, drysuits, and many dive sites. She's gone from collecting shells to what California Diving News called "an acclaimed underwater photographer" in the May 2025 issue. She has found nudibranchs that hadn't been seen in thirty-five years. She even sold one of her photos for more than I've made selling over one hundred photos. She mentioned last year that she needed a new challenge. We've been diving the same reefs, wrecks, and outfall pipes for years. She said she wanted me to find a different habitat for her to dive.
Late last year, I took her for our first night dive from the boat we've owned since 2010. We had a great time at Golf Ball Reef. The green fishing light we hung in the water lit up the area, making it easy to navigate. It also attracted tiny animals to the light. It led me to try a blackwater dive over Redondo Canyon. I expected to see salps and jellies floating by, but instead, we were in the middle of a huge squid run. Thousands of market squid circled our green light as we snapped away with our cameras. After another squid dive the next night, I wanted to check out the sand along the edge of the canyon, hoping to find a carpet of squid eggs and the animals associated with that. It was a bust. There were few eggs, and hardly any other marine life.
I got on my computer and looked for another possible dive option on the south edge of the canyon. This time, I hit pay dirt. During our first night dive at what I now call Topaz Deep, we found squid, octopus, scorpionfish, and large nudibranchs everywhere. We were soon making one day dive after another here. I've found dozens of Tritonia exulans, a beautiful pink nudibranch, including two mating pairs. I had only seen a single exulans in over three decades of diving in Southern California. We've also found several species of sculpin and barnacles that are new to us.
The area we dive is in sixty to seventy feet, less than two hundred feet from the edge of the canyon. We never know what animals we may encounter that rise from the depths.
Late last year, I took her for our first night dive from the boat we've owned since 2010. We had a great time at Golf Ball Reef. The green fishing light we hung in the water lit up the area, making it easy to navigate. It also attracted tiny animals to the light. It led me to try a blackwater dive over Redondo Canyon. I expected to see salps and jellies floating by, but instead, we were in the middle of a huge squid run. Thousands of market squid circled our green light as we snapped away with our cameras. After another squid dive the next night, I wanted to check out the sand along the edge of the canyon, hoping to find a carpet of squid eggs and the animals associated with that. It was a bust. There were few eggs, and hardly any other marine life.
I got on my computer and looked for another possible dive option on the south edge of the canyon. This time, I hit pay dirt. During our first night dive at what I now call Topaz Deep, we found squid, octopus, scorpionfish, and large nudibranchs everywhere. We were soon making one day dive after another here. I've found dozens of Tritonia exulans, a beautiful pink nudibranch, including two mating pairs. I had only seen a single exulans in over three decades of diving in Southern California. We've also found several species of sculpin and barnacles that are new to us.
The area we dive is in sixty to seventy feet, less than two hundred feet from the edge of the canyon. We never know what animals we may encounter that rise from the depths.
