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She swam straight up, looked me dead in the eye, and decided I was worth investigating. This is Waffles — a harbor seal in Laguna Beach who has basically adopted the local dive community as her own personal entertainment.

Young seals have no concept of personal space and zero interest in being told otherwise.

Places like this don’t protect themselves. @lagunabluebelt is pushing to extend Laguna’s Marine Protected Area right now — link in bio if you want to help keep spots like this alive.

As always: seals are wild animals. Never chase or approach them — always let them come to you. Waffles clearly skipped that chapter. 😂

Shot on @osmo_global action 6

#harborseal #kelpforest #freediving #socaldiving #California

California looks so different from down here. Not many people get to experience this side of Cali but I’m here to share it :) just me, my @canonusa canon r7 and @lumixusa DMC LX10, and the most curious locals you’ll ever meet

Locations: San Diego, Catalina, Channel Islands

#underwaterphotgraphy #kelpforest #lajolla #cuteanimals #seals

California looks so different from down here. Not many people get to experience this side of Cali but I’m here to share it :) just me, my @canonusa canon r7 and @lumixusa DMC LX10, and the most curious locals you’ll ever meet

Locations: San Diego, Catalina, Channel Islands

#underwaterphotgraphy #kelpforest #lajolla #cuteanimals #seals

California looks so different from down here. Not many people get to experience this side of Cali but I’m here to share it :) just me, my @canonusa canon r7 and @lumixusa DMC LX10, and the most curious locals you’ll ever meet

Locations: San Diego, Catalina, Channel Islands

#underwaterphotgraphy #kelpforest #lajolla #cuteanimals #seals

California looks so different from down here. Not many people get to experience this side of Cali but I’m here to share it :) just me, my @canonusa canon r7 and @lumixusa DMC LX10, and the most curious locals you’ll ever meet

Locations: San Diego, Catalina, Channel Islands

#underwaterphotgraphy #kelpforest #lajolla #cuteanimals #seals

California looks so different from down here. Not many people get to experience this side of Cali but I’m here to share it :) just me, my @canonusa canon r7 and @lumixusa DMC LX10, and the most curious locals you’ll ever meet

Locations: San Diego, Catalina, Channel Islands

#underwaterphotgraphy #kelpforest #lajolla #cuteanimals #seals

California looks so different from down here. Not many people get to experience this side of Cali but I’m here to share it :) just me, my @canonusa canon r7 and @lumixusa DMC LX10, and the most curious locals you’ll ever meet

Locations: San Diego, Catalina, Channel Islands

#underwaterphotgraphy #kelpforest #lajolla #cuteanimals #seals

California looks so different from down here. Not many people get to experience this side of Cali but I’m here to share it :) just me, my @canonusa canon r7 and @lumixusa DMC LX10, and the most curious locals you’ll ever meet

Locations: San Diego, Catalina, Channel Islands

#underwaterphotgraphy #kelpforest #lajolla #cuteanimals #seals

California looks so different from down here. Not many people get to experience this side of Cali but I’m here to share it :) just me, my @canonusa canon r7 and @lumixusa DMC LX10, and the most curious locals you’ll ever meet

Locations: San Diego, Catalina, Channel Islands

#underwaterphotgraphy #kelpforest #lajolla #cuteanimals #seals

This is a tuberculate octopus / football octopus living inside a salp. Two animals. One body.

I found this guy off Anacapa Island in the Channel Islands and honestly I’m still processing it. At first glance it looks like a squid — but it’s actually an octopus hijacking a hollow, jelly-like salp as a drifting mobile home.

Scientists still can’t fully explain why they do this. Protection? Camouflage? Free transportation? No one’s sure. The behavior has barely been documented because sightings are so rare.

This species is the only one in its entire family. It lives in open ocean — not on reefs where divers usually look — so most people will never see one. In 16 years of Mediterranean research, scientists only documented two.

I still can’t believe I found one in California.

Sources: Mediterranean Marine Science review (1994–2010), Scientific American

#rareencounter #marinelife #octopus #californiadiving #freediving

This is a tuberculate octopus / football octopus living inside a salp. Two animals. One body.

