Tag: underwater
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13 More Photos from Diving the Oil Rigs and the Wreck of the Olympic
Another dive trip to the oil rigs off Long Beach came and went recently, with the typical trifecta of sites: the wreck of the Olympic, the Eureka rig, and the Ellen-Elly twin rigs. The swell prediction leading up to the trip was not encouraging, and surface conditions the day of the trip did not bring…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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Curaçao: Claws, Jaws, and Cephalopods
Just some crustaceans, eels, and mollusks we encountered on our recent scuba diving trip to Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles: Banded coral shrimp… The batwing coral crab… The red reef hermit crab… The white speckled hermit crab… Banded clinging crabs… which I think are just ADORABLE… Spotted cleaner shrimp… The perennially-grumpy…
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Why I Dive: Sea Lion Edition
People ask me all the time why I dive here in California. Maybe they’ve gone for a dive or a snorkel in Hawaii or the Caribbean, and they know the water here is so much colder and darker and less clear. I’ve lost count of how many times they’ve asked, incredulously, “Is there anything to…
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Let’s go cave diving! Actually, let’s not.
I’m still in a hurricane frame of mind from last week. Prior to Irene in August of 2011, I hadn’t really ever given hurricanes much thought. Those are east coast things that happen in east coast places, and being a primarily west coast kind of girl, they just didn’t factor much. Until Irene of course. And…
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I don’t always solo dive, but when I do, I’m liable to spend eight minutes at three feet with a kelp crab.
On Saturday I got out for a much-needed fun dive in the Point Loma kelp. It felt like I hadn’t been in the water in a while, and it showed in my more-moronic-than-usual navigational skills. Mat and Nick were doing training dives for their rEvo rebreather class, and my initial intention was to watch them…
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Point Loma Sailboat Wreck Debris Cleanup
Update 2/2014: Although swells have long since reduced the Chelsea Lee wreck to a debris field, the rocky reef structure at the wreck site remains a favorite destination for divers due to its dramatic wall topography and rich marine life. Cleanup of the Chelsea Lee Sailboat Wreck Yesterday, Marissa crew and friends went out to…
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Snorkeling with Leopard Sharks at the Marine Room!
Yeah, I usually dive. But it was a sunny day, and the shallow water was clear. And who wants to put on a drysuit and carry all that heavy scuba equipment across the beach in the hot sun? Not me, not yesterday. But the leopard sharks have moved in at La Jolla. And I had…