So Peter wanted to be sure to go, and I dragged my sorry butt off the chair to be fodder for the carpool lanes, especially in view of Viadoom. And as long as I was going, I packed my gear, even though I wasn't entirely sure I'd stop coughing long enough to dive.
Traffic was as horrible as envisioned, and we arrived right at 6:30, to find no parking in the lot at all. Peter went off somewhere with the truck, and I wandered around the parking lot, walking up to people totally unknown to me and asking, "Moss Bay?" and getting an endless series of negative replies. I think the people who weren't even there to dive must have thought I was mental, wandering around in my long underwear and accosting strangers. Eventually, I settled down to chat with Calvin and Josh, and I was happy to get a chance to compliment Calvin on the Grand Cayman photos and article, although I was a little taken aback to discover he hadn't just gotten home from there, but from Truk and Palau. What an enviable lifestyle!
Eventually, a pleasant young man arrived and announced he was, in fact, the diver for whom we had been waiting. So we did a brief interrogation, during which we learned a lot about him and he learned nothing about us (which I found amusing) and a rough dive plan was put in place. Everyone repaired to vehicles to dress and gear up, and we met at the sea wall, where I did the two minute dissimilar tank matching rock bottom gas management dive plan, and we headed for the water.
Viz was LOVELY! Mike and I followed Peter as he wandered vaguely around (he has never quite grasped Cove 2 navigation) and killed time looking for little stuff while he took his photographs. And we found a lot of it. TONS of alabaster nudibranchs, and a huge flounder.
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/312604_2511262661762_1258998267_2949523_1206260329_n.jpg)
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/311850_2511262821766_1258998267_2949524_1989314118_n.jpg)
While Peter shot a pair of gunnels in a PVC pipe, I was admiring a black-bellied eelpout, and called Mike over to look at it, although I'm not sure he knew why I wanted him to look at a rather ordinary fish. We picked up a pair of harbor seals, who were hunting with a visible lack of commitment, but appeared to be playing with a great deal of joy. Two ratfish swam by us, with their brilliant tapetums reflecting the canister lights.
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/298884_2511262981770_1258998267_2949525_111728500_n.jpg)
Under the bow of the Honey bear, as we had been warned, was another real Octozilla. He wasn't tucked away, and was fully visible, and he was enormous.
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/299036_2511263261777_1258998267_2949526_854171463_n.jpg)
While Peter shot him, I amused myself by playing with a decorator crab who was domiciled on a big pile of ochre stars. Heading home, I did my favorite swim-under with the crossed pilings, and then turned around and inspected the side of the far one, and just as I had found the last time I dove there, there was a pretty Red Irish Lord tucked into an opening in the side of the log.
![Image](https://s-hphotos-iad1.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/295978_2511264021796_1258998267_2949529_58212685_n.jpg)
I waited patiently as Peter shot a pair of shrimp,
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/302659_2511263861792_1258998267_2949528_1136541059_n.jpg)
and as I was waiting, I noted a long, graceful pair of legs extending from the bottom of another piling. I was pretty sure I knew who this was, and sho' nuff, when I swam over, it was my friend the scaled crab. I called Mike over and tried to make hand motions for "look inside and UP", but in the end, I'm unsure whether he saw the crab, or understood why I was excited about it.
On the way into the shallows, we encountered a big school of tubesnouts, oriented completely at random and looking like nothing more than a bunch of I-ching reeds thrown down on a table. Beyond them, in the very shallow water, were rivers of small, silver fish -- huge numbers of them, flowing this way and that. At this point, we all turned lights off and played in the biolume.
It was a beautiful hour's dive, and once again, I was struck by how rich and rewarding a dive site within eyeshot of downtown, and subjected to daily, intense diver pressure, can be.