I usually don't come here this time of year, but the visibility has been decent in the Inlet lately. I swam out to the right along the shore towards the marina. There are a lot more fish here than there used to be. There were large schools of young black and yellowtail rockfish (with a few adults mixed in). Adult brown rockfish were everywhere. I saw a plainfin midshipman swimming around. Under the dock, there was another large school of juvenile black and yellow-tail rockfish as well as the usual perch. Visibility here was around 15-20 feet and there was lots of that stringy, white plankton stuff. I swam out over the sand towards the wreck. I turned around and saw a group of around 10 sole following me in a line. I guess they were waiting for me to kick up the sand and scare up their lunch. When I reached the wreck, visibility had improved a bit to around 20-25 feet. The large school of perch that used to hang out here seems to have thinned out a bit. Instead, there were rockfish everywhere. There were groups of black and yellow-tail rockfish hovering above the wreck and lots of brown rockfish hugging the bottom. These were all large adults. Of course there were the usual copper rockfish and medium-sized lingcod as well. I saw around 5 painted greenlings and a few "mystery" rockfish with long lower jaws that I think were silver-gray rockfish. The only other place I've ever seen them was Ogden Point. Of course I took my usual self-portrait photos. When I was taking one of myself by the metal storage tank, a large (5-6 foot) dogfish shark swam over me, past my camera and away over the rocky reef. Of course the camera was 10 feet away from my trigger finger. On the swim back, I saw a few tiny sea pens and another, smaller dogfish shark on the sand. Of course it darted away before I could get close enough for a picture. I wish the sharks here were more like they are in the movies; blood-thirsty and vicious enough not to care that I have a @#&* camera.
ROCKFISH AND PERCH UNDER DOCK
SUNFLOWER STAR AND FISH UNDER DOCK
ME UNDER DOCK
SUNFLOWER STARS ON ROCK
TRAIN WHEEL ON SAND
SHALLOW WALL
BOLLARD ON WRECK
OVER METAL TANK
BLACK ROCKFISH AND STEEL CABLE
ME AND FISH IN WRECKAGE
PAINTED GREENLING ON METAL TANK
BROWN AND BLACK ROCKFISH
WRECKAGE AT STERN
WRECKAGE AT STERN
PLUMOSE ANEMONES ON WRECKAGE
PAINTED GREENLING ON WRECKAGE
JELLYFISH OVER WRECK
PIPES AND VALVES
BROWN ROCKFISH ON BOW OF WRECK
WRECKAGE AT STERN
WRECKAGE ON STERN
CLEAT AND BOLLARD ON BOW
BROWN ROCKFISH ON BOW
PREGNANT BROWN ROCKFISH
ROCKFISH BY METAL TANK
THE USUAL SELF-PORTRAIT WITH BUFFALO SCULPIN
MYSTERY ROCKFISH
PLAINFIN MIDSHIPMAN
PLAINFIN MIDSHIPMAN NEAR ROCKY SLOPE
SEASTAR AND TUNICATES ON ROCKS
ROCKFISH IN SHALLOWS
SEASTAR ON ROCKS
CROPPED CLOSE-UP OF MYSTERY ROCKFISH
ROCKFISH, WRECKAGE AND PLANKTON