HORSEWOMAN CORRALS SEA CRITTERS WITH FILM.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Nestled in the quiet hills of Leona Valley is the Cowhorse Ranch, home to 53 horses, nine cows, three dogs, one mule and a cat.

It also is the home of Kaia Thomson.

And while Thomson's ranch reflects a woman who works the land, the ocean's depths increasingly draw her.

``The ocean is such a special place,'' she said. ``Just when you think it could never get any better, something fantastic will happen.''

Caring for the horses she boards and giving equestrian lessons to her 25 students, Thomson was content to spend little time away from the hills until two years ago. Then, in the summer of 1999, she went to Catalina Island with some friends who are scuba divers. They visited a dive shop that offered an introduction to scuba diving, and Thomson was hooked after she gave it a try.

``Being a water lover, it was something I had to try,'' she said.

Thomson got some help from her friends as she continued spending her days and weekends under the sunny skies and cool breezes of Leona Valley caring for the animals. At night she attended an open-water scuba class at Specialized Diving Services in Palmdale.

``Greg Galli, my instructor, got a kick out of me when I put the equipment together,'' she said. ``I told him frequently it was just like (working on) the tractor.''

Thomson won't drop her passion for horses, but now she takes a brief vacation once a month to head to the ocean and spend time frolicking with the underwater sea life as an amateur photographer. One of her favorite places is La Paz, Mexico.

She has swum with humpback whales, 20-foot manta rays, whale sharks, hammerheads and sea lions.

Thomson became interested in underwater photography in April of last year during a three-day program put on by Optiquatics in the Channel Islands waters. Rolls of film were processed on board the boat so Thomson saw almost immediately how her pictures were coming out.

She continues to learn as she studies to become a diving instructor.

``It has provided me with a lot of inspiration - going back and learning something myself. It's really built my appreciation up for learning,'' Thomson said.

Thomson is the first to admit that she's made mistakes in photographing sea life 150 feet below surface

``Looking back at my first roll of film, I thought for sure National Geographic would be calling any day,'' she said. ``I had a picture of every starfish and sea urchin on Santa Cruz.'' She laughed and added: ``Some of them were even in focus.''

She learned quickly through trial and error.

And now she looks forward to teaching scuba diving, entering her photos in the Antelope Valley Fair and submitting work to magazines.

Thomson's best advice to others is, ``Don't be afraid to explore. There're so many options. You can try a bunch of things once.''

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color --ran in AV edition only) A nudibranch, looking fringed like the Spanish shawl that gave it its common name, moves gracefully near Santa Cruz Island.

(2 -- color in AV edition only) A sea horse - at 10 inches, a giant for its genus - drifts off the Socorro Islands in Mexico.

(3 -- 4 -- color; 3 ran in AV edition only; 4 color in AV edition only) A stonefish with its venomous spines is seen at left on a shipwreck in the Sea of Cortez near La Paz in Mexico. Right, horsewoman Kaia Thomson has her underwater camera with her back on her ranch in Leona Valley.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer

(5 -- color) Hermissinda, a fish resembling an underwater flower, shimmers near San Miguel Island off the Southland coast.

Kaia Thomson/Special to the Daily News