Salt Creek - 1/31/15

[Scubie Doo]

ScubaJess and Yellowed shared the beauty of Keystone. Deep Diver and KeithBoll hit up the Canal and showed us some cool critters. Yesterday, EJ, MPenders, and I hit Salt Creek. So it looks like we had the area blanketed. SC was great as usual, the first dive was fantastic with a Stellar Sea Lion visiting us. Mike and I were working macro so we could not get any photos. Plus viz was in the 15' range any way. We did hunt for Nudibranchs and I found (10) different species. What a great day at the Straight.

A beautiful Red Irish Lord. This was the most colorful and stunning RIL I have ever seen. There were several on the dives.


A first for me, RIL on eggs. The left part of the photo is the RIL tail and fin.


I was pretty happy to find this tiny little critter.


Nothing major here. Just like the depth, perfect for B&W.


This little critter was tucked away deep.


Great diving this weekend. Have a good SuperBowl Sunday.

[Radio]

Wow...awsome shot of the eggs! Was there any kelp around? I've never been there in the winter.

[Scubie Doo]

Wow...awsome shot of the eggs! Was there any kelp around? I've never been there in the winter.

Thank you. The kelp was really sparse.

[nwscubamom]

How about Green or Purple Urchins?
- Janna

[Scubie Doo]

How about Green or Purple Urchins?
- Janna

Hi Janna.

The urchins were everywhere.

[ScubaJess]

Great pics Scubi Do! Those Red Irish Lords are some of my favorite fish! That one you found is so pretty! Awesome shot with the eggs! I can't wait to dive at SC sometime!

Also crazy about the sea lion!

[mpenders]

Nice shots as always, Scubie!

Had a great day at Salt Creek with Scubie and EJ. Vis was not spectacular, but what we did see was spectacular, as always. Urchins (red, green and purple) were everywhere, as were the Kelp Greenlings. Not much of a kelp canopy existed, but there were lots of stalks underwater. Nudi's of all types were everywhere, as Scubie mentioned above - he may have even underestimated the variety. Post-dive burgers, beer and B.S. were also highlights of the day.

A few shots I managed:

Limpet

Clown Nudibranch

Purple Urchin

Umbrella Crab

Variable Nudibranch

Leopard Dorid

Scubie found this one - very,very tiny. I didn't even realize there were two of them until It was downloaded to my PC.

Doto Columbiana (I think)

This one was tinier than the Doto. I'm not exactly sure what it is. Also check out the unknown little critter on the upper right edge of the pic.

Juvenile Giant White Dorid, or...?

Heath's Dorid

Sea Lemon

Orange Peel Nudibranch

Love this site, can't wait to go back.

[ejrauschl]

Thank you Mike and Jesse for letting me tag along and for sharing your wonderful pictures!

[Gdog]

Great shots mike!

[Scubie Doo]

Wow, that double Doto came out great. Nice work. That second one must have been super tiny.

[Radio]

This one was tinier than the Doto. I'm not exactly sure what it is. Also check out the unknown little critter on the upper right edge of the pic.

Nice pics! I've seen that little critter over on the peninsula as well...not sure if it's a type of cowry, but it looks like one. Here is a close up:

[mpenders]

Thanks all.


Nice pics! I've seen that little critter over on the peninsula as well...not sure if it's a type of cowry, but it looks like one. Here is a close up:[/quote]

Great pic! How big was that one? Scubie was also able to show me one he "found" in another one of his pics - also very tiny.

[Greg Jensen]

Granulina margaritula

[Radio]

Great pic! How big was that one? Scubie was also able to show me one he "found" in another one of his pics - also very tiny.

It was maybe 0.5 cm...if that. Tiny. Thanks for the ID Greg! Most of the snails in my ID books only show the shells and not the body.