San Carlos Scuba - Eagle Rock June 15

As I mentioned in the first post about this trip, this was my first visit to the Sea of Cortez in six-months. On our first dive of the trip (Friday afternoon), we went to San Antonio Point, but moved the boat to Eagle Rock for the second dive when jellyfish arrived.

Eagle Rock gets its name from a small rocky outcropping that (slightly) resembles, an eagle crouching. The site itself is dramatically set along a steep rock cliff facing the sea to the west. The bottom is littered with small to medium sized boulders and provides excellent cover for a wide assortment of critters.

Although one of the students was unable to get down due to equalization troubles, she gave it a good shot and we were able to get her caught up and certified the next day. The rest of the students did well and we had a nice dive.

We were able to find a fish-eating purple cone snail, Conus purpurascens, (See Creature Feature). We also saw a variety of heart and flower urchins, scorpionfish, Scorpaena mystes, and beautiful yellow juvenile Pacific Creolefish, Paranthias colonus. This was a relatively short dive, as evening was approaching and people had dinner on their minds and an early departure the next morning for Isla San Pedro Nolasco to play with the sea lions.