Very good dive at Pescadero Point February 13, 2017

Greg Hoberg and I managed to squeeze in another dive before yet another series of Pacific Storms start coming in two days from now.  Sea conditions were a bit rougher and winds came up more than forecast but overall it was a good outing with 30 to 40 ft of visibility at Pescadero Point, which was where we dived because the swell was larger than expected.  On the way down we saw a couple lone Gray Whales headed south then, shortly after rounding Cypress Point we came upon a tight group of four traveling together.  Fun.

Pescadero Point has no giant kelp right now, just too many sea urchins, still, though the sea stars are now starting to recover.  Water temperature was an average 51 degrees.  We only made one dive which was just as well because the wind was really whipping up when we surfaced, but the ride back wasn't terrible.

We had Ling Cod and Cabezon and good light thanks to visibility, clear sky, and lack, sadly, of giant kelp.  Below are some pictures, for more please go to:  https://goo.gl/photos/TfdMnkmvDgpDjPFo7

                                   Red Rock Crab

                   Greg gets a Ling Cod close-up

     I'm really pleased with this shot of a large lingcod with Greg in the background.

                               Greg gets a lingcod close-up

This was the third Cabezon I saw on the dive.  I managed to spot this one before I blundered too close and scaring him before I got a shot, like the first two.  He stands out a lot better with flash than in natural light.  I need to remember to get pictures both ways to really show off his camouflage capability better.

                                Greg with Cabezon, he was patient with us.

   We finally exhauste the Cabezon's patience!

Long, fun, dive at Otter Cove February 2, 2017

Yesterday I made a solo dive at Otter Cove in Pacific Grove to catch a brief calm period before the arrival of yet another winter storm that evening.  It was quite calm and I had 25 -35 ft of visibility and 52 degree water temperature, mostly scattered clouds with brief bits of sun.

  I was really pleased to see very few sea urchins and the ones I did see were huddled in crevices, so getting back to normal with sea otters munching the sizeable ones and spiny sea stars getting the little ones.  Still no signs of sunflower stars, haven't seen one in over three years since the wasting disease came through, hope they come back....I did see spiny sea stars, bat stars, and leather stars.  There are a lot more large acorn barnacles on the rocks than we used to see and I wonder how long they will last with the recovery of spiny sea stars.  I'm starting to see more and more empty acorn barnacle shells.

I found two separate male Cabezon guarding their mate's eggs, always fun to photo. was a very long dive with my 100 cu foot tank and a maximum depth of 45 ft.  I forgot to look at my total dive time on my dive computer (I keep it and most of my gear at our place in Pacific Grove) but the time that elapsed from my first photo to my last was 90 minutes!  No wonder my fingers were getting so cold I was starting to have trouble using my camera.  Once I got ashore and climbed up the flights of stairs to my car, I turned to see a Gray whale coming through right where I'd been 20 minutes earlier....oh well, some day.

                   Encountered one sea hare, this may be one of my favorite pictures I've taken of them.

                             Large acorn barnacles with an approaching spiny sea star

                                        Empty acorn barnacle shells, probably visited by a spiny sea star, for dinner..

                Otter Cove is a very reliable place to find beautiful sea anemones of several types.

                                    A Hairy Hermit Crab in a Kellet's whelk shell.

                                          Tube anemone

                                         Fish Eating Anemone with a bat star

                              Cabezon have an excellent ability to camouflage themselves, they really match the color and patterns in their surrondings to an amazing degree, I scare about two for every one I spot and carefully approach to photo.  You can easily see this one, right.  It stands out a little thanks to my flash (need to take one with and without flash!).  About a third up, in middle of photo, below notch between the rocks...

                                         Here he is swimming.  When they are guarding eggs they circle right back so you get to take a couple more pictures.

                         Male Cabezon protect the fertilized eggs until they hatch.  Here they are the mass in the center of the picture.

                                        Cabezon back on guard, I left him in peace at this point.

  Here's a second Cabezon guarding his mate's eggs (immediately under him), I left him happily on guard.

To see more from this dive please go to: https://goo.gl/photos/zhnCbYj3r6ceDNWk7

I only had one dive in January and I've started off the first day in February with a dive, here's hoping I get in some more winter dives this month, though there's a series of storms coming in for the next several days....

Cypress Point, Inner Wash Rocks January 6, 2017

Greg Hoberg and I took advantage of the proverbial "calm before the storm" and snuck in a dive on Friday just ahead of a major Pacific Storm which is raining hard on our place in Pacific Grove as I write this.  We had very calm conditions so were able to comfortably dive the inner wash rocks at Cypress Point, a favorite dive site but only when the swell is small.  On the ride down and the ride back we saw humpback and gray whales, which have a pronounced V or heart shaped blow when viewed from the right angle.  We also heard some kind of marine mammal clicking to do echo location during our dive, a new sound for us, we were hoping to see whatever it was.....At the end of our dive after we got back into Greg's boat we saw Gray whales passing just outside the outer rock at Cypress Point, if we had dived the outer rock we may have gotten to see a Gray whale...

