Wed_night

4/26/05 - Claudette & I dove Vets in search of the elusive Lion Nudibranch (yep, they're still elusive!)

3/8/05 - Roger (ScubaPro5) invited me out on his boat to see a different part of the canyon.

The deep reef is sort of "crumbly" and somewhat "swiss cheese" like.	This scene is typical fo the reef	The holes go far back into the reef so you only have 1 shot at the lobsters
This shows that every crevice is packed with fish and bugs	There were a fair amount of big cabezon hanging out.	There were also some ling cod
We found a pacific electric ray on the second dive	These are also known as Torpedo Rays	Crabs were hanging out by the old anchor chain
Gorgonian	Swell Shark Egg	Anchor Chain

Several dozen squid were spotted. Occasional egg clusters. Lots of mating going on down there (squid mostly, I think...).

View down the stairs at Vets at Sunset	The staging area	The sun has just set. You can see Santa Monica mountians off in the distance.
Globe crab (?)	Sea Pansy	Shovelnose Guitarfish
Eating a squid. Looks like a big meal for such a little fish!	Wonderful. Just freaking wonderful. I find some food and it's directly underneath this huge crab!	What was this squid thinking? Eggs in Sept?

June 3, 2003

A group of us get together almost every Wednesday night for a dive. I can't speak for the others, but a mid-week dive makes me a much happier person as I fight to endure the long dry spell called a work week that stretches from Sunday to Saturday. We dive many locations, but more often than not, we default to Veterans Park in Redondo Beach. Vet's is nice because the submarine canyon swings in really close to the beach and you can easily get out depths beyond 100 ft. This usually provides good visibility when the upper waters are dirty and you always have the chance of running into strange animals that swim up slope from the deep to have a quick look around. My goal for the night was to get a picture of an angel shark, a sarcastic fringehead, and 3 new nudibranchs that I've seen down there on previous trips while diving without a camera. Well, I couldn't find the navanax nudi, and some of the other pics aren't exactly publication quality, but I had a great time taking them and I figured some of you may enjoy seeing what a typical night dive at Vets is like.

Angel Shark. This guy was about 4 ft long.	California Scorpionfish. Thanks to Ken Kurtis for the ID.	Octopus were everywhere!
Sarcastic Fringehead	This is a special treat! A Sarcastic Fringehead outside of its burrow.	Look at those fierce teeth
Melibe leonina or "Lion Nudibranch". Vet's is the only place I see these guys. They get quite large for a nudibranch. This one would almost cover the palm of your hand.	There were quite a few Triopha maculata or "Spotted triopha" crawling around.	Spotwrist Hermit Crab Pagurus spilocarpus Thanks to John Moore for the ID
	Target Shrimp

We found 2 big Angel Sharks	Navanax	Hermissenda crassicornis
There were about a hundred of these olive snails all headed in the same direction. They were moving fast for snail and had left trails in the sand for about a meter.	Pipe Fish	Sand Dollars

Mating squid over an egg mass	You can see all of the squid boats sitting out over the canyon	Close up of Mating Squid
Squid and egg mass	More Mating Squid	The sea floor was pretty much carpeted with eggs at 100'

Are those K bottles?	The lineup	I love valve drills!
Suspect #1	Stairs are fun in doubles!	Suspect #2