We had three beautiful dives with mating octopus, seahorse, nudibranchs, scorpion fish, morays and lovely schools of grunts, snapper and surgeonfish also. Not to mention a couple of playful sea lions to brighten our day!
Read MoreMany different nudibranchs were seen and photographed and Alicia found a very small blue arthropod which she had never seen before. This would not mean much if I said it but Alicia studies nudibranchs in the Eastern Pacific and is Mexico’s leading expert on nudibranchs! She spends lots of time looking at small stuff in the ocean and when she gets excited, I get excited!
Read MoreEureka Platform sits in around 500 feet of water which makes it an oasis in the ocean desert. After getting permission from the platform thanks to the help of Captain Mike (is it a rule that all Captains get renamed Mike?) of the supply vessel Isabel El, we staged two dives here and the general consensus was that it was well worth the skiff ride. There is a very definite vertical line as you descend where the mussels leave off and the anemones take over at about 30 feet. There is also a marked difference between the life on each of the legs which presumably is due to differing light conditions and water movement. Some legs were covered in strawberry anemones, others in the white metridium. In amongst the anemones were barnacles and small amounts of kelp, sponges and corals.
Read MoreAnother great day of diving in the southern Channel Islands. Here is what I recorded in my personal dive log: Aquarium Reef – temp 56, vis 30 feet, breezy, 3 foot swell – lots of purple corralline algae and small amounts of purple hard coral. (Dive with Ian) Aquarium Reef – temp 56, vis 20 feet, breezy, 3 foot swell, Garibaldi NW Harbor – temp 55, vis 20 feet, light breeze, 1-2 foot swell – kelp forest, sea lions, nudibranchs. NW Harbor (twilight) – temp 55 vis 20 feet, calm, calm – blue shark, much more skittish than those we are used to in the Revillagigedo.
Read MoreDive Day 1 of the first trip of our British Columbia scuba diving season and we have already done 2 dives in Browning Pass! Browning Wall makes for quite the warmup dive! We boarded our guests in Vancouver yesterday evening and sailed straight up the Inside Passage, past Port Hardy, arriving at Hussar Point, Browning Pass in the late afternoon.
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