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
No comments:
Post a Comment