Pescadero Point again today, 9-29-13

Greg and I ended up diving Pescadero Point again today - we could have dived many sites in Carmel Bay today but we knew we'd have a good dive and we wanted to do some exploring beyond our usual routes.  We had 15 to 30 ft visibility and still chilly 49 degree temperature.  We were buzzed by sea lions but didn't have our harbor seal mascot today - probably because I switched to wide angle in the hopes she'd be back.  Its  a great area with intense bottom life with ling cod, Pacific greenlings and rockfish.

 Large ling cod let me get several pictures.  I wasn't able to catch Greg's attention so that I could get him in the picture with it.

Greg following one of the site's ridge lines.

For more pictures from this dive:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5929199773351710129?authkey=CP7xpoel3rWr_gE

Pescadero Point, Carmel Bay, 9-28-13

Greg and I took his boat down to Carmel Bay in search of clearer water today.  It was much calmer than yesterday but still plenty choppy.  We found shelter from the swell at Pescadero Point and had a really fun, but chilly dive.  It was 48 degrees, it felt like liquid ice when we splashed and then got colder throughout our 1 hour, 5 minute dive.  Both of us were losing our fine motor control in our fingers by the end - I couldn't operate the rotating knobs on my Nautical camera housing by the end..  We had a great dive though and we were entertained by a friendly young Harbor Seal for nearly the entire dive.  I haven't seen Greg's wide angle shots yet but he was so friendly I managed some portraits with my 60 mm Canon macro lens.

He obviously loved seeing his reflection in Greg's wide angle dome but he finally got curious about my camera, too.

I finally encountered a kelp fish that put up with my efforts to get his picture and I finally got a couple of decent kelp fish photos.

For more seal, kelp fish and critter pictures please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5928885454854169393?authkey=COG0wOjW3sSbsAE

Otter Cove, 9-27-13

Greg and I dived inside Monterey Bay on Friday, September 27th.  It was too rough to fight our way down to Carmel Bay and it would have been rough there as well.  We were entertained by two or three humpbacks feeding on anchovy right off Pt Pinos, we could hear them during part of our dive, really cool.  Down 50 ft we were out of the worst of the surge at Otter Cove.  It was 51 degrees (normal more or less) and we had 15 ft visibility.

Coonstripe Shrimp, about 2 inches long.

Copper Rockfish

For more pictures please go to:

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Outer Otter Cove 9-17-13

Greg Hoberg and I dived on outer Otter Cove on Tuesday, September 17th.  We dived inside Monterey Bay because a sharp swell with some breaking waves was hitting Point Pinos and the west wind was already picking up.  We'd heard from some other divers that visibility inside Monterey Bay was pretty good and we found that to be the case.  We enjoyed 20 to 25 ft visibility at depths of 55 to 30 ft with scattered rocks up to 20 ft high.  Great bottom life and we saw lots rock fish and a couple of cabezon as well as the usual pacific and painted greenlings.  We were joined by a camera shy harbor seal for the last part of the dive.

 This cabezon patiently let me come close enough to get a picture with my 60 mm macro lens.

 A "smiling" Hilton's nudibranch grazing on hydroids.

Orange sea cucumber with filter feeding tube worm.

For more pictures from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5925805017569596465?authkey=CNSyv4P38o3VMg

Sunset Point, Carmel Bay, 9-16-13

Greg Hoberg and I dived off Sunset Point in Carmel Bay today.  We had 20 to 25 ft visibility and 66 to 32 ft depths.  We saw lots of nudibranchs, a couple of octopi, lots of rock fish, and were followed around by a Harbor Seal that was careful to stay just out of camera range.  After the dive we cruised up to Monterey Canyon and saw about 2 dozen humpbacks feeding in small groups.

 Coralline Sculpin

 Small octopus

 Either a Hilton's Nudibranch or Horned Nudibranch, need to refresh my memory...

2nd small octopus

For more octopus, coonstripe shrimp  and nudibranch photos from today's dive, please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5924389672812536865?authkey=CMDNsI-rgPqH1gE

Mono-lobo 9-11-13

Greg Hoberg and I with a new friend Sam dived Mono-lobo off Monastery Beach in Carmel Bay last Wednesday.  We enjoyed very calm seas and low surge.  Unfortunately we had terrible visibility 5 -10 ft.  A dark dive.  Despite this, as is frequently the case, there were many nudibranchs to be seen.

