Posted by Jeff Shaw on August 20, 2004 at 10:04:26:
Vets Park Dive report.
There were a LOT of divers there at 7:30. I counted over 20. There were some lake divers from the Midwest that were fun to talk to.
Right when it seems like the canyon could start to get boring, all the usual suspects come out in force and put on a show just for you.
First critter was one of those little cute spotted horn shark juvies. There is something a bit unreal about these. They remind me of those little clay figures that children paint. We saw several of these
Then a Kusk eel said hello
The sand dollars always amaze me. They seem to be the creatures that would try to spell out some secret message from outer space via complex geometric shapes. Humans don’t get it and dolphins come by to read the messages from the home planet.
The sea pens made their graceful appearance, and we found a sea pansy. We turned off our lights to see its eerie phosphorescent glow.
Then we went down the edge of the canyon. I have not heard of any nickname for this area of flotsam and growth. I would call it the Redondo organic scree if given the job of naming it. My buddy and I had agreed to scout the canyon bottom at about 80 fsw, but to spend most of our time at the scree since there are a lot of things living there.
At about 75 feet I saw my FIRST Shovel Nosed Guitar Fish. It was around a meter in length. I always wanted to see one in person since I work for a guitar manufacturing company.
Baccccccccccck up the scree we ran into a lot of nudibranch . Please forgive me for not knowing the species, but there were many different types. They were elegant and fragile.
Then we saw a white 4cm snail type thing (sorry) that had spread its foot out to around 12cm.
We found an angry sarcastic fringehead. It was angry and bit my buddies dive light.
Then there was several Octopus, I set my hand next to one and he crawled right on to my palm. The most amazing thing to watch them mimic the color and texture of my glove then the flotsam on the bottom and finally the sandy bottom. Not just color, but the texture.
All in all a great dive!
43 bottomtime, 80 ft depth.
-Jeff Shaw