Mists

I love the ocean. I guess I have some salt water in my veins. But I like the cool waters of the northern rocky reefs the most. They are so lush, primeval and enervating. There is life on every surface and in every crack. Colors include the rich golds of laminareas, the red orange pastels of starfish and the brilliant greens of giant anemones. What brings me there the most though are the sea mists. Not fog, but the wispy, ghost like mists that rise near the meetings of the water and the shore. They don't exist when there is wind. They are there only in the stillness.

These are not the mists of warm Southern California. These are the mists of the cold northern waters. You might see them above the beaches of Malibu on a cool winter morning or at Point Conception and along the Central Coast. You can see them at San Miguel Island along the weathered shore of sandy coves or near Prince Island. You might see them at Monterey, but really, the real sea mists start on the north side of Monterey Bay where the waters never warm and thick damp seaweeds cover the rocks. This is where fog is more common than sun.

Mists are there at dawn when you climb down the rocks above the glassy, kelp filled waters.

You really get to see the mists when you have the time to relax in a silent cove and stop to enjoy the beauty of tide pools exposed by the low tides.

Best of all are the mists of your breath as you quietly swim through thick seaweeds in the near shore rocks and channels after a long dive in the cool, lush northern waters.

Enjoy the diving, seahunt