-Hi, I'm Paul Michel, superintendent of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and
I'm so glad you could join us for our Get Into Your Sanctuary Program.
We're so excited to bring to you amazing ways to Get Into Your Sanctuary, and we've got
a great lineup of guests to take us out into the sanctuary, say hi, everybody!
-Hi, my name is Steve Lonhart. I'm a research specialist and unit diving supervisor for
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
-What’s up guys? I'm Vince Schweitzer and I'm a kayak tour guide and instructor at Monterey
Bay Kayaks.
-Hi, I'm Keanna Miller, I'm a professional surfer from Santa Cruz, California.
-Awesome. There are so many great ways to Get Into Your Sanctuary, let's dive in there!
[Paul] Monterey Bay is one of 14 national marine sanctuaries and two national marine monuments,
all under NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, all designed to protect these
very special natural and cultural places while allowing people to enjoy and use the ocean.
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is really big, it stretches from Marin County
to San Luis Obispo County, 276 miles of coast and over 6,000 square miles of ocean.
Our mission is to better protect and understand this beautiful coast and ocean and educate
visitors and our communities to encourage stewardship and safe recreation.
So let’s jump in!
[Steve] Thanks, Paul. We're gonna explore the sanctuary by scuba diving.
I'm Dr. Steve Lonhart and I'm a marine ecologist and I studied marine ecology right here in
Monterey Bay.
It’s the incredible diversity of these kelp forests that provide a wealth of opportunities
for research and enjoyment.
So let's go ahead and explore these amazing places.
At 50 feet deep, you can see the rocks are covered with life.
Things like purple urchins and hydrocorals, like I'm showing right here with my light,
that can be salmon-colored, peach-colored, and then the bright, strawberry anemones.
Every square inch of the reef is covered with life.
And as you see, there are these things that look like ropes, heading up to the surface.
These are actually bull kelp.
And those stipes are buoyed up to the surface by an air bladder that brings those long blades
closer to the sunlight so that it can do photosynthesis.
Just like the forests on land, these stands of kelp have fishes swimming through them,
sort of like the birds in force on land.
And what we're gonna see, in just a second, is one of the biggest fish you'll ever see
underwater, and it's going to be just checking you out.
This is a giant sea bass.
They can grow up to several feet long, and they are very curious and inquisitive about
divers.
So even though all of us have spent a lot of time underwater, we all stop doing our
work when we see one of these giants swim through the kelp bed.
Here, you can see one of my dive buddies saying, “That was cool,” but we have to get back
to work.
And in this dive, we're actually looking for locations where we might do restoration work
for white abalone.
So here I am bringing the shell back to one of my dive buddies.
And after an exciting encounter like that, I gotta check my air and make sure I've
still got enough.
At 70 feet, it goes by pretty fast.
Giant kelp is one of our amazing organisms that provides this incredible habitat throughout
the central coast of California.
Urchins are one of the more common things that feed on that kelp and can switch the
system from kelp-dominated to urchin-dominated.
When you look at the rocks that these organisms are attached to, you'll see that they're covered
with sponges, like this blue cobalt sponge, and orange cup corals.
And as I showed you earlier, that purple hydrocoral, an incredible diversity of marine life that
makes it exciting to look at.
And even the things that you don't see initially will surprise you, like this well-camouflaged
Gibbonsia.
Things are always just around the corner, unexpected and exciting.
And here, while we're doing some work underwater, and I'm checking out a growing stand of kelp
that's slowly making its way up to the surface, I kinda felt a tugging on my fin.
And when I looked down, there was a harbor seal.
For whatever reason, harbor seals are fascinated by the fins of divers, oftentimes grabbing
them, chewing on them.
And in this case, I was really surprised, not only by the harbor seal that was checking
out my fin but then the harbor still notices something else that I hadn't seen.
And when that harbor seal looks up, it kind of says, “Whoa, here comes somebody.”
And so that made me look up, thinking, “Who's coming to visit?”
And there, in the haze of the sunlight, is a sea otter that started to come check us
out.
These are one of the common things that you see on the surface, but it's not too common
that you see them underwater, so that was really an exciting experience.
And now, from my fin, up to Vince's paddle, let's take it up to the surface.
[Vince] Thanks, so here at Monterey Bay Kayaks, we strive to educate the public on the importance
of our marine sanctuary.
By getting people out on the water, we get to show people how amazing our sanctuary is
while our customers experience it in person.
We are a great outfitter for any beginner or experienced paddler via tours, rentals,
classes, and also a big retail floor.
What we're seeing right now is the Elkhorn Slough.
All the Slough really is, is a meandering body of water with muddy banks.
