Spectacular Day

[Bric Martin]

Today was one of the great days in the canal!

The day started with a really spectacular sunrise. The colors were amazing! The air temp was really cold, we had ice on the water surface as we motored out. At depth we had at least 30 feet of viz and the critters were out and about. We found the usual assortment of warbonnets, grunts, wolfies, and rock fish. All the octos were tucked away today, but the dives were really fun!

Sunshine, flat calm water, and great viz! Dale, thanks for another great day!

[LCF]

Lovely photos, as always!

[fnerg]

Is that third shot a grunt sculpin? Nice shot there!

[Tom Nic]

Love it! Would have loved to be on the water today!

[deep diver]

defiantly was a beautiful day out on the water. Never thought I would be using an inflatable boat as an ice breaker! So much new life and mothers guarding their eggs. Just love getting good shots of the octopus on their eggs

[Octoloco]

Fantastic photo's from both of you!

[Greg Jensen]

Eggs in last picture are from stubby squid (Rossia)

[deep diver]

thanks.. never seen a stubby squid over here, hopefully will now.

[Don-B]

If there are squids out there it might be time for that night dive we talked about.

[Gdog]

The Canal was awesome Saturday, although first time Ive ever seen Flagpole point crowded! We got the gate key from Mikes Beach, and a couple divers with scooters joined us in the spacious gently sloping road down to the beach, and about that time the Down Time anchored on the bouy line. No matter, we only saw the other divers a couple times as the knuckle is big enough for all of us. Tons of fish everywhere, the cloud sponges looked great. Several Octos, one on eggs. Wolf eels, including one on eggs as well. But the top 30 feet of water was freaking COLD, my computer said 38 degrees. So the surface swim was simply no fun. Vis was best between 30 and 60fsw, maybe 30' or so. Deeper was maybe 20'.
Second dive Octopus Hole. Only found a couple octos there, most of the dens were empty. Always a fun dive tho. Vis maybe 20'. Surface temp there was a couple degrees colder, so the safety was not as much fun, gave me some helacious upper thigh leg cramps after the long swim out to flagpole.

[Bric Martin]

Is that third shot a grunt sculpin? Nice shot there!

It is a grunt sculpin, the grunts in this little pile of rocks seem to have a golden color to them. The grunts that I found in shallow water were almost white, and very small.

The Canal was awesome Saturday, although first time Ive ever seen Flagpole point crowded!

Gdog.......we must have just missed you. When we finished at elephant wall we drifted over just as the Downtime was pulling their divers out.

[Scubie Doo]

Nice work you two! Bric, I always enjoy your top-side shot to set the mood.

[Gdog]

Bric, the downtime divers were down when we descended, and were gone when we surfaced. So you went right over us.