Coast Guard Breakwater, 9-29-2014

Bill Tomkovic and I enjoyed a dive at the Coast Guard Breakwater in Monterey today.  This was Bill's first local dive after being certified this summer at Catalina.  We had 15 to 25 feet of visibility and warmer than average water at around 60 degrees.  This is a very easy shore dive with plenty to see.

To see a couple more pictures from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6064631774560024001?authkey=CPPAh8iM5tq41AE

Humpbacks off Pescadero Point, Carmel Bay, and another good dive off Mono-lobo, September 17, 2014.

Greg Hoberg and I had a very exciting trip in his RIB zodiac last Wednesday.  As we cruised up to the Pinnacles to check out the visibility we saw dozens of Humpback "blows" off Pescadero Point at the entrance to Stillwater Cove.  We pulled in close to a kelp bed opposite Pescadero Point and watched the amazing surface action.  A couple of dozen humpbacks were lunge feeding at the surface just off the point.  We were amazed at how much they were even going into the kelp beds in pursuit of the immense schools of anchovies.  After taking in this action for over an hour we went on across Carmel Bay to Mono-lobo hoping for decent visibility there (we toyed with diving at our favorite site off Pescadero Point but I was a bit intimidated by how aggressively the humpbacks were lunge feeding and I was concerned for us, the anchor line, and Greg's boat given the poor visibility).  We ended up with 15 ft visibility at Mono-lobo with mid 50s water temperature.  After the dive we moved back across the bay to watch humpback feeding action off Pescadero Point which was still going full bore.

The rock behind the humpback is one of our favorite dive sites but the whales were shooting right through there!

 The paddle boarder was shooting gopro video, I'm sure he got some awesome shots.  We got his email....

Great shot of surface lunge feeding right of Pescadero rock.

 Sometimes the surface lunge feeding was on their sides, sometimes they were on their backs.

The humpbacks were using huge bubble nets to drive the anchovies together and then surfacing through them.  Just as we suddenly realized that the action had moved over to us and we saw bubbles come up around us and anchovies under us we got the surprise of our lives!

A humpback lunge feeding on his back came up right under us, lifting the boat up a couple of feet and giving the boat's bottom a slap with its tail as it went past.  It sure got our attention!

 We saw the usual scattering of ling cod.

 Painted Greenling

 Sea Anemone

Nudibranch, Triopha Maculata, the first of these I've seen, I think.

For more Humpback pictures please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6061251193482262433?authkey=CM77s8Ltk53haw

For a few more underwater photos please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6061260088855674929?authkey=CJCBpYbu4seoxwE

Two dives on Mono-lobo, Carmel Bay, April 10, 2014

Greg Hoberg and I made two dives on Mono-lobo last Wednesday.  We had 20 ft visibility on the inside of the kelp bed, 40 ft at the outside edge near the Carmel Canyon.  We saw the usual mix of rockfish, kelp greenlings, and numerous lingcod but no Cabezon.  We also saw one Mola-mola outside the kelp bed and one large dead mola mola on the bottom.  Water temperature has dropped to more normal temperatures, about 56 at the surface, 54 down below.  Offshore we saw a large group of humpbacks together with sea lions and sea birds hammering anchovies.  Hopefully Greg will get me some of the surface shots he took.  We drifted in his boat and had humpbacks surfacing all around us and swimming under the boat.  It is amazing just to hear them breathe up close.

Below are a few pictures from the dive, to see more please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6058594422353834641?authkey=CMbdncXMwpBv

 The kelp beds are the thinnest I've ever seen them at this time of year.  I'm seeing many more kelp holdfasts that have failed and been pulled up into the kelp than normal at this time of year, usually they get pulled up when we start getting big winter storms.  I think it is due to the larger than normal population of sea urchins munching on them.  There are more small (and growing) sea urchins than normal because the sea stars that eat young sea urchins were decimated last fall and earlier this year by sea star wasting syndrome.

 Greg is getting some video of a salp that has been captured and is slowly being devoured by a sea anemone.

 It's a rough neighborhood for drifting salps coming in from the open ocean.

Though his head is invisible you can see neptune's white mustache and he is barfing up something white....or maybe it was just a white jellyfish..

 Mono-lobo has huge rock structures.

 If you look carefully ahead of Greg in this picture you can just make out a Mola-mola we saw outside the kelp bed.

 UFO, unidentified floating organism.  TBD, maybe a salp, maybe a pteropod...

 Greg found a large mola mola that had been partially devoured by something with a big bite.

 My hand to give some perspective on the bite size.

 Kelp rockfish

 Greg getting a closeup of an amorous pair of rock crabs.

I got a closeup too then we left them in peace....