2022 SoCal Diving So Far…

Palos Verdes and Catalina Island, CA — January-July 2022

Slugs, bugs and a few other critters from Palos Verdes and Catalina Island during the first half of 2022.

added 7/18/2022

Catalina Island, Summer 2021

Catalina Island, CA — July-September 2021

Catalina Island offers an abundance of beautiful kelp forests, a pinnacle covered in purple hydrocoral, calm sandy coves, and sea life ranging from giant sea bass and schooling fish to colorful nudibranchs and tiny amphipods. We saw all that and more in several trips there during the summer.

added 9/26/2021

Diving Palos Verdes – May, June, July 2021

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — May-July 2021

A few critters from the last few months of reef dives in Palos Verdes, California including a new-to-me color variation of one of my favorite little creatures, a podocerus amphipod.

added 8/9/2021

Even More Greenwater Diving – Palos Verdes, April 4, 2021

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — April 2021

We can’t get enough “greenwater” diving lately, so we hopped on the Giant Stride for some more. Many strange gelatinous creatures were spotted on this outing along with a mola mola.

added 4/10/2021

More Greenwater Diving – March 19, 2021

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — March 2021

We went back again on the Giant Stride for some more “greenwater” dives in the deep water off the PV coast and spotted lots of cool jellies and even had a flyby of some common dolphins.

added 3/23/2021

Palos Verdes Greenwater Diving – March 12, 2021 on the Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — March 2021

We went back out for some more "greenwater" dives in the deep water off the PV coast and found plenty of interesting creatures drifting around there, including undulating starfish larvae and alien-like phronima in their salp barrel homes.

added 3/23/2021

Palos Verdes Greenwater Diving – February 26, 2021 on the Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — February 2021

After almost 10 years of not seeing many midwater jellies, we heard a rumor that they had returned. So of course we went to check it out, and were excited to find an interesting array of pelagic drifters over 2400 feet of blue-green water.

added 3/8/2021

Diving Palos Verdes – Winter 2020-2021 So Far…Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — December 2020 - February 2021

Three winter outings on the Giant Stride delivered lots of teeny bug-like amphipods and isopods as well as some beautiful less-commonly-seen nudibranchs. And of course, plenty of cold, green, surgy water.

added 2/8/2021

Palos Verdes Dives – October 2020 from the

Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — October 2020

Two more dive days in October brought us more of the usual Palos Verdes subjects: nudibranchs, snails, skeleton shrimps, juvenile pinto abalone and other small invertebrates.

added 11/7/2020

Diving the White Point Outfall Pipe on the Giant Stride, September 26, 2020

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — September 2020

Our good friend and dive buddy Walter has been trying to get us to dive the sewer outfall pipe at White Point for a while. This week we finally listened to him—and we’re glad we did! The pipe and surrounding rocks are covered with small fish, nudis, colorful snails and loads of juvenile abalone.

added 9/30/2020

Catalina Island on the Giant Stride,

September 19, 2020

Catalina Island, CA — September 2020

A trip out to one of our Channel Islands looking for California mantis shrimps.  We found a bunch, along with orangethroat pikeblennies and some other nice video subjects.

added 9/23/2020

Hot Summer Days Diving on the Cool Palos Verdes Reefs

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — August/September 2020

A highlight reel from our most recent two days out on the Giant Stride. I shot mostly the itty bitty critters as usual, including a pretty red-banded snapping shrimp I had never seen before.

added 9/8/2020

Diving the Palos Verdes Reefs on the Giant Stride, August 15, 2020

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — August 2020

Another day out on our local reefs on our favorite boat with our favorite dive buddies. As usual, I spent my dives searching out and shooting nudibranchs and other teeny weeny subjects.

added 8/18/2020

Cold and Green on July 17, Palos Verdes on the Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — July 2020

50℉ water and 10 foot visibility didn’t stop our intrepid group from spotting some nice nudibranchs and other tiny critters, and I had another special find with a rarely-seen-around-here Trapania velox at the very end of the last dive.

added 7/22/2020

4th of July on the Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — July 2020

Another day out on the Giant Stride diving the reefs of Palos Verdes brought more nudibranchs, some teeny tiny amphipods, and lots of socially-distanced fun!

added 7/9/2020

June 26, 2020 on the Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — June 2020

