Greg Hoberg and I took advantage of exceptionally calm seas to take his boat down to Mono-lobo twice this week. A couple of things we noticed was that the water was 57 degrees in Monterey and 50 degrees on our dives in Carmel Bay, also, the water turned from mostly greenish to very blue when we rounded Cypress Point into Carmel Bay and the temperature dropped. Perhaps this is because of the canyon that comes into Carmel Bay and terminates right next to Mono-lobo and Monastery Beach? Both days we saw several Gray whales and lots of common dolphins. We had great sunny diving conditions and very good visibility ranging from 25 to 40 ft. Due to assembly carelessness I discovered my flash wasn't working on the first day so I took natural light pictures and several videos. Mono-lobo is a protected area so we saw many Cabezon and Lingcod. On the second day Greg also found a pair of Wolf eels. I was very glad to see the wolf eels, they munch on sea urchins and there are way too many urchins and too little kelp since the sea star wasting disease devastated sea star populations.
The multi-legged sea star in this picture may be (TBD) a juvenile sunflower sea star. I haven't seen a sunflower star in well over a year (they normally are very common) since the wasting disease swept through the sea star population. That is a brittle star on the orange puff sponge. Natural light photos..
This natural light photo of a nice sized cabezon shows off their excellent camouflage.
Mono-lobo has fantastic canyons and rock structures, diving it with sunlight and clear water is wonderful.
Here is a video of Greg taking pictures of a cabezon in palm kelp and dealing with the sea surge.
Greg with cabezone
A plethora of blue rockfish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pynogUl_0tE&feature=youtu.be
Camouflaged Cabezon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJWvfQZx0k4&feature=youtu.be
For more pictures (all natural light) from the first day of diving please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6123515784367012209?
authkey=CKetkPnvgMvceA
On our second day of diving I had my strobe working again and Greg found a pair of Wolf eels tucked into their lair. They are very shy and it is hard to get them illuminated for a decent photo.
Greg has his video light on to shoot video of a lingcod on his perch. Greg took the following picture of me with the lingcod.
Greg has found a pair of wolf eels in their crevasse. Look for blueish gray head down to the right from his camera.
It is hard to get good pictures of wolf eels, they are always back in their holes. Greg took the following closeup of the wolf eel on the left.
To see more pictures from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6123519903159700673?authkey=CKHPlOjg8evHRg
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