Mono-lobo with a Giant Pacific Octopus

Greg Hoberg and I dived on Mono-lobo last Friday, June 27.  We had variable visibility with the average around 30 ft, 48 degree water down below, 52 degrees at the surface.  We had an easy time maneuvering Greg's boat into the inside of the kelp bed.  We noted that the kelp beds this year are much thinner and spottier than normal for this time of year.  We suspect that the reductiion in kelp density is due to the big increase in small sea urchins we are seeing which is because of the sea star decimation of sea star wasting syndrome.   As we were preparing to drop in the water to start our dive I noticed that the top half of the sleeve of my regulator mouthpiece was split but decided I could still dive with it since I had a back up second stage "octopus" regulator set up....

The highlight of this dive was an encounter with a truly huge Giant Pacific Octopus.  I've dreamed of seeing one of these in the wild for years and thought that I would end up having to go up and dive near Seattle to finally see one, they are not common in North/Central California waters.   I was following Greg on the outer edge of the Mono-lobo kelp reef when I happened to look back around the corner of a large rock.  At first I thought I was seeing some new kind of sea anemone but then realized it was a string of suckers on a huge octopus arm.  The suckers near the base of the tentacles were about the size of the palm of my hand!  No sooner did I realize that I was seeing a huge tentacle than I realized that the tentacle was reaching for my regulator!  I gripped the mouthpiece tightly as I took my first picture and then realized if a tug of war ensued my mouthpiece would just break off.....but I would still have my "octopus" backup heh heh....

 This is my first hurried shot when I had seen the octopus then saw a tentacle reaching for me to my left so turned and took this picture as it was reaching up to me!  The Octopus is beyond the tentacle on the edge of the rock...

I quickly shot a second picture as the tentacle reached my regulator.  I was yelling for Greg but he was distracted by a lingcod a bit further past where I had stopped.  I grasped my regulator with my left hand while quickly shooting a couple of less than ideally aimed shoots....

The huge octopus blends in amazingly well with the rock.  He is between the bright edge of the rock to the left and the reddish sea anemone (around 8 inches or so in diameter) to the right).  The base of the tentacle you can see in the foreground was easily as big as my calf.  The white suckers were the size of the palm of my hand.  You can see one of the octopuses eyes just to the left of the sea anemone.  The octopus rapidly transitioned from his intense curiosity when he reached up and briefly grabbed my regulator to being cautious after a few offensive flashes of my strobe.

What a magnificent octopus!  Truly huge.

Here you can see mour of his suckers with his right eye just below the anemone as he slunk back into his lair thanks to my incessant strobe flashing...I went and retrieved Greg so he could see the giant.

Greg's smaller camera let him get in to take a couple of pictures of the octopus in his/her den.

While Greg was getting some octopus shots I spotted this juvenile lingcod watching the action.

We made our way up to the top of the ridge after the octopus so that we wouldn't need too long of a safety stop and so that we wouldn't totally freeze.  As you can see we again had the too rare combination of sunshine and clear water.

Greg and I found a jellyfish to take some pictures of while hanging near the kelp under the boat above us.  My hands were so cold by this point that I couldn't change the settings on my camera!

Beautiful jellyfish, kelp, and Greg's boat.

A view towards Monastery beach from our Mono-lobo dive site.  We had hot chocolate waiting in the boat.  We took off for Monterey Bay as soon as we finished our chocolate because the winds were expected to really pick up so we didn't hang out to try to find our friendly cephalopod with a second dive....To see more pictures from this dive  - including the usual lingcod and cabezon, please go to :
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6030444594931846001?authkey=CI7bktHg5d399AE

East side of Sunset Point, Carmel Bay

Greg Hoberg and I had an excellent dive just inside the eastern edge of Sunset Point.  We had mixed swells of 3 to 5 ft running and were able to shelter from around half the swells at this location.  The swells were short period from local afternoon winds so the surge only reached to about 30 ft for a change.  We found beautiful blue water with 40 ft visibility.  We saw lots of lingcod from small to large and a couple of very skittish cabezon.  There were lots of nudibranchs (I guaranteed that by choosing to use my wide angle lens for this dive....).  I still managed to get some decent pictures of pairs of white dendronotid and Ohdner's nudibranchs laying eggs.  We also enjoyed seeing a pod of Rizzo's dolphins inside Monterey Bay on our way out.  We only did one dive because there were small craft advisories coming up at noon and we wanted to make our way back to the harbor before the seas became truly unpleasant.

 Greg is re-positioning the anchor which I managed to drop into a hole that we would never have been able to retrieve it from pulling from the boat.  The key is to place the anchor where it holds the boat well enough that it is still there when we finish the dive while also not having it too stuck to retrieve.  We've blown that one way or the other a few times...good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from poor judgment.

 Greg getting lingcod closeups, at least he was until my approach caused it to move off....

 I followed the lingcod and got this face shot while Greg spotted a nudibranch.

 Greg getting a nudibranch closeup.  I didn't scare off the nudibranch.

 Amorous pair of white dendronotid nudibranchs, about 2 inches long, laying a string of eggs (kind of looks like a string of intestines....).  Could have gotten a better picture if I'd had my 60 mm macro lens but not bad for my 10-17 mm Tokina fisheye lens.

