Greg Hoberg and I took his RIB zodiac down to Carmel Bay to dive at the Inner Pinnacle and then, due to a forecast for rising winds, which never developed, went back to dive in the recovering Bull Kelp bed off Pt Joe where we had observed good water clarity on our way down to Carmel. During our cruise from Monterey to Carmel Bay we were pleased to see lots of kelp recovery, dominated by Bull Kelp. The kelp beds are the most extensive that they've been since the hordes of sea urchins mowed them down during 2014. We also saw whale watching boats and whales, at least some of which were Humpbacks, in Carmel Bay (they've been seeing Blue Whales recently, too). Again, because of the forecast for rising wind we did not spend a lot of time whale watching but commenced with diving. Not wanting a long slog against a wind chop, we dived the Pinnacles rather than going further into Carmel Bay.
Our first dive was on the Inner Pinnacle, closer to Carmel Bay's north shore than usual for diving the pinnacles. Visibility was only 20 ft at the surface but opened up to at least 30, perhaps 40 at times down at 70 ft. Water temp was 52 degrees, very standard for this time of year. We were pleased to see lots of rockfish enjoying the recovering kelp bed on the Pinnacles. Below are some macro photos, shot with my Canon 60 mm lens, to see more, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q7aCpm9JHcuVsALD8
Enthusiastic pair of nudibranchs making sure there will be more in the future.
Almost a good picture of a very cool juvenile China Rockfish
A beautiful Opalescent Nudibranch, Hermissenda crassicornis, about 3 inches long.
The density of life on the 25 ft high wall we spent our dive on was truly astonishing. Here's a Painted Greenling on top of an encrusting tunicate and sitting partially under a Feather Duster tube worm.
A Blue rock crab patiently allowed me to take his closeup. It was about 8 inches across.
Gopher rockfish becoming tense at my close approach.
A hermit crab perched on hydro coral.
Brown Cup Coral, about 3/4 inch across
Painted Greenling with violet hydro coral
Painted Greenling with Strawberry anemones
Our second dive was halfway back to Monterey Harbor, off Pt Joe. Finally, after several years with almost no remaining kelp, the Bull Kelp is recovering in a major way as the Spiny Sea Stars recover from the sea star wasting disease and as the ravenous sea urchins grew large enough to draw the attention of sea otters. Below are some photos from this dive, for more, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GL2dXTcjhLN6vmKA8
Monterey Dorid Nudibranch, about five inches long
Beautiful Lingcod. Greg got some shots of lingcod and a curious but caution Vermilion rockfish, it was far too shy for me to get pictures of it with my macro lens.
Black and Yellow Rockfish
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