Great Dive off Sunset Point, Carmel Bay Post Retirement dive #958 October 15, 2026

Greg Hoberg and I took his boat from the Monterey Harbor to a kelp bed we'd sighted on our last dive trip just inside Sunset Point near the NW corner of Carmel Bay. The kelp bed is primarily Giant Kelp and is about 100 yards long. Sadly, there's only about 5% of the normal kelp forests in Monterey and Carmel Bays due to the plague of Purple Urchins whose numbers exploded after the Sea Star wastin disease wiped out most off the sea stars in 2013/2014, including, especially, Sunflower Stars, a major urchin predator. We were delighted with the dive in this kelp forest, we enjoyed 20-50 ft of visibility and were shocked by the 64 degree water temperature, a full 12 degrees F warmer than normal. The warmth reached all the way to our deepest point on the dive, 60ft. Below are some photos from the dive, to see the rest, you can go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/yNwQ6YSHHuHSp41N6 We dropped anchor just outside the kelp forest in 50 ft of water. When we start a dive we go down the anchor line and Greg repositions the anchor to try to make sure we'll be able to pull it up from the boat after our dive. Note that the rocks are covered by sea urchins creating an urchin barren up against the kelp bed. Below:

Greg starts into the kelp forest. Below:

A curious Kelp Rockfish, below:

A Leather Sea Star, below:

A Black and Yellow Rockfish, below:

Diving in a Kelp Forest with good visibility and light is magical. Below:

Lots of Blue Rockfish! Above and below:

Below: A juvenile Ling Cod, a male Kelp Greenling, and a Bull Kelp.

A great dive!