Tag: ocean
-
Photo of the Week: A Wolf Eel on the USS Hogan Wreck
The USS Hogan wreck is pretty much the perfect San Diego dive site–the conditions are usually excellent, the sea life is abundant, and the depth and distance from port are such that the site has an air of exclusivity to it. It’s also so rife with wolf eels that it almost–note I said almost–renders them…
-
The Purple-Striped Jellyfish/Sea Nettle (Chrysaora colorata)
There were ripping currents on the deep wrecks this past weekend, and with the currents came a whole slew of jellyfish and tunicates. I’m mildly obsessive about the Black Sea Nettle bloom we sometimes get in San Diego in the summers, and I’m well-known as a nudibranch zealot, so it should come as no surprise…
-
Back to the Fuchsia
Everything came together. I navigated through crappy visibility. I clambered around in surge that felt like the spin cycle. I stared at rocks until my vision focused on tiny fuchsia Spanish Shawls, my favorite nudibranch. I shed the responsibility of someone else’s good time, and all I had was my own.
-
Throwback Thursday: Dead Dolphins and Live Whale Sharks
It was with a smug superiority that I returned to vacation: living it up while climbing ruins, rafting rivers, and stalking whale sharks was the name of the game. To summarize: The Belizean landscape was raw and rife with exotic wildlife. The Mayan ruins were breathtaking and fabulous. The whale sharks were one of the…
-
Photo of the Week: The Hitchhiker
If I’d had the ocular fortitude to spot the microscopic amphipod hitchhiking a ride on this nudibranch’s back, I would have spent all damn day shooting those two little guys. However, I never even saw it until I was home, my gear was rinsed and drying, and I was on the computer, heavily cropping this…
-
Updated Flickr Gallery: Anilao Muck Diving
I’ve added new photos to my Anilao, Philippines muck diving gallery on Flickr, including underwater photos of pipefish, ribbon eels, and mantis shrimp. Enjoy :)
-
This Shrimp is the Tiniest Sea Creature You’ve Never Seen
It’s easy for divers to get stoked on seeing the big-ticket critters. Manta rays? Majestic. Sharks? Spellbinding. So far, we’re all on the same page here. There’s this cognitive leap, though, that occurs for divers when they learn to find and appreciate the nudibranch. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, but this…
-
How to Remove Backscatter: The Fastest Way to Improve Your Underwater Photos
Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking about technical diving and underwater photography to the Whalers Dive Club in Canoga Park, California. It was a great crowd, and the attendees were every speaker’s dream: they both laughed at my jokes and asked engaged, thoughtful questions! One of the questions that stood out, and that…
-
The Missile Tower Wreck (165′), San Diego
The Missile Tower in San Diego, formerly used by the U.S. Navy to test-launch Trident submarine missiles, now rests in 165 feet of water near the Mexican Border as an artificial reef.
-
Why the Mantis Shrimp Rocks
Although named for its resemblance to both praying mantis and shrimp, the mantis shrimp is neither; it’s a stomatopod, in fact only a distant relative of crabs, shrimps, and lobsters. Stomatopods can be loosely divided into two groups based on how they kill prey with their raptorial appendages (I just want to say that over…