San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
5 EPIC SCUBA SPOTS TO DIVE FOR.
5 SCUBA SPOTS TO EXPLORE IN CALIFORNIA
George Peterson’s job as director of dive programs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is — in his words — quite simple: “I’m there to get people stoked on the ocean.” ¶ No day is the same, says the 49-year-old Peterson, who has worked at the aquarium since 2003. He has brought more than 41,000 kids underwater through the aquarium’s youth dive program, keeps the glass of the massive tanks clean and sea creatures fed with help of more than 100 volunteer divers, and coordinates dives and safety procedures for the aquarium’s 50-plus scientists and research staff who dive for their work.
Peterson has traveled the world diving on behalf of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and its affiliate research institute, assisting staff and global partners as they collect data and study marine ecosystems for both scientific research and public exhibits. The nonprofit aquarium and its Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute are both globally recognized in their pursuit of public education and scientific research.
“In order for us to enact and recreate true life, we go out into the ocean to observe natural systems,” Peterson says.
For someone from Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in political science, Peterson is a naturalist by passion and recounts from memory the scientific and common names of sea creatures, large and small, he has
encountered underwater.
Peterson has logged more than 5,000 dives all over the world, from the island of Utila in Honduras where he founded an eco-dive resort in the 1990s to Oman on the southeast tip of the Arabian Peninsula in November 2018 as a part of a non-aquarium related expedition. But for Peterson, the California coast offers some of the best diving of anywhere on Earth.
“I’ve dove in 46 countries, and I still think California has some of the best diving in the world,” Peterson says. “The coastline is so ecologically diverse and so well protected here. We treat it as the true state treasure it is.”
We caught up with Peterson to get his favorite dives in California.
1. Bluefish Cove, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, Monterey County
It should come as no surprise that Peterson’s favorite dive in California is just a few miles from his home in Pacific Grove. The dive spot, off Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, is one of the most popular destinations on the Central Coast.
“Point Lobos is a crown jewel on land, but it’s even more so underwater,” he says. “You don’t have to go to the Caribbean Sea, everything you’d want is right there.”
Dense kelp forests hugging a rocky shore combined with nutrient-rich cold water carried up from the depths through a process called upwelling creates a perfect habitat for fish, algae, crustaceans and other creatures of the sea. Peterson says it’s akin to a “Brazilian rain forest underwater.”
The cove is named after the large schools of blue rockfish that are often found there. The dive is for intermediate to advanced divers with a long surface swim to get to the dive site where depths range from 20 feet to 65 feet.
“Every time I go diving there I see something new,” he says. “Every little square inch of rock is covered with numerous creatures.”
2. Farnsworth Bank, Santa Catalina Island, Los Angeles County
The west side of Santa Catalina Island offers a completely different dive experience than Peterson’s first selection. The Farnsworth Bank is where the North American continent gives way to the vast Pacific Ocean.
“It features big water, big currents and big pelagic animals,” Peterson says. “It’s deep, blue and not always accessible.”
Mola mola (a.k.a. sunfish), tuna, sharks and in recent years marlin inhabit the waters around Farnsworth Bank. If Bluefish Cove is the basis for the kelp forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, then Farnsworth Bank is akin to descending through the open sea exhibit until a large rocky bank emerges from the depths.
“There are soft corals, cobalt sponges, sea anemones — it’s frickin’ amazing,” he says. “The colors are beyond belief — it’s unrivaled.”
The dive is also not for beginners, topping out at 100 feet below the surface, Peterson calls the Farnsworth Bank an advanced dive.
3. The Breakwater, San Carlos Beach, Monterey County
There’s a good chance that if a person became a certified scuba diver in Monterey County, their final test dive was at the Monterey Breakwater between San Carlos Beach and the Coast Guard Pier.
The breakwater is the most accessible dive on Peterson’s list of his favorite California dive spots. The sandy and protected San Carlos Beach gives way to a quarter-mile-long jetty that protects the Monterey Harbor to the right and kelp beds to the left.
“The breakwater is where Northern California learns how to dive, but to see the magic you have to go there at night,” Peterson says. “It’s the most underrated night dive anywhere.”
Diving at night along the breakwater, long tube anemones blossom in the perceived protection of darkness giving off an iridescent glow when reflecting the rays of an underwater flashlight. But rainbow nudibranchs, a small colorful species of sea slug, lie in wait, looking for a nighttime meal. Then toward the north, small red octopuses hunt on the sandy bottom.
“That’s my favorite part, going off the wall and into the sand, and you can see 30 to 40 small octopuses,” Peterson says. “I could just hangout with them all night.”
In the night dive at the breakwater is a beginner-to-intermediate dive in the right conditions, Peterson says. But he cautions inexperienced divers against going on night dives with-
out a guide.
4. The Rock Quarry, Santa Catalina Island, Los Angeles County
East of Two Harbors, off the north coast of Santa Catalina Island, lies the Rock Quarry: a site where divers can descend through three different ecosystems in a single go. The dive starts in a kelp bed, then down a rock wall to a deep sandy bottom.
What draws Peterson back to the Rock Quarry again and again are the scythe butterflyfish, a tall and thin species of fish sporting distinctive black stripes on a yellow and white body.
“I’m a fish worshiper, and I love scythe butterflyfish,” Peterson says. “They swim in pairs right against the wall with gorgeous blue water right behind you.”
The kelp forest brings divers down 10 to 30 feet. The rock wall descends from 30 to 60 feet, and the sandy bottom section can easily bring divers to 100 feet below the surface. The name “Rock Quarry” comes from an old shore-based quarry. Old derelict steel structures still stand on the coastline.
The dive, set in a protected cove, is accessible to divers of all levels, Peterson says. But a boat is needed to bring divers to the site.
5. Coral Street, Pacific Grove, Monterey County
The intersection of Ocean View Boulevard and Coral Street in Pacific Grove offers one of the best views from anywhere on the Monterey Bay: The Santa Cruz Mountains loom large on the northern horizon, the Pacific
Ocean lies vast on the west flank and the coastal prairie lands of the former Fort Ord roll northeast toward the Salinas Valley.
But under the surface of the bay, just off the rocky shores north of Lucas Point, lies world-class diving with few reefs and underwater rock outcroppings that create productive habitat for a number of sea creatures including an array of algae, orange sea cucumbers, bat sea stars, sponges and rockfish, Peterson says.
“There’s a big tidal influx,” Peterson says. “But I love looking at the small shrimp where the rock and sand interface.”
In recent years, purple urchins have negatively impacted sections off Coral Street: multiplying rapidly, out-competing other sea creatures and consuming all kelp and other algae in sight. The process has become an ecological concern up and down the California coast, and the aftermath has yielded the term “urchin barrens” to describe underwater landscapes in their wake.
But for Peterson, there’s a lot to love about diving off Coral Street, with or without the ravenous purple urchins, saying it’s “still a fantastic site for diving.”
He also notes that in mid-April a diver came face-to-face with a great white shark off Coral Street. “They’re always out there, the ocean is their turf, but you just don’t see them that often,” he says.
On days when the sea is calm, Coral Street is a great place for beginners, he says. Near-shore depth around 30 feet, but a long swim to reefs farther out will bring divers around 80 feet down.