Conditions have deteriorated since yesterday. We had ten feet of visibility and some surge at Buchanan's Reef for Merry's 300th dive. The poor conditions under water did not diminish our excitement, as we had an excellent day topside.
A large pod of dolphin followed us around Rocky Point. Several of them jumped out of the water and turned on their sides, hitting the water with a huge splash. I stopped the boat suddenly when I spotted a large moon jelly at the surface. I held the video housing over the side for some shaky footage while Merry scrambled to get in her drysuit.
She spent more than thirty minutes bobbing around with the jelly, her camera firing constantly. A large marine torpedo suddenly whizzed past her. A sea lion surfaced twenty feet away, probably knowing he nearly made Merry soil her drysuit.
After our dive we were treated to a baitball that stretched for well over a mile, from Honeymoon Cove to well past Marineland. The fish splashing at the surface sounded like a hailstorm. The hundreds of sea birds must have been stuffed to the beaks. Most of them sat while fish jumped past them in waves.

Merry's photos;

• Wow Jeff Shaw 21:00:28 10/11/10 (0)
• Re: Merry Passage makes dive # 300! Mojo Mike 03:32:04 10/11/10 (0)