My Long Over Due Return to Southern California

When I was a teenager, my dad would take us over to California to dive at Catalina and we would also do beach dives up and down the coast.  Then later in my late 20's after I took up underwater photography, I went on a 3 day live-aboard to the Channel Islands and had a good time, but remember it being a bit chilly.  Then over the years, I was fortunate enough to dive and photograph in the warm waters of SE Asia, the Caribbean, Micronesia and Mexico.  These temperate waters and their 3/2 wetsuits had me spoiled and I turned my back on the closest diving to me in AZ.  So when I hear about the first annual SoCal Underwater Photography Shootout hosted by my friends at Bluewater Photo, I thought it was a great excuse to get back in that cold water wetsuit and see what is under the surface to photograph.  Today nearly everyone diving the SoCal waters wears a dry suit, but the wetsuits are a lot more comfortable now than they were in the 90's.

I dove on the Peace Boat that Scott Geitler had organized for the shootout as one of the boats. It was a great boat and the staff took good care of us and the food was delicious.  Diving and photographing in Southern CA can be challenging because of the cold water temperature, strong currents and low visibility, but well worth the effort. There is an abundance of marine-life to photograph and the kelp forests make a perfect backdrop for wide angle.  Sea Lions would swim up to the boat when we were anchoring and anxiously wait for their new playmates to enter the water.  They would follow you, sneak up on you, grab on your fin, speed right at your face and turn at the last minute.  There was also a group of them that was playing with a sponge and playing keep away.  What really surprised me was the amount of colorful nudibranhes to photograph and other macro opportunities.   I dove off of Santa Barbara Island and Anacapa Island.  I not only enjoyed the diving, but the photographers on the boat were terrific.  California divers are definitely more hardcore than the occasional warm water diver that I usually encounter, but what a great group of divers.  I made lots of new friends and will definitely be back soon.

I was very excited to learn that one of my photos took second place and another got an honorable mention in the SoCal Shootout. If you would like to see more images from my SoCal diving, check out my website at http://www.scubarews.com/Underwater/Southern-California

Here are a few of the pics from the trip, but there are many more on the website.