5 divers & 2 non-divers went down to La Bufadora, near Ensenda in Mexico for Tanks-giving weekend and had 4 great dives over 2 days. The diving there is superb (but cold), with lots of fish, kelp, nudibranchs, and visibility. These sites are a photographer's dream, with an endless number of photo subjects. We stayed at Dale's bunkhouse near the diveshop, the scenary there is so beautiful. (website is www.labufadoradive.com). I hope you enjoy all the photos, sorry if you are on dial-up! I used my new fuji-f10 camera for the photos (no strobe).

Scott

La Bufadora - Dive #1 - EAGLE REEF - vis up to 50ft. Max depth 90ft

Porter's Chromodorid nudibranch - La bufadora has so many nudibranchs, that is one of the best things about the area. I saw several of these at Eagle reef.

Lingcod - there are many large lingcod in la bufadora. I hope they don't all get speared, they are easy targets. We saw many on dive #1 and dive #3.

Starfish - there was a starfish explosion going on! we saw hundreds of them in large clumps. perhaps there are lots of mussels for them to feed on.

Cabezon - this was by far the largest cabezon I've ever seen. Look at the large starfish near it for size comparison. It was at least 3 1/2 feet long.

Sean and I - we were all so excited, going out for our first dive. Cameras were ready!

Gopher or Copper rockfish - this rockfish always has beautiful sharp dorsal fins. The rockfish in la bufadora are abundant and photogenic.

Bread Crumb sponge - the colorful sponges at La bufadora are one of its highlights.
These yellow sponges are everywhere, and they get large.

Photos from dive #2, the famous "White Rock". Vis here was up to 100ft in the deeper areas! Max depth 100-140ft.

Blue-ring top snail - the blue-ring top snails are everywhere at white rock, and help make the site so beautiful. The first time I saw these snails I thought they were jewelry.

Anemone - this unique anemone is typical of the abundant, beautiful anemones bufadora is famous for.

Rockfish against a sponge

Hydrocoral & top snail - I found this hydrocoral at 40ft, very shallow for hydrocoral. The hydrocoral is plentiful below 80ft here, and you can always find top snails feeding on it.

Colony of purple anemones - these purple anemones were plentiful around 20-30ft depth, and were very beautiful.

Hydroids - these hydroids were everywhere in the surgy shallows of white rock.
Maybe they were hedgehog hydroids, but the clumps were much larger than normal.

Doriopsilla spaldingi munching on a sponge

Nudibranchs mating & laying eggs (Doriopsilla albopunctata)

Dive #3- Puerto Escondido (south-east of the dive shop), vis up to 50ft. This site was a underwater pinnacle near shore that was 30ft deep at the top, with lots of kelp.

Vermillion rockfish - a couple of these greeted me between 80-90 feet depth

Lemon nudibranch (Anisodoris nobilis) - I saw a few of these.

Moray eel - there were several morays in the large cracks, between 35-50 feet mostly

Big waves to get through! Luckily the boat made it out without capsizing. Cesar is smiling in the photo.

Juvenile cabezon

You can see why they call them kelp rockfish (Sean Dyer's photo)

Wolf Eel (Sean's photo) - Sean got a range extension credit for taking this photo, for finding a wolf eel in Mexico

Photos from the last dive - Escondido Cove

Interesting sculpin (coralline or smoothhead) - this one was well camoflauged.

Senoritas - I've never seen so many senoritas in my life.. they were going fast too.. Cesar and I were surrounded...

Sea cucumber - this unique sea cucumber was large and very colorful...

Flag of ensenada - this is the landmark of ensenada - its a great flag

Giant swells! - this was coming back after the last dive, the swells were giant. The swell in this photo was much higher than us in the boat.

• Re: Trip Report - La Bufadora (many photos) seahunt 19:07:09 11/29/05 (0)
• Lots of things to see there Elaine 10:45:51 11/29/05 (0)