Babakina festiva

Image courtesy of Linda Branchard
Anacapa Island, California

Walter and I were diving at the East end of Anacapa in August looking for the sarcastic fringeheads and pike blennies we used to find at this site. The sand habitat was covered with parchment worms and brittle stars and we were covering lots of distance not finding the fish we were looking for. As we turned to go into shallower water I saw this little bit of pink movement. I stopped to take a close look and was excited to find a nudibranch I had never seen. I was glad I had not changed my macro camera set up after seeing the large black sea bass on the first dive. After taking a few pictures I backed off to let Walter take some video (must have the lastest version of Quicktime installed to view this podcast!), and then he would back off and let me take some more pictures. We did this a few times until we were running out of bottom time. The dive ended with two harbor seals playing around us for 10 minutes, but then I had my macro set up and did not get pictures of them. But I had Baba's picture!

WEBMASTER'S NOTES : It doesn't get much better to have an experienced U/W photography couple like Walter and Linda to come upon a seldom seen nudibranch in California waters! Their images both still and video would certainly make Dr. Baba happy if he were alive today! Walter also has the honor of being a dual presenter at the upcoming San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition . Video productions by Walter will be presented both Friday and Saturday nights Sept. 11th and 12. Be there or be square! The reader is invivted to view additional videos at Walter's site .

Walter Marti and Linda Blanchard

Linda started taking underwater pictures in 1978 with a housed SLR camera and has been taking pictures ever since. Still an active southern California diver Linda dives the SoCal coast as well as the Channel Islands and the Monterey area. Warm water travel to Florida and the Caribbean has given way to trips to the Sea of Cortez and the Indo Pacific. Macro photography has always been her first choice since she like invertebrate animals. Nudibranchs, often being so colorful, have always been her favorite subjects.

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