Star-Gazing

Sea-Witch

Aquaman

Aquaman, Aquamatt:
2015 version.

Sea-Level

JP in the water and adjusting gear -- with Pacific Grove in the background.

My kayak is still "anchored" to some kelp, but the kelp's holdfast isn't actually anchored to the bottom, so this shot is taken just as I am realizing that Sofia, my kayak, is drifting away with the slight breeze.  Fortunately, I was paying attention and was able to catch her before she had traveled too far away.  That could have been embarrassing.

Also, I'm thinking that the position of the line in relation to the position of the kayak should have told me immediately that something just wasn't right. When such a boat is secured, the line would be holding the bow into the wind, and the line and the boat would be aligned in one direction. Here, the boat has drifted broadside to the breeze, and it is towing the light line and loose kelp as it drifts away.

Free Diving: Coral Cove

On a low viz day, unfortunately.  Still counts!

I Like Geese

Old shot: March 2011.

You can see my kayak, Sofia, in the distance.

Playing Pirate

Or, Winter White, Monterey-Style.

After kayaking on a bright January day.
Pacific Grove, CA.

(Self-Portrait #51+)

Monterey Music

LP PG CA

Translation: Heart-home.

The Tide Is Low: Mask and Kelp

Triton Beached (detail).


Perhaps an ancient Greek poet can help us here:

Desire the limb-loosener,
O my companion,
Has beat me down.


--Archilochos

(Translated by Guy Davenport in 7 Greeks.)

Or, perhaps, we should recall a poem by W.B. Yeats I've posted once before here.
His poem begins . . .

I am worn out with dreams;
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams . . . .

Water-Watching

I'm repeating this last shot from an earlier entry, but I wanted to show the sequence as the wave moves through the diver's position and to the rocks.

The bands of dark blue and blue-green, corresponding to relative depths--deeper vs. shallower--help us to see the energy moving through the scene.

First Free Dive of 2012

Or, So This Is What I Look Like?

My mask straps need adjusting, and I think I'm about to dive. Hence, the sort of hovering there.

Or, maybe I haven't yet adjusted to the cold water on my face.

Beautiful day: Sunday, January 8, 2012.

First dive of the year; first dive in ages and ages.

And here's a photo from just after the dive.

Note the slightly goofy, mask-marked, cold-salty-water-swollen look.

(I still remember noticing on television how Jacques Cousteau, his right-hand man Falco, and Cousteau's eldest son would all look so much older after cold water diving. Or, the cold water reveals real age?)

Spear and Wave

Free diver spearfishing west of Lover's Point, Pacific Grove. There were two divers working the area, but I didn't notice the second one until the two were climbing up the stairs from the beach.

I'd been rather distracted after taking this shot by gearing up myself.

I hadn't planned on diving, not definitely, but sunny skies, little wind, and such blue water had me pulling on the wetsuit and fishing out my fins as fast as I was able.

Also, if someone else is already out, then it's do-able, you know. It's more than do-able, it's now must-do-able.

(I may be fifty, but part of me's still fifteen or whatever. That adolescent competitive spark still burns. I have better impulse control now, but like to give in once in a while. Got to keep that heart pumping. And, truthfully, my first free dive of 2012 was quick and cautious. Due to the limited visibility underwater, I put off my photographic plan and practiced riding the surge between rocks as well as entries and exits. I haven't been working out and wanted to take it easy, but I had to get wet. Always counts.)

PG Surf's Up

Saturday afternoon, April 2, 2011.

Low tide at Lover's Point.

Monterey Bay: Respite from the Rain

Shooting The Rocks

Watch as the wave hits the rocks. Click. Then, turn a little to the left, looking from just shy of Lover's Point down toward Otter Cove. Look at the rocks; note the shapes and the way they work together to hold this edge of the world. Click; click. Finally, step back to get the red blooming plant into the shot too. Click. (That's the photo my father would have taken, for sure.)

January 15, 2011.

After a dive in great conditions at Point Lobos (35 feet viz; 50 degree water temps; sunny topside) and the hit-the-spot grilled chicken sandwich and fries at Phat Burger in Seaside, I stopped in Pacific Grove to admire the rocks and to watch the water move.

Somewhere in there, I stopped for coffee at the East Village coffeehouse and relaxed in an easy chair for a quarter-hour or so, annotating a chapter in Tori Murden McClure's A Pearl in the Storm for one of my English classes. I left the camera in the truck, but I was tempted to get it out and record the comfort. Instead, I drank my coffee, read, and remarked in pencil upon the mid-ocean capsizings and batterings faced by Tori and her craft, The American Pearl, enjoying my comfort that much more, hankering slightly for a rough session too. Next time--but not too rough. Just a bit more adrenaline and exercise.

I recommend all of the above, even the annotating.