dive trip: 7/19-20

This past weekend I went on a diving trip to Monterey, getting in two dives on Saturday morning and two on Sunday morning. We spent our first dive out in the metridium fields, a garden of giant, white-plumed anemones that is situated fairly far out on the west side of San Carlos Beach (aka Breakwater), about 55 ft deep. The next dive we spent exploring the rocks of the Coast Guard pier. On Sunday we first headed out through a rich network of kelp forests (during which we surfaced and ran into a sea otter!), and then spent the second dive exploring the rocks of the pier again. I brought a disposable waterproof camera down with me and took a bunch of pictures. Hopefully at least some will turn out alright... I'll post any good ones once the film is developed. (btw the water was the coldest I have yet to experience in Monterey - as low as 46 degrees! My hands were about to fall off. yikes.)

In between dives on Saturday, we walked out on the Coast Guard pier (finding the fence unlocked) to check out all the sea lions lazing around on the rocks. We returned to find ourselves locked in, so had to ask a young lady to let us out. As we walked down the pier we talked to her and it turns out she works for a nature conservatory and told us some interesting facts about the migratory patterns of California sea lions. They start from the Channel Islands (off the coast of SoCal) and head up the coast way north, as far as Canada, before returning. She also made clear, for anyone interested, the distinction between seals and sea lions.

Seals as you can see, are paler in appearance, have no external ear flaps, and have very short pectoral fins.

The sea lions are browner in color, have external ear flaps, and have large pectoral fins.

Aren't you a better person for knowing that?