Two Very Good Dives on Metridium Mountain and VT3 with Beachhopper II August 10, 2024

Guy Foster and I got out for two very good with Beachhopper. For a change, I decided to shoot macro instead of my usual wide angle, it was a good day to make that choice, visibility was only about 12 ft, very green. Guy, getting ready for the Nai'a trip in Fiji next month, wanted to try out his new Backscatter Stropbes with wide angle...it was a good day to shoot macro... Below are some photos from our first dive site of the day, Metridium Mountain. To see the rest, please go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BEN3nNy8ibNqsSUPA Metridium Mountain is in 65 ft of water. The water was very green and it was quite dark on the bottom, the fact that it was a foggy overcast mording didn't help. I was very glad I'd decided to shoot macro for a change, I wanted to also try out having a Gopro mounted to my camera, I even remembered to shoot a couple videos! I quickly decided to take a couple of macro closeups of the many Metridium (aka Plumrose) Anemones that give the site its name, below:

Below: Some Cup Coral Shots, the Cup Corals are about 3/4 inches across

I was very happy to come across a Hilton's Aeolid Nudibranch, about between 2 and 3 inches long, below:

Later, I came back to the Hilton's Nudibranch, because it was near Beachhopper II's anchor. I got this shoot of it with a Coraline Sculpin, below:

The Coraline Sculpin was beautiful, below:

Below: Yellow Spotted Cadina Nudibranch, I haven't seen many of these.

Below: Red Sea Cucumber filter feeding followed by a White Sea Cucumber doing the same

Gopher Rockfish face, below:

Below: Cockerell's Dorid Nudibranch, another type I've rarely seen.

White-Speckled Dorid Nudibranch, below:

Below: Snubnose Sculpin

Our second dive was at VT3. I was amazed, again, at the many many Candy Striped Shrimp scattered across the site. Below:

Here's one parked next to a Black Eyed Goby:

Knobby Sea Star with a Blunt Nose Sculpin, below:

Strawberry (aka Club-Tipped) Anemones, each about 1/2 inch across, below:

TBD Sculpin, 4-5 inches long, below:

I also used this dive to try out my new Shearwater Peregrine Dive Computer, it worked well, was very easy to read. So Donna and I will have working dive computers for Fiji next month!