Two days of Carmel and Pacific Grove diving August 26, 27, 2014. Surface partying Humpbacks and sea lions and the usual undersea suspects.

This week Greg Hoberg and I had two excellent days of diving and surface action out in his new serviced dive boat.  On Tuesday the 26th we were headed across Carmel Bay from the Pinnacles headed for our selected dive site, Mono-lobo, when we spotted a large group of Humpback whales with 100s of sea lions feasting on huge shoals of anchovies we could see on the depth finder.

 Sea lions and Humpbacks!

Sea Lions checking us out, you can see Monastery Beach in the background.  Our dive site, Mono-lobo is just to the right edge of the picture.

 A pair of humpback blows, there were probably about 20 humpbacks around us, 100s of sea lions.

Humpbacks diving on anchovies, Pt Lobos Marine Reserve in the background.  If you haven't been there, be sure to go to Pt Lobos the next time you are in the Monterey area.  It is one of the most spectacularly beautiful places on the planet.

 Here is the view towards the west from Greg's boat anchored at Mono-lobo, looking at Pt Lobos Marine reserve.

 Looking south at Pt Lobos from Greg's boat at Mono-lobo.

Looking roughly east from Greg's boat anchored at Mono-lobo, looking at Monastery Beach.

After enjoying the surface action for awhile we decided to pull on in to Mono-lobo and dive.  We had 20 ft visibility and 58 degree (61 at the surface) water temperature - balmy by Carmel standards.  We saw the usual assortment of rockfish, lingcod, and cabezon and the always amazing density of invertebrate life.  Some pictures from this dive are below.

 Strange drifting colony of salps....remind me of the pods in Alien that launch onto unsuspecting astronaut's helmet.  I didn't put my head against it....

 Copper Rockfish

 Curious lingcod

 We are seeing lots of juvenile sea stars so hopefully recovery from the sea star wasting syndrome is underway.

 Confident cabezon posses for a closeup with my 60 mm macro lens.

Juvenile olive rockfish in the kelp canopy during our safety stop.
For more pictures of whale action and this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6053081896226719281?authkey=CJHwg-K4sd3ejAE

On Wednesday, August 27th we went out for a second day of diving with remarkably flat seas.  We dived Mono-lobo on the first dive (but no whales today!) with 20 ft average visibility and then, due to a rising sea breeze, went back to Monterey Bay to dive Inner Chase reef or outer Otter Cove for our second dive.  We had 30 ft vertical visibility, 25 ft horizontal.  Both dives were again in the upper 50s, 6 to 8 degrees warmer than we've ever had before.  As always we were amazed at the tremendously less dense invertebrate life in Monterey Bay compared to our dive sites in Carmel Bay.  Monterey invertebrate is rich but only about 1 percent of the richer sites in Carmel Bay.  We also noticed the lack of a single Sunflower Star where in the past we would have seen dozens on this dive.  We noticed several holdfasts floating up free from the bottom, probably because small sea urchins, whose numbers have exploded since the sea star wasting syndrome struck, have munched on them.  There also seems to be more grazing snails on the kelp than ever, perhaps also due to the sea star decimation.  The kelp beds this year in both Monterey and Carmel though still large and extensive, are much more sparse than we have ever seen at this time of year.

 Coralline Sculpin, about 3 inches long.

 Painted Greenling, about 3 -4 inches long.

 Horned Nudibranch, about 1 1/2 inches long.

Sea Lemon nudibranch with eggs, about 4 inches long.

 Small, maybe snubnose, sculpin.

 Tube worm

 Juvenile flatfish, about 2 inches long.

Juvenile rockfish, probably a vermillion, about 3 inches long.

For more pictures from our Mono-lobo dive, please see:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6053082734706838801?authkey=CMSylf-eo-Hx_wE

More pictures from the Pacific Grove Inner, inner Chase Reef or outer, outer, Otter Cove can be seen here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6053081247167451281?authkey=CIzunrKpi_iRnwE

Cypress Point Outer Rock, 7-31-2014

Greg Hoberg and I had a very good dive around the outer rock off Cypress Point.  On the way there we were entertained by a group of Rizzo's dolphins with two of the smallest babies we've ever seen, less than 3 ft long.  Swell conditions were excellent and we had 58 degree water, about the warmest we've ever seen here, with 15 to 35 ft visibility.  I was shooting with my 70 mm macro canon lens because I had expected limited visibility.  We were entertained by curious sea lions during the dive.  We saw lingcod, cabezon, and may nudibranchs.  We also saw many, many, sea urchins, the most I have ever seen in Carmel and Monterey in 35 years of diving here.  The sea urchin explosion is due to the decimation of sea stars which feed on small urchins.

Below are a few pictures from the dive, if you'd like to see more please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6042588624152453809?authkey=CILGyICWod6pnQE

 Small sea urchins everywhere, maybe 100x what I would have seen before the sea star wasting syndrome annihilated large sea star populations.  Also see more brittle stars out in the open than I used to.

 Many small crabs as is frequently the case.

 Horned nudibranch, Hemmisenda crassicornis

 Horned nudibranch

 Sea lemon nudibranch, always common.

 Cup coral, about 3/4 inch across.

 Yellow edged cadlina nudibranch with a blue ring top snail and strawberry anemones.

A drifting salp about 8 inches long.