We were supposed to head to Point Lobos for a fun dive, but the wind was howling in the trees and when we pulled up to the gate at the park they said they had a lot of trees down and the park was closed. But - despite the stormy weather, Monterey Bay actually looked fairly calm, so we went back to Breakwater and launched the boat from there.
We motored over to an area in front of the aquarium for a dive amongst the kelp. Just after we reached the bottom, a seal scooted by checking us out! There were lots of rock fish too - right under the boat, hanging out amongst the kelp and looking at us - I don't think we phased them one bit. We saw lots of different types of rock fish on our two dives. My favorite is when there's a big crack in the rocks - the fish like to hang out in the crack - but they have to hover vertically to fit. Crazy fishes.
The second dive was at Eric's Pinnacle - sitting in about 65' of water and reaching to within 15' of the surface. Its covered with cup coral, star fish, sponges, anemones, crabs, crabs, crabs... Curtis had the big flashlight and did a great job of pointing out all the camouflaged crabs. We saw a sunflower star upside down trying to right itself - 50 legs flailing. Two crabs in the throes of battle. Nudibranch hangouts. Some beautiful feathery fronds from a filter feeder combing the water for food. A greenling! And more rock fish hanging out vertically in the cracks.
As we rode back to shore, the rain was coming down hard and stinging our faces, but we were nice and dry in our dry suits. For such an unpleasant looking day on the surface, we sure had a good day of diving!
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