Humpbacks off Pescadero Point, Carmel Bay, and another good dive off Mono-lobo, September 17, 2014.

Greg Hoberg and I had a very exciting trip in his RIB zodiac last Wednesday.  As we cruised up to the Pinnacles to check out the visibility we saw dozens of Humpback "blows" off Pescadero Point at the entrance to Stillwater Cove.  We pulled in close to a kelp bed opposite Pescadero Point and watched the amazing surface action.  A couple of dozen humpbacks were lunge feeding at the surface just off the point.  We were amazed at how much they were even going into the kelp beds in pursuit of the immense schools of anchovies.  After taking in this action for over an hour we went on across Carmel Bay to Mono-lobo hoping for decent visibility there (we toyed with diving at our favorite site off Pescadero Point but I was a bit intimidated by how aggressively the humpbacks were lunge feeding and I was concerned for us, the anchor line, and Greg's boat given the poor visibility).  We ended up with 15 ft visibility at Mono-lobo with mid 50s water temperature.  After the dive we moved back across the bay to watch humpback feeding action off Pescadero Point which was still going full bore.

The rock behind the humpback is one of our favorite dive sites but the whales were shooting right through there!

 The paddle boarder was shooting gopro video, I'm sure he got some awesome shots.  We got his email....

Great shot of surface lunge feeding right of Pescadero rock.

 Sometimes the surface lunge feeding was on their sides, sometimes they were on their backs.

The humpbacks were using huge bubble nets to drive the anchovies together and then surfacing through them.  Just as we suddenly realized that the action had moved over to us and we saw bubbles come up around us and anchovies under us we got the surprise of our lives!

A humpback lunge feeding on his back came up right under us, lifting the boat up a couple of feet and giving the boat's bottom a slap with its tail as it went past.  It sure got our attention!

 We saw the usual scattering of ling cod.

 Painted Greenling

 Sea Anemone

Nudibranch, Triopha Maculata, the first of these I've seen, I think.

For more Humpback pictures please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6061251193482262433?authkey=CM77s8Ltk53haw

For a few more underwater photos please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6061260088855674929?authkey=CJCBpYbu4seoxwE

Two dives on Mono-lobo, Carmel Bay, April 10, 2014

Greg Hoberg and I made two dives on Mono-lobo last Wednesday.  We had 20 ft visibility on the inside of the kelp bed, 40 ft at the outside edge near the Carmel Canyon.  We saw the usual mix of rockfish, kelp greenlings, and numerous lingcod but no Cabezon.  We also saw one Mola-mola outside the kelp bed and one large dead mola mola on the bottom.  Water temperature has dropped to more normal temperatures, about 56 at the surface, 54 down below.  Offshore we saw a large group of humpbacks together with sea lions and sea birds hammering anchovies.  Hopefully Greg will get me some of the surface shots he took.  We drifted in his boat and had humpbacks surfacing all around us and swimming under the boat.  It is amazing just to hear them breathe up close.

Below are a few pictures from the dive, to see more please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6058594422353834641?authkey=CMbdncXMwpBv

 The kelp beds are the thinnest I've ever seen them at this time of year.  I'm seeing many more kelp holdfasts that have failed and been pulled up into the kelp than normal at this time of year, usually they get pulled up when we start getting big winter storms.  I think it is due to the larger than normal population of sea urchins munching on them.  There are more small (and growing) sea urchins than normal because the sea stars that eat young sea urchins were decimated last fall and earlier this year by sea star wasting syndrome.

 Greg is getting some video of a salp that has been captured and is slowly being devoured by a sea anemone.

 It's a rough neighborhood for drifting salps coming in from the open ocean.

Though his head is invisible you can see neptune's white mustache and he is barfing up something white....or maybe it was just a white jellyfish..

 Mono-lobo has huge rock structures.

 If you look carefully ahead of Greg in this picture you can just make out a Mola-mola we saw outside the kelp bed.

 UFO, unidentified floating organism.  TBD, maybe a salp, maybe a pteropod...

 Greg found a large mola mola that had been partially devoured by something with a big bite.

 My hand to give some perspective on the bite size.

 Kelp rockfish

 Greg getting a closeup of an amorous pair of rock crabs.

I got a closeup too then we left them in peace....

Two days of Carmel and Pacific Grove diving August 26, 27, 2014. Surface partying Humpbacks and sea lions and the usual undersea suspects.

This week Greg Hoberg and I had two excellent days of diving and surface action out in his new serviced dive boat.  On Tuesday the 26th we were headed across Carmel Bay from the Pinnacles headed for our selected dive site, Mono-lobo, when we spotted a large group of Humpback whales with 100s of sea lions feasting on huge shoals of anchovies we could see on the depth finder.

 Sea lions and Humpbacks!

