ToasterWaffles

We met up with Julia bright and early this morning to initiate her into the wonders of San Diego marine life. Going on previous data, we expected the water to be warmish. Maybe in the low 70°F’s. Well, it was a little lower than we expected. The life guards were calling it 68.8°F but it felt a whole lot cooler for poor Julia.

Jessica and I had our 3mm wet suits on, natch. The visibility was great, ~ 20 ft. in some spots!

After some cursing and fighting of kelp grass stuff we were out. We quickly ran across some homo sapiens subaquatic which were Doing It Right and looked like they’d had a terrific dive. We also came across some devolving humans heading from land back to sea with a camera in giant housing — and the lens cap on. Hopefully they did that on purpose.

There were of course garibaldi out in force. There were some huuuge mackerel in the shallows. A few calico bass and few other bass besides. I even managed to find a spiny lobster hiding under a rock!

We came across a school of garibaldi. Given how territorial they are this struck us as a bad omen. They quickly disbanded when they saw us and headed for their respective territories.

I came across what appeared to be a senorita cleaning off a garibaldi. Fish are funny when they get cleaned, they just freeze mid-water and don’t move at all lest the cleaner leave.

We also came across a school of baitfish of some kind being cleaned off by little silver/black striped fish. It was awesome to watch it happen in the top inches of the water column since they were so well lit.

Over all it was a great trip. Next time out Julia will remember her camera & housing so I’ll have pictures which will be awesome. If I’m lucky the housing will be rated up to ~ 40 ft. and we can take it diving the next time we’re at the Cove.