 Some white dendronotid nudibranch eggs on coralline algae.

 We had bright sunshine as well as clear water, a truly rare confluence in Carmel Bay.  I got some cool light back illuminating this shot.

 Kelp rockfish with a yellow dorid aka white speckled nudibranch.

 Hilton nudibranch, not bad for my wide angle...

 We had splendid light and visibility as we slowly froze in the chilly water.

 An amorous pair of ohner's dorids (nudibranchs) also laying eggs.

 Greg maneuvering for a shot of a big jellyfish.

 Greg's getting a closeup of a (TBD) whelk like snail laying eggs.

 Greg getting a shot of a blue rockfish picking apart a damaged jellyfish.  When the jellyfish get their tentacles torn up going through kelp the blue rockfish devour them.

 A lingcod watching Greg take a picture of another lingcod.  There were lots of lingcod on this dive.

For more pictures, please go to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6027817864051945713?authkey=CPrg8b-J1Jid-gE

Two Dives on the Pinnacles, Carmel Bay, 6-19-2014

Greg Hoberg and I battered our way through choppy seas down to Carmel Bay today.  We checked out the Pinnacles after concluding Cypress Point was a little squirrelly.   We were rewarded with gorgeous blue water and 40 ft visibility.  The temperature was a chilly 48 degrees but we weren't surprised because we'd watched the surface temperature drop 2.5 degrees from Pt Joe to the Pinnacles.  We made two dives even though we were deeply chilled after our long first dive with depths to 75 ft.  On the second dive we made sure we swam a lot more which meant taking fewer pictures with my 60 mm macro lens....sure wish I'd been shooting wide angle today.  We saw several ling cod from average sized up to quite large (it is great that the Pinnacles is a no take marine reserve).  We also saw several cabezon and zillions of different nudibranchs.  One of the things we took note of were the number of sea urchins out in the open.  Many of the sea stars and especially the sunflower stars have been decimated by sea star wasting disease and it looks like the number of juvenile sea urchins is climbing with the loss of key predators (happily our local sea otters will hammer the larger sea urchins so it is unlike that our kelp beds will get decimated by sea urchins, I think).

 I'm seeing many more sea urchins since one of the major predators for juvenile sea urchins, the sea stars, have been hammered by sea star wasting syndrome.

 Lots of brittle stars on these dives.

 Juvenile rockfish about 2 inches.

 The largest sea lemon nudibranch (I think that is what it was) I've seen, around 7 inches long.

 The largest clown nudibranch I've seen, about 5 inches long

 Confrontation between a sea lemon nudibranch and a white dendronotid, but peach prevailed, for as long as I watched anyway...

 Amorous pair of white dendronotid nudibranchs laying eggs.

 A really cool cabezon, and he knows it.

Safety stop entertainment.

To see more pictures from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6026853458636439169?authkey=CJjc-NXxhOqTfg

Lone Cypress, Lingcod Reef, 6-4-2014

Greg Hoberg and I dived off the famous "Lone Cypress" on 17 mile drive in Carmel Bay yesterday.  We had 15 -20 ft visibility and chilly 48 degree water.  We saw several lingcod and one cabezon as well as the usual assortments of nudibranchs, sea cucumbers, sea anemones, and tube worms.  A very nice but chilly dive shooting macro.  We also saw a couple humpback whales off Point Cypress on our way into the bay.

 Small, 2 inch, sea cucumber on coralline algae.

 Sea cucumber

 Nudibranch

 Painted Greenling

 Amorous pair of Ohdner's nudibranchs.

 Interesting small fish, about 3 inches long species TBD.

 Lingcod

Coralline Sculpin in coralline algae.

To see more pictures from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6021596367738368273?authkey=CIyE9pT0ua3a5QE

Dive off west side of Lover's Point, 6-2-2014

I did a shore dive off the beach on the west side of Lover's Point last Monday.  I had 10 to 15 feet of visibility.  I slowly made my way out on the bottom through the kelp bed that is just offshore.  I was enjoying taking some macro photos when I got one of the biggest scares of my life.  The loudest bang I've ever heard went off right near me.  It was followed by a second deafening bang.  I realized that I was on the outside of the kelp bed and that one of the 21 or so trawlers that have been harvesting market squid off Lover's Point for the last couple of weeks was hitting rocks with his trawl in my immediate vicinity.  I swam as hard as I could back into the kelp bed then, eventually, surfaced when I had dense kelp all around me.  The bloody trawler was barely outside the edge of the kelp, right where I had been shooting.  I was nearly the "Catch of the day"!   47 years ago when I was first certified as a scuba diver and my dad was then the age I am today he cautioned me that I would learn that "There are old divers and there are bold divers but there aren't very many old, bold, divers!"  I hadn't intended or thought that venturing to the far side of the fringing kelp bed was bold buy it sure was.... I went back down and slowly made my way back to the beach and I discovered a buried weight belt on the way and managed to carry it back with me.

A few pictures from my dive are below, to see the rest please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6021254159013635409?authkey=CKL3vP3Ps9rTUw

 Small 4 inch flatfish, sole, flounder,....

 Black eyed goby on a bat star.

 Colorful sea anemone

 Another colorful sea anemone

Juvenile painted greenling with tunicates and strawberry anemones.