Greg Hoberg and I enjoyed 35 ft of visibility and bottom water temperature of 57 degrees on two dives this past Wednesday. The swell and chop was tiny so surge wasn't an issue. On the ride down we encountered one lone humpback whale traveling south near Point Joe, probably looking for more anchovies. We noticed that, since our last dives in Carmel about two weeks ago, the water in Carmel Bay has come up to almost the same surface temperature as Monterey Bay (59 degrees vs 61 degrees). Much warmer than normal and much warmer than Carmel Bay has been. We also noticed many sea otters on the remaining kelp beds just inside the north boundary of Carmel Bay. Maybe they like the warmer water? Maybe they are discovering lots of sea urchins finally large enough to bother eating?
Here are some pictures from our Pinnacles dive, you can see more at:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6196349099227609809?authkey=CIDQ4t600Jf_pAE
I was pleased to see several rainbow stars on this dive, they seem to be recovering from the sea star wasting plague.
Sculpins are always cool to see. My new flood light helps me spot them more easily.
A group of feather duster worms filter feeding.
The same group of feather duster worms withdrawn into their tubes after being startled by an intrusive photographer.
The thinner kelp bed, due to hordes of sea urchins, sunny skies, and good visibility makes diving the Pinnacles a delight.
An unfortunate sea urchin, upside down, is meeting its slow demise in a white spotted sea anemone.
Our second dive was the outer rock off Cypress Point.
Greg in an example seascape off Cypress Point.
Small white anemones, metridium senile, are found in shallow, turbulent water, like on this shelf on the outer rock at Cypress Point. Also in the picture are aggregating anemones.
A swiftly passing sea lion.
Greg getting a picture of a red rock crab (partially in view just to the left of center a small ways up from the bottom in the picture.
Here's my picture of the red rock crab.
For more pictures from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6196349428317577905?authkey=CKjmz5mS-pKRTQ
On our way back we were entertained by a couple of hundred long beaked common dolphin feeding off Otter Cove and then riding our bow wave, fun.
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