One of my best nudi spotting days in a long time! On this day on the Giant Stride our group spotted more than 20 species of nudibranchs in 3 dives in the Palos Verdes area, including the beautiful and rarely-seen Babakina festiva. Some teeny tiny crustaceans and a baby swell shark wiggling in its egg case rounded out a wonderful dive day.

added 6/29/2020

Diving Palos Verdes on the Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — June 2020

Our favorite captain and good friend Jim took my Bill and me out on a private charter for a couple of dives off Palos Verdes. It was our first time in the water since February, and it was great to get our gills wet and visit some of the macro critters we both love!

added 6/4/2020

April 28, 2019 on the Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — April 2019

A day trip to Hawthorne Reef and Biodome on the Giant Stride brought sightings of some of my favorite nudibranchs.

added 5/29/2020

Santa Cruz Island on the Vision

Northern Channel Islands, CA — September 2018

Weather prevented us from getting out to San Miguel Island for this annual 3-day dive trip on the Vision, but we found lots of fun subjects in the protected bays of California’s largest island.

added 5/29/2020

Diving Palos Verdes on the Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — July 2018

International Polychaete Day seemed like a good excuse to go out for a day of diving on the Giant Stride, so out we went in search of polychaetes (segmented marine worms) and other tiny denizens of our offshore reefs.

added 5/29/2020

Santa Cruz Island on the Peace

Northern Channel Islands, CA — May 2018

Our curse against getting to Santa Barbara Island holds strong (we’ve still never been there!) as this day trip on the Peace was diverted to Santa Cruz Island instead. We still found plenty of nice macro subjects and even a pretty little horn shark to keep us happy.

added 5/29/2020

Channel Islands 3-Day on the Vision

Northern Channel Islands, CA — September 2017

Two days at rugged San Miguel Island plus stops at Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands on the way back made for another wonderful multi-day trip on the dive boat Vision.

added 5/30/2020

Palos Verdes on the Giant Stride

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA — August 2017

We found lots of pretty nudibranchs and some other nice subjects on a day trip to Hawthorne Reef and White Point on the Giant Stride.

added 5/30/2020

Diving San Miguel Island on the Vision

San Miguel Island, Channel Islands, CA — September 2016

San Miguel is the westernmost of the Channel Islands and is often inaccessible due to wind and rough seas. The dive sites there are lush, rugged and beautiful, and often harbor subjects normally seen only at more northerly spots. We were fortunate to spend 3 full days there on the dive boat Vision with a great group of divers.

added 10/4/2016

Channel Islands 3-Day

Northern Channel Islands, CA — August 2016

Santa Cruz, San Miguel and Anacapa Islands on the excellent Peace Dive Boat, including both underwater shots and gorgeous drone footage provided by Immersed Imaging's Michael Zeigler.

added 9/1/2016

Three Days on the Peace

Northern Channel Islands, CA — August 2015

San Miguel and Santa Cruz Islands were the locations for this trip on on the Peace Dive Boat with Immersed Imaging. There we found a bunch of the types of colorful teeny tiny subjects that I love to shoot.

added 6/2/2020

San Miguel and Santa Cruz on the Conception

Northern Channel Islands, CA — April 2015

The highlight of this trip on the Conception with Immersed Imaging was the sighting of several large Dendronotus iris, also know as rainbow nudibranchs, which prey on tube anemones by sneaking up next to them and pouncing right into the middle, often getting pulled part way into the tube in the process.

added 6/2/2020

December 29, 2013 on the Giant Stride

Santa Monica Bay and Palos Verdes, CA — December 2013

Three of our favorite sites, Redondo Barge, Hawthorne Reef and Haggerty’s Crane, were the locations for this day trip on the Giant Stride.

added 6/2/2020

Macro Life of the Northern Channel Islands

Northern Channel Islands, CA — October 2013

This two-day trip on the Truth hit San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands, where we found lots of cool little fish, nudibranchs and crustaceans, including California’s answer to ladybug amphipods.

added 6/2/2020

Diving Southern California: from Pinnipeds to Amphipods

Channel Islands, CA and the SoCal Coast — 2010-2012

Highlights of our Southern California dives from 2010 to 2012 featuring both large animal life and macro critters

added 6/1/2012

Crustaceans of California

Channel Islands, CA and the SoCal Coast — 2009-2010

A compilation video featuring a variety of crustaceans that can be found in Southern California waters, with footage shot in 2009 and 2010.

added 7/26/2010