Party in the ocean

There was a party in the ocean today. I haven't seen much of anything in the water all spring, but today all the  sea creatures were out struttin their stuff.

It was the 8 a.m. curtain call. Steve D., Ken and TFTC braved the morning traffic in from the east county.  Conditions were stellar--flat, warm water, clear to the bottom once we swam past the murky part inside the Q.  On deck, Hovic gushed over his sighting of 3 soupfin sharks.  Another swimmer saw a jelly "well below the surface".  Oh, this was gonna be good...

Steve gettin friendly with the jelly.

And mother ocean did not disappoint.  At the Q, it was like night and day.  Everything was suddenly visible!  Starring straight down to the bottom, I almost collided into the purple-striped jellyfish that was reportedly "well below the surface".  This guy was 18" diameter and beautiful!  (And the jelly was impressive too.)

We tagged the half and turned toward the Marine Room to look for leopards.  Along the way there were hoards of bat rays hanging out on the bottom, partially embedded in the sand, some in flight.  They were so thick, it reminded me of an M.C. Escher lithograph. Didn't see any leopards, so we headed back through the ray zone.

Bat rays or Escher.  You choose.

Past the ray zone and nearer the Q, we spotted a dorsal fin down there.  But it disappeared.  Of course we had to discuss this new sight, and while we were comparing notes, Steve sticks his face in the water and comes up sputtering,  "there they are! underneath us!"  Rapture ensues and we swim around.  There's not one, but FOUR Soupfin sharks!  Hovic you were right!

Toni and Steve think Soupfins are good luck.

Bringin it on home, I thought that the only way to make this a perfect swim would be a dolphin sighting...but alas, it wasn't to be.  Instead, the ocean offered up a sea lion fiesta.  Just at the entrance to the cove, the sea lions were rafting in numbers.  I watched as they surrounded Steve and Ken, buzzed them, laughed behind their backs and invited them to play.  I swam up and they practically gave us all high-fives.  I've never seen them party with swimmers--they always swim away or keep a safe distance.  But we were diving down with them as they checked out our moves.  For several minutes!

They want to play!

'You think you got some moves? Check out these moves!'

All in all, this swim was one for the record books.  Hope to see ya'll out there again.

Steve and Ken taking it all in.