On Saturday Sam and I made the last trip of the “season” to Shaw’s Cove for snorkeling. We arrived around 11:30 and got to work. The water was the clearest we’ve ever seen it there, and possibly ever seen it in California. The warmth of the water in California follows a late summer early fall curve, peaking around early September. The water felt fine inside of a wetsuit, but we saw many others at the beach enjoying the water wearing barely anything at all.

Because of the calmness of the water and the clarity we were able to explore much farther and see many more things that had been unnoticed previously. First we set out for the north reefs and saw a young leopard shark right away. I also saw a scorpionfish and many different types of sea anemone. Directly in front of the beach we also became experts at spotting various types of rays that hid in the sand. Once you learn how to spot one you realize they’re actually all over the place; many perilously close to where humans wade into the water.

Later in the afternoon we headed to the south reef, which is much flatter and features an abundance of purple urchins and teal anemones, but very little kelp.

To finish the day we headed out further along the north reef than ever, to the kelp forest that lines the side of the reef, extending all the way down to the sand at least fifty feet below. It was here that I saw another new fish, a long skinny yellow fish perfectly adapted to the yellow kelp strands which I later learned was appropriately named the giant kelp fish.

We ate at the (apparently) famous Brodard restaurant in Garden Grove before heading home.