Posted by Max Bottomtime on August 21, 2004 at 12:15:06:
First things first. Kudos to Samsung. I flooded my new camera last month and they replaced it with a new one rather than having to wait for repairs. After testing the housing for leaks, I nervously took the camera to Marineland this morning. One minute into the dive, I spotted a few drops of water on the camera. I surfaced, then swam back to the beach while holding the camera above the surface. It helped having Lake Pacific action. I doffed my gear on the rocks and took the camera back up to my truck. The camera is fine, but the housing is going to Samsung on Monday. I went back down to the cove, donned my gear and kicked back out to the reef where I found the triggerfish last month. No such luck today. I did find a large octopus that was willing to come out of its den. He must have known I didn't have a camera.
The outer reefs are being overrun by purple urchins, but there was a small army of white urchins in the area to put an end to that. It amazes me that the small one inch white urchins are able to attack and eat the much larger purple ones.
60F at 45 feet, very comfortable. Ten feet vis on that side of the cove. Diver reports from the West point were at least 20 feet. JonD and his son Dylan were snorkelling over there and made it back up the hill, so I assume they had fun. :-) Another fun day underwater.