Dives inside Sunset Point, Carmel Bay and inside Point Pinos, Monterey Bay May 25, 2016

Greg Hoberg and I had a good second day of diving this week.  We headed south to Carmel Bay from Monterey Bay early on Wednesday the 25th with calm seas but strong winds forecast for afternoon.  On our trip down we saw two juvenile humpback whales.  Our first dive was near where we had dived the day before but more inside of Sunset Point.  The swell was small and the kelp nearly non-existent due to the hordes of sea urchins so we dived areas that normally would be very difficult, dark, and with heavy surge.  We had blue water, 30 ft visibility buy again very chilly 48 degree temperature.  Just after we had surfaced and got our gear off we had a mother gray whale and her calf pass within 20 ft of our boat!  If only they had come along 15 minutes earlier while we were still down.  Most of the normal kelp is gone from this area with hordes of sea urchins eating all algae in site.  There were some stands of sargassum muticum however (not the invasive sargassum I don't believe).  http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/invasive-species/SargassumIdentificationGuide_8.27.15_compressed.pdf

                            Greg gets a shot of some California Cone snails laying eggs.

      Here's a close-up of California Cone snails laying eggs with a sea urchin, blue ring snail, and brittle star also in the mix.

     Black and yellow rockfish

       Vermilion Rockfish

    Decorator crab devouring a bat star

                         Normally schools of blue rockfish are in giant kelp beds but they are in short supply due to hordes of sea urchins since the sea star wasting disease decimated our sea stars (they are starting to recover, happily).  Here the blue rockfish are hanging near a stand of sargassum.

                          Greg in the stand of sargassum.  For more pictures from this dive, please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6289138044685771665?authkey=CLLfqarpxfTLVg

    Greg on seascape inside Point Pinos.

      Green Anemones (as opposed to Giant Green Anemones...).

Greg with a lingcod.

For more pictures from our dive near Point Pinos, please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6289138405579151137?authkey=CKq7mt_n_I6KtAE

Very good dives at Mono-lobo and near Sunset Point, Carmel Bay, today May 24, 2016

Greg Hoberg and I traveled the choppy seas from Monterey Bay to Carmel Bay this morning and were rewarded with good visibility with good sunshine for our two dives today.  Both dives had visibility around 25 ft.  The first dive at Mono-lobo had depths to 70 ft and bone chilling 48 degree water at the bottom.  After some hot chocolate and snickers and an hour surface interval, the second dive was shallow near some wash rocks off Sunset Point, we never exceeded about 30 ft of depth, 51 degree water temp so we didn't freeze on the second dive.

Mono-lobo had its usual healthy sized lingcods and some cabezon as well as a more curious and hence more cooperative than usual vermilion rockfish.  We were pleased to see growing numbers of leather star fish together with spiny sea stars and bat stars we've been seeing.  It looks like the kelp is starting to make a comeback, happily.  Below are some pictures from our Mono-lobo dive, to see more please go to:
 https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6288457223299785185?authkey=CJXkuvqiuo_xMg

                 Vermilion Rockfish

                      Greg with a nice sized lingcod

             Greg found a cabezon when he checked to make sure we'd be able to lift our anchor.

                   Cabezon close-up


Here's some pictures from our second dive off Sunset Point.   If you'd like to see more from this dive, please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6288470766847868897?authkey=CJ-Cm7vO1tDZbA

     This area near some wash rocks is frequently has too much surge to enjoy.  There was only a tiny short period wind swell today.

    Greg going through kelp.

     It was good to see some large, healthy ocher sea stars at this shallow site.

      When you see giant green anemones you know you are diving in an area that frequently has lots of surge.

 If you look closely you can see some leafy hornmouth snails laying yellow eggs in the hundreds.

   Leafy Hornmouth snails with eggs.

   Kelp rockfish with palm kelp.

    Greg getting pictures, closely observed by a curious rockfish.