Sea Lions checking us out, you can see Monastery Beach in the background.  Our dive site, Mono-lobo is just to the right edge of the picture.

 A pair of humpback blows, there were probably about 20 humpbacks around us, 100s of sea lions.

Humpbacks diving on anchovies, Pt Lobos Marine Reserve in the background.  If you haven't been there, be sure to go to Pt Lobos the next time you are in the Monterey area.  It is one of the most spectacularly beautiful places on the planet.

 Here is the view towards the west from Greg's boat anchored at Mono-lobo, looking at Pt Lobos Marine reserve.

 Looking south at Pt Lobos from Greg's boat at Mono-lobo.

Looking roughly east from Greg's boat anchored at Mono-lobo, looking at Monastery Beach.

After enjoying the surface action for awhile we decided to pull on in to Mono-lobo and dive.  We had 20 ft visibility and 58 degree (61 at the surface) water temperature - balmy by Carmel standards.  We saw the usual assortment of rockfish, lingcod, and cabezon and the always amazing density of invertebrate life.  Some pictures from this dive are below.

 Strange drifting colony of salps....remind me of the pods in Alien that launch onto unsuspecting astronaut's helmet.  I didn't put my head against it....

 Copper Rockfish

 Curious lingcod

 We are seeing lots of juvenile sea stars so hopefully recovery from the sea star wasting syndrome is underway.

 Confident cabezon posses for a closeup with my 60 mm macro lens.

Juvenile olive rockfish in the kelp canopy during our safety stop.
For more pictures of whale action and this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6053081896226719281?authkey=CJHwg-K4sd3ejAE

On Wednesday, August 27th we went out for a second day of diving with remarkably flat seas.  We dived Mono-lobo on the first dive (but no whales today!) with 20 ft average visibility and then, due to a rising sea breeze, went back to Monterey Bay to dive Inner Chase reef or outer Otter Cove for our second dive.  We had 30 ft vertical visibility, 25 ft horizontal.  Both dives were again in the upper 50s, 6 to 8 degrees warmer than we've ever had before.  As always we were amazed at the tremendously less dense invertebrate life in Monterey Bay compared to our dive sites in Carmel Bay.  Monterey invertebrate is rich but only about 1 percent of the richer sites in Carmel Bay.  We also noticed the lack of a single Sunflower Star where in the past we would have seen dozens on this dive.  We noticed several holdfasts floating up free from the bottom, probably because small sea urchins, whose numbers have exploded since the sea star wasting syndrome struck, have munched on them.  There also seems to be more grazing snails on the kelp than ever, perhaps also due to the sea star decimation.  The kelp beds this year in both Monterey and Carmel though still large and extensive, are much more sparse than we have ever seen at this time of year.

 Coralline Sculpin, about 3 inches long.

 Painted Greenling, about 3 -4 inches long.

 Horned Nudibranch, about 1 1/2 inches long.

Sea Lemon nudibranch with eggs, about 4 inches long.

 Small, maybe snubnose, sculpin.

 Tube worm

 Juvenile flatfish, about 2 inches long.

Juvenile rockfish, probably a vermillion, about 3 inches long.

For more pictures from our Mono-lobo dive, please see:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6053082734706838801?authkey=CMSylf-eo-Hx_wE

More pictures from the Pacific Grove Inner, inner Chase Reef or outer, outer, Otter Cove can be seen here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6053081247167451281?authkey=CIzunrKpi_iRnwE

Cypress Point Outer Rock, 7-31-2014

Greg Hoberg and I had a very good dive around the outer rock off Cypress Point.  On the way there we were entertained by a group of Rizzo's dolphins with two of the smallest babies we've ever seen, less than 3 ft long.  Swell conditions were excellent and we had 58 degree water, about the warmest we've ever seen here, with 15 to 35 ft visibility.  I was shooting with my 70 mm macro canon lens because I had expected limited visibility.  We were entertained by curious sea lions during the dive.  We saw lingcod, cabezon, and may nudibranchs.  We also saw many, many, sea urchins, the most I have ever seen in Carmel and Monterey in 35 years of diving here.  The sea urchin explosion is due to the decimation of sea stars which feed on small urchins.

Below are a few pictures from the dive, if you'd like to see more please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6042588624152453809?authkey=CILGyICWod6pnQE

 Small sea urchins everywhere, maybe 100x what I would have seen before the sea star wasting syndrome annihilated large sea star populations.  Also see more brittle stars out in the open than I used to.

 Many small crabs as is frequently the case.

 Horned nudibranch, Hemmisenda crassicornis

 Horned nudibranch

 Sea lemon nudibranch, always common.

 Cup coral, about 3/4 inch across.

 Yellow edged cadlina nudibranch with a blue ring top snail and strawberry anemones.

A drifting salp about 8 inches long.