I found this guy off Anacapa Island in the Channel Islands and honestly I’m still processing it. At first glance it looks like a squid — but it’s actually an octopus hijacking a hollow, jelly-like salp as a drifting mobile home.

Scientists still can’t fully explain why they do this. Protection? Camouflage? Free transportation? No one’s sure. The behavior has barely been documented because sightings are so rare.

This species is the only one in its entire family. It lives in open ocean — not on reefs where divers usually look — so most people will never see one. In 16 years of Mediterranean research, scientists only documented two.

I still can’t believe I found one in California.

Sources: Mediterranean Marine Science review (1994–2010), Scientific American

#rareencounter #marinelife #octopus #californiadiving #freediving

This is a tuberculate octopus / football octopus living inside a salp. Two animals. One body.

I found this guy off Anacapa Island in the Channel Islands and honestly I’m still processing it. At first glance it looks like a squid — but it’s actually an octopus hijacking a hollow, jelly-like salp as a drifting mobile home.

Scientists still can’t fully explain why they do this. Protection? Camouflage? Free transportation? No one’s sure. The behavior has barely been documented because sightings are so rare.

This species is the only one in its entire family. It lives in open ocean — not on reefs where divers usually look — so most people will never see one. In 16 years of Mediterranean research, scientists only documented two.

I still can’t believe I found one in California.

Sources: Mediterranean Marine Science review (1994–2010), Scientific American

#rareencounter #marinelife #octopus #californiadiving #freediving

This is a tuberculate octopus / football octopus living inside a salp. Two animals. One body.

I found this guy off Anacapa Island in the Channel Islands and honestly I’m still processing it. At first glance it looks like a squid — but it’s actually an octopus hijacking a hollow, jelly-like salp as a drifting mobile home.

Scientists still can’t fully explain why they do this. Protection? Camouflage? Free transportation? No one’s sure. The behavior has barely been documented because sightings are so rare.

This species is the only one in its entire family. It lives in open ocean — not on reefs where divers usually look — so most people will never see one. In 16 years of Mediterranean research, scientists only documented two.

I still can’t believe I found one in California.

Sources: Mediterranean Marine Science review (1994–2010), Scientific American

#rareencounter #marinelife #octopus #californiadiving #freediving

NASA calls the Channel Islands the Galapagos of North America. Fifteen miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, and most people drive right past Ventura County without knowing any of this is here.

We dropped in and found a little octopus tucked into a crack in the rock, shifting colors the second he saw us. My friend Chili tried to steal his shell. Full tug of war She lost.

Then the seals showed up. Horn shark in the kelp. Sea hares on the bottom. The kelp forest was lit up all the wav to the surface. There are plants and animals on this island that exist nowhere else on the planet. And the hiking above the water is just as wild.

This is freediving in California. Save this if
you ever want to dive out here.

Dive buddy @chilis.creations // @chilisloop

#channelislands #galapagos #californiadiving #kelpforest #freediving

How many people will never get to see something like this?

Still here. Still breathtaking. Still worth protecting.

Share this w ya an ocean lover!

#oceanconservation #savetheocean #marinelife #underwatervideo #blueplanet

First time ever seeing a sevengill shark. Dove 82 feet in pitch black off San Diego in 50 degree water and this thing just appeared out of nowhere. Been diving for a while now and nothing has come close to this moment.

Also if anyone can ID that red crab let me know. Never seen one before.

#sevengillshark #nightdive #sandiego #underwaterphotography #sharkencounter

Look at my eyes 👀🦭

Probably the cutest seal photo I’ve ever gotten. I mean cmon. Looks like my dog asking for my leftovers 😂 these were shot all in Channel Islands (seals) and Monterey (Melibe and Green Sea Anemone)

#seals #underwaterphotography #californiadiving #freediving #marinelife

Look at my eyes 👀🦭

Probably the cutest seal photo I’ve ever gotten. I mean cmon. Looks like my dog asking for my leftovers 😂 these were shot all in Channel Islands (seals) and Monterey (Melibe and Green Sea Anemone)

