Where Did This Visibility Come From?

[MaxBottomtime]

We've been thwarted in our efforts to dive the past couple of weeks by wind, rain and large surf. My plan was to give the kelp off Palos Verdes an obligatory peek before heading across the channel for our biannual Catalina dive. I expected visibility to be close to zero after the recent weather, but we could see several feet down the kelp. Merry suggested we try Marineland, so we headed east.
The current was ripping but we could see at least thirty feet below the surface. We pulled our way down to Ted's Pinnacle where we were greeted by close to thirty feet of horizontal visibility. We could see the surface from sixty feet.


After checking out my old stomping grounds we surfaced to find Dylan Jones, owner of the bike and kayak concession at Terranea Resort with two customers. After chatting for a couple of minutes I told them about some dolphins behind them. They paddled to get a closer look when a Gray whale suddenly surfaced a few feet in front of them. They got their money's worth today.
We then checked out a reef I found on Google Earth. Overhanging ledges created a dramatic wall of lobster and rockfish. We spotted a few man made objects as well, including a large I-beam and bricks, possibly from the nearby Dominator wreck. The current was strong here as well. I expected it to die down during the first dive but we spent about three hours in it. If it brings in that kind of vis, I'll take it.

Jesus Blob

Our Lady of the Garden

Octocoral

A day like today leaves us begging for more.

 

[TSandM]

Is the photo below the octocoral a colonial truncate?

Love the vermilion rockfish picture, but then again, they're my favorite rockfish.

Glad you're getting some good diving conditions, after all this time.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I believe it is a small gray moon sponge, Amphimedon queenslandia.

 

[blue steal]

Thanks for the report and great pictures Phil.
I saw you guys out at Terranea, aka (OML), while hiking from point Vicente to Long point. It looked like the VIS was pretty decent from the bluff tops.
I have packed my gear and going out this am for "Sunday services", topside air temperature is pretty cool though.
I love to show your photos to my friends when they ask me, "what do you see down there". They are always amazed.

 

[keithbt]

We dove Vets this morning at 9am. It had more than 30 foot vis. Then we drove to Crescent Bay and did a dive at 2pm and the vis there was just as good!