Mono-lobo December 6, 2017

Greg Hoberg and I took his rigid inflatable zodiac down to Carmel Bay and dived at Mono-lobo yesterday.  On the way out of the harbor we saw several whales in the distance but didn't see any up close.  Surprisingly, for this time of year, the water in Monterey Bay was quite murky.  The water was very clear as we rounded Cypress Point but we went down to Mono-lobo for calmer conditions, Carmel Bay was well sheltered from the NE breeze.  We had 25 ft of average visibility, 51 chilly degrees (Greg just back from three weeks of tropical diving, my first dive after a week of diving significantly warmer Channel Islands).  The kelp bed at Mono-lobo is back close to normal in extent with a mix of Giant Kelp and Bull Kelp.  While diving it was evident that the sea urchin population is probably just about back to normal here.  We saw a nice lingcod and cabezon on the dive, pretty much a normal mix of rockfish.  We also saw a lot of nudibranchs both significant quantities and several varieties.  Despite hot chocolate after the dive we decided to call it a day, we were too chilled and didn't warm up well in the chilly breeze. 

Below are some pictures from our dive, for more, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/U1mdY35Hh1PPOCoB3

                                   Gopher Rockfish

                          Greg gets a shot.  Great vertical relief and incredibly rich invertebrate life at this site.

Berthella californica, common name California Berthella.  Unlike most nudibranchs, it's gills are tucked away, for more:  http://slugsite.us/bow/nudiwk79.html .  For reference, the orange cup coral is about 1/2 inch across, so I'm pretty pleased with this cropped shot from my wide angle lens.

 I'm so pleased that Mono-lobo is back to having a Giant Kelp forest!

               Greg with a pretty, decent sized (this is a marine sanctuary) Lingcod.

                             Mono-lobo is a series of pinnacles, walls, and submarine canyons, spectacular.

                               Sea Lemon Nudibranch, about 6 inches long.  Note lonely purple sea urchin sheltering under the rock, right where it belongs.  Hurray for urchin predators!  The Kelp is back!

Greg just missed seeing this beautiful Cabezon sitting snugly on the other side of a Bull Kelp stalk.  This is a natural light photo to show off the Cabezon's camouflage.  See it?

                               Here's the Cabezon, well lit by my strobe to show off his colors.

                                       Obviously, one of my favorite subjects, beautiful fish!

Nudibranch orgy, complete with yellow encrusting sponge they are also chewing on.

I am so much happier making a safety stop in kelp.  Especially since a free diving spearfisherman got bit by a Great White Shark at the opposite end of Carmel Bay two weeks ago!