The Slough goes back about 7.5 miles and it's home to a very biodiverse habitat, tons of
different organisms call this place home.
On any day, you will see sea otters, which everyone loves, harbor seals, and all types
of different birds as well.
Actually, over 350 different species migrate through the Slough a year.
Very, very cool place.
My experience in the ocean is I grew up in Monterey Bay actually, I get to call this
place home.
Grew up sailing, doing lots of surfing.
And I started paddling with Monterey Bay Kayaks about three years ago, doing tours and classes,
and it's been so amazing to see the reaction you get from people.
We take people out on tour from all over the world, and, you know, it's a very, very famous
place.
When we go out on tour, you never really know what to expect, usually, you know, classic
sea otters.
But, you know, the birds are amazing, might even see some bat rays or leopard sharks
here and there, very awesome place.
So right here, good example of, you know, leading a tour, one of my customers using
some binoculars to get a little bit closer look at the wildlife.
Binoculars are a good way, maybe even a camera, to get a detailed look at whatever you're
looking at without physically getting too close.
There are some good guidelines that NOAA puts out. Right here you can see some harbor seals
resting on the bank, right?
So behavior is a really good way to know if you're a little bit too close.
If we're too close to the wildlife, they'll kinda perch up, look at us, and maybe even
run away from us.
Right here we have some sleeping, resting harbor seals.
These guys are nocturnal, so they’re trying to get their sleep, most of their sleep, during
the day.
When the night time comes they’ll go hunt, get the food that they need.
But NOAA has some good guidelines of safe, respectful, wildlife viewing.
So educate yourself before you get out.
You can even use this right now as a good moment to figure out how to respectfully view
everything.
You want to keep your distance.
So you don't want to get too close where you're making anything run away, like I said, binoculars
are a good way to get a good look.
Don't touch anything!
It is wild animals so they are unpredictable, you don't know what they could do to you.
Don't want to feed anything, any of the wildlife, right?
You could habituate it, make them more open coming up to people, which, in turn,
makes them more vulnerable to maybe vessel strikes or vandalism.
Don't chase or sneak up on any of the wildlife, kinda stresses them out a lot.
If you see something sick or laying out on the beach, the last thing you wanna do is
kind of take matters into your own hand and help whatever is sick.
Call the Marine Mammal Center, and they'll come out and take care of that for you.
So, yeah, here's a good clip.
You know, when you're out in the Slough, it is pretty narrow.
And there are lots of wildlife, so you really want to make sure you're in the proper boat
where you can move around everything, keep a good distance.
So you'll see two different types of boats in this video.
One of them is a closed deck, the green boat that I'm paddling, that is going to be more
for experienced paddlers.
The boat is a little bit more tippy, it does move quicker through the water, but it can
capsize easier, and when it does capsize, you're, you know, enclosed in the boat.
The open decks are really good for beginner paddlers, very maneuverable and very, very
stable boats compared to those closed decks.
Yeah, when you can go out, just make sure you're outfitting yourself with the proper
boat.
Right here we got, we're in an eelgrass bed.
And if we pan over, there's a sea otter right there.
So this is one of my favorite things to see on tour, because what we're watching right
now is the sea otters do what they do best, which is be a keystone species to the ecosystem
really wherever they're at.
But in the Slough, in particular, they're a keystone species to the eelgrass.
So, there's this whole new trophic scale on the Slough, we’re having an issue of the
water being over-nutrified, too many nutrients in the water, which also promotes algae growth.
The algae will tend to grow on that eelgrass, and in that case, the eelgrass can't, if it’s
smothered algae, it can’t properly photosynthesize.
But, there are Taylor’s sea hares that eat the algae off of that eelgrass, okay, so,
that's really good.
But, the crabs in the Slough eat those Taylor’s sea hares but the sea otters eat the crabs.
Sea otters control the crab population, which means more Taylor’s sea hares, which means
healthier eelgrass, because there's more Taylor’s sea hares eating that algae, and the sea otters
do a really good job of it.
Sea otters have a very high metabolism.
They’re eating about 15 to 20%, a fourth of their body weight, in a day.
You know, an average-sized sea otter is going to weigh 60 to 80 pounds.
They're going to eat about 15 to 20 pounds of food in one day.
So they're gonna need a lot of those crabs, those crabs hold a few ounces of meat, and
they’ll eat a plethora of stuff.
So, you know, you see them eating mussels, clams, innkeeper worms, abalone even.
These eelgrass beds are very, very important to the Slough just because it's, like I said,
a huge habitat.
It also puts lots of oxygen out into the water.
So yeah, we definitely want the eelgrass beds around.
