Tour of the Channel Islands

[dlh]

I did a live aboard on the Nautilus Explorer last month to the Channel Islands off southern California. We covered all of the islands from San Clemente near San Diego, Catalina, the Eureka Oil rig, and Santa Rosa off Santa Barbara. It's been at least 15 years since I last dove in SoCal and it was nice to return to where I first started diving. The Nautilus is just about the perfect dive boat, and we all had a great time. Some highlights I did not manage to capture were a frolicking Humpback whale and my first ever Mola Mola.

Most of these photos were shot with a Nikon D300 using a Sigma 15mm Fisheye lens (Wide angle) and Nikon 60 or 105mm (macro) and a pair of Ikelite DS-125 strobes.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Kelp forest in the sun


Schooling fish on Farnsworth Banks


Two-spot Octopus


Spanish Shawl Nudibranch (Flabellina iodinea)


Opalescent Nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis)


Galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/davehicks/nautilus_may2008

Underwater Slideshow:
http://www.pbase.com/davehicks/channel_islands_uw&view=slideshow

[Joshua Smith]

Nice pics! Thanks for showing them here.

[Nwbrewer]

Those pics are awesome! Thanks for sharing.

[LCF]

We're headed back down to SoCal at the end of the month, and your photos have just whetted my appetite. Thanks for sharing them!

[dlh]

We're headed back down to SoCal at the end of the month, and your photos have just whetted my appetite. Thanks for sharing them!

Glad you liked the pics! Where are you going to be diving in SoCal? We did all the islands, but I think Catalina was our favorite locale. Farnsworth and Ship Rock were excellent.