Redondo Sea Horse

[Grateful Diver]

... betchya that got your attention ...

I found it in the eelgrass last night at about 12 feet ... I think it might belong to Ricky Redondo ...



Mark and I found eight lumpsuckers too ... all rather large. Here's my two best shots ...





I'm still in search of the "perfect" lumpie picture ... haven't quite found it yet ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[KeithBoll]

Great pics - thanks for sharing!

[spatman]

Did you corral it for Ricky? He might be heading up that way soon.

[Grateful Diver]

I left it down there, grazin' on the eel grass. Betchya we could find it again, though ...

... Bob (Grateful DIver)

[LCF]

Oh, I'm so excited Ricky is going diving! BTW, I can giving him riding lessons . . .

[sekhmet]

Argh!!!!!!! Why does everyone see lump suckers at Redondo except me??? Last time we spent hours combing the eelgrass and I was so cold I didn't thaw out for hours on the drive home.... Arghhhh!!!!!!!! Don't they know we drive 3.5 hours one way to see them???!!!!! 3 years of zero sightings!!!!!!

[spatman]

Oh, I'm so excited Ricky is going diving! BTW, I can giving him riding lessons . . .

I should organize a Ricky photo shoot. I'll bring him along and all you photogs can snap shots of him.

[Dusty2]

Argh!!!!!!! Why does everyone see lump suckers at Redondo except me??? Last time we spent hours combing the eelgrass and I was so cold I didn't thaw out for hours on the drive home.... Arghhhh!!!!!!!! Don't they know we drive 3.5 hours one way to see them???!!!!! 3 years of zero sightings!!!!!!

The secret is you have to do a night dive! Odds are against you on a day dive. They sleep down under the kelp during the day.

Come on up and stay over someday. I'm sure Bob would be more than willing to show where they are.

[Scubak]

I knew I should've called you for a dive on Thurs...my only day off....
Perhaps next week or soon....
We should think about Feb dives...
Birthdays
K

[Grateful Diver]

Argh!!!!!!! Why does everyone see lump suckers at Redondo except me??? Last time we spent hours combing the eelgrass and I was so cold I didn't thaw out for hours on the drive home.... Arghhhh!!!!!!!! Don't they know we drive 3.5 hours one way to see them???!!!!! 3 years of zero sightings!!!!!!

What Dusty said ... yuou gotta go when it's dark. That's when they're mostly out. Sometimes you can find one during the day, but at night is when I find 'em.

If you want to come up some week-end, I'll be happy to show them to you. If you want to overnight, I have a spare bedroom you're welcome to use ... and I live five minutes from Redondo.

PS - Do it soon ... this is the best time of year to see them ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Grateful Diver]

Went down this morning and did the north beach. One thing I've been noticing since the big storm is that although the eelgrass beds survived just fine, most of the critters seem to have abandoned them and moved downslope a bit. The hooded nudis are still there ... and seemingly in larger numbers than a week or so back when I was there.



... and I did find a couple bay pipefish pretending to be eelgrass ...



Also found a nice stiletto shrimp ... not sure if this is babies or lunch ...



I only spotted two lumpies today, and they were both on little rocks down below the eelgrass beds ... same as the other night on the south beach ...



Oh ... and one "bonus" shot ... this is from yesterday's dive at Pt. Hudson with Dusty ... hundreds of these down in the boulders right now ... figured for one shot I wasn't gonna start a new topic, but I did want to share ...



... Bob (Grateful DIver)

[LCF]

Fantastic photos, as always, Bob, but the first and last are particularly splendid.

[Dusty2]

Thanks for coming over Bob, It was great to finally get you over to my play ground. Even if things didn't go quite as planed.

There are literally thousands of those barnacle eaters down there right now not to mention huge beds of their eggs There are places where they are grouped together covering an entire bolder. Funny thing is the thicker they get the harder they are to see.

[GRH]

Thanks for the Lumpy tour Bob. I am no longer a Lumpy virgin. Here are a couple quick edits from tonight at Redondo. I doubt I would have ever seen them without you pointing them out.

Thanks again. That was fun until the waves hit.

[Dusty2]

Wow! awesome shots. What are you shooting? Oh and welcome to the board.

[Grateful Diver]

George, those came out great ... the medusa jelly shot is especially nice. Glad we had a chance to go out ... still don't know what caused all the turbulance during the last half of that dive.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Gdog]

I saw the pony in the eelgrass too, but no lumpies. I think we came out just as you were going in Bob.

[Grateful Diver]

I saw the pony in the eelgrass too, but no lumpies. I think we came out just as you were going in Bob.

I found the pony last night and put him in my pocket ... I'm gonna hang onto him till I can introduce him to Ricky Redondo.

If you wanna see lumpies, you gotta go after dark ... that's when they're out. You might find one during the day ... but you'll find several after dark. We spotted eight or nine Sunday evening, and at least half a dozen last night.

Drop me a line if you wanna go diving sometime, and I'll show them to you ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[GRH]

Wow! awesome shots. What are you shooting? Oh and welcome to the board.

Thanks for the welcome Dusty2.

As a newer diver, I shooting a kit larger then I can handle and I need to keep getting out in order to improve my buoyancy and control. It is a Nikon D3S and I had the Nikkor 60mm AFS on it.

[Dusty2]

I knew from the clarity it had to be an SLR. And yes that is a bit to much task loading for a new diver. However they also make you work harder at learning the important stuff. Bob's a good mentor you will learn much diving with him.

For Bob, the leak is fixed. 55 min at FIWW and no leaks. You don't happen to have a canon G10 case you want to get rid of?

[GRH]

George, those came out great ... the medusa jelly shot is especially nice. Glad we had a chance to go out ... still don't know what caused all the turbulance during the last half of that dive.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It got interesting attempting to hold the camera still. The attached were taken from the same spot 4/100 of a second apart. Well, not from exactly the same spot as I was being swept back and forth in much the same way.

[Dusty2]

I have had that happen to me at Redondo a couple of times. It's especially bad in the shallows. I'm thinking it's the wake from one of the cargo ships.

[Grateful Diver]

Now I can share some shots from Sunday and Tuesday ...

Jelly ...



Octo on the half shell ...



Nudi ...



... and folks might be getting tired of looking at these by now, so I'll limit it to one ...



... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Tom Nic]

Nice!

[GRH]

Quick one that needed very little post processing.

The 105 was a good choice Bob; much tougher to focus and find the subject but the shallow DOF and more pleasing Bokeh was well worth it.

This could get habit forming. Time to shower and get warm.

Thanks Bob!

Looks like nwdiveclub.com has cropped my image too. Is it too large?

George