The breakwater forest

Giant kelp beneath the kayak near the Monterey
Breakwater.

A good series of low tides often falls around the turn of the new year and so was the case for the beginning of 2018. Winter days are short, but in California the spring low tides of the winter often occur in the afternoon, enabling a good trip if weather and swells are favorable. A trip to the coast was in order and for two days I had excellent tidepooling excursions to rocky shores near Pistachio Beach in San Mateo County and at Carmel Pt. south of Monterey.

My past several visits to Monterey over the course of the year taunted me with seemingly calm conditions on the eastern side of the Monterey Peninsula because I had failed to bring the kayak. Not to be stymied again, for this trip to the coast I determined I would bring the boat along. Approaching the peninsula yesterday morning, conditions seemed promising again. On New Year’s Day morning during a high tide I launched from the thin strand of sandy beach at the Monterey Breakwater, more officially known as San Carlos Beach.

The Breakwater is well known to me, as well as many other SCUBA divers, because it is a frequently-visited location for recreational diving, including beginning courses. There is marine life on the breakwater rocks, a subtidal eelgrass meadow, sandy bottoms, and a giant kelp forest (Macrocystis pyrifera) offshore of Cannery Row. It is part of the Ed Rickett's State Marine Conservation Area.

A curious sea otter.

The waves were manageable yesterday so I launched from the beach, though there was more chop and wind than would have been ideal. I didn’t venture far, but circled around the kelp forest, paddling intermittently to maintain position. Few kayakers or divers were out. My kayak is more suited for calm riverine or estuarine paddling, but can handle milder ocean conditions.

Five, perhaps six, sea otters occupied the same kelp forest that I spent time in. The animals generally kept their distance, but peered curiously at me during breaks from their routine of diving below the surface to hunt for food. Some black cormorants flew low over the water.

I was reminded of the difficulty of photography while kayaking. The constant motion of the kayak precluded having much time to compose thoughtful shots. The otters were too far away for any excellent above-water photos with the waterproof camera. Below the surface, the main subjects were kelp and Chrysaora, a purple jellyfish that has been abundant at the breakwater on my last two visits to Monterey. As the kayak lumbered over swells and drifted in currents and wind, I plunged the camera into the water over the side of the kayak and took stabs in the dark, so to speak, of kelp and jellies at various angles. Remarkably, a few shots turned out fairly well! 

Jellies of the genus Chrysaora at the water's surface.

Macrocystis pyrifera is the dominant canopy-forming species
in most kelp forests in central and southern California.