Two good dives at Otter Cove, Pacific Grove May 15, 2016

I enjoyed two dives with Guy and Tessa Foster yesterday.  We had 30 to 40 ft of visibility and water temps from 50 to 54 degrees.  I was again very pleased to see growing numbers of healthy sea stars and to only see sea urchins in crevasses like they were before the sea star wasting disease wiped out so many sea stars, a sea urchin predator.  The kelp bed at Otter Cove is healthy and recovering from its low point last year but is still far smaller than in the past (maybe 60% of what it was).  Below are some pictures from our two dives, there are many more to see at:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6285386682173397713?authkey=COuzrOGmt92RrwE

 Here's the view we had as we snorkeled out to the kelp bed.

      Tessa in the kelp bed.  After her many dives in the Turks and Caicos she now matches me on air consumption.

          An Olive Rockfish above one of the many large rock structures found at Otter Cove.

                            A beautiful sand rose anemone.

                         Tessa's on the left, Guy with his spotting light right of center.

                                         Tessa found a large crab.

                             Guy gets a picture of bat stars devouring fish.

    Guy getting a picture of fish-eating urchina sea anemones.

                         Guy getting another picture.

Cone shells laying eggs.

A Very Good Dive off Carmel's Butterfly House May 13, 2016

Greg Hoberg and I had a second day of very calm seas so we cruised back down to Carmel Bay and again dived a new area for us because the kelp is thin enough to get Greg's boat into sites we normally couldn't reach.  On our cruise down we ran offshore to look for whales and saw over a dozen humpbacks and some small dolphins (not close enough to identify).  As we cruised east along Point Lobos a Gray whale and her calf surfaced nearby.

We enjoyed 30 to maybe 40 ft of visibility and 50 degree water temperature.  The site off the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Butterfly House had large rock structures and we saw a number of lingcod.  Below are some pictures from our dive, for more, please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6284729561529716577?authkey=CM360fv95IbAYg

On our cruise back to Monterey we saw a Humpback breach and a lot of tail lobs and pectoral slaps.

     You can see the Butterfly House near the right of the picture, directly inshore from where we were anchored in about 45 ft of water.

The site has some giant kelp, happily, but only a fraction of normal.  Hopefully the sea urchin plague will diminish as the spiny sea stars and ocher sea stars recover and as the larger sea urchins are munched by sea otters.

 Greg with a skeptical lingcod.

The lingcod ran out of patience with us.

 Greg found a decorator crab eating a bat star.

                      Decorator crab munching on an orange bat star.

  A San Diego Dorid (spotted nudibranch) at left center about four inches long, with an orange bat star.

   If you look closely you can see a painted greenling illuminated by Greg's spotter light.

   A beautiful painted greenling.

Two good dives, the first off Carmel River Beach, the second off Cypress Point May 12, 2016

Greg Hoberg and I had two very good dives.  The seas were flat, combined swell and chop about 2 ft and we had excellent visibility ranging from 40 to 50 ft with normal 51 degree temperature.

The first dive off Carmel River Beach (not far from the Butterfly House) was a new site for us.  We had huge rocks and some good giant kelp coverage.  Lots of small ling cod and small rockfish.

A decent sized ling cod, you can see Greg in the distance.

 It's great when you have decent light and good visibility and large rock structures to explore.

                       Black Rockfish

                                                       Lingcod

 We found a beautiful hydro coral garden at this site.

                                       Greg getting hydro coral pictures.

The water was very clear at Cypress Point but there was a heavy layer of transparent plankton - I think some kind of swimming salps.  Very dense at times.

                             Black and Yellow Rockfisn with a plethora of sea urchins at Cypress Point..

                       The density of sealife on the rocks is amazing.

                                 I was really glad to see many large, healthy ochre sea stars on this dive, a very good sign of seas star recovery from the wasting disease plague.  There were also lots of spiny sea stars, bat stars, and leather sea stars.

To see more from these two dives please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6284013370896912049?authkey=CJjbj4jo_p_tsgE

and

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6284013228234267537?authkey=CMDW08DqioCwxgE