Monterey Bay

Monterey · California · United States

Monterey Bay is the beating heart of California diving, a vast crescent of coastline where one of the world's deepest submarine canyons drives a nutrient upwelling so powerful it sustains marine life rivalling anything in the tropics for sheer biomass and diversity. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the largest in the United States, protects over 15,000 square kilometres of ocean here, and the result is a cold-water ecosystem functioning at full capacity. For divers willing to embrace thick neoprene or a drysuit, the rewards are extraordinary. I entered at Breakwater Cove on a calm October morning, the air cool and salt-tinged, the harbour seals already watching from their haul-out on the rocks. The water was a bracing thirteen degrees, and visibility hovered around twelve metres, typical autumn conditions. Within moments I was engulfed by the kelp forest, giant Macrocystis pyrifera rising from the granite bottom in columns that stretched fifteen metres to the surface canopy. The light filtering through the kelp was amber and green, constantly shifting as swell moved the fronds, and the effect was hypnotic. The pilings of the old Coast Guard pier were my first destination, and they did not disappoint. Every centimetre of wood and concrete was carpeted in white Metridium anemones, their feathery tentacles creating the appearance of an underwater snowfield. Between the pilings, lingcod sat motionless on the rocks, their mottled camouflage rendering them nearly invisible until you were a metre away. A giant Pacific octopus occupied a den beneath a boulder, its arms curled at the entrance, one eye tracking me with unmistakable intelligence. Moving into the kelp forest proper, the macro life exploded. Spanish shawl nudibranchs, their purple bodies fringed with orange cerata, crawled across the holdfast structures. Monterey Bay has over 300 documented nudibranch species, making it one of the world's premier destinations for macro photographers. Rockfish in dozens of species hung in the water column, from copper to vermilion to blue, their colours intensified by the green-filtered kelp light.