I got out this weekend and did two dives at Emerald Bay/Indian Rock.  On the first dive I caught sight of an octopus tenacle retracting into a hole just a few feet from the bottom of the line.  We watched his two eyes watching us for a few minutes and moved over about 10' where we saw two California Scorpion fish.  The larger of the two was perfectly blended with the rocks he was hiding in, but the shape of that face somehow gives him away.  I would be remiss not to mention the Garabaldi, the juvies, the senioritas, and sheephead, the blue-banded and black-eyed gobies that were everywhere I was all the time, but I'd hate to take them for granted.  There were also a couple of 18" + Kelp Bass lurking about.  I also found a few rock scallops (rare here) one was almost big enough to eat (it's still there), and the other was quite small and wedged back in a crack.  The vis ranged from 20'- 30' and below 30' it got pretty cold...on the outside of my drysuit, that is.
 
On my second dive I went to 66' straight out from Indian Rock.  The kelp bed there has been thinned significantly.  Maybe 75% of the kelp that has been there over the last 3 years I have have been diving the site is gone.  Washed away by the winter storms I guess.  Still there was a lot of life.  Another very large bass, two California Moray's, various rock fishes hiding in the nooks and crannies.
 
I saw an white anemone with a solid grip on a sphere-like hollow sponge.  I gave a little tug but the anemone was serious, so figured it must be his lunch and not just a rude  passerby.  Somewhere along the way I saw a few of those crusty little buggers and tweaked an antennea just to remind them that lobster season is just around the corner.  
 
When I got back to the Pacific Star there were a bunch of kelp bass, opal eye, and garibaldi just hanging out under the boat, so I just hung out there with them at 15' for 3 min. and listen to the hum of the generator above.  Ohmmmm, ohmmm, ohmmm,...well, almost.
 
Back on top, as I stowed my gear, the clouds finally parted and it was a sunny, beautiful day and smooth crossing back to King Harbor.  The sun was still out when I got home, cool.

• Now that's what I'm talking about! jlyle 10:53:00 07/13/05 (1)
  • Re: Now that's what I'm talking about! DougD 13:06:14 07/13/05 (0)