It's not often the oceanic forces in Carmel align and give you tropical blue, tranquil water, top to bottom visibility (at least to 50 feet), and all of this in summer. Today was one of those days. With the art show season in full swing, I have been having diving withdrawls. Hearing reports of calm, clear water while doing an art show seems to be a common occurence. But today, today was a small bit towards redemption. After deciding Monastery beach was a suitable launching site, I paddled over towards Moss Cove which is situated just outside the northern boundary of Point Lobos. While I don't always condone solo diving, I must admit, I ventured out alone. Finding competent dive buddies who can get a weekday off and don't mind entertaining themselves while I meditate on a nudibranch for 10 minutes or more can be quite challenging. Dropping down on the first dive, I was greeted by several curious harbor seals (Phoca vitulina). Hmmm...I have super macro as my setup and there's 50' of vis and playful chubbies (pet name for harbor seals). Oh well, I did manage to get a couple nice shots of a black and yellow rockfish (Sebastes chrysomelas) and a Hilton's nudibranch (Phidiana hiltoni).

For the second dive, I switched to the wide zoom, and as I paddled back to Moss Cove, I was being trailed by two curious chubsters. Alas, they had zero interest in getting their photos taken, so I was off to find other subjects to capture. A nice school of señoritas (Oxyjulis californica) through the kelp forest with fractals of sun practically brought a tear to my eye. What a day.