I was looking forward to this weekend. I don't get much time off work, and three days meant a chance to get in some diving. On Saturday the fog, wind and swells kept us out of the water. We went out Sunday, but probably should not have. The swells were close together so we made a short, bumpy run to the Redondo barge. Six sea lions played with us the entire dive but I was set up for macro photography. I didn't find many subjects and came home empty handed.
This morning the winds were back. We took one look at the ocean and went home. After a few hours, the wind died down so we gave it another shot. We headed to the Hermosa artificial reefs, but it was too rough for diving. After bouncing around for awhile, I decided to check out conditions at the landing craft off Malaga Cove. It was diveable, but not great.
We dropped down and watched the vis disappear. The swells had stirred the sandy bottom, and I had little hope for any photos today. I concentrated on getting close to tiny subjects until Merry came over with exciting news. She found two, count them, two octopus with eggs! Neither of us had ever seen one.
Most of our shots were filled with backscatter, but we were able to salvage a couple shots.

Flabellina trilineata

Zoanthids on gorgonian

Cuthona divae laying eggs next to a hedgehog hydroid, hydractinia milleri

Two octopus with eggs. I couldn't fit both clusters of eggs in the frame with my 60mm lens in that visibility.

Cephalopod nursery

• Awesome octopus shots! Clinton Bauder 11:40:25 09/06/11 (0)
• Not today. Merry 19:55:58 09/05/11 (0)
• I don't think so Elaine 18:33:14 09/05/11 (0)