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