Vision trip day six, Richardson Rock and Wilson's Rock November 10, 2018

We finished off our wonderful six day trip on the Vision with dives on Richardson Rock and Wilson's Rock off San Miguel Island.  Conditions continued to be calm and it was almost like a lake crossing back to Santa Barbara after our morning dives.  Below are some photos from my dive on Richardson Rock, for more please go to:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/cYtUATWy5xdNaag99

I wish I had also taken a natural light photo of this California Scorpion Fish to better show his superb camouflage.  He stands out reasonably well when illuminated by my strobe's flash, right?

    California Scorpion Fish

Richardson Rock has huge rock structures, here I'm looking up from about 60ft at the Vision and a descending diver.

A spiny sea star is getting ready to chow down on his next mussel.  Right now, I suspect as a result of the sea star wasting disease, Richardson Rock is covered in vast areas of crowded mussels, I think this will change dramatically as the sea stars recover.

Dense invertebrate life, with beautiful cowries, with the Vision in the background.

I found a napping octopus tucked back in a crevice.

                                  Aggregating Anemones

Intensely crowded groups of mussels.  Usually diving near these as shallow depths would be challenging with the sea surge but is was nearly dead calm the morning we were there.

Incredibly colorful, rich, invertebrate life.

 A day without sea lions, naw!

                                 Ochre Star devouring a mussle.

Our next dive site was Wilson's Rock, the next stop west of this small mountain peak is the Hawaiian Islands!  Below are some pictures from this dive, for more, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/34hoYK9tFqyvk9Wx7

                                A pink lipped Treefish

                                 Gopher Rockfish with white Metridium senile and Strawberry Anemones

Wilson's Rock, the top of an undersea mountain.  After the final dive of the trip, I tore the aging latex neck seal on my drysuit while taking it off, fortunately it waited until the end of this glorious trip!  It's now with Cricket at Monterey Otter Bay Wetsuits and Drysuits for replacement.