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Friday, Sean and I went down to Shaw’s Cove and he got his first California Beach dive in; we were down for about 25 minutes. Visibility wasn’t too great, but it was about 8 – 10 feet, it was fairly surgy, and the entry was a little rough. We dropped by Treasure Island and I went in alone; visibility is usually better here than Shaw’s, but that wasn’t the case that day, it was fairly milky, and so I didn’t take many photos. I did pick up a sizable scallop and Sean and I ate it when we got back to the cars. <\/p>\n
For the trip down to La Jolla which is about 80 miles from my house, I woke up around 4:30 am and drove down towards La Jolla. Back in ’94, I went to school at UCSD, so my drive around the local campus streets brought back a bunch of memories. I got into the La Jolla Shore’s parking lot at about 5:45. There were already a good number of cars parked in the lot. In the water, there are other divers, kayaks, paddle boarders, surfers, etc. Folks are already setting up all along the beach.<\/p>\n Having never dove here, I did some research on entry points and where to start the dive the night before. I used the small tank and did a quick orientation dive. My first dive lasted about 10 minutes of total bottom time. I to the edge of the northern end of the canyon and dropped down to about 70 feet. When I dropped down, I was right above a bed of sand dollars. It took me a while to recognize what they were as I had never seen live sand dollars before. On my way back, a giant sea bass swam right by me, and I was able to turn on my camera and snap a quick picture before it took off. The thing was HUGE! Unfortunately, there is nothing in the background for a size reference, but it was at least 2-3 feet in length. Biggest fish I’ve seen underwater to date.<\/p>\n Having oriented myself, I was ready for my second dive. I got back to my car around 7:00 am, and the parking lot was already about 80% full. I talked to some divers getting ready to get a better feel for where I should make my entry. I was told to go a little more south from my previous entry point. <\/p>\n I dropped down to about 45 feet to a bed of sponge formations. This was right about the edge of a canyon, and there are selves and walls that drop from 45 to 50 to 60 feet. At 60 feet, the water temperature was about 60 degrees, and a little cold for me, so I stayed around 45 feet. Also, diving alone, I didn’t feel like going any deeper. There were plenty of divers exploring the area and dropping in during my dive.<\/p>\n I snapped a good number of pictures of fish. There were tons of black eyed Gobies sitting on the ocean floor all over the place and darted away when I got close. I also found a couple of scorpion fish just sitting still, but they don’t spook so easily so I got nice and close for a picture. Swimming around were sheep heads that for most of my dives off Laguna were females and juveniles. So it was cool to snap a nice picture of a full size male.<\/p>\n Along the bottom of the ocean right over the sand, Spotted Turbot dart to and fro; they are very difficult to see while they are over sand so I was able to get a picture of one over a bed sand dollars; then another picture of the same one over sand.<\/p>\n Here is a picture of Tube Dwelling Anemone, another sponge, and a brittle star<\/p>\n Sticking out of the beds of sand dollars, are sea pens. At first, I thought they were feathers, but there were too many and at closer inspection, they looked more like animals than feathers. I found the ever familiar spanish shawl (nudibranch), a snap of some bright yellow sea slugs – possibly Engel’s Berthella; but I’m not too sure. And before it darted away, a snap of a Bluebanded Goby.<\/p>\n Wandering along the canyon edge, I came upon a fairly big Kelp Crab. Exploring the holes in the canyon walls, I found a shy Fringe Head that by the time I got my camera out, backed into hiding in its hole as I got closer for a picture..<\/p>\n One of the coolest thing I saw that I wasn’t able to snap a picture of was seeing a bird swim by while I was at 46 feet. When it came up, I thought it was a seal but as it got closer and swam by in search for food, I saw a beak, feathers, wings, and bird feet. Very cool to see a bird hunting fish at 45 feet of water.<\/p>\n<\/a>
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