Bagged a trifecta tonight ... three lumpies at the bottle field.
Ran into Kate and Casey as I was heading out. They told me they found a tiny red one sitting on a cell phone (probably trying to phone home) ... I didn't find the phone. But as soon as I got to the bottle field ... this one swam past me ...
It was not the least bit interested in slowing down or stopping for a nice photo session ... and with my doubles on I'm just not as agile in current as I'd like to be, so after stirring up a bit of silt trying to take a few more pics, I moved on.
A few minutes later, I found me a fat one (actually, I suspect it's the same preggers one I saw a few evenings back) ...
This one ... being fat ... was lazy and cooperative. I stuck around a few minutes ... took a few rather uninspiring pics ... then decided to leave it alone and move on. As I turned upslope, there was a third one, sitting on a bottle. That one was really pretty ... bright turquoise and orange ... but also, let's just say, seriously motivated to not get its picture taken. With God as my witness I have never seen a lumpie move so fast ... I didn't even know they COULD! It was pointless to even try to chase after it. First time I've ever spooked one ... but I guess it was bound to happen at some point.
By then I was about 37 minutes into the dive, and almost 25 minutes in the bottle field ... it was time to go. A lovely dive, despite continued poor visibility (I'd put it at 8 to 10 feet at the bottle field). As I hit about 40 fsw coming in, the Redondo River kicked into gear. Total dive time was 62 minutes, max depth 89 fsw.
Got friends coming in from out of state this week-end ... hoping to be so lucky when I take 'em down there next week ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)