Tour De Laguna Part Deux 'Nudi and Sunflower Heaven'

Three Dives:  5/3 Montage/  5/4 Deadman's Reef/ Shaw's Cove
Buddies:  Angelique/ Brenna & Brian/ Brenna & Briana

Surf:  2-3'/ 2-4'/ 1-2'
Swell: Moderate/ Heavy to Moderate/ Minimal
Surge:  Flyin'/ Minimal to Moderate at Depth/ Moderate in the Arch
Temps:  59'/  57'/ 61'
Viz:  8-12'/ 10-15'+ at Depth/ 8-10'
Depth:  29'/ 60'/ 36'
BT:  68'/ 63'/ 90'

Had a great weekend of diving in Laguna, despite the surf.  Angelique came down from LA County to witness the beauty of Laguna.  We decided to hit Montage Resort.

Somewhat surgy initially, however it calmed down for us at the outer reef structure.  We enjoyed going in and out of various swim throughs and poking our heads into a variety of caves.  Sugre picked up in what I call 'The Gauntlet' area in which I saw Angelique fly by me.  She gave me the 'ok' sign and we continued to explore.  We basically saw the usual suspects including a barage of bugs, cabezon, scorpion fish, and the beautiful *Purple/ violet* Phragmatopoma californica 'Colonial Sand Tube Worms'.  Exited without incident.  After our dive, took Angelique on a tour of the resort to show just how expansive the dive site can be.  We went down on the rocks and was greeted by the tide pool docent.  Nice to see someone watching over the pools.  One thing I didn't know that Montage had, was an 'Arch' like the one in Cabo...but much smaller scale.  Wow!  I've been there many times, but only to dive.  LOL

Also new to Laguna diving were my buddies Brenna and her husband Brian who drove down from Santa Cruz.  Initially, we checked out Reef Point, but man o' man, talk about surf, swells, and surge.  They were coming in from 'every' direction creating that 'washing machine effect!'  Next stop:  North Cresent.  Surf was up, coming pretty fast, but after a long hard look decided it was doable.  After getting in, it seemed as the swells and surface chop really picked up.  Wish I had taken some Bonine!  Fortunately, I was ok.  We dropped down early due to the surface conditions.  Viz greeted us.  Whew!  Made our way to Deadman's.  Great dive indeed!  Guess what I saw???  A large Sunflower Star!!!  I was excited.  Of course, Brenna and Mike were like 'so what, we see those all the time!'  It funny for how you take mainelife for granted.  For example, Brenna and Mike do not typically see Giribaldi, Bugs, Blacksmith or Gorgonians where they dive up in Monterey,
 unless at depth, and even at that, very few.  Conditions calmed down a bit and we were able to exit without incident.

Next Stop:  Shaw's Cove aka Nudi Heaven

Stopped at my favorite restaurant 'Madison Garden' for a quick bite to eat before venturing forth. 

Got geared up, walked into the low surf zone and made our way out to the drop down point just before the 'Arch'.  Upon entering we quickly spotted Hopkin's Rose...a little further in, WOW!  A Limacia cockerelli (Cockerell's Dorid) colony!  I think I counted about 15 of them in one area alone.  Just past the Arch, more Hopkin's Rose and Cockerell's Dorids were to be found...actually, throughout the whole inner reef structure.  They were virtually everywhere!  Also, Tylodina fungina's as well.  Rather than making our way all the way through to the Cresent side of the reef, we decided to turn around and head back to Shaw's.  On our way back, I dropped down under the rock to check out the passage way.  A bit iffy due to surge.  However, coming back into the Archway, I came across a clear blob on a rock.  Turns out that it was a Berthella stellata 'Star Sidegill'  pretty cool!

Upon exiting the Arch, we made our way south along the reef coming to Turn-Around Rock in which I diverted us eastward to Shelly of Shaw's.  One, for my friends to see Shelly, and two...to hunt for Nudi's.  We weren't disappointed.  Brenna has a keen eye.  She found Hermissenda crassicornis that were itty bitty; I spotted some type of Dironidaw similar to Dirona albolineata, two that were hanging together, again, itty bitty.  There was some type of nudi on the underneath side of Shelly, but I am not able to ID it.  Will have to check with Brenna to clarify.  Hedgehog Hydroids in abundance.  On the way back in, Flabellina iodinea 'Spanish Shawl's' spotted the reef.  Almost to the shallows, a tiny white creature caught my eye.  Ahhh!  Another nudi!  White with black spots...turns out to be an Aegires abbopunctatus 'White Spotted Dorid'  My first at seeing one of these!  What a great way to end the day, seeing three new critters!!!  Exited at 90min without incident. 

Due to questionable conditions, I'm glad that we were able to get into the water and have some great dives!

Jan

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