Dive 1: 1/18/24 – La Jolla Shores, California. 63 min, 54 degrees
Dive 2: 1/19/24 – La Jolla Shores, California. 42 min, 56 degrees
Dive 3: 1/19/24 – La Jolla Shores, California. 57 min, 56 degress
Time Underwater in 2024: 162 min (2.7 hours)
It had been 40 days since my last dive. FORTY DAYS. That’s an eternity to an aquaholic. Thanks mother nature. Surf, swell, and general weather made for very small windows to get dives in. But thankfully I was able to get into the water and did back to back dives to get my fix before the next round of weather came rolling through.
Dive 1: 1/18/24
Dawn dive had slightly above average conditions for San Diego. Visibility ranged from 10-20 feet, small waves no current or surge. Was much lower than the predicted 2-3 ft waves. I did not have the energy to set up my camera for this dive now that I have a 3 year old that likes to negotiate as his favorite pastime. So I took out a GoPro and light setup to dive with instead. Because I can’t seem to dive without a camera… The highlight from this dive was a feisty octopus! It swam around in what is guessed to be in a defensive mode with it’s arms curled up (kinda looking like it wanted to fight me!). While all I did was follow it around, it clearly didn’t like my dive light so I let it be and moved on. I did get a clip of this behavior and you can check it out here:
Dive 2: 1/19/24
Did I get up at 5am 2 days in a row to dive? Yes I did! Conditions were similar to the day before but the waves had flattened out even more. I was inspired by the previous days dive to find the time to set up my camera rig. Luckily the mini kept his daily negotiations to minimum and I was able to accomplish all the necessary o-ring cleaning. Dive 2 was filled with octopus trying to blend into their surroundings. We had to cut the dive short to be safe due to a buddy’s minor BCD malfunctions. But octopus are one of my favorite animal encounters so it was still a great dive!
Dive 3: 1/19/24
I wasn’t really intending on doing another shore dive on this day. I was open to a second if one of my friends couldn’t make it till later, but she ended up rallying for the dawn dive after all. After the dive we geared down and went to breakfast. I even went home after. But those flat topside conditions haunted my brain. So I packed up a fresh tank, and went to just go see. Then a front row princess parking spot was there waiting for me and I decided it was a sign. And boy was it ever a sign! As I blissfully cruised through the canyon, a large cabezon caught my eye. Even though I had a macro set up on, I thought some detailed shots of the cabezon up close would be interesting if he let me. And then I saw the eggs. The huge pile of beautiful bubbly cabezon eggs that this fella was guarding! I couldn’t believe my luck! I sat and just watched for awhile as this proud daddy cabezon protected his baby muppets. I spent the rest of that dive with that cabezon. So grateful I was able to get back out for just 1 more dive! Fun fact about cabezon. The male is the one that stays with the eggs protecting them till they hatch!
San Diego is being hit with another round of storms, but hopefully mother nature will cooperate for another dive soon! Follow along on social media for other photos, and entertaining (at least to me) video reels!
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