diver.net

Diving a Virgin Reef





[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ California Scuba Diving BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Max Bottomtime on November 13, 2018 at 07:20:10:

We made a trip to Los Angeles Harbor on Monday morning to fill up No Pressure. We bypassed the fuel dock in Redondo Beach.

By going to San Pedro we not only got to dive the White Point Outfall Pipe but we saved $273.70 by paying $3.80 instead.

Merry shot some topside photos of the smoky sunrise, Lake Pacific at Marineland and SpaceX's nose-cone-catching boat, Mr. Steven

At White Point Pipe we were disappointed at the lack of life. There used to be lots of fish, hydroids, crabs, nudibranchs and sponges here. Although life was sparse, we made the best of a bad situation by photographing the life we did find.


Nothing makes a dive more fun than watching animals poop. Cup corals poop out of their mouth. Don't try this at home.

After gassing up, we made a dive at a new site. Just outside Lunada Bay is a reef that climbs from seventy feet to fifteen feet. On the navigation charts it is referred to as Breakers, so that's what we'll call it. It can only be dived when the ocean is flat and calm. It is best to avoid breaking waves and the Bay Boys, a local gang of Surf Thugs.

The kelp was thick and healthy at Breakers, but once again the life was reduced from what it was when we had healthy reefs along Palos Verdes.


Vacuolate sulfur bacteria, common at White Point is found in a few areas near Lunada Bay.


Merry and I spotted these tiny clusters of bryozoan all over the reef. They are about 1/4 inch diameter and have eluded my identification thus far.


The Norriss’ Top-snails up in the kelp were sporting the latest fashion, barnacle encrusted shells.


California Longbeak shrimp, Pandalus gurneyi watches as I clumsily adjust my snoots. I’m beginning to get the hang of it. I hope to get better at it before I try wide angle again.

In spite of the loss of the abundant life on the reefs we had a nearly perfect day. Visibility was at least forty feet at Breakers and thirty at White Point. We had great conditions, saved a lot of money, didn’t get our boat vandalized and no rocket parts fell from the sky on us.



Follow Ups:


Name:
E-Mail:
Subject:
Message:
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Post Background Color: White     Black
Post Area Page Width: Normal   Full
You must type in the
scrambled text key to
the right.
This is required to
help prevent spam bots
from flooding this BBS.		 capcha
Text Key:

      


diver.net