#seals #underwaterphotography #californiadiving #freediving #marinelife

Look at my eyes 👀🦭

Probably the cutest seal photo I’ve ever gotten. I mean cmon. Looks like my dog asking for my leftovers 😂 these were shot all in Channel Islands (seals) and Monterey (Melibe and Green Sea Anemone)

#seals #underwaterphotography #californiadiving #freediving #marinelife

Look at my eyes 👀🦭

Probably the cutest seal photo I’ve ever gotten. I mean cmon. Looks like my dog asking for my leftovers 😂 these were shot all in Channel Islands (seals) and Monterey (Melibe and Green Sea Anemone)

#seals #underwaterphotography #californiadiving #freediving #marinelife

Look at my eyes 👀🦭

Probably the cutest seal photo I’ve ever gotten. I mean cmon. Looks like my dog asking for my leftovers 😂 these were shot all in Channel Islands (seals) and Monterey (Melibe and Green Sea Anemone)

#seals #underwaterphotography #californiadiving #freediving #marinelife

Look at my eyes 👀🦭

Probably the cutest seal photo I’ve ever gotten. I mean cmon. Looks like my dog asking for my leftovers 😂 these were shot all in Channel Islands (seals) and Monterey (Melibe and Green Sea Anemone)

#seals #underwaterphotography #californiadiving #freediving #marinelife

Look at my eyes 👀🦭

Probably the cutest seal photo I’ve ever gotten. I mean cmon. Looks like my dog asking for my leftovers 😂 these were shot all in Channel Islands (seals) and Monterey (Melibe and Green Sea Anemone)

#seals #underwaterphotography #californiadiving #freediving #marinelife

California has 124 marine protected areas along the coast, fully implemented since 2012. Long-term monitoring across 59 of them has shown significant increases in fish biomass, species richness, and biodiversity compared to unprotected areas. Researchers at UCSB confirmed it statewide.

The part most people don’t know: the benefits don’t stop at the boundary. Genetic studies out of Monterey proved that fish born inside MPAs recruit to fished waters outside them. The protected zones literally restock the surrounding ocean. Larger, older females inside MPAs produce exponentially more viable eggs over longer spawning seasons — and that output spills over.

MPAs also act as climate buffers, sheltering reproductive adults during warming and deoxygenation events. The longer they’re in place, the stronger the results. Older MPAs with strict no-take rules and diverse habitats show the biggest gains.

This isn’t about closing the ocean. It’s about letting parts of it recover so the whole thing works better. For fish, for divers, for the coast.

If you dive California, you’re already seeing it.

#californiadiving #marinelife #californiacoast #marinewildlife #marineprotectedareas

California has 124 marine protected areas along the coast, fully implemented since 2012. Long-term monitoring across 59 of them has shown significant increases in fish biomass, species richness, and biodiversity compared to unprotected areas. Researchers at UCSB confirmed it statewide.

The part most people don’t know: the benefits don’t stop at the boundary. Genetic studies out of Monterey proved that fish born inside MPAs recruit to fished waters outside them. The protected zones literally restock the surrounding ocean. Larger, older females inside MPAs produce exponentially more viable eggs over longer spawning seasons — and that output spills over.

MPAs also act as climate buffers, sheltering reproductive adults during warming and deoxygenation events. The longer they’re in place, the stronger the results. Older MPAs with strict no-take rules and diverse habitats show the biggest gains.

This isn’t about closing the ocean. It’s about letting parts of it recover so the whole thing works better. For fish, for divers, for the coast.

If you dive California, you’re already seeing it.

#californiadiving #marinelife #californiacoast #marinewildlife #marineprotectedareas

California has 124 marine protected areas along the coast, fully implemented since 2012. Long-term monitoring across 59 of them has shown significant increases in fish biomass, species richness, and biodiversity compared to unprotected areas. Researchers at UCSB confirmed it statewide.

The part most people don’t know: the benefits don’t stop at the boundary. Genetic studies out of Monterey proved that fish born inside MPAs recruit to fished waters outside them. The protected zones literally restock the surrounding ocean. Larger, older females inside MPAs produce exponentially more viable eggs over longer spawning seasons — and that output spills over.

MPAs also act as climate buffers, sheltering reproductive adults during warming and deoxygenation events. The longer they’re in place, the stronger the results. Older MPAs with strict no-take rules and diverse habitats show the biggest gains.

This isn’t about closing the ocean. It’s about letting parts of it recover so the whole thing works better. For fish, for divers, for the coast.

If you dive California, you’re already seeing it.

#californiadiving #marinelife #californiacoast #marinewildlife #marineprotectedareas

California has 124 marine protected areas along the coast, fully implemented since 2012. Long-term monitoring across 59 of them has shown significant increases in fish biomass, species richness, and biodiversity compared to unprotected areas. Researchers at UCSB confirmed it statewide.

The part most people don’t know: the benefits don’t stop at the boundary. Genetic studies out of Monterey proved that fish born inside MPAs recruit to fished waters outside them. The protected zones literally restock the surrounding ocean. Larger, older females inside MPAs produce exponentially more viable eggs over longer spawning seasons — and that output spills over.

MPAs also act as climate buffers, sheltering reproductive adults during warming and deoxygenation events. The longer they’re in place, the stronger the results. Older MPAs with strict no-take rules and diverse habitats show the biggest gains.

This isn’t about closing the ocean. It’s about letting parts of it recover so the whole thing works better. For fish, for divers, for the coast.

If you dive California, you’re already seeing it.

#californiadiving #marinelife #californiacoast #marinewildlife #marineprotectedareas

California has 124 marine protected areas along the coast, fully implemented since 2012. Long-term monitoring across 59 of them has shown significant increases in fish biomass, species richness, and biodiversity compared to unprotected areas. Researchers at UCSB confirmed it statewide.

The part most people don’t know: the benefits don’t stop at the boundary. Genetic studies out of Monterey proved that fish born inside MPAs recruit to fished waters outside them. The protected zones literally restock the surrounding ocean. Larger, older females inside MPAs produce exponentially more viable eggs over longer spawning seasons — and that output spills over.

MPAs also act as climate buffers, sheltering reproductive adults during warming and deoxygenation events. The longer they’re in place, the stronger the results. Older MPAs with strict no-take rules and diverse habitats show the biggest gains.

This isn’t about closing the ocean. It’s about letting parts of it recover so the whole thing works better. For fish, for divers, for the coast.

If you dive California, you’re already seeing it.

#californiadiving #marinelife #californiacoast #marinewildlife #marineprotectedareas

California has 124 marine protected areas along the coast, fully implemented since 2012. Long-term monitoring across 59 of them has shown significant increases in fish biomass, species richness, and biodiversity compared to unprotected areas. Researchers at UCSB confirmed it statewide.

The part most people don’t know: the benefits don’t stop at the boundary. Genetic studies out of Monterey proved that fish born inside MPAs recruit to fished waters outside them. The protected zones literally restock the surrounding ocean. Larger, older females inside MPAs produce exponentially more viable eggs over longer spawning seasons — and that output spills over.

MPAs also act as climate buffers, sheltering reproductive adults during warming and deoxygenation events. The longer they’re in place, the stronger the results. Older MPAs with strict no-take rules and diverse habitats show the biggest gains.

This isn’t about closing the ocean. It’s about letting parts of it recover so the whole thing works better. For fish, for divers, for the coast.

If you dive California, you’re already seeing it.

#californiadiving #marinelife #californiacoast #marinewildlife #marineprotectedareas

California has 124 marine protected areas along the coast, fully implemented since 2012. Long-term monitoring across 59 of them has shown significant increases in fish biomass, species richness, and biodiversity compared to unprotected areas. Researchers at UCSB confirmed it statewide.

The part most people don’t know: the benefits don’t stop at the boundary. Genetic studies out of Monterey proved that fish born inside MPAs recruit to fished waters outside them. The protected zones literally restock the surrounding ocean. Larger, older females inside MPAs produce exponentially more viable eggs over longer spawning seasons — and that output spills over.

MPAs also act as climate buffers, sheltering reproductive adults during warming and deoxygenation events. The longer they’re in place, the stronger the results. Older MPAs with strict no-take rules and diverse habitats show the biggest gains.

This isn’t about closing the ocean. It’s about letting parts of it recover so the whole thing works better. For fish, for divers, for the coast.

If you dive California, you’re already seeing it.

#californiadiving #marinelife #californiacoast #marinewildlife #marineprotectedareas

California has 124 marine protected areas along the coast, fully implemented since 2012. Long-term monitoring across 59 of them has shown significant increases in fish biomass, species richness, and biodiversity compared to unprotected areas. Researchers at UCSB confirmed it statewide.

The part most people don’t know: the benefits don’t stop at the boundary. Genetic studies out of Monterey proved that fish born inside MPAs recruit to fished waters outside them. The protected zones literally restock the surrounding ocean. Larger, older females inside MPAs produce exponentially more viable eggs over longer spawning seasons — and that output spills over.

MPAs also act as climate buffers, sheltering reproductive adults during warming and deoxygenation events. The longer they’re in place, the stronger the results. Older MPAs with strict no-take rules and diverse habitats show the biggest gains.

This isn’t about closing the ocean. It’s about letting parts of it recover so the whole thing works better. For fish, for divers, for the coast.

If you dive California, you’re already seeing it.

#californiadiving #marinelife #californiacoast #marinewildlife #marineprotectedareas

A few pics from my night dive on Wednesday. Fish were spawning and it legit made it look like stars! So cool. Saw some really cool stuff! This horn shark was acting crazy and like was like ramming me and I think bro was confused with my strobe but ended up getting some cool shots! Saw this awesome scorpion fish, crabs and shrimp everywhere you pointed a light. The ocean at night is a different world.

Amazing light from my @letonpower_global strobes!

#nightdive #lajollashores #underwaterphotography #hornshark #scubadiving

Shot with Leton power strobes.

A few pics from my night dive on Wednesday. Fish were spawning and it legit made it look like stars! So cool. Saw some really cool stuff! This horn shark was acting crazy and like was like ramming me and I think bro was confused with my strobe but ended up getting some cool shots! Saw this awesome scorpion fish, crabs and shrimp everywhere you pointed a light. The ocean at night is a different world.

Amazing light from my @letonpower_global strobes!

#nightdive #lajollashores #underwaterphotography #hornshark #scubadiving

Shot with Leton power strobes.

A few pics from my night dive on Wednesday. Fish were spawning and it legit made it look like stars! So cool. Saw some really cool stuff! This horn shark was acting crazy and like was like ramming me and I think bro was confused with my strobe but ended up getting some cool shots! Saw this awesome scorpion fish, crabs and shrimp everywhere you pointed a light. The ocean at night is a different world.

Amazing light from my @letonpower_global strobes!

#nightdive #lajollashores #underwaterphotography #hornshark #scubadiving

Shot with Leton power strobes.

A few pics from my night dive on Wednesday. Fish were spawning and it legit made it look like stars! So cool. Saw some really cool stuff! This horn shark was acting crazy and like was like ramming me and I think bro was confused with my strobe but ended up getting some cool shots! Saw this awesome scorpion fish, crabs and shrimp everywhere you pointed a light. The ocean at night is a different world.

Amazing light from my @letonpower_global strobes!

#nightdive #lajollashores #underwaterphotography #hornshark #scubadiving

Shot with Leton power strobes.

A few pics from my night dive on Wednesday. Fish were spawning and it legit made it look like stars! So cool. Saw some really cool stuff! This horn shark was acting crazy and like was like ramming me and I think bro was confused with my strobe but ended up getting some cool shots! Saw this awesome scorpion fish, crabs and shrimp everywhere you pointed a light. The ocean at night is a different world.

Amazing light from my @letonpower_global strobes!

#nightdive #lajollashores #underwaterphotography #hornshark #scubadiving

Shot with Leton power strobes.

A few pics from my night dive on Wednesday. Fish were spawning and it legit made it look like stars! So cool. Saw some really cool stuff! This horn shark was acting crazy and like was like ramming me and I think bro was confused with my strobe but ended up getting some cool shots! Saw this awesome scorpion fish, crabs and shrimp everywhere you pointed a light. The ocean at night is a different world.

Amazing light from my @letonpower_global strobes!

#nightdive #lajollashores #underwaterphotography #hornshark #scubadiving

Shot with Leton power strobes.

A few pics from my night dive on Wednesday. Fish were spawning and it legit made it look like stars! So cool. Saw some really cool stuff! This horn shark was acting crazy and like was like ramming me and I think bro was confused with my strobe but ended up getting some cool shots! Saw this awesome scorpion fish, crabs and shrimp everywhere you pointed a light. The ocean at night is a different world.

Amazing light from my @letonpower_global strobes!

#nightdive #lajollashores #underwaterphotography #hornshark #scubadiving

Shot with Leton power strobes.

A few pics from my night dive on Wednesday. Fish were spawning and it legit made it look like stars! So cool. Saw some really cool stuff! This horn shark was acting crazy and like was like ramming me and I think bro was confused with my strobe but ended up getting some cool shots! Saw this awesome scorpion fish, crabs and shrimp everywhere you pointed a light. The ocean at night is a different world.

Amazing light from my @letonpower_global strobes!

#nightdive #lajollashores #underwaterphotography #hornshark #scubadiving

Shot with Leton power strobes.

A few pics from my night dive on Wednesday. Fish were spawning and it legit made it look like stars! So cool. Saw some really cool stuff! This horn shark was acting crazy and like was like ramming me and I think bro was confused with my strobe but ended up getting some cool shots! Saw this awesome scorpion fish, crabs and shrimp everywhere you pointed a light. The ocean at night is a different world.

Amazing light from my @letonpower_global strobes!

#nightdive #lajollashores #underwaterphotography #hornshark #scubadiving

Shot with Leton power strobes.

Same dive. Two completely different stories about us and the ocean.

A giant black sea bass — 98% extinct by the 1980s. After decades of protection, they’re actually coming back. Conservation is working.

Then a school of Garibaldi, California’s state fish. They’re supposed to be solitary. They only school here because people feed them. We changed their behavior without even realizing it.

One species we saved. One species we’re reshaping. Catalina Island showed me both in the same hour.
Have you ever seen a giant black sea bass in person?

#oceanconservation #socaldiving #wildlifeencounters #nationalpark #californiadiving

Life finds a way.

Speargun scar, still swimming. Found this bass on a recent dive — you can see exactly where it was hit. Fully recovered and back out here.

Nature is something else.

Have you ever come across something like this?

#oceanlife #marinelife #bassfishing #wildliferecovery #spearfishing

What a beautiful place and what beautiful creatures. These were taken from Channel Islands to the tip of Baja. All in the wild and all with respect to the animals and their space. Hope you enjoy ❤️

Which is your favorite?

#underwaterphotography #pacificocean #freediving #seals #sealions

What a beautiful place and what beautiful creatures. These were taken from Channel Islands to the tip of Baja. All in the wild and all with respect to the animals and their space. Hope you enjoy ❤️

Which is your favorite?

#underwaterphotography #pacificocean #freediving #seals #sealions

What a beautiful place and what beautiful creatures. These were taken from Channel Islands to the tip of Baja. All in the wild and all with respect to the animals and their space. Hope you enjoy ❤️

Which is your favorite?

#underwaterphotography #pacificocean #freediving #seals #sealions

What a beautiful place and what beautiful creatures. These were taken from Channel Islands to the tip of Baja. All in the wild and all with respect to the animals and their space. Hope you enjoy ❤️

Which is your favorite?

#underwaterphotography #pacificocean #freediving #seals #sealions

What a beautiful place and what beautiful creatures. These were taken from Channel Islands to the tip of Baja. All in the wild and all with respect to the animals and their space. Hope you enjoy ❤️

Which is your favorite?

#underwaterphotography #pacificocean #freediving #seals #sealions