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.