If we didn't have the sea otters in the Slough, it would kind of just be like a desert, I
would say.
Not too much life, or not as much of a biodiverse habitat in the Slough.
So, yeah, when you see these sea otters, you know, you don't want to point directly at
them, kinda pass parallel to them.
You see this guy popped up right here, probably got a little clam in his hands.
Sea otters are endangered.
So it's not the best thing to have an endangered species that is also a keystone species.
But the Slough has 5% of the southern sea otter population, just in the Slough alone.
So the population is sitting at about 3,500, it kinda goes up and down every year.
So yeah, there's about 150 sea otters in the Slough alone.
So yeah, when you go out, you'll see tons of sea otters, maybe you will see a mom and
pup sea otter like this.
Sea otters do give birth year-round, but it does peak during the springtime.
So when you see a mom and pup, this mom is busy throughout her day.
Sea otters kind of live a simple lifestyle, but very busy, a lot of eating, sleeping,
and grooming.
And for the mom and pup, this mom is going to have to tote her pup around all day long
for about the first four weeks of the pup’s life.
It doesn't really have any ability of any directional swimming, so the mom’s toting
it around, grooming it, feeding it, and then six months is how long this mom is going to
have to take care of that pup.
So not only does she have to worry about herself, but also taking care of that pup.
So that's just even an extra point of not getting too close to these guys.
They really, really need their time and space, for sure.
The last thing I'll kind of touch on is just, you know, it's a very appealing place to paddle,
right?
The Elkhorn Slough, very beautiful place, but you want to make sure you're being safe
for yourself.
So, when you paddle, you want to check your local conditions.
Checking the tides, the Slough is tidally influenced.
Let's say we have a rising tide throughout the day, that water is going to be pushing
you right into the Slough, farther and farther back.
In the spring times and in summer times you get the windy afternoons as well.
So before you go out, just kind of make sure that you're not putting yourself in a situation
where you turn around and you're just like, “How am I going to get back?”
So yeah, at Monterey Bay Kayaks, you know if you rent through us, we’ll orientate
you and make sure you're all safe and good.
But that being said, let's get stoked with Keanna, as she surfs in our sanctuary.
[Keanna] Thanks, Vince.
Hi, I'm 16 years old and I'm currently on the U.S. Junior Surf team.
The U.S. Junior Surf team is a very prestigious team, with the top six surfers in America
chosen for each age group.
I was lucky enough to be chosen for the Under-16 team.
I started surfing at 11 years old, and ever since then I've been hooked.
I was lucky enough to have two parents with a love for the ocean.
Both my mom and dad were professional surfers.
The feeling of surfing is like no other. It's like a dance between you and the wave.
As you can see in this clip, I’m dancing with the wave in a motion that is oh so special
to me.
Surfing is amazing because it connects so many people together in one big community.
It has given me the chance to meet so many people and lifelong friends.
My favorite place to surf has to be Steamers Lane, it is such a cool wave with such a
beautiful background and lovely marine life.
I am so lucky to be able to surf in the sanctuary.
It gives me, and so many others, so much joy.
There’s no place like it, and it has such a special place in my heart.
Every time I visit the beach, I try to do my part and pick up trash.
I also have a sponsorship with a locally-owned, reef-safe sunscreen brand.
It has meant so much to me to be able to advocate for a reef-friendly sunscreen.
Santa Cruz has so many varieties of different waves, whether it’s slabs, reef breaks,
beach break, and just everything all-around, point breaks…
You name it, Santa Cruz has it.
[Paul] Wow, that was awesome.
Thank you so much, Steve, and Vince, and Keanna.
I also want to thank, before we go to my questions for our guests, and then your questions, audience,
I want to thank the organizers.
I also want to thank the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and Monterey Bay
Kayaks for helping to make this program possible.
So let's go to some questions for our guests.
I'd like to start with just an overall question for you and it's about, you know, what draws
you to the ocean, and keeps you coming back time and time again?
We'll start with Steve, and then go to Vince, and then Keanna.
Steve?
-Sure.
Part of what attracts me to the ocean is when I go diving, I'm entering that other world,
and I get to explore the other world and see things that you just don't see every day.
And even though I've been diving for over 30 years now, it's still a new adventure every
time I go scuba diving, so that's really what makes it so attractive and exciting to me.
-How about you, Vince?
-Yeah, for me, it's just, I grew up here and the ocean has always been a place where I
could go and just, kind of only think about being out in that type of environment.
Especially in times like these, when stuff kinda gets stressful, you go out into the
water and just take a deep breath, and relax.
And there's a quote that I really love, and it's just, you know, the ocean or getting
in the water in general, is like medicine for the soul and I 100% agree with that.
