Unless you are carrying a camera with a macro lens you would take one look at the reef we were diving today and think we were crazy. This small patch of life off Torrance Beach barely rises more than a few inches off the sand. There are no rocks capable of holding kelp. The largest animals we usually see here are scruffy gorgonians. If you didn't have a camera you would probably swim past the reef looking for something interesting. Why would we dive such a spot?

This oasis attracts fish, nudibranchs, crabs, and snails from somewhere beyond the sand that surrounds it. We find animals here that we rarely see south of El Segundo. Last week, Merry found a large halibut. Today there were dozens of calico bass, sheepshead, sand bass, and scorpionfish flitting about. It's a fun little reef, but it wasn't our first choice. It wasn't even our second choice.

We headed north early this morning to beat the wind. We arrived at the outfall pipes off El Segundo only to find green water with one foot of visibility. We turned around and headed for the south side of Palos Verdes. As we neared Rocky Point I decided it was too late to make it to Point Vicente without getting beat up on the way home. I turned around again and headed for Torrance Beach. It felt as if nothing was going right today. Fortunately, I was wrong.

Visibility was thirty-five feet and we found enough subjects to keep us busy until our pressure gauges made us head up.