Two very good dives off North Monastery Beach and on the Pinnacles August 17, 2023

Greg Hoberg and I caught another very calm day last Thursday. We cruised down to the Pinnacles, were unimpressed by the apparent visibility so continued across Carmel Bay to Monolobo then went over to the Kelp Forest off North Monastery and anchored there. We had a very good dive, visibility opened up as we descended and we had 20 to maybe 25 ft of visibility. Monastery remains a great dive site, of course. Water temperature at the surface was a much warmer than usual 57 degrees, at the bottom 53. Below are some photos from our dive, to see more, go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q3oPHDDXntVjLZocA

Above: Orange Tube Anemone Below: Painted Greenling

Below: Monastery's Kelp forest is about half of normal size

Below: Gopher Rockfish on her perch

Below: Big Spiny Sea Star, my hand for scale.

Below: Leather Sea Star

Below: Spotted or Crevice Kelpfish, about 4 inches long. The first one I've photo'd in Carmel for awhile, so....

Above: Colorful Kelp Holdfast We headed out to the Pinnacles for our second dive. Near the Pinnacles we encountered a pod of Harbor or possibly Dall's Porpoises. Before starting our dive I decided to conduct an experiment with a new "Heatwave" instant reuseable heat pack. It works by releasing heat when it transitions from liquid form to a solid crystal structure. I pressed the activator button and presto, the transition began, releasing heat. I slipped it into my wetsuit between my main suit and the thin shorty I wear under it. It provided some noticeable, welcome, warmth for the next 30 minutes. See below, one pack in liquid form, the other one solid. I'll need to boil it to return it to the liquid state for its next use.

When we descended on the Pinnacles we were once again pleased that visibility opened up as we descendend. Again, we had 20 -25 ft of visibility, 53 degrees at the bottom. Below are some photos from this dive, for more, please go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/juaYsdA2VCHfEDW87

Below: China Rockfish

Above: A patient Lingcod

Good green dive at Monolobo August 10, 2023

Greg Hoberg and I caught an extremely calm day last Thursday and took his boat from the Breakwater launching ramp down to Carmel Bay. We checked the kelp on the Pinnacles and decided the water was quite green and visibility would be about 15 ft so we proceeded across Carmel Bay to Monolobo hoping for clearer water. The water was a bit bluer at Monolobo and there was almost no swell so we decided to do a shallow dive next to shore. Sadly, Monolobo's Kelp forest is only about 2% of normal, maybe 4% of what it was last year. The horrible urchin plague continues. Our visibility was 15 to maybe 20 ft at times, water temp was 52. Below are some photos from our dive, you can see more at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/q5STq7fbYy3ViD8y5

Above: The water was quite green and we had lots of rockfish company. Our dive depth was 25 to 40 ft.

Above: Many voracious sea urchins out in the open. In normal conditions you won't find sea urchins out in the open during daylight hours because they would be quickly consumed. Sure wish their top predator, the Sunflower Sea Star, would re-establish itself here in Monterey/Carmel. It's been locally extinct since the horrific sea star wasting disease of 2014.

Above: about a 3 inch Sculpin, rusty on identifying the species....Think it was a Coraline Below: more shots of sculpin...not that bad considering its a very small subject and I was shooting with my wide angle 10-17 mm Tokina lens

Below: Greg shoots the sculpin, too.

Below: There were many areas of long Palm Kelp in the shallows. Encouraging to see. Maybe the normal surge here helps clear out the urchins?

Spotted a pair of Olive Rockfish hovering above the school of Blue Rockfish

Below: Hold the presses, another, at least I think it was a different one, sculpin!

Below: Sea Lemon Nudibranch

Below: Kelp Rockfish

Below: Blue Rockfish, a subject during safety stop

When I started our dive I noticed that my right flipper gave almost no resistance in a backstroke but felt normal in a forward stroke. By the end of the dive my left flipper felt much the same. Examination back in the boat revealed both my fins were failing at the flex joint, I'm glad the swim back to the boat was just up the anchor line! I've never suffered fin failure like this before. These are Scubapro Seawing Nova fins, about seven years old. I suspect that the high entry leaps off the bow of the Vision on my last trip on it in November, 2022 started the failures. Very glad they held together for our 18 day live aboard dive trip in Raja Ampat in January!

So, no second dive, again, despite extensive preparations to do so including hot chocolate thermoses. However, we were treated to three great Humpback Whale breaches off Cypress Point on our way back.