Guy Foster and I had two excellent dives yesterday with "Sanctuary" a dive boat that only takes up to six divers at a time. We first cruised down to Carmel Bay and dived on a site on the Pinnacles called "Outer Inner" because it is the outer edge of the inner Pinnacles. Our second dive was at a site back inside Monterey Bay about 1/3 of a mile off Coral Street in Pacific Grove. On both dives we had excellent visibility of at least 35 ft, water temp was 51 degrees.
I was very pleased to see that Bull Kelp is making a strong comeback though there is still little of any of the usual Giant Kelp that has been missing since the sea star plague of 2013 led to an explosion in sea urchins. We were buzzed by a sea lion a couple times on this dive, I managed to focus and shoot it once...Still too many sea urchins! Below are some photos from our "Outer Inner" Pinnacles dive, for more, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/p5B8SbWlTOgoSogX2
Guy "splashes" off Sanctuary to start our dive on the "Outer Inner" Pinnacles.
It's a lot more pleasant to have a scattering of Yellow Purple-striped Sea Nettles in clear water!
Predictably, if a Vermilion Rockfish presents itself, I will of course shoot it. Notice the beautiful water color and the amount of light I'm getting from the SE on this morning dive in October,even 65 ft down. The sun is getting lower and very noticeably south. There was a very long period swell running, actually two, from NW and SW, so when in one of the canyons found throughout the Pinnacles (they run mostly East and West) the energy gets channeled and we'd get shove back and forth 6 to even 10 feet back and forth with each swell. Have to time your photos!
Guy shooting on the wall of one of the canyons, during a pause in the swell displacement, which is why I could shoot him, too.
A big, healthy spiny sea star, hopefully it will help eat up sea urchins of which there are still far too many. In normal times you only find sea urchins in crevices. Hopefully the sea otters will make progress, eating the larger ones, too. Sadly, still no sign of any Sunflower Stars, haven't seen these aggressive predator sea stars in four years.
Still way too many sea urchins, some of them are now sizeable. They are keeping us from having our normally huge kelp forests, though we are past the low point at last.
A large Sea Lemon Nudibranch (six inches) with purple sea urchins and Strawberry Anemones.
A sparse kelp bed plus clear skies and clear water equals outstanding light, even down 60 ft.
Up the anchor chain to our safety stop, entertained by passing Purple Striped Sea Nettles
Mike (Sanctuary's owner/captain) wisely took us back to Monterey Bay for our second dive in the face of rising (and forecasted) winds. We tried to go dive the Shale Reef right off Del Monte Beach but the water was brownish green and full of sea nettles, also a sailing regatta was just about to start and would cross our dive site so on (fortunately, it turned out!) to Plan B. Our second dive was at a site called "Aumentos" just east of Point Pinos off Chase Reef, offshore from Coral Street beach. At this site you are located where there is lots of boat traffic so it is best if you can find your way back to the anchor and surface at the boat. We enjoyed great visibility so keeping track of the anchor was quite easy. The site is a series of pinnacles from five to 15 ft high. Lots of white Metridium sea anemones, lots of strawberry anemones, a really cool site. Below are some photos from this dive, for more please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yuQvE5N1dWS8uWa72
I took this shot as I followed Guy down to Aumentos (depths of 55-85 ft) great visibility, good light!
Guy cruising Aumentos.
We had beautiful visibility and great light.
Metridium Anemone aka Plumrose Anemone, surrounded by Strawberry Anemones.
Yes, I would say Aumentos has a plethora of Metridium Anemones!
Guy taking closeups, look t the light and visibility! Great rock structure at Aumentos.
Copper Rockfish
Guy with a Lingcod on his perch.
Lingcod closeup
Guy gets a Lingcod shot.
Up the anchor chain for our safety stop with Dan and Kendra, the two other divers on this trip with us. You can see the shadow of Sanctuary (ha, literally and figuratively!) above us. Aumentos has lots of boat traffic so you really want to come up the anchor chain to your boat.
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