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 addition to the usual suspects, we saw a bunch of less-common stuff, including a giant sea bass! We unfortunately also came across a dolphin that had met its demise. But first, the good stuff…

I’ve seen nudibranch eggs around before, but never actually caught a nudi in the act of laying eggs. Here, a Pleurobranchaea californica spins a rosette of eggs.

I first saw salp chains at the oil rigs off Long Beach. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve seen them anywhere else–until Friday. What a treat!

Finally, the dolphin–we spent several minutes just staring at each other after seeing this one. I’ve never seen a dolphin before while diving. This was definitely not what I had in mind.

Total runtime was 49 minutes; max depth was 61′. Coldest water temperature logged was 58F.