Tag: nudibranch

  • New-dibranch: Acanthodoris rhodoceras

    New-dibranch: Acanthodoris rhodoceras

    I love finding new critters I’ve never seen before. Sunday, Mat spotted this adorable tiny nudibranch in about 100 feet of water. We were diving off the Pacific Star near Blue Cavern on Catalina Island. It was a brave little thing, too; when I crash-landed into the sand next to it (oops), it retracted its little…

  • A Sojourn with the Shawls

    A Sojourn with the Shawls

    So I was having some issues with my strobe connection, which made my lighting situation pretty much suck, especially when it was called upon to light anything farther than 0.000000001 cm away. Incidentally, there aren’t a whole hell of a lot of sea creatures who tolerate that kind of proximity to us noisy bubble-blowers. So…

  • Tech Diving Catalina Island and the California Oil Rigs

    Tech Diving Catalina Island and the California Oil Rigs

    Southern California Tech Diving with Ocean Research Group This past weekend, I attended my first Ocean Research Group technical dive trip on the Sand Dollar out to Catalina Island, California.  As a fledgling SoCal tech diver, it was pretty cool to do some “big kid” deep dives under the guidance of experienced divers and instructors. I’m also…

  • Curaçao: Stunning Slugs, Snails, and Worms, or… the Pretty Yucky Stuff

    Curaçao: Stunning Slugs, Snails, and Worms, or… the Pretty Yucky Stuff

    Christmas Tree Worm Go anywhere stateside after Thanksgiving (hell, after Halloween), and Christmas stuff is everywhere. We arrived in Curaçao Thanksgiving Day, and I don’t recall seeing anything glaringly festive. That’s OK. The only Christmas tree I needed in the Caribbean was of the worm variety. Possibly the prettiest worm ever: the Christmas Tree Worm.…

  • Diving San Diego’s Wreck Alley and Kelp Forest

    Diving San Diego’s Wreck Alley and Kelp Forest

    I spent Memorial Day diving with my friends at San Diego dive boat Marissa Charters in Wreck Alley and the Point Loma kelp beds. It’s always nice to be out on the boat, but Monday was amazing! We had great weather topside and pretty good visibility out on our dives!   HMCS Yukon HMCS Yukon is a…

  • Making my way back to Shores-cago

    Making my way back to Shores-cago

    Okay, that was terrible. I’m sorry. Last night was my second night back in the cold, dark waters of sunny San Diego since our return from Belize. (I have so many photos from that trip that I’m intimidated by them. Eventually they’ll get sorted and posted. Promise!) Monday night, I joined the crew of the…

  • An Uncommon Dive at La Jolla Shores

    An Uncommon Dive at La Jolla Shores

    Friday morning, I went for one last cold-water dive at La Jolla before heading out of town for the Long Beach Scuba Show and our anniversary trip to Belize. With the possible exception of last year’s squid run, this was one of the most different and interesting La Jolla Shores dives I’ve ever done. In…

  • Catalina Dive Sites: Two Harbors

    Catalina Dive Sites: Two Harbors

    The diving at Catalina Island is some of the best in Southern California–even when it’s not so great, like it was last weekend. I did four dives over two days, and found Catalina has been suffering from the same low-visibility problems as San Diego. I still had a great time! The Catalina dive sites I…

  • Diving La Jolla Shores, San Diego: The Usual Suspects

    Diving La Jolla Shores, San Diego: The Usual Suspects

    I have a confession to make: It’s been weeks since my last time diving La Jolla Shores. Conditions have been less than wonderful and life has gotten in the way. This morning, a friend and I finally got back in the water (in honor of his birthday!) and had a great time. It sounds silly,…

  • When the visibility gets tough, the tough find nudibranchs

    When the visibility gets tough, the tough find nudibranchs

    San Diego Nudibranchs A swell that has been plaguing the San Diego coastline with rough surf (seemingly forever…) finally subsided late last week, just in time for our scheduled Easter Sunday boat dive. Visibility was severely compromised, though, as a result of the extended period of rough ocean conditions. The water was green and murky……