Good Dives at the Pinnacles and Monolobo, huge pod of Risso's Dolphins off Pt Pinos October 27, 2020

 Greg Hoberg and I caught a day with very calm seas and took his boat down to Carmel Bay last Tuesday.  We had good dives on the Pinnacles and at Monolobo and then encountered a huge pod of Risso's Dolphins off Pt Pinos on our way back.  We were entertained by several repeated breaches.

Below are some photos from our first dive on the Pinnacles.  To see more, please go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/26mFo1jyhd1aMxXv6

We noticed when we anchored the boat, that the boat drifted back in the opposite direction from what we expected.  We realized that there was a bit of a current running.  While down 65 ft in a maze of mini-canyons we didn't notice the current, but in the pictures that have Giant Kelp you can see that the kelp is stretched out horizontally instead of standing straight up, like usual.  We were pleased to see more kelp and few sea urchins.

Gopher Rockfish on encrusting sponge with sea anemones.

                                            Yes, I'd say there was a plethora of rockfish.

    Note Giant Kelp not standing up straight.  We noticed when we failed to find the anchor line and surfaced downcurrent from Greg's boat, fortunately in giant kelp to hold onto during our three minute safety stop..  Seems like every now and then you have to repeat the whole "Good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgment!" learning process. I had to kick as hard as I could to beat the current and was really really glad when I got to the boat.

                                         Olive Rockfish

                                  Well, sans bubbles, it would have been an ok shot of a buzzing sea lion.

                                            
         Here the sea lion shot up from below to pay a quick visit.

Our second dive was at Monolobo.  We again had average visibility of 25ft with 56 degree water, about 4 degrees warmer than usual. Below are some pictures from our dive at Monolobo, to see more, to see more, please go to:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CBdxhLQACV2iQCKC9 

Greg gets a sea lion visit at the start of our dive, right after he finished re-positioning the anchor so that it would be easy (ish) to retrieve.

                                   Ah, I perfectly timed my shot to include bubbles with the sea lion...

Greg spotted a cool sculpin, species TBD, possibly Coraline.  Note one purple sea urchin, cowering in a crevice where it belongs.  The urchins are becoming fewer and the kelp is recovering at Monolobo.

Greg eye to eye with sculpin.

    Getting buzzed by another sea lion, or, the same one, again...

      Vermilion Rockfish, they look charcoal gray in natural light because there is no red light at depth, strobe flash brings out the red.

     I was very happy to see a nice sized Lingcod in the Palm Kelp.  We haven't been seeing them recently like we normally do, and we're diving in a no take area.

           We found the anchor line for our safety stop, no current, no strenuous surface swim back to the boat this time, and the anchor eventually came up through the kelp...

Enjoyable Dive at Otter Cove with Guy Foster October 17, 2020

 Last Saturday Guy Foster and I made our first shore dive in a long while, at Otter Cove.  We rediscovered how much work shore dives are, especially when you include up and down the stairs at Otter Cove and a significant surface swim out and back.  It was good to dive there again, visibility on the outside edge of the kelp forest was 20 maybe 25 ft, water temp was 51, maximum depth was 45 ft.  The kelp forest there, though significant, is maybe 25% of normal.  Below are some photos from this dive, for more, please go to:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/MmXGVSYRkeeXh9yA8

Looking back past Guy at Otter Cove's stairs as we snorkel out to the kelp forest.

  Visibility gradually improved as we made our way through the giant kelp bed to its outer edge where the rocky bottom transitions to sand and where the largest rock structures are found.

                                           Tube Anemones with Sea Lemon Nudibranch

                                  Painted Greenling with Strawberry Anemones and Purple Sea Urchins

                       As we made our way back towards shore through the kelp forest a harbor seal played peak a boo with us.

Good Dives at Monolobo and off Point Joe October 1, 2020

 Greg Hoberg and I took advantage of very good sea conditions to take his boat down to Monolobo at the SE end of Carmel Bay for our first dive last Thursday.  We were encouraged from the boat by the water color but disappointed once we splashed with only 20-25 ft of visibility.  Water temp at the bottom was a more or less standard 50 degrees.  Lots of health kelp, few sea urchins (very encouraging), normal number of rockfish but, surprisingly, again, no lingcod and no cabezon.  The lack of lingcod and cabezon is notable and worrisome.  No idea, in this protected area, why we didn't see any, on yet another dive.

The combination of high level smoke and being under dense kelp made it a dark dive.

Horned Nudibranch, aka Opalescent Nudibranch,  about3-4 inches long.  Shot with my wide angle fisheye so quite pleased...

Monterey Dorid, aka Sea Lemon Nudibranch, 5-6 inches long

Can you find the Painted Greenling?  Look just to the right of the Palm Kelp base in the center of the photo.

Greg with Metridium Anemones, aka Plumrose Anemones, on one of Monolobo's walls.

                                 Gopher Rockfish with dense invertebrate life.

For more photos from our dive at Monolobo, please go to:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ye5BgKHUzM8NWpiR8

We pulled up anchor and headed back towards Monterey to shorten the ride back after our second dive in case the wind and chop came up.  We decided to dive off Point Joe because the kelp forests there have been slowly recovering, they are maybe a third of normal now but have a much higher proportion of Bull Kelp to Giant Kelp compared to normal.  We dives on a likely patch of Giant Kelp in about 60 ft of water to minimize the surge from the 3 - 4 ft NW swell.  Again, we had plenty of the usual rockfish and I also saw one small Cabezon and one female California Sheephead but no lingcod!  Where are they?

This dive site had a scattering of rocking pinnacles 10-15 ft high on a rocky bottom.  Visibility was about the same, 20 - 25 ft, light was a bit better because the sun was higher and we weren't under a dense kelp canopy.  In this picture you can see Greg on the right and a sea lion that turned and darted away before my camera focused and shot, to the left of the pinnacle.

Bright orange encrusting sponge.

                                  Male Kelp Greenling.  Note how I carefully positioned the Palm Kelp stalk's shadow on his face....

For more photos from our dive off Point Joe, please go to:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bAkHc1swpWA4cQqM8