Water temps were the same as back home in Puget Sound but having air temps of 72 was really nice!
Here's a few photos from our slug hunt
Here's a Cockerell's Dorid. I used to see these frequently around Puget Sound, but they've become quite scarce the last couple of years.
I've never seen a Cockerell's Dorid as colorful as this one, Brenna says it may actually be a different species than the typical white ones.
This is a tiny crustacean that mimics a nudibranch... in this case a spanish shawl. Its quite small, just a fleck of color.
Many of the nudibranchs at Monterey are the same as our local ones, but here's one that is specific to California, a Hilton's Aeolid
The day after our dive we headed to Davenport Landing (Just north of Santa Cruz) to do some tide-pooling, where we found several tiny Hopkin's Rose Nudibranchs. This was a first for me.... they're an awesome color to see.
For more photos you can follow this link to my web gallery
https://hershman.smugmug.com/Underwater ... ember-2015
Dan
great stuff.