 Tritonia festiva dendronotid nudibranch, about 2 inches long.

San Diego Dorid nudibranch, about 3 inches long.

Catalina Triopha nudibranch (aka Orange and white or clown nudibranch)

For a few more photos please see:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5923522255274966801?authkey=CMSrop6VkOaqqAE

Whales off Moss Landing and afternoon dive at Chase Reef 9-10-13

Greg Hoberg and I took two friends out whale watching on the morning of Tuesday Sept 10.  We had flat seas so we could run fast from Monterey Coast Guard jetty launch up to Moss Landing.  Over the Monterey Canyon just off of Moss Landing the whale, dolphin, sea lion, and sea bird action was intense.  Currently there is a giant feeding frenzy on anchovies.  We saw at least 60 to 100 humpback whales, feeding, breaching, slapping tail flukes, slapping pectorals, in every direction.  Truly awesome.  We also saw many Rizzo dolphins (which eat squid which were either eating the same krill the anchovies were eating or were also eating the anchovies..) and hundreds of sea lions which were frequently right with the humpbacks.  If you want to see more beyond our pictures from this I recommend going to Monterey Bay Whale Watch's facebook page, it is excellent with daily postings of their whale (both blues and humpbacks right now), mola mola, and dolphin sightings.

 After several breaths at the surface you frequently get a good view of the whale's tail as it dives deeper to feed on the anchovy below.

 This whale kept up an amazing display of standing on its head and slapping its tail for maybe 5 minutes or so.

 Humpback blows and sea lions.

The depthfinder showed the huge schools of anchovy below us.

For more whale photos, go to https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5923523107416922001?authkey=CLX2o-fCx4_zpAE

Chase Reef Dive
After whale watching Greg and I dived a shallow part of Chase Reef (25-40 ft) just inside Pt Pinos.  We had variable visibility of 15 to 25 ft and could enjoy the shallow dive because there was virtually no surge running for a change.

 An amorous pair of Hopkin's Rose nudibranchs, about 2 inches long.

Friendly black and yellow rock fish was willing to pose for my macro lens close up.

Hilton's nudibranch.

For more pictures please go to :
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5923532108378434961?authkey=CKqdh-D5yJvHhgE

Greg Hoberg and I had a great dive at Pescadero Point last Thursday, September 6, chilly 48 degree water with 15 to 25 ft visibility.  It was the great Octopi dive - we saw six octopuses and were escorted by a curious harbor seal throughout the dive.  We saw two pods of Risso's Dolphins on the way to our dive, one pod of 30-40 near Pt Pinos, another pod of 20-30 off Pt Lobos in Carmel Bay.

 Rizzo's dolphins off Pt Lobos, Carmel Bay

 Curious, but camera (pointer light and strobe!) shy harbor seal

 One of six octopus we saw on this dive.

Greg with swimming octopus.

For more, please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5921363707610638497?authkey=CNqv-eLfps3eWQ

Humpbacks, dolphins, and a great dive on Mono-lobo in Carmel Bay.

Greg Hoberg and I took his boat down to Carmel Bay today.  On the way we spotted one or two humpbacks as we rounded Pt Pinos and three more as we rounded Cypress Point.  As we headed across Carmel Bay toward Mono-lobo (off S. end of Monastery Beach, just before Pt. Lobos State Park and Marine Sanctuary) we spotted 100s of Pacific White Sided dolphins which proceeded to swim out to join us and play under our bow.  There were also a number of humpbacks feeding at the edge of the Carmel Canyon.

If you look carefully in the upper left of this photo you can see the back of a humpback about to dive (I was focused on getting dolphin pictures since they were playing with us).

When we got to Mono-lobo we were pleased with the water color and transparency so went ahead and dived (the water had been quite brown and murky due to plankton blooms all the way from the Coast Guard Jetty to Carmel Bay, too much sun the last couple of days).  We had 20 ft visibility due to a bone chilling 48 degree upwelling (this dive site is right next to the eastern terminus of the Carmel Canyon).

 Greg getting a close-up of a nice sized ling cod.

Hilton's Nudibranch, about 3 inches long.

To see all 14 photos I posted from our trip today please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5919981956586311569?authkey=CITB4Jjcgsu-IA