Whale watching and diving inner Chase Reef, Wednesday Aug 28

Greg Hoberg and I had really calm seas but dense fog on Wednesday.  We knew Monterey Bay Whale Watch had been seeing humpbacks and dolphins off Moss Landing so we zipped up there in Greg's boat.  We saw 9 humpbacks, a couple came quite close to our drifting boat, really awesome.  We also could see shoals of drifting purple striped sea nettle jellyfish and lots and lots of what we assume were anchovies.  We briefly went into Moss Landing just to look around, we couldn't even see the tops of the power plant exhaust stacks due to the fog.

Next we cruised back to Pt Joe but it was murky with a swell picking up so we went back into Monterey Bay and dived inner Chase Reef.  We had 15 to 20 ft visibility.  We didn't see any large fish but did find many nudibranchs and Greg spotted a small roaming octopus.

For more pictures please use this link:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5917999523271096353?authkey=CM27ssrgo8LulgE

Dives at Pescadero Point, Carmel Bay and Eric's Pinnacle, Monterey Bay 8-27-13

Greg Hoberg and I took his rigid hulled zodiac out for a couple of dives last Tuesday.   Seas were not nearly as calm as forecast-ed but we made our way around from Monterey Bay to the shelter of Still Water cove in Carmel Bay for our first dive off Pescadero Point.  We only had 10 to 15 ft visibility but we were out of the surge and enjoyed the incredibly dense sea life on the small walls there.  Here's a couple pictures from our dive:

 Small octopus in abandoned acorn barnacle shell (just above the orange bat star).

 My latest attempt to get a decent picture of a kelpfish (aka kelp blenny).

For more pictures from this dive please go to this link:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5918007005915179089?authkey=CNTV7ZXpx--ffg

Our second dive was on Eric's Pinnacle out of the swell in Monterey Bay.  We had 10 to 15 ft visibility due to the plankton bloom (normal green summer water).  Here are a couple of pictures from this dive:

 Greg's getting a shot of a painted greenling.

The light and the visibility were better at the top of Eric's Pinnacle.

To see more pictures from this dive please go to this link:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5917969100285999985?authkey=CPHf6Key7_n-5AE

Mono-Lobo, Carmel Bay, 8-20-13

Greg Hoberg and I dived Mono-Lobo in Carmel Bay this Tuesday.  We saw Rizzo's dolphins just offshore of there - about 20 of them, always cool to see.  I learned this year that they are strictly squid eaters and based on their movements I'm guessing they were feeding at the edge of the trench there.

Greg maneuvered his boat through dense kelp to get us to shallow enough water for comfortable anchoring - 45 ft.  When I hit the water it felt like liquid ice - 48 degrees - a chilly dive and my fingers were barely functional by the end of the dive.  We had visibility of 15 to 20 ft, not bad for late summer.  As always the life on the rocks at this dive site is just beautiful, rivals anything in the South Pacific if you've got enough light and visibility to see it.  We saw several different kinds of nudibranch, the first one below is a Cockerell's Dorid, the first one I've ever seen.  Greg spotted it on a kelp holdfast - it was maybe 2 inches long.  The second nudibranch below is a white dendronotid grazing on a colony of hydroids- someday I'll get a good picture of one of these...

For a few more pictures from this dive go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5914994459517518449?authkey=CMzT78bB4K2WrQE

Outer Otter Cove 8-19-13

Greg and I started the day cruising in his boat up to the Monterey Canyon off Moss Landing to see the Humpback whales that had been there for several days feeding on anchovies.  We saw lots of small fish activity, lots of sea birds, and finally 7 humpbacks with one breach.

Greg Hoberg and I then dived "outer" Otter Cove - nearly out to inner Chase Reef.  We had "standard" 53 degree temperature that still was quite chilly at the end of our 1 hour, 5 minute dive to depths of 45 ft or so with 15 ft (standard summer green) visibility.

     I "heart" Feather Duster Worms, obviously....

    Had a nice little "conversation" with a Black-eyed Goby.   For more photos from this dive go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5914994991608595761?authkey=CPXdt5XQmc_QXw

West Side Lover's Point, Pacific Grove, 8-12-13

This is my second diving blog.  I went solo diving off the small beach on the west (ish) side of Lover's Point on Monday morning August 12th.  The swell was tiny and I had 15 ft visibility.  I did a long, shallow, dive.  Maximum depth was about 35 ft and I was down for 1 hour, 17 minutes and still had lots of air left but was starting to get chilled.  This was the umbrella  and kelp crab dive (saw zillions of other small crabs as well).  I smile every time I see an umbrella  (also known as a helmet ) crab.  These crabs always reminds me of "Lord Dark Helmet", played by Rick Moranis, in Mel Brooks' parody film of Star Wars.

I also saw a really cool small fish, probably either a type of sculpin or possibly a type of blenny, TBD.

For more pictures from this dive please go to this link:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5912091231478073953?authkey=CIvT6qnv1LedpwE

Three Monterey/Carmel Dives this week

I've started a diving blog to describe the dives I'm making.  Now that I'm retired I've been able to get in lots of diving - most of the diving will be "local" for me usually Monterey/Pacific Grove/Carmel.  I'll also occasionally write about dives I do on vacation travel.

Last Saturday, August 3rd, I dived with one of my long term dive buddies, Tom Healy, at our favorite Pacific Grove shore dive site, Otter Cove.  We had calm conditions with average summertime visibility of 15 ft.  We saw ling cod, lots of rock fish (we're seeing more juvenile rock fish this year than we've ever seen before, very encouraging), a cabezon,  a couple Pacific Greenling, and lots of cool invertebrate life that the dive site at Otter Cove is just full of.

To see some more pictures from this dive:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5909836141683655441?authkey=CNqJ-NvwwbiJWw

On Tuesday, August 6th, Greg Hoberg (another long term dive buddy) made two dives from his zodiac.  The first dive site was near Cypress Point at the north entrance to Carmel Bay, the second dive site was off Point Joe about half way between Point Pinos and Cypress Point.  Both of these sites are only pleasant to dive on calm days and we had a very calm day.  As we were anchoring off Cypress Point a humpback whale blew about 100 yards offshore from us, always cool to see.

The Cypress Point dive site has a great wall with incredibly colorful, incredibly dense invertebrate life.  We enjoyed 30 ft visibility (not so much the chilly 49 degree water temp) and saw lots of rock fish, several ling cod, several cabezon, and a few California Sheepshead.  There were lots and lots of nudibranchs.  We also were buzzed by a small sea lion and I had the incredible luck to have him stop just above me and do a "pirouette" for long enough for me to get some pictures with my 60 mm macro lens (very narrow angle).

 To see some more pictures from this dive go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5909836675589324321?authkey=CPaF6uKFptDRlAE

After a warmup and de-gas surface interval we dived off Point Joe.  We had 20 ft visibility and again saw lots of rock fish and some sheepshead plus more rich bottom life.

To see some more pictures from this dive go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5909834463023059265?authkey=CMGG74GE9ofhPQ