Cypress Point, Outer Rock 5-13-14

Greg Hoberg and I dived the outer rock off Cypress Point last Tuesday.  The swell was very low and this was the first time we had encountered conditions for comfortable diving off Cypress Point in quite a while.  We had 20 to 30 ft visibility and the dive ranged from as shallow as about 20 ft to over 60 ft.

 Giant Green Anemone are common on this "wash rock".  Green Anemone like turbulent water and this is a very turbulent dive site under all but the calmest conditions.  Turbulent conditions go down to 50 ft on this rock!

 The orange bat star to the left of the Giant Green Anemone is about 6 - 7 inches across so you can see this is a large anemone.

 Greg is hovering over a scattered group of Giant Green Anemones.

 Greg recently added a cool GoPro video to his versatile still photography rig.

 Greg found a Umbrella Crap, just above his pointing finger.

 Seldom do I intentionally touch critters, I like to be minimally intrusive (beyond my doubtlessly alarming bubble blowing and strobe flashing).  But this time I couldn't resist picking up the Umbrella Crab to show the small body and legs hidden beneath the over sized "helmet".  These ridiculous looking crabs always remind me of "Lord Dark Helmet" (Rick Moranis) in Space Balls.

For more pictures from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6015231302065946865?authkey=CIqUmKb8iZq_qgE

Dive on Mono-lobo, last Thursday, May 1.

Greg and I had a second day to dive with decent conditions last week.  Once again we had 20 to 30 ft visibility.  We dived Mono-lobo because it was somewhat sheltered from the westerly swell which had also dropped to 2 -4 ft from 3-5 ft the day before.

 We had a beautiful, sunny, calm, day.  This is looking to the west from our dive site on mono-lobo towards Point Lobos Marine Reserve.  Point Lobos Marine Reserve is one of the most beautiful places on the planet for a hike and at this point I've got a fair sample to base that claim on.

 This is looking to the east towards Monastery Beach and you can see the Monastery perched above it.  Monastery beach is a spectacular shore dive on a nice day and extremely deadly if a large swell sets in.

Looking to the north past Greg is Carmel Bay with Cypress Point at the far left.

 Greg with a large lingcod.  This area is now protected so there is a good population of lingcod and cabezon.

Greg has his wide angle lens just a few inches from the face of a cabezon.

For more pictures from this dive please see:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6010737033689720385?authkey=CNbBu8js77HaoAE

Dives on Pinnacles and off Pescadero Point last Wednesday, April 30.

We finally got some low winds and reasonable swell size and were able to take Greg Hoberg's dive boat down to Carmel Bay and made dives on the Pinnacles and off Pescadero Point.  We had more typical 20 to 30 ft visibility and significant surge down to around 50 ft.  

 Greg on one of the many walls to be found on the Pinnacles.

 A Treefish (rockfish)

 Interesting sculpin, still not sure the species.

 This sculpin is around four inches or so long.

Despite looking at lots of different sculpin pictures I'm still not sure which kind this one is.

 A pair of amorous sea lemon nudibranchs.

 A white spotted rose anemone.

A hudson's nudibranch is near the center of the picture to the right of the orange filter feeding sea cucumber.

The small striped thing near the center of this picture is a showy snailfish juvenile.  It was around three inches across.  I spotted it as I swam past but was about to lose sight of Greg, at the time I thought it was a new kind of nudibranch (for me) instead it was the first time I've seen a snailfish.

For more pictures from these two dives, please go to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6010731814024672193?authkey=CPGyoNqYu5H26AE

Pinnacles, Carmel Bay, 4-7-2014

Greg Hoberg and I had an exceptional dive on the Pinnacles yesterday.  Visibility was easily 60 to 80 ft, 49 degrees, with bright sunshine.  Great conditions.  We saw a school of Rizzo's dolphins off Cypress Point on our way down to Carmel Bay.

To see more pictures, please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6000078519429509505?authkey=CJ3FzPfUltX_zAE

A couple of pictures from our dive are attached below.

 Greg with a plethora of blue rockfish.

 Check out the visibility and how bright it was, down 65 ft or so.

 Greg getting some lingcod video.

Bat Stars high fiving!

Finally, two days of diving on the Pinnacles, Carmel Bay, 2-24,25-2014

Greg Hoberg and I had two good days of diving on the Pinnacles this week.  There was a swell running so we chose the Pinnacles as the best combination of visibility and ability to get under the surge.  We had 30 ft visibility both days.  We saw Rizzo's dolphins near Pt Lobos on the 24th and saw a few gray whales on our way down and on our way back on the 25th.  On our second day of diving on the Pinnacles we anchored in a new part of the Pinnacles to the west and found great canyons (Pinnacles are known for them but this was better than usual) extending from about 40 ft down to past 100 ft (our maximum depth was around 80 ft or so).  Water temperature was a chilly 49 degrees.

The pictures from our dive can be seen at:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5996271843190131281?authkey=CNWMkoe15ovzxQE


A couple pictures from our dive below:

 Greg gets a ling cod close up.  If you look at his wide angle lens you can see my strobe flash reflection.

 The ling cod soon lost patience with us.

We were periodically visited by a curious harbor seal through the entire dive.  He was shy though.

Snorkeling with Reef Squid at the reef off the point at the east end of Sekewa Beach

I went snorkeling at the reef that is off the point at the end of Sekewa Beach near the bungalow we rented called Tropic Splendor.  I had the good fortune on this outing (I was by myself because Donna was nursing a cold I gave her from my travels in Indonesia) to encounter a school of about 25 reef squid.  I love all cephalopods - squid, octopus, cuttlefish.  I look forward to see the Monterey Aquarium's new cephalopod exhibit called "Tentacles" that opens April 15 (http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/calendar/MemberEvents.aspx ).

 Squid can change color at the blink of an eye.  I'm not sure if this was the start of amorous behavior or just dominance games.

 One squid has a very distinctively different color.

To see all 18 photos please go to :
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5982250706890644593?authkey=CIyQwuq13dT4eg

Last snorkel dive at the reef off the point at the east end of Sekewa beach

I decided to squeeze in one more snorkel outing the morning before our afternoon departure from Vanua Levu, Tropic Splendor.  I decided to take out my 60 mm macro lens and try to shoot small stuff.  This reef is less than 1/2 mile from the bungalow we were renting.  To see all the pictures I posted please go to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/5981095675145427713?authkey=CN7SjsvZ7ratHw

 Juvenile snapper, about 5 inches long.

 Lucky butterfly fish "trifecta"

 One of the prettiest goatfish, ever.

Cool burrow dwelling fish, species TBD.