Monterey Pics 11-4-06 Shale Island

[Larry C]

Here are a few from today's dive. Water was a balmy 59 degrees and we were greeted by Mola Mola's who followed us around while they recieved the spa treatment from a school of Senoritas.

Mola Mola cleaning station

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h240/Larry_C/11-4-06%20Shale%20Island/PB040081-01sm.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h240/Larry_C/11-4-06%20Shale%20Island/PB040073-01sm.jpg

Spotted White nudie

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h240/Larry_C/11-4-06%20Shale%20Island/PB040075-01sm.jpg

Spanish Shawl

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h240/Larry_C/11-4-06%20Shale%20Island/PB040068-02sm.jpg

[kapula]

Those mola shots are Cool! Quite green water you have around there but you also managed to keep it beautifully in the picture. Especially the 2nd mola shot is great! Those guys are definitely on my list of things to see and shoot.

[EvaL]

Wow, great shots. I've never seen sunfish and these nudibranchs in >25 dives in Monterrey Bay area. Thanks for sharing.
Dive safely.

[parabolic]

Nice shots Larry!! How long are the molas around??

[calypsonick]

Neat shots!! Dying to see them Molas too. I didn't realize how shiny they are.

[Larry C]

Nice shots Larry!! How long are the molas around??

They turn up periodiacally. I hadn't seen any until mid summer this year. They seem to hang out mostly over the shale near Del Monte Beach. I've seen a couple in the Breakwater area, damaged and dying or dead. Apparently, the seals eat their fins (can't eat the rest because they're poisonous-related to the blowfish, I've heard) If they lose a fin, they're helpless and flounder on the bottom while the crabs pick at them.

[kapula]

That's one big hand in the last pic :D

[alcina]

Great experience!

[TSandM]

When we visited the Aquarium during our recent visit to Monterey, everybody was oohing and aahing over the baby great white, but I was utterly fascinated with the sunfish. I had never seen anything quite like it, and it would have been an enormous thrill to have seen one in the water while diving. Thanks for sharing the pictures!

[DennisW]

Cool pics. Thanks for sharing.

[uspap]

Larry

Was this a shore dive? I would kill to see a spanish shawl. How deep were you? I love nudibranchs and photographing them.

[dannobee]

We saw a few molas at Great Pinnacle, Point Lobos on Saturday. One was pretty big, I'd guess 5ft from fin to fin. The others were smaller. They all still had their fins on. The Sea Lions eat the fins by grabbing on to one, then flipping the poor things around like frisbees.

I've seen a few Spanish Shawls at Ballbuster, but it's definitely not a shore dive, nor shallow.

[Larry C]

Thanks for all the nice words, all. Dannobee, I 'd love to see a big one like that. I think everything is bigger at Lobos, because they know if they stay in the boundaries, the hunters can't get them. I swear, I've seen lings twice the size of any in Monterey and I saw a Sheepshead bigger than any I saw on Catalina there. (Might be the proximity to DEEP water, too.)

USPAP, this was a boat dive at about 45 feet, but there are plenty of nudies to be found on shore dives in Monterey. I've seen Spanish shawls off McAbee beach and in Stillwater Cove in Carmel, which can be done as a shore dive. Usually, the nudies aren't in too close though because they get washed around by the surge. Typically you'll see them in the rocks and kelp at about 40-50 feet, about a hundred yards offshore. I've seen a few at the end of the Breakwater, though.

Kapula, that's actually a very small hand belonging to a dive buddy, Cindy, who was aboard our boat on Saturday and was kind enough to find not one but two Spanish shawls for me as well as first pointing out the Mola Molas. I tend to get tunnel vision when I'm diving, plus I get more farsighted the older I get and I'm red/green colorblind. My wife is my usual spotter. She's pointed out Cabezons on Kelp covered rocks and pipes, etc. and I've been so blind to them I've almost put my hand on top of them trying to see what she's pointing out. That particular Spanish Shawl was the bigger of the two that day at about an inch long. Almost all the other pictures of it, including the one I got of it swimming-it's really cool, they fold in half and squirt-were out of focus. I need a close up lens so I don't have to get the camera an inch from the subject!