Surf's been up for a couple of days and week-end dives had been canceled. When it started to recede, I decided to go try my luck at Mountain Street, hunting for leopard sharks!

The surf was down from last week, but there was still a couple of nasty sets. I struggled to tie my fins, the visibility was abysmal in the surf zone. After two tries, I finally managed to get them on and headed towards the outer reef. My objective was to locate the leopard shark colony that I encountered on a previous dive there.

After a long surface swim past the breakers, I decided to drop down, even though I knew I was still probably a few hundred yards from my target.

The viz was slightly better than in the surf zone, but still terrible. I got to the first thick kelp forest and it improved a little. Probably around 15ft but very hazy.

My first encounter was with a sheep-head that I think was protecting its eggs. Or maybe it was hungry. Ask doctor Bill...

Then my attention was grabbed by a couple of bass circling an octopus. I stood there watching, wondering what was going on. After a while, the fishes seemed to loose interest, so I stepped in and shot a couple of pictures and a short and shaky video. The surge was strong and I did not take my tripod...

I found another octopus a few feet further, this one was resting on a giant kelp steadfast, hiding under its leaves. It was fun to try to get the shot!

I pushed towards the outer reef and ended up in shallower waters as an outcrop raises to the surface there. The visibility improved slightly as the sun started shining. Earlier, I had wondered where all the lobsters were as I recall seeing a whole bunch on my previous dives there. Well, here they were... In numbers, and in the open! No fear, we're protected!

As I was exploring the rock, I suddenly found myself nose to snout with a 5 foot leopard shark! Mission accomplished!

I tried to get the shot, but couldn't find it again. After exploring the surrounding reef failing to find the rest of the clan I decided to head back to shore. En route, I stopped for a couple of sunburst in the inner reef but viz was so bad that not much sun rays were penetrating the water. I did not see any rays this time.

Getting out of the surf zone was OK, the surf was still in the 4ft area, nothing unmanageable.

Water has been warming up, I did not feel cold at all and I dove with only one 7mm layer...

Picture wise, Tv 1/100s forced flash auto macro for the octos and friends gave me a few blurs especially when shooting a small Spanish Shawl in the surge, manual white balance in the sand for the video worked OK. I still hate that my G12 can't auto-focus while shooting video...