Mono-Lobo October 27, 2017

Greg Hoberg and I took his boat down to Carmel Bay for a second day of diving.  Sea conditions were significantly better, less chop and reduced swell.  As we passed Carmel Canyon on the way to Mono-lobo we were pleased to see a pod of Risso's dolphins.  We see them fairly often in this area, the deep canyon is a good hunting ground for the squid they eat.  When we arrived at Mono-lobo we were very happy to see many bachelor sea otters and we hope they will eat many sea urchins.  The kelp bed, is currently about 2/3 of normal size following the plague of sea urchins which followed the sea star wasting disease which decimated sea stars which eat lots of baby sea urchins.    Hopefully the sea otters will further reduce the many adult sized sea urchins still on the site.  Indeed, on our dive, we observed that almost all the sea urchins we saw were in crevasses which was the norm before the plague...  e had 15 ft of visibility at the surface and 30 ft down at the bottom, 50 degree water temp.

Below are some pictures from this dive, to see more, please go to:
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Mono-lobo is full of large rock structures and mini-walls.  You can see that we had good visibility and good light yesterday.

Greg found that by staying still and being patient he could get decent closeups of an always shy Treefish.

I got a closeup too.

Greg found a pair of Wolf Eels in their lair.  Wolf Eels mate for life and frequently stay in the same shelter for years.  We think we may have actually found this pair in the past.

The large Gray Wolf Eel and his brownish companion just visible above him and behind the Spotte Rose Anemone.  Wolf Eels are always shy.  The eat sea urchins which is a wonderful thing for the health of the kelp bed.

Almost all the sea urchins we saw on this dive were in crevices where they belong.  If they are caught out in the open in daylight the sea otters will munch them.  Hurray, the sea otters are back to this kelp bed and now I bet it will return to its normal extent.

A beautiful male Kelp Greenling.

 Greg gets a closeup of a Kelp Crab.

It's nice to have Giant Kelp and its denizens again to hang out with at 20 ft for our three minute safety stop.