Dive: Lover's Cove and Del Monte Beach

Dove a couple of new spots in Monterey yesterday. We arrived early enough to do Lover's Cove, which closes to divers at 11 am. This cove has copious amounts of kelp and seagrass--on our surface swim we frequently had to wriggle over it and disentangle ourselves from the long stalks. I heard that if you ever get stuck in kelp, just snap it in half (it works!). We swam over to some rocks at the east end of the cove and dove down to explore. There was a bit of fun surginess in and out of the area like it was breathing, so that one moment you'd be kicking and not going anywhere, and then the current would switch and pull you forward real fast. We didn't see much more than a whole lotta kelp, but it was very nice kelp (see below)! A few bland fish made appearances, a very well hidden decorator crab (below), and a harbor seal on a rock watched us warily while we were on the surface (also below).

For our second dive we went to Del Monte beach down the street where a boat sank offshore years ago and is marked by a white buoy. It was a substantial surface swim, about a quarter mile, and there was a bit of current on this one. I was starting to doubt the effort would be worth it, especially since the woman at the nearby kayak store said there weren't many critters to be seen in the area. Once we reached the buoy we saw a big cluster of kelp--the only one on the whole swim--indicating some sort of substrate below (what could it be?)! As we descended we ended up right next to the wreck. That was pretty lucky, actually, because we could have ended up right on top of it and disturbed the sea life growing on it or worse, become tangled on the parts sticking off. It was pretty darn cool--a 30 foot, modern-looking boat with its bow jutting upward from the sand--just covered with little pink anemones, starfish, and a few varieties of crab. Only one picture turned out OK (it was murkier this dive) of the prow and a fish (below). Definitely want to revisit this one and capture the whole boat in a video.

Next dive: Pinnacles!!!

Cute but wary harbor seal!

There IS a crab in this picture, believe it or not!

Lover's Cove kelpiness.

A whole forest of kelp!

The prow of the sunken boat!