There are few things quite as surreal as watching a cormorant casually swim past you underwater. I’ve experienced this on multiple dives, and it never gets less incredible—especially when you glance down at your dive computer and realize you’re more than 60 feet below the surface!

Cormorant Plunge captures one of those magical moments in the kelp forest. A cormorant dives through the kelp, passing under a female California sheephead and a school of blacksmith. Look closely and you’ll discover even more life tucked into the scene: an opalescent nudibranch and tiny gastropods making their way along the kelp.

The kelp forest is full of these unexpected encounters. Sometimes, the most extraordinary moments are the ones that simply swim right past you.

Cormorant Plunge was selected for the Coos Art Museum’s 2026 Maritime Exhibition, where it received an Honorable Mention.

Original acrylic pointillism on 36× 48-inch canvas.

The original has SOLD.