Greg Hoberg and I took advantage at an improved marine forecast and much calmer conditions to take his zodiac down to Mono-lobo in Carmel Bay yesterday. We were rewarded with beautiful blue water, easily 35 ft plus in visibility, and liquid ice, 48 degree water from a fresh upwelling out of Carmel Canyon (a southerly branch of the gigantic Monterey Canyon). As we approached our dive site we saw, as we frequently do, a group of Rizzo's dolphins over the trench, doubtless hammering squid. We were very pleased to see significant re-growth of the Giant Kelp forest on Mono-lobo. Though it is still less than half its normal density and extent it is definitely on the path of recovery. We saw lots of new giant kelp holdfasts and lots of new growth underway during our dive. Some areas still had lots of sea urchins and were still denuded but we also saw some large, fat, seastars, which are sea urchin predators along with sea otters. Below are some shots from this dive, for many more that will give you a feel for this part of Mono-lobo, please go to:
https://goo.gl/photos/PPbsmbm7dKiXEje69
The dive was excellent but the water felt like liquid ice when we rolled in and the 48 degree water left us chilled to the bone. When we surface the wind was up and we started the trip back to Monterey against the growing chop. We couldn't have made this trip without Greg's GPS navigation system, we were shrouded in fog much of the trip down and back.
Mono-lobo, in the fog. Happily, there was a renewed giant kelp forest which required a little maneuvering to anchor in an open spot.
We were greeted by beautiful blue water when we splashed.
First task at the start of the dive is to check out the anchor. You need to be sure it will still be there at the end of the dive and, nearly as important, that you'll be able to retrieve it without having to gear back up and go back down, with chattering teeth and barely functional fingers...
If you look down in the crevasse under Greg you can see where our anchor landed. On top of the anchor you can see a curious lingcod investigating the anchor. (closeup next picture)
Here's a zoomed in picture of our curious young lingcod on top of our anchor. Mono-lobo is protected from fishing so you frequently see lingcod and cabezon there.
Mono-lobo is magical when you've got clear water and decent light (despite the low lying fog).
We had intended to swim out to Mono-lobo's impressive edge where it drops off towards Carmel Canyon but the 48 degree water led us to instead circumnavigate the giant rocks in 35 to 50 ft of water Their tops are at about 25 to 30 ft and as you can see, they've got the giant kelp regrowing, hurrah!
We had one quick dive bomb by a curious sea lion, I managed to get off a shot as he buzzed me.
Two dives in two weeks, a whole lot better ocean conditions than we've had for almost six months!
Tomorrow we're going out on a whole day whale watching trip with our friends from Oregon. The forecast is perfect and they've been seeing Orcas and Great Blue Whales as well as the seasonal mix of Humpbacks, migrating Gray Whales, and dolphins. Fingers crossed!
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