La Jolla Shores Sargo

A La Jolla Shores Sargo, taken while snorkeling near the Marine Room with a Panasonic DMC-TS6A LUMIX Camera.

La Jolla Shores Kelp Bass

A La Jolla Shores, CA Kelp Bass hides in the sea grass, taken while snorkeling on October 23, 2015 with an Olympus TG-4 Waterproof Digital Camera.

La Jolla Shores, CA lobster

A La Jolla Shores, CA spiny lobster taken while snorkeling on October 23, 2015 with an Olympus TG-4 Waterproof Digital Camera.

La Jolla Shores Senorita

A La Jolla Shores Senorita taken while snorkeling on October 23, 2015 with an Olympus TG-4 Waterproof Digital Camera.

La Jolla Shores Kelp Bass

A school of La Jolla Shores kelp bass taken while snorkeling on October 23, 2015 with an Olympus TG-4 Waterproof Digital Camera.  You can't fish in La Jolla Shores, but these fish are popular targets, 12" is the legal limit.

La Jolla Shores Kelp Bass

A La Jolla Shores kelp bass with some sort of parasite taken while snorkeling by the Marine Room on October 23, 2015 with an Olympus TG-4 Waterproof Digital Camera.

La Jolla Shores lobster

I couldn't resist another La Jolla Shores / Marine room spiny lobster shot, this is a different lobster than the last, taken while snorkeling on October 8, 2015 with a Olympus TG-4 16 MP Waterproof Digital Camera.

La Jolla Shores Lobster

A spiny lobster seen while snorkeling at La Jolla Shores, ~10 feet underwater on October 8, 2015 taken with Olympus TG-4 16 MP Waterproof Digital Camera.  I used macro mode at full zoom.  You can see why I think the Olympus takes better underwater pictures than the Lumix.

La Jolla Shores Kelp Bass

A kelp bass at La Jolla Shores, California, taken while snorkeling on October 7, 2015 with a Olympus TG-4 16 MP Waterproof Digital Camera.  I think the Olympus takes better underwater pictures than the Lumix, but the buttons stopped working for me a week after I bought it.

La Jolla Shores, Kelp Bass

A trio of kelp bass seen while snorkeling at La Jolla Shores, CA on September 25, 2015, taken with an older version of a Panasonic DMC-TS6A LUMIX Camera.  Kelp bass are probably the most abundant medium size fish at La Jolla Shores

Garibaldi, La Jolla Shores, California

A juvenile Garibaldi in cloudy water, taken while snorkeling at La Jolla Shores on September 24, 2015 with an older version of  a Panasonic DMC-TS6A LUMIX Camera.

La Jolla Shores Garibaldi

A couple juvenile Garibaldi seen while snorkeling at La Jolla Shores / Marine Room on September 13, 2014.  On essentially all of these underwater pictures you need to dive down to get closer then take the picture with no zoom in diving mode (not snorkeling mode).  Zoom doesn't work underwater generally due to sand or other particles floating around.  Taken with an earlier version of the Panasonic DMC-TS6A LUMIX Camera.

La Jolla Shores Lobster

Three spiny lobsters hanging out at La Jolla Shores / Marine Room on August 8, 2014.  The yellow sponge? is interesting too.  The Marine Room area is southwest of the Marine Room restaurant.  Taken while snorkeling with an earlier version of the Panasonic DMC-TS6A LUMIX Camera.

La Jolla Shores Lobster

A lobster seen while snorkeling at La Jolla shores / marine room on a low visibility day.


Taken on September 10, 2015 with an older version of the Panasonic DMC-TS6A LUMIX Camera.

Kelp Bass - La Jolla Shores

I saw these Kelp Bass today in La Jolla Shores San Diego while snorkeling near the Marine Room.  These white belly and mottled black and brown top bass are common in Southern California and I've seen them in sea grass and kelp.  They will sometimes congregate around floating pieces of kelp.  They seem to mostly eat small crustaceans off of the kelp.  They will sit pretty still and let you get close enough for a good picture if you swim slowly.

I took these pictures with the Panasonic Lumix TS4 12.1 TOUGH Waterproof Digital Camera  which I feel is currently the best waterproof point and shoot camera you can now buy.  Panasonic also makes a cheaper camera (model TS20) that it is hard to tell based on the specifications that it is significantly different, but the underwater picture quality is much worse.

Red Sea Urchin - Laguna Beach

This is a red sea urchin crammed into the rocks at Diver's Cove in Laguna Beach California.  Apparently they can live 50+ years.  Red sea urchins are common and if you are scuba diving or snorkeling you are likely to see one every time you go out.

Sea Hares - Laguna Beach

I saw these two sea hares while snorkeling off Laguna Beach, Diver's Cove this weekend.  They live about a year and eat algae.  If you are looking you can see a sea hare about every time you go snorkeling in the Laguna Beach area.

Amazon offers a Sea Hare Peel and Stick Wall Decal for those really love sea hares.  Oddly the item has no reviews yet.

Laguna Beach Stonefish

I think this is a stonefish, which I saw while snorkeling outside of Crescent Beach near Seal Rock.  They can quickly change colors depending on what they are sitting on.  Apparently they are the most venomous fish in the world, however they are not usually deadly, I think I'll stay far away from them from now on.  Fortunately they don't seem to be a problem unless you step on them.

Laguna Beach Octopus

After never seeing an octopus while snorkeling at Laguna Beach, I saw two in one day.  One at Fisherman's Cove and one at Shaw's Cove.  The picture is not very good, but taking pictures of these is challenging.  I can not tell what kind of octopus it is.

I think a lot of people are afraid of going out in the CA ocean because it is "cold".  A lot of this is in your head, people swim in the ocean here all year wearing only a bathing suit.  I have been snorkeling all winter and spring using the O'Neill Wetsuit Reactor 3/2mm Full Suit, it is among the cheapest ones you can buy and it is working just fine for me.  I get at least 40 minutes in the water before I get cold.  The water temperature has been between 55 and 62 this winter and spring.  You will probably need a thicker suit for scuba diving in the winter.

Laguna Beach Pacific Harbor Seal

You can almost always Pacific Harbor Seals while roaming around the ocean in Laguna Beach, I do not see them often while snorkeling though.  However, if you really wanted to, you could probably just drive from beach to beach and then go snorkeling or diving near where you saw a seal on land.  I would suggest starting north Laguna Beach near Crystal Cove.