It's just one of my favorite places to spend my time in, for sure.
-Keanna?
-For me, it's my safe place, I would say.
It's somewhere where I always feel sane and just normal, like, it’s something that just
takes me somewhere else.
-Yeah, that's cool.
I think about some of my most amazing, and yet scariest, experiences in life have been
in the ocean.
Maybe that's the adrenaline rush I get from being in the water.
Let's go to Steve with some questions about SCUBA.
How do you get started with SCUBA?
And what should you be thinking about if you want to get started with SCUBA?
-Well, the good news about scuba diving is it's really something that just about anybody
can do, you just need to find a nationally recognized certification agency.
You basically, it's like you get a driver's license to drive a car, you get a scuba license
to be able to fill your tanks and go out scuba diving.
And really, it's just finding someone who's going to train you to what you want to do,
there's so many different certifications out there.
You can just get certified to just go exploring, and that's all you do.
Or you can get trained in underwater photography, underwater archeology, or do things like I
do: science underwater.
So it's really just up to you, but find that nationally recognized certification agency,
and you'll be on your way.
-I have a good friend who's an ex-navy SEAL and he has dove all over the world, and I
asked him one time, “If you had one dive left in your life, where would you go?”
And he kinda surprised me, because he's been all over the world, and he said Point
Lobos, right here in our own sanctuary, which I thought was really cool.
What about you, Steve? Where's your favorite place to dive in the sanctuary?
-Well, Point Lobos is close, but I'd rather go just a little bit south down the coast
in the Big Sur area.
It's a place that people don't go very often.
There's not many people living along the land and let alone the ocean is very hard to access.
We go down there, sometimes for three or four days and sleep on the boat in order to dive and
explore these areas within the sanctuary, where really, very few people have gone.
And so that's probably, if I had one dive left to do would be down along the Big Sur
coastline.
- And what's the coolest thing you've ever seen, while you’ve been scuba diving in the sanctuary?
Well, the story I tell everybody is one that's kinda etched in my mind, which was back
in 1998, I was diving with some students, and we were heading back towards Eric's Pinnacle
off the coast of Pacific Grove right here in Monterey Bay, and I was the last one in line.
And the two divers were in front of me, and I noticed this out of my peripheral vision,
this really large, dark object swimming pretty close to me, and I thought it was just a really
big sea lion.
And when I turn to look, there's a gray whale looking back at me.
And I was, I just started breathing hard, and it just kinda cruised along.
And so I immediately swam, you know, the couple of meters to my buddies to kind of grab them
and go, “Did you see that?”
And I wrote on my slate, WHALE, and they're like, “No, we didn't see it.”
And they were, you know, I could tell they were disappointed underwater, so we said,
“Well, let's just, let's just sit here and wait, and maybe the whale will come back.”
And the whole time, I'm thinking, there's no way.
That was it.
No one's gonna ever believe me.
Then, sure enough, the whale comes swimming back.
Now, in this case, with its right eye looking at us.
You know, we're the oddballs in the ocean, it's checking us out.
And then we were so excited, we were high-fiving underwater, and we thought, “Hey,
let's wait one more time. Maybe it'll come back.”
And sure enough, it came back, and then it was looking at us with its left eye.
And that's something that I'll remember till the day I die, it was just phenomenal to see
this 30-foot long, massive animal, just cruising by checking us out in a very leisurely fashion.
-Wow, that's really cool.
Vince, I’ve gotta go to you next, man, you make kayaking seem so easy.
And I know firsthand that it's not that easy, but, you know, getting started is kind of
a hurdle for some people.
How hard is it to learn, and what would you suggest for somebody who wants to get started?
-Kayaking is one of those things where, you know, you get out there and you'll feel it
out probably in like less than an hour, right?
You could either be super into it, touring around the bay doing big paddles in those closed
decks, or you could be just a weekend paddler.
Those open decks are great for the beginners.
And, you know, you can just find a rental place, like Monterey Bay Kayaks, and go rent
a kayak and kind of get informed about everything you need to know about: weather, paddling,
safety things.
And it's not too tough, I've seen a lot of different people do it.
-Do you recommend people take a class or go out on a tour first before they go solo?
-Yeah. Yeah, definitely, I think a tour is a really good way to not only kind of be maybe a little
bit more comfortable, with the guide, but also, there's tons of different stuff happening
around you that maybe a tour guide could point out, and kinda talk about the local flora
and fauna of the area.
-Your video focused on Elkhorn Slough, which is so beautiful, but there's so many other
places to kayak.
Where do you recommend for other places and what's your favorite place to go?
-So my favorite place to paddle is definitