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SPRING 2014
I
am supposed to be thinking about John Steinbeck. It’s
what my English professors would have expected, and
it’s what I had anticipated doing, even going so far
as to pull out an old copy of
Cannery Row
to read
during my visit. But standing here on this cold shore,
it’s Mark Twain that’s in my head — or rather, it’s a quote
falsely attributed to him: “The coldest winter I ever spent
was a summer in San Francisco.” Granted, San Francisco is a
hundred miles north of here, but as I shiver under a gray July
sky in five layers of fleece, it seems appropriate
.
This might seem like an uncomfortable way to start
a dive, but nothing can touch my excitement. I can’t
suppress a self-satisfied laugh as I grab my drysuit and
begin gearing up. After weeks of anticipation, we are
finally at
Whalers Cove
, part of Carmel Bay’s
Point
Lobos State Natural Reserve
. The water is warmer
than the air, we can see the ocean floor 40 feet below
us, and the steep cliffs and stark wash rocks around
us have inspired some of the best artists in American
history. This is arguably the best shore dive in
California and certainly among the best in the country,
so it is tough to be concerned about a gray sky.
As we descend, I look around at the kelp suspended
in clear blue water with bright red crabs and barnacled
Norris’ top snails clinging to the leaves. The rocky reef
is so covered with large fish-eating anemones that if I
squint it resembles a field of colorful flowers. A harbor
seal bites my fin, then darts shyly away, and a large
torpedo ray passes by us slowly, searching for a meal.
This has been a marine reserve for decades, so the
fish are abundant and shockingly big. Densely packed
blue rockfish crowd the water column, and there are
cabezon the size of small dogs on every other rock.
Nutrient-rich upwellings from the deep, offshore
submarine canyon have encouraged the growth of
vivid invertebrate life that blankets every hard surface.
The number of divers allowed into the park is strictly
limited; we don’t see a single other person for the
T e x t a n d P h o t o s b y A n d y a n d A l l i s o n S a l l m o n
A Tale of Two Bays
Monterey and Carmel
LOCAL DIVING
