May 28, 2006
Trip Report and Photos
Diving with Ross O.
The Wolf Eel Reef and the F.S.Loop

Story and Photos © Elaine Jobin, may not be reproduced in part or whole without advanced written permission.

Saturday, Memorial Day Weekend, wasn't such a good dive day. Tall swells, windy conditions, and whitecaps made boating and underwater activities a challenge. (Thought for the day, if Sky Caps transport your baggage at the airport, how come White Caps don't schlep dive gear?) We called it an early day and spent the afternoon hanging over the side of Cabrillo dock searching for nudibranchs. These are some of the nudis that we found at Cabrillo: Polycera atra - Black Dorid, Janolus barbarensis - Santa Barbara Janolus, Triopha maculata - Spotted triopha, Dendronotus frondosus, and Melibe leonina - Lion nudibranch. Wow!

Sunday looked like it might be a better day, so we went out and tried it again. In the morning there was a lot less wind. The swell had died down too.

Ross O., Beth O., and myself met up with Dave, Dyanna , and Sadie. outside of the San Pedro break wall. Sadie is a dog that loves playing fetch off the back of the boat.

We headed out to try our luck at a very small wreck that has provided wolf eel sightings in the past. Ross set anchor next to the debris. Dave and Dyanna hooked in a short distance away and made a surface swim to our anchor line. On our descent, we traversed a layer of green chunky water before we arrived at the sand where visibility was about 15-20 feet . A short distance from the anchor, we located the little artificial reef. Sea Pens and Sand Anomies surround the anemone covered "structure". In no time we found the wolf eels. To our surprise, there were no longer two wolf eels, there were three! Two wolf eels were sharing one hole. It would have made a great photo, but, the smaller one was very shy and ran for cover before I could set up the shot.

In the afternoon we thought about visiting Ross's new favorite reef near Old Marineland. All day long we had listened to a "Gale Advisory" on the radio and now the swells were growing and the wind strengthening. It was far from Gale conditions, but, we decided to stay near the San Pedro break wall (home) and dive the wreck of the F.S. Loop (A 193 foot Steam Scooner sunk and dynamited in 1947) instead. Visibility on the loop debris field was only about 8 feet, but it turned out to be a great dive.

When both Ross and I are taking photos and it can be easy for us to end up in a "lost buddy" situation. The solution was that Ross tied a reel to the anchor and went about exploring the debris. If I wanted to linger at an interesting nudibranch I would grab a piece of the string. When I was ready to move on I would just follow the string back to Ross. For us, this system worked really well.

There were lots of nudibranchs on the Loop. I saw at least eight different kinds. I didn't photograph the Spanish Shawls or the Hermissenda because I already have so many photos of them.

Many of the nudi's were mating.

We also saw a thriving Doriopsilla spaldingi community..

As we headed back to dock, our day of excitement was not over. Some jet skiers had permanent engine trouble that left them squandering in the harbor entry traffic lane. Ross gave the girls a lift and towed the jet skis back to the dock. .

Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend,

Until next time........