9-28-08 Monterey Pics

[Larry C]

Carol's back from Coz, I got all my lighting gear working properly again, and we had more really nice viz in Monterey-30 to 40 feet with no surge or big green chunks. Two really nice dives. The first was at one of our new favorite dive sites, Trevor's Pinnacle off Aumentos.

A cute little crab

Second time I've shot this same big old Ling on the same rock. He must like it.

Still life with Whitespotted Rose Anemone and Sea Star

Second dive was on Mola Mountain in Hopkins Deep off the Aquarium. I saw five different Lingcod, young and old, including two youngsters about 2 feet apart. Unfortunately, I couldn't get them together.

A Kelp Rockfish

Cadlina Leuteomarginata (Yellow Margin Nudibranch)

A Painted Greenling

A Gopher Rockfish

A Young Lingcod

 

[alcina]

That is such a cutie crab!!!

 

[mikerault]

great shots! The weekend before the Krill were really heavy. Here is my report on Point Lobos.

http://www.scubamage.com/files/Diving_Monterey.pdf

 

[ScubaSteve]

Thanks as always Larry. I really need to dive more in California. It really looks like some great diving.

 

[Larry C]

That is such a cutie crab!!!

I wish I knew what it was! I checked the internet and didn't find it, but I really need to get the Pacific Coast Invertebrates book so I can ID the Crustaceans, Shrimp, Snails and Jellies better. I'm getting decent at the fish and nudies but we've got a gazillion different kinds of crabs and I don't have a clue on most of them.

great shots! The weekend before the Krill were really heavy. Here is my report on Point Lobos.
http://www.scubamage.com/files/Diving_Monterey.pdf

Thanks Mike. Nice report. Too bad you couldn't stay longer and your wife was fitted so poorly. Conditions change tremendously day to day and site to site. Lately, the Bay has been as good or better than Carmel from what I've been reading, though the opposite is generally true. The cold water upwellings with the clouds of shrimp and nutrients come from the wind and current blowing the surface off and allowing the water to come up from the Monterey Canyon, a couple of hundred yards off Point Lobos and several thousand feet deep. If you had 56 degrees, it was pretty warm. Earlier this year we had a consistent 46-50 and typical for Carmel is 50-52 at anything below 60 feet.

Thanks as always Larry. I really need to dive more in California. It really looks like some great diving.

It's certainly diverse! I really want to get up north though. Although BC is pretty cold, I hear everything is 3 times bigger up there. Other than flying to the tropics, where do you dive in the Northeast? Great lakes?

 

[ScubaSteve]

........It's certainly diverse! I really want to get up north though. Although BC is pretty cold, I hear everything is 3 times bigger up there. Other than flying to the tropics, where do you dive in the Northeast? Great lakes?

My diving is primarily Great Lakes which limits the excitement. Still, every dive where I surface safely is a GREAT dive. You just see much less "wildlife". I would love to dive BC as well. Ah who am I kidding....I want to dive everywhere.

 

[parabolic]

Beautiful set Larry. That last one with the lingcod, metridiums, corynactis and telia all together is priceless. Plus there is even a little black-eyed goby visible at the left of the frame. Pure California!! How is school going?
++Ken++

 

[mikerault]

Larry,

Is that a Nudi getting a piggy back on the crab? Sure looks like it!

Mike

 

[Larry C]

Thanks Ken. School's going great, except for the 100 degree weather we had the first couple of weeks. Kind of hard when you've got 40 7 year olds outdoors.

Larry,

Is that a Nudi getting a piggy back on the crab? Sure looks like it!

Mike

No Mike, it's just the markings on the crab shell. I've been trying to ID it with no luck. Maybe a juvenile Red Rock Crab? Maybe I'll post the pic in critter ID.

 

[Larry C]

Thanks DonnyB in the critter ID section. The crab is Mimulus foliatus, mimicking kelp crab.