Two good dives at Otter Cove including fun with Sea Otters October 17, 2015

Guy Foster and I had two enjoyable dives at Otter Cove in Pacific Grove last Saturday.  We had very tiny swell conditions, 20 to 40 ft of visibility, Pacific Sardines, and fun with curious sea otters on our snorkel out for our second dive.  The water was incredibly warm for Monterey Bay - 63 degrees at the surface, 61 degrees at the bottom, over ten degrees warmer than normal due to the El Nino.  The warmest water I've ever encountered in Monterey- Carmel area.  We didn't even get a minor chill.  We'll miss this warmth when it is gone..
Below are some pictures from these dive, to see many more, please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6207213364403724689?authkey=CM-QharWx4r4Qw

 Shore diving at Otter Cove includes going down and then, inevitably, climbing back up a flight of stairs on the left in this photo.  Guy Foster is about to make his way carefully into the water.  You should only dive Otter Cove near high tide to avoid dense, tough, entangling surf grass.

 Good scuba diving at Otter Cove is at least 100 yards offshore so some snorkeling is needed.  For the first time ever, we encountered Pacific Sardines on our snorkel out for our first dive.  Guy is taking pictures of them in this photo.

Juvenile Calico Bass (aka Kelp Bass) usually found down south in the Channel Islands, also the first time I've seen one here.

 We were repeatedly visited by a Harbor Seal on our first dive, he was too shy for closeups though.

 Sea Lemon nudibranch (I'm only seeing about 10% of the usual quantities of these this year, even less of other usually common species), a spiny sea star (back to may 10% of the population before the sea star wasting plague decimated nearly all the sea stars except maybe blood stars), and a bat star.

 Guy getting a shot.  Otter Cove has great rock structures at the outer edge of its kelp forest (one of the few remaining reasonably intact kelp forests in Monterey and Carmel due to the hordes of sea urchins that spread after the sea star wasting disease decimated sea stars which eat them).  Sea otters seem to be keeping the urchin numbers down in this area.  Where the rocks end offshore here, sand begins, which gives you lots more direct and reflected light for photography.

 Fish eating sea anemones.

 Guy getting a sea anemone picture.

 A seascape with a Pile Perch.

 Guy and I hung out at the surface on our snorkel out for our second dive due to playful, curious, young sea otters.  I managed to get this cool shot of a low flying cormorant going by.

Guy getting sea otter photos, sea otters to the left in this photo.

 Two of the four sea otters came closer to check us out.  One was bold enough to come right to us, at speed.

 Bubble stream.

 When close, he moved fast.

 Almost a good closeup.  Almost.

 Guy is getting his flipper tugged on!

I had my flipper tugged on too, but then he ducked under my flipper just as I took his picture.  Almost...

Spectacular dive off the Lone Cypress of 17 mile drive October 15, 2015

Greg Hoberg and I returned to another patch of kelp near the one we dived the day before.  We had 50 ft of visibility and incredible warm, blue, 60 degree water down at 60 ft!  The dive site was full of colorful ledges.  We encountered a big school of Pacific Sardines (in contrast to the huge schools of anchovies we've seen for months).

 This dive site is full of beautiful ledges.

 Great sunlight and great color.

 We could just make out the surface from the bottom at 60 feet.

 Big rock structures everywhere.

 Beautiful encrusting sponges and hydro coral.

 Sardines

 The sardines were great entertainment during our safety stop.

For more from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6206411083298582401?authkey=COTivZyUps3aYw

Good dive on a new site off Lingcod Reef and off Point Joe October 14, 2015

Greg Hoberg and I encountered large swells last Wednesday which led us to try a new dive site.  On the way we saw an enormous pod of common dolphin (probably long beaked) in Carmel Bay.  There were hundreds airborne simultaneously, over a thousand total.   I've heard of giant dolphin pods before but this was the first one we'd seen.

We had 25 ft visibility and 56 degree bottom temperature at our dive off Lingcod Reef.  The site is full of large layered rock ledges.  To see more pictures from this dive please go to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6206410527264115057?authkey=CJv18seGmcCXpgE

 Greg found a white dendronotid nudibranch and its eggs.

 White dendronotid nudibranch to the right, its white string of eggs to the left.

Horned nudibranch 1/3 from the left, 1/3 from the bottom of the photo.

 Another white dendronotid nudibranch, this one eating hydroids.

 A pair of black rockfish with one of the many layered rock ledges.

 A gopher rockfish with many sea urchins.

 Greg with a Treefish under its ledge.

Our second dive was off Point Joe, we only had about 20 ft of visibility with many suspended particles in the water from the surge.

 We dive under a kelp bed off Point Joe that still exists because of the large group of sea otters that live there and keep the sea urchins in check.  Incredibly, this is the second abalone I have found there out in the open.

 Greg getting a photo of a kelp rockfish and a leather sea star.

 Kelp rockfish and leather sea star.

 Giant kelp during our safety stop.

Kelp Perch

Pelagic Red Crabs and two excellent dives at Pescadero Point October 8, 2015

On our way out of Monterey Bay, headed for diving in Carmel Bay, Greg Hoberg and I saw lots of sea birds, mainly gulls, feeding near Point Pinos.  When we got close, Greg spotted thousands and thousands of Pelagic red crabs in the water.  We'd heard of these before, they are normally found off Baja California and sometimes come ashore on Southern California beaches but are rare this far north.  El Nino conditions seem to bring them here.  They are an important food source for humpbacks, blue whales, sea lions, seals, and sea birds.  So here are some pictures from Greg's boat.

Greg took these next four surface shots.  I managed to grab one, yes, they do pinch!  Didn't break the skin, though.

 I couldn't help wishing I had a net, bet they would be quite tasty and we could have netted hundreds quickly, but then where would we put them?

There were thousands on the surface and extending down out of sight.

A single frame from Greg's Gopro video.

After the fun with the pelagic crabs we went to Pescadero Point in Carmel Bay and made two excellent dives.  Pescadero Point is one of our favorite dive sites though the visibility there is often not as good as some of our other sites.  On these dives we had 20 to 25 ft of visibility and 57 degree water temperature at the bottom, still 5 degrees or so above normal.

White Dendronotid Nudibranch, about two inches long.

 Kelp crab with two white spotted rose anemones.

 Greg taking a photo of the kelp crab.

 Cabezon have amazing camouflage, right of center near the bottom of the picture.

 Great rock structure at Pescadero Point.

Greg gets a photo of a decorator crab on the stalk of a palm kelp.

For more pelagic crab photos and more pictures from these two dives, please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6203858729007414321?authkey=CI7x2OD8_5COWA