Two Dives at Erik's Pinnacle Sunday, September 25, 2016

I had two good dives on Erik's Pinnacle off Pacific Grove last Sunday.  This was my third trip on the Sanctuary dive boat.  They only take out six divers which I really like and they don't mind me diving solo.  We had highly variable visibility on these two dives.  There was sometimes a "surface" layer of algae bloom, very green to even brown at times extending from the surface down 15 to 20 ft.  A couple times the layer vanished, briefly...So lots of variability in light at the bottom on this warm, sunny day.  Water temperature at the bottom was a typical 51 degrees.  Visibility at the bottom ranged from 20 to 25 ft (they had reports of 70 ft the previous day!).  Erik's Pinnacle comes up from around 55 ft deep up to 14 ft from the surface.  Surrounding Erik's Pinnacle are other large rock structures.  The ones to the NW of the pinnacle have lots of Metridium white anemones.  There were several dead juvenile Mola Molas on the bottom, slaughtered and discarded by sea lions.  I saw a couple of healthy swimming juvenile mola molas but failed to get a focused picture of them...some day.  Lots of blue rockfish and several copper rockfish.  Several sheep crabs.  I was pleased to see increasing amounts of healthy giant kelp at the neighboring kelp bed.

     An amorous pair of Kelp Crabs.

                              Looking up at the top of Erik's Pinnacle being crested by the early morning sun.

                                          A pair of Copper Rockfish

                                Large Sheep Crab with Metridium Anemones.

                                                       Metridium Anemones

                                         Blue Striped Perch

                                         A plethora of blue rockfish

                                                       A growing frond of giant kelp at my safety stop.

To see more from these dives please go to:  https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipMzZA8QAG5naqNI6hPoisWRBwAHE9wdgZnvXB9m