So i have a friend that lives in Crockett right next to the Martinez bridge in northern california. he heard from another guy that you can find octos right next to the waterline under the famous resturaunt "the dead fish". so my friend and i decided to check it out. we went down with a snorkeling mask and a rubber flash light. we searched for about 2 hours, then finally found one under a rock! it didnt want to be handled, so we let it go its own way. still. it was fun. just thought i'd share.

-Keith

i remember my first wild cephs. they were a school of bigfin reef squid, off the coast of Perth, W. Australia

a school? that'd be awesome. i have no idea where you could find squid in northern california. the only local squid i know of is humboldt squid. and theyre usually down south, or in northern mexico. how big are bigfin reef squid? just tryin to get my own little mental picture here.

There are squid boats that fish off Monterey Bay. I think they get Loligo opalescens ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opalescent_Inshore_Squid )

hmm. ive never seen em before. i know a lot of the resturaunts out there catch their seafood fresh.

-Keith

Thanks for sharing your ceph experience, Keith!

Nancy

gladly. im happy someone actually read it.

Thanks for sharing. One's first wild ceph encounter can be life-changing. Mine was. While SCUBA diving in the San Juans I encountered a large GPO in its den. I peeled off my neoprene glove and offered it to the creature peering out at me with an eye as large as my own. It pulled in my hand and gently investigated it for the next 10 minutes. Now I have spent years of my life and much $$$ pursuing the creatures.

the squid that i saw were between 10-20 inches.

thats awesome Taollan. that sounds hella cool.

-Keith

thats awesome Taollan. that sounds hella cool.

-Keith

I beg to differ, that sounds hellishly cold, swimming with the need to keep everything covered just to tollerate the water temperature is not for me, even to touch a GPO

well. i have no idea where San Juans is, and i dont know how deep GPOs like to live. i like diving though, i havent been in any really cold areas, but its fun.

GPO's are a cold water species and live in the Pacific northwest and up to Alaska (around Vancouver, Canada as well). Note the reference to removing gloves - those are required for warmth, not optional protection from stinging cells. The dive master of my ill-fated dive in St. Maarten (no gloves required :rainbow:) came from the Vancouver area and mentioned that the GPO's seem to be attracted to the warmth of a hand so removing a glove to encourage a touch is a known method of contact.

ah. interesting. i dont think im tryin to dive anywhere that you NEED gloves. ill-fated? what happened if you dont mind me asking?

-Keith

After less than 1/2 a tank a cattle boat dumped about 40 people into the area. Visibiltiy went to near zero in about 5 minutes. After loosing my group and surfacing it looked like an over crowded swiming pool - the rest of the dive was called. Taking a more experienced level adventure would have avoided this but I rarely get the opportunity so I chose the "baby" dive - won't do that again.

oh. when you said ill-fated i assumed something bad happened. and although that does seriously suck, its not what i expected. better that then a hungry shark story or somethin.

Well, there was this little fella lurking in typical fashion. Not particularly frightening except when visability is not great and you come up on them unexpectedly and suddenly realize what is in your viewfinder. The green shot is closer to what shows up in the murk.

Next time you try your under the pier snorkel, see if you can pickup one of the cheap disposables that are good for a few feet in the water. Having photos, even bad ones, makes the retelling more fun :grin: and the photoshop (I assume others as well) correction for the green seems to help a lot.

Sweet. The only time ive seen anything with teeth underwater was in Honolulu. I was snorkeling on a beach where rock formations make it almost like a bathtub with seawater in it. Supposedly no sharks can get in, but there's still fish and seaturtles and whatnot. But yea, saw a shark in there. It was pretty far off though. Not too exciting. I have a friend who used to live out there that went with me, showed me how to ride sea turtles. Super bad ass.

I have a friend who used to live out there that went with me, showed me how to ride sea turtles. Super bad ass.

Hawai'i green sea turtles are protected, you are not supposed to harass, or ride them. It can be $100,000 fine...

http://www.refugenet.org/critter/seaturtle.html

huh. i was unaware. doesnt stop the locals.