First Dives of the year, Cavern at Stillwater Cove and Erik's Pinnacle February 9, 2019

Guy Foster and I had the good fortune to dive with Sanctuary last Saturday, February 9, we caught a short window of good weather and good sea conditions.  Sanctuary took advantage of the sea conditions to take us down to Carmel Bay for our first dive, at the mouth of Stillwater Cove.  On the way down to Carmel Bay we saw several migrating Gray Whales and we saw a large pod of dolphin just after we rounded Cypress Point into Carmel Bay.  We dived a large ledge near the rock island in Stillwater cove.  We also had a nice view of the second day of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am with its large crowds.  Below are some pictures from this dive, for more please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/U46qwypn5cst4cCs7

    Our dive site, near the mouth of Stillwater Cove, gave us a great view of crowds at the Pebble Beach Pro Am.  I wasn't able to spot Clint Eastwood or Bill Murray though.  You can see we had splendid weather.

                                Coonstripe Shrimp and a Lined Chiton, I'm pleased with this shot, taken with my wide angle 10-17 mm Tokina.  The Chiton is about an inch long.

                                A pair of San Diego dorid nudibranchs and a Blood Star.

                                A male Kelp Greenling

                                Paula inspects the cavern at this site.

                                Guy makes his safety stop on the way back up to the Sanctuary.

Due to a forecast for high winds in the afternoon and incoming rain Sanctuary headed back to Monterey Bay for our second dive of the day where we dove a favorite site, Erik's Pinnacle.

Guy splashes to start our dive at Erik's Pinnacle.  Below are some more pictures from this dive, for more, please go to:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/gBUV24Vk7gohjH548

                                Pile Perch

                                          Bluestriped Sea Perch