Today began as one of those days when I should have slept in. Walter Marti joined us in order to get some additional video footage of the Redondo barge. Kevin Lee is probably slashing Walter's tires as we speak.

While setting up our gear I noticed a tooth on my drysuit zipper was broken. I just replaced the zipper recently, so I was not happy. As I tried to zip up the suit the zipped failed. Grrr. I have a backup suit that doesn't fit well, but it will have to do for awhile.

We dropped toward the barge and watched the visibility drop as quickly. After a few weeks of great conditions we found three or four feet of dark water on the bottom. Walter got a few seconds of octopus eggs while I chased a hungry fish away. I then swam over to another nest and turned on my camera with slim hope of getting a decent shot. Instead, my leak detector was flashing. I made a hasty ascent to the surface, passing a puzzled Merry along the way. I showed her the flashing red light and continued upward.

The port was fogged but there were only a couple drops of water inside. I cleaned the O-rings and port but found no reason for the leak. We decided to try the south side where I would watch the housing the entire dive.

I chose the Neptune Cove Underwater Arch because the water looked cleaner and it is shallow enough to make another emergency ascent if needed. I had no leaks on this dive.

As Walter and I descended we came across two Scrippsia pacifica jellies along the anchor rode. I later found another in the opening of the arch. Walter found another near the sand.

Once I was satisfied that there would be no more surprises I began my search for Dendrodoris behrensi, a tiny nudibranch I frequently find here. I looked along the interior walls of the arch, then scoured the outside. Nada. I saw a sunflower star eating another sea star and tried to get a shot. It's not easy with a macro lens. After giving up that idea I found a behrensi right next to my camera.

The rest of the dive was filled with worms, nudis and eggs. Visibility at the arch was better than eight feet, which was twice the fun we had on the barge. Maybe it was just some dirty water coming through and will clear up by next week.

Bunch of worms

Nudi eggs

Creating nudi eggs

Ball of Shawl

• Re: Happy Ending Max Bottomtime 18:39:04 09/15/12 (0)