On our dive we were really pleased to see lots of large, healthy, Ocher and Spiny (and the usual Bat) stars.  It was great to see them back after the wasting disease.  We were also pleased to see, not coincidentally, greatly reduced numbers of sea urchins, and some new Palm Kelp growing.  On our dive we saw lingcod, cabezon, and rock fish.  We also saw a large group of Leafy Hornmouth snails laying eggs.  Below are some photos from our dive trip, if you'd like to see more, please go to:  https://goo.gl/photos/fG7Pmukv2DHTxBep8

        We weren't pleased to find a dead sea lion at the launch ramp as we started out trip, you can see the shark bite crescent....This contributed to my preferring to dive the inner wash rock at Cypress Point because the outer rock is really in deeper, exposed water with no giant kelp right now....but we probably missed seeing passing Gray Whales (and our maybe our mystery echo locator - they've been seeing Orcas frequently..) due to being inside the inner rocks..

  Greg gets set for a lingcod shot.  As you can see we had very good, about 40 ft visibility.  Moderate 51 degree temperature....moderate by local standards!

                     I had a big smile as I took a quick photo of this well fed Ocher Sea Star with a bat star.

                                        Black and Yellow Rock Fish

                                    Sea urchin horde is greatly diminished and the Palm Kelp is recovering.
                                     

Lots of big fat healthy sea stars, hurray!

Greg gets a shot of a group of Leafy Hornmouths laying eggs.

A large group of Leafy Hornmouth snails laying yellow eggs.

The roundish lumps in this picture are large acorn baranacles whose outer shells are buried by strawberry anemones.  If you look closely at centers on a couple of them you make out the shell of the barnacle.  There's a point to this, if you look 1/3 from bottom and 1/3 from right of photo you can even see the legs of one barnacle out catching plankton.  The numbers, density, and size of acorn barnacles are way up since the decimation of large sea stars by the wasting disease four years ago.

Theses are the fresh white skeletons remaining from Acorn Barnacles that have been munched by the beg fat Ocher Sea Stars that are back on the scene.  It's a rough neighborhood down there.

See it?  Greg takes a shot of a beautiful, well camouflaged Cabezon.

Cabezon do a great job of matching their colors to their surroundings.  His red stands out a bit due to my flash.  I should have also taken a natural color shot.  We scare about half the Cabezon we encounter because we blunder too close without seeing them.

My Twentyone Favorite UW Photos for 2016

Based on the latest local marine forecast here on December 27th, I've concluded that my 2016 diving season has come to an end.  I had quite a number of good "local" dives in Monterey and Carmel this year with Guy Foster and Greg Hoberg.  In June/July I had an outstanding dive trip, a trip I had wanted to take for over thirty years, to Cocos Island off Costa Rico on the Undersea Hunter with Tom Campbell and Beth Davidow.  In November I made a dive trip to the Channel Islands on the Vision with Richard Salas, Tom Campbell, and Beth Davidow.  Here are my twentyone (why twentyone you ask, good question) favorite uw pictures this year, favorite means just that as opposed to necessarily being what I think were my best pictures.  To see my file of 84 favorite dive photos from 2016 please go to: https://goo.gl/photos/8a5XkpYvTh3Mr9teA

As 2016 started the Monterey and Carmel kelp beds - giant, bull, and palm kelp - had been decimated by hordes of sea urchins following the demise of one of their major predators - sea stars - in 2013.  Happily as the year wore on many of the kelp beds, with the help of hungry sea otters, were coming back.

                          This is a very large, beautiful Fish-eating Anemone at Otter Cove.

                                          Tube anemone, Otter Cove, Pacific Grove

                                         Beautiful Cabezon, Mono-lobo, Carmel Bay

                                         Hydra coral forest, Carmel.

                                Brown Boobie at bait ball, Cocos Island

                               Dolphin and boobies, bait ball off Cocos Island

  The Three Amigos, Yellow Trumpetfish, Golden Snapper, White tipped Reef Shark, Cocos Island

    Scalloped Hammerhead, the number one subject at Cocos Island.  We saw hundreds!

    Scalloped Hammerhead, Cocos Island, approaching a cleaning station.

   A huge lurking Tiger Shark, Cocos Island.  We saw this shark, some think 14 ft long, others 18 ft, repeatedly on several days of our trip.  Beautiful, awesome.  There are fewer sea turtles around Cocos Island since the Tigers moved in about five years ago...

                                   Bacalao Grouper and Trumpet Fish, Cocos Island

                                Pelagic lobster, aka tuna crab, Lover's Point, Pacific Grove
Monterey Bay received several swarms of Pelagic lobsters this year, on one of those days, Guy Foster and I happened to be diving and got to take many pictures of them.

                     Vermilion Rockfish, Shale Reef, Monterey Bay

                        Chromodoris macfarlandi, first for me, Coastguard Breakwater, 10-4-16.

                               Octopus, Coast Guard Breakwater

                               Wooly Sculpin, Coast Guard Breakwater, Monterey

    Seascape with Garibaldi, Channel Islands with the Vision

                                Spanish Shawl, north coast Santa Cruz Island

    Eureka Oil Platform off LA, with the Vision

                                         California Sheephead, Channel Islands