Greg Hoberg and I had a very exciting trip in his RIB zodiac last Wednesday. As we cruised up to the Pinnacles to check out the visibility we saw dozens of Humpback "blows" off Pescadero Point at the entrance to Stillwater Cove. We pulled in close to a kelp bed opposite Pescadero Point and watched the amazing surface action. A couple of dozen humpbacks were lunge feeding at the surface just off the point. We were amazed at how much they were even going into the kelp beds in pursuit of the immense schools of anchovies. After taking in this action for over an hour we went on across Carmel Bay to Mono-lobo hoping for decent visibility there (we toyed with diving at our favorite site off Pescadero Point but I was a bit intimidated by how aggressively the humpbacks were lunge feeding and I was concerned for us, the anchor line, and Greg's boat given the poor visibility). We ended up with 15 ft visibility at Mono-lobo with mid 50s water temperature. After the dive we moved back across the bay to watch humpback feeding action off Pescadero Point which was still going full bore.
The rock behind the humpback is one of our favorite dive sites but the whales were shooting right through there!
The paddle boarder was shooting gopro video, I'm sure he got some awesome shots. We got his email....
Great shot of surface lunge feeding right of Pescadero rock.
Sometimes the surface lunge feeding was on their sides, sometimes they were on their backs.
The humpbacks were using huge bubble nets to drive the anchovies together and then surfacing through them. Just as we suddenly realized that the action had moved over to us and we saw bubbles come up around us and anchovies under us we got the surprise of our lives!
A humpback lunge feeding on his back came up right under us, lifting the boat up a couple of feet and giving the boat's bottom a slap with its tail as it went past. It sure got our attention!
We saw the usual scattering of ling cod.
Painted Greenling
Sea Anemone
Nudibranch, Triopha Maculata, the first of these I've seen, I think.
For more Humpback pictures please go to:
For a few more underwater photos please go to:
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