Beneath The Surface
Meet Freckles, our curious wild new harbor seal friend!
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I've been asked many times about diving in CA, "What's in that cold water?" Or a personal favorite, "I don't dive here there's nothin' to SEE!"
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California Channel Islands
Most of my local diving is done at Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands. Anacapa, at only 12 miles from Channel Islands Harbor (Oxnard), is both close and a very good local due to the No Take Reserve. Covering much of the north side, there are lots of critters and they don't fear you.
Sometimes it's like being in an aquarium...
Santa Cruz Is.
Young harbor seal says howdy to Joe Tezak off Anacapa Island.
"Roscoe," giant black seabass, Anacapa Island.
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A Collection of Stills
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Other Reef Interactions
Janine and oceanic manta ray, Socorro Is.
Janine's wild dolphin encounter at Rangiroa Atoll.
Janine on night dive in Fakarava with grey reef sharks.
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Kelp Forest
Kelps as seen from underwater provide an amazing habitat which can be little appreciated from a topside vantage point. The beach goer wrinkles their nose and scurries by the piles of giant brown algae unceremoniously dumped on the sand by waves.
Just like the grandeur of a redwood forest cannot be gleaned from a truck loaded with chain-sawed logs, these odorous mounds of vegetation belie the vast riches and beauty of the kelp forest beneath its canopy.
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Fishes I Have Known
Grumpy rockfish
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Shipwrecks I Have Known
The Grandaddy - Bikini Atoll
An underwater tour of the sunken nuclear fleet in Bikini Atoll Lagoon. Everything from an aircraft carrier to landing craft, lay on the bottom after being subjected to the most powerful destructive force in our arsenal. Today, the atoll is peaceful, and nature has/is erasing our nuclear folly.
Janine explores the Spirit of America aka Peacock, said to have been a floating bordello, Santa Cruz Is. California
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Diving Into Boondock Camping, California
California Boondocking
It is as vast as a sea with much of its life hidden as well.
The exposed geology is often stunning, Redrock, California.
Life here, like in the ocean, faces extremes, ocotillo.
A veritable cactus garden au natural, Janine and Lucky, Mojave.
Hedgehog cactus in bloom, Mojave.
Dry washes are a key feature of the desert. The descending root of the greesewood plant can be seen in the exposed embankment.
Some plants even take root directly in the wash, and just might have enough time to grow big enough to withstand the next down poor.
Wild burros, Death Valley
Mountain bighorn sheep, Granite Pass
Young jack rabbit, Granite Pass
Roadrunner - beep beep, Sonoran Desert
