diver.net

Diving in a sewer after the rain





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

Posted by Max Bottomtime on November 23, 2013 at 19:58:11:

We had two days of light but steady rain in Los Angeles. The sewer outfall pipes for L.A. are located off White Point in San Pedro. Visibility at White Point can be excellent...two or three days out of the year. The rest of the time it ranges from zero to ten feet. I was expecting zero, but we drove down to the beach last night and it looked diveable.

We motored around the peninsula this morning, still expecting the worst. Arriving at the pipes, we were shocked to find water that had a strange color. It was more blue than brown. From ten feet we could already see the bottom fifty feet below. This was going to be a good dive.

I checked out the cabezon nest. There were still a few dozen eggs unhatched. Mr. Cabbie continued to let us know who was boss. With each photo I took of the nest I took two looks over to make sure he wasn't charging me. There weren't many nudibranchs out, but mating pairs of Acanthodoris lutea were everywhere.

 photo WhitePointPipes7_zps6dc46c1d.jpg

 photo WhitePointPipes10_zpsd074ecbe.jpg

 photo WhitePointPipes3_zps199c83b6.jpg

 photo WhitePointPipes4_zpsfbee2c7e.jpg

 photo WhitePointPipes5_zpsa4b62dcb.jpg

 photo WhitePointPipes6_zpsb0d83305.jpg


I swam over to the sand to check out the squid eggs and had another surprise. A school of squid were cruising, mating and being consumed by blacksmiths. The eggs are developing quite well. Some of the embryos now have chromatophores.

 photo WhitePointPipes9_zpse4405b23.jpg

 photo WhitePointPipes8_zps90bcf91b.jpg

 photo WhitePointPipes1_zps3521f38e.jpg

 photo WhitePointPipes2_zpsfa8e5da6.jpg


We headed to Honeymoon Cove for our second dive. Conditions were similar, with kelp standing straight up. We brought some anchovies for the resident moral eel, who seemed pleased to see us. Margaret Webb shots photos while I fed him and then counted my fingers.

 photo ResortPoint1_zps8fc8d09b.jpg

 photo ResortPoint2_zpsa825717f.jpg

 photo ResortPoint7_zps73d52a99.jpg

 photo ResortPoint8_zpsbf033cfa.jpg

 photo ResortPoint9_zps13bc646b.jpg

 photo ResortPoint10_zpsdfe8b3da.jpg

Resort Point has the same white filament found at White Point. I found a large patch that was home to a small zebra boby.

 photo ResortPoint4_zps1c79ff32.jpg

 photo ResortPoint6_zps3a3c5878.jpg

 photo ResortPoint5_zps154ac10f.jpg

Our nice day was topped off by a pod of Risso's dolphins off Flat Rock. What was expected to be a bad day turned out to be one of the best.

 photo RissosDolphin_zpsddf6aa10.jpg

 photo ResortPoint11_zps7b114a4e.jpg



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