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Cordell Bank NMS
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Cordell Bank NMS

by Clinton Bauder

Gallery: WildlifePosted October 23, 201310,334 views2 comments
I was lucky enough to dive the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary last week with my group Bay Area Underwater Explorers. The bank is rarely visited due to being well offshore, in cold water and well deeper than typical recreational diving. It is, however, one of the most pristine and prettiest places on earth. We were fortunate to have excellent conditions. This picture was taken at the Northern West Ridge. We were diving a pinnacle which came up to about 120 feet on top with steep walls on all sides to well over 200 feet. There was also a ridge to the East which we didn't visit. As you can see there wasn't much cause to move around much. When we descended on this scene we were "there" and didn't feel motivated to go anywhere else!

The fish are mostly Widow Rockfish Sebastes entomelas. The small pink anemones are Corynactis californica. I'm honestly not sure about most of the rest. There are a variety of sponges, tunicates and hydroids.

A full gallery from our expedition can be seen here: http://www.baue.org/images/galleries/v/events/Cordell_2013/

Nikon D800, Sigma 15mm Fisheye, Subal ND800 Housing, Zen DP-230 Dome
ISO 400, f/8. 1/30th, 2x Sea and Sea YS-350 strobes at half power.

Clinton

Comments

2 comments
Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on October 24, 2013 at 6:02 PM
Clint--I like this image with all of the rockfish swirling about. Most people do not know that temperate inshore areas can be just as colorful as a tropical coral reef. Glad you posted this one :toast: .............................................Jim
Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments
Comment posted by Lon Sharp on October 26, 2013 at 10:01 PM
Interesting and beautiful, a good combination! Aesthetically, I think it might provide more sense of depth and subject focus if you were to trim some of the foreground and right side, to make the receding masses of fishes against the dark blue the main focal point, with the colorful reef becoming the framing . Still, fine as posted.
Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments