Malibu Ridge (Malibu, CA — 115-200+ fsw)

Background

I got an invite from Kyaa & Ray @ Sundiver to join them and some friends to go do some “fun diving” on the Sundiver Express a few weeks ago. Since they were planning to head up to the Santa Monica Bay area, I figured it might be worthwhile to check out a few targets we’ve been meaning look at.

We scanned the targets in the 200-210 foot range but didn’t turn up anything interesting so we decided to head south a little bit to a place Ray had mentioned before called “Malibu Ridge.” It is a ridge line that runs north to south and starts at about 115 feet deep and sharply drops off to greater than 200′. Below is a picture of the sonar scan of the ridge:

I don’t think many people dive the area or even know about it so I thought I would publish some information and photos. The good news is that the area had very healthy growth of corals, sponges, and anemones and was pristine. We saw a lot of wildlife including a massive ling cod that had a section of his gill area taken out by some kind of predator.

I think this is the first (and probably only) dive in the past 12-15 months here in Southern California that didn’t involve a wreck and rusted metal. I’m not such a great wildlife photographer so “you get what you get.”

The Shark Egg

I did learn something new on this dive even though it didn’t involve rusted metal.

I saw an interesting yellow “ribbon” and took a few photos since I didn’t recognize it (that isn’t surprising at all). I got back and asked my friend and marine creature expert, Drew Wilson, what he thought it was. He immediately came back with “shark egg” to which I literally replied “Are you shitting me?” He presumes it is likely from a leopard shark. He also mentioned the they are referred to as a “mermaids purse.”

So, here are a few pictures of said “mermaids purse” with a closeup where you can actually see the egg.