Lunaticos Annex

Just in the interest of keeping track of things, I'm going to leave a short post about the dive we did today.  We went to Lunaticos Annex, of course because we could not make it very far south.  I was super seasick on the boat before the dive.  We got in the water, and found very nice blue water.  However, I was still feeling sick, and about 20 minutes into the dive, I suggested we head back to the shallower spot (where the downline was).  I told the team that I wasn't feeling too well, but didn't need to call it yet.  We hung out near that area, where Rob took a few pictures of me posed right alongside a wall and an elephant ear sponge.  For some reason those pictures never materialized (I guess they weren't up to snuff).  After a few minutes of that, we called the dive early.  I was feeling pretty queasy on deco too.  I was relieved when we got to the surface.  Just as we were getting back on the boat, a huge pod of dolphins appeared, and was all around on the surface.  Rob and Kevin actually got some decent swimming with dolphins action on the surface, but I was back on the boat by the time they were really all over the place :(

Sur 19

Photo by Robert Lee

For our first local dive of the new year (we were in Florida over New Year's, so it wasn't our first dive at all for the year), we were greeted by nice flat seas.  It was about time, since December was a pretty sparse month for diving, at least in part due to weather.  So, where do you go when there are nice flat seas?  Sur 19, of course. 

Photo by Robert Lee

The water was super clear and blue.  Perfect Big Sur conditions, I'd say.  There was a bit of current, enough that getting close to the hydrocoral for a picture was kind of a chore (hence my lack of proximity to the hydrocoral in most of these pictures).  We hung out near the top for most of the dive, since that is where all of the prettiest hydrocoral is, plus the usual assortment of rockfish.  It was nothing special in the rockfish department today... there were fish there, but not nearly as fishy as it can be. 

Photo by Robert Lee

At some point, I saw something in the distance, which at first I thought was a diver from another team, though it seemed like a weird place to be.  So I swam over that way and found a BIG mola.  I had a bit of a fit trying to get Rob and Clinton (whose team was nearby, at this point) to come over and see the mola, but eventually they both did, and took turns taking pictures.  I really wanted to get up close to the mola to judge just how big he was, but didn't want to get in the shot.  I waited for them to each get a few pictures and then finally swam up next to the mola.  He was about as long as a diver!  Definitely a big boy, one of the biggest ones that I've seen in person.

Photo by Clinton Bauder

It was a pretty good day to get back into the cold water.