Tag: island
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I Got Pooped On By A Whale, And All I Saw Were These Lousy Manta Rays
It was hard to pinpoint where, exactly, the whales were, but I had a guess—and my guess was confirmed when we were suddenly doused with a brown cloud of whale poo. I’ll let the reality of that sink in for a second. Pooped on. By a whale.
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Decompress Like A Boss
If someone tells you that they like doing decompression, they’re either lying or they haven’t done enough of it to know better. This is a rule. I will concede one very notable exception to this rule, and that is decompression on walls or pinnacles. On walls or pinnacles, a diver can make his or her…
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Photo of the Week: Atlantis Submarine
Ever feel like you’re being watched? Of course you have; we all have. Ever hear a strange whirring sound underwater, and think, “Oh, I’m just being watched by about 50 kids in a tourist submarine?” No? Me neither.
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Photo of the Week: Grumman TBF Avenger Airplane Wreck
Diving the TBF Avenger is just plain cool. Was that bad? That was bad.
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When the Red Octopus Isn’t: Cephalopod Camouflage in Catalina
More camouflage today–this time from the cephalopods. Red octopus ran rampant at Catalina Island last weekend, scavenging on the discarded squid egg cases littering the seafloor. As they passed over kelp, seagrass, sand, rubble, and the egg cases in various shades of white and brown, their skin color and texture shifted to blend the animal…
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Creepy crinoids and the camouflaged critters that colonize them
What stalks across the seafloor and ripples around the reef? What looks like a plant, but then GRABS you when you swim past? What has no brain, an anus next to its mouth, and a bunch of sticky arms that reach out and attach to you? What’s beautiful and terrifying all at once? The crinoid.…
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Frogfish are basically sponges with mouths
How to find a frogfish? Look for sponges. Look at all the sponges. If a sponge looks like it has a mouth, it might be a frogfish. If it doesn’t look like it has a mouth, it might still be a frogfish. Maybe poke it. If it moves, your chances that it is a frogfish…
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Chamber Day 2013 and Catalina Kelp Diving
Wednesday, May 1st, 2013, marked the 25th annual Chamber Day on Catalina. The event benefits Catalina’s hyperbaric chamber, the only hyperbaric chamber in Southern California that is exclusively dedicated to the treatment of diving accidents. The Chamber, which is staffed 24/7/365 by volunteers, derives over half of its annual budget from Chamber Day proceeds. We…
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New-dibranch: Acanthodoris rhodoceras
I love finding new critters I’ve never seen before. Sunday, Mat spotted this adorable tiny nudibranch in about 100 feet of water. We were diving off the Pacific Star near Blue Cavern on Catalina Island. It was a brave little thing, too; when I crash-landed into the sand next to it (oops), it retracted its little…
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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…