Diving San Diego La Jolla Shores

Diving the past few weeks in San Diego has been well not the best, the red tide has plagued by it for months now, where the diving has been sketchy at best. The red tide is still with us but it has is slowly making its way out of San Diego, or sinking what ever the red tide does.

The red tide is actually the Birth of many toxic microorganisms or algae, that feeds on the surface or close to the surface during the day collecting light and then feeding on nutrients at night. This light collecting creates a  luminescence   when the algae is disturbed, producing a light shows in the surf or when divers move through the water with the moon light. the wave’s sparkle green and divers leave a trail of light as they swim in the water. One bay in Puerto Rico has a extreme amount of Glowing Algae in the water of its bay and can at times create a awesome photo op, the algae glows when its disturbed and acts as a aura around the body lighting what ever is creating the disturbance, in the below picture a young lady creates her version of a snow angle , here it would be a water angle.

swimming in Bio-luminescent water produces a water angle

Although it is very beautiful and quite odd to see, it has its affect on the diving, the algae over population explosion makes the water brown or dark green and hard to see through for diving this is not the optimum conditions.  so along with high surf and the red tide, diving has had poor conditions. for the past several months. However the conditions have been becoming a little better. Colder water has pushed some of that red tide to the surface and keeping viability where you want it on the bottom rather nice. and clear.  With the clarity comes the spotting of bigger and smaller ocean creatures such as the giant Halibuts that lay on the bottom covered with sand waiting for a meal to swim close by. only moving when something bigger or noisier , or scarier such as the rubber clad one eyed scuba monster with a video camera disturbs its slumber.

Almost like a ghost in the night floating through Inner space the shape of a shovel nosed guitar fish catches your eye then vanishes into the distance.

As the diver continue their trek through the now blue water, another visitor from the depths appears first one than another and another we count 11 during one, dive. The visitor makes us all hungry  for breakfast the massive creature, moving on the currents of the sea, catching its meals (typically other Jelly fish) as they too float past the tentacles of the monstrous Fried Egg Jellyfish. its size is about 12 to 18 inches, in diameter, with a main undercarriage of about 4 feet long.  The tentacles, although long and and venom packed to its pray deadly to people and divers the Fried Egg does not pack the punch of most jelly fish to the person in the water.

Other fish , Mammals, invertebrates, emerge from the depths of the shores, hiding in the wall you will find Octomom a  octopus that inhabits the wall, only coming out under the safety of darkness or when light has faded allowing it to freely move about the wall,searching for food, shell fish , crabs and such most of the time curling up inside a hole in the wall exposing only a eye to protect itself from unwanted guests,  Sheep head meander back and forth across its chosen area protecting its territory from interlopers. who would challenge to control the females, within the harem.  All sheephead are born female. Most of them change to males following environmental clues we don’t fully understand. The Males grow to be very big, and are black at the tail and head and mid body is usually a reddish color.

Other Fish  of the Wall

Other fish inhabit the wall, Sarcastic fringe head, pipe fish, sea stars , horn shark are all natural tenents on the wall California spiny Lobster find refuge in holes on the wall or under the lip of the crumbling lip of the canyon wall. Squid come into the shores are turning the bottom into a vision of a snow covered plains area with vivid white egg clusters bound together waiting to hatch.

squid eggs bound together on the ocean floor

(imagine thousands of these eggs covering the ocean floor) the wonder that not many people get to see. divers descend to the depths to watch the hatching squid take to the ocean to eat and grow to come back to the wall and lay their eggs, when nature calls.

So many fish so many things to see, I never can understand when people say there is nothing to see diving at the shores. I don’t know about anyone else, but the pictures you have seen in this blog were all taken at the shores there are many more where these came from and plenty more to be taken below the wave of La Jolla shores.

Enjoy your diving , remember dive safe and dive often,