Prehistoric Bug found in Southern California - YouTube
Long ass report of the dive.
Ha well I got a call from my friend Alex (ryddragyn) asking me if I wanted to go on a late night bug hunt somewhere in soon to be closed Laguna Beach area. So far I’ve said yes to every possible Laguna Beach lobster dive this season and today was not going to be an exception. So of course my answer was, "Let's get some!"
In the mean time I got a call from Ethan Kills asking about joining him on a Laguna bug dive earlier that night. Kinda sucks, but I had to turn him down since I already promised Alex I’d dive with him. If I had a dive watch to monitor the time I’d be able to double up on the dives, but the only dive watch I owned died long ago. So I gave Ethan a bunch of possibly bug spots, but the only spot he wanted to know was the one spot I wasn’t giving up for anything. That’s cause Alex and me were diving it
Time flies forward and before I know it I’m standing on the beach, geared up, and ready to go. Looking out I see the waves calmly tumble waist high down to the cold hard sand. The moon above is doing its best disappearing act; filling the canopy of clouds above with darkness. There was a calm and peaceful air about this night. Not a soul in sight save for Alex and myself. It felt like we had reserved the perfect dive all for ourselves.
By now I was getting a little excited to jump in the water. I hadn’t dove this spot for over half a year. I had a bit of luck last year so I was pretty curious to see if the bugs were still around. Of course looking over to Alex I could tell he was even more excited than me. This was his first lobster dive of the season and his first dive since his neck injury. He was more than ready to say the least.
So we jump in and right away I notice the vis is pretty muddy, but the further out we go the clearer it gets. Soon we have 15+ vis and it’s hunting time. Scouring my light over rocks and seaweed I spend at least 15 minutes searching barren expanses of reef only to find a couple bugs. And when I say a couple of bugs I mean a couple of very very small bugs. I didn’t even want to touch them they were that small. With a little discouragement in my gut I swing over to Alex to see if he’s done any better. No luck there. He says he’s only saw two bugs and both were short as well.
Hmmmm.. I said, “I don’t think the bugs are crawling much tonight. I’ve barely seen anything” And thinking to myself, weird I thought there were more bugs on this reef, maybe I took them all last season?
Moving on I gazed below as a couple of large sting rays, well over 50lbs, fly above the reef. I marveled at them for a while and then my vision narrowed. I noticed a crack deep below, where the batray had just floated past. Once he disappeared I dove straight to the bottom and scanned around in a semi circle, but no dice. Nothing was home. So I headed back up for air and without warning my head bumps hard into something that felt thick and meaty. Oh shit! … I shake my head. That has to be that damned ray. I kicked some more and halfway to the surface I felt lucky as hell. Thoughts of searing pain were washing away. Thank God I didn’t get stung! I reached for the surface and gulped in a fresh breath of air. Alex, who was floating next to me, laughed and joked, “Looked like that batray was humping you underwater!” I just laughed back and said let’s keep diving.
More scouring of the area and then I see it! The most promising looking trench yet is just ahead of me, partially hidden under the swaying kelp. I could tell this was a bug hotel with just one glance. Not wanting to scare any potential bugs in the area, I shine my light off to the side and work on breathing up. Half a dozen breaths later and I’m ready, the kelp sways back, and down I go. Reaching the bottom I swing my light over to see a little one crawl a couple feet off to my left. Swinging the light further up I see a real nice bug clinging vertically to the rock wall. Quick as can be I swoop in for the grab. Got her! Holding her in my hands I thought, “That’s a pretty thick tail on this one.” Unfortunately after measuring her up I had to stamp it with the phrase, “practically legal”. The fact that her shell had just molted made it really hard to gauge if she was 100% legal. The end of its carapace was all flimsily and the water chop wasn’t helping the measuring process much. So instead of taking the risk I just chucked her back, knowing there’d always be more bugs where that came from.
Soon I’m passing over a field of eel grass. Sometimes I find bugs pretending to hide underneath the grass, just clinging there with out any plans of moving. So as I passed overhead, I kept my eyes peeled for that one bug hiding under the swaying weeds. I scanned a bunch of barren grassy reef before deciding to switch strategies and swim out to the deeper reefs. I thought instead of scanning from the surface I’d try diving to the bottom and work my way around. Who knows, maybe there’d be a bug clinging to the wall or scurrying around somewhere. A couple dives down and that strategy was the winning ticket! I grabbed my first legal of the night. It was just walking along the bottom of a ravine. Scooped him up as soon as I saw him and shoved him in my bag.
I yelled over to Alex, “Hey Alex I grabbed one! Check it out!” But with no response. It looked like he was out of earshot. I just shrugged my shoulders. It’s not like I found a big bug so I’ll just keep diving. Another ten minutes of diving and I didn’t see much. Then Alex swings by and I let him know I found one. He’s still at zero count on his bug total. With such low numbers between the two of us we’re quick to end our chat and get back to the hunt.
I decide it’s about time I swam over to the end of the reef to see what’s over there. Just as I reach the edge of the reef I spot a clearly legal lobster sitting in a small plate sized indentation near the top. Looks like there’s a hole just behind him, which warned me he could scoot back to safety anytime he wanted to. So diving down into position, floating right above the bug, I watch his dangling antennae and think, “Wait for it… wait for it..... now!” Hands go out and I’ve pinned the bug to the ground. Pulled him up, measured his back, and shoved him in my bag. That’s 2 down!
Awesome maybe I should go tell Alex where I got this one. There might be more in the area that he could nab. I start to swim over, but his light is pretty far away and halfway through my journey I realize that it’s going to be pretty dang hard finding that same spot again with Alex being as far away as he is. With a fleeting glance I look up at Alex one last time and then decide to head off in a different direction so I don’t scare any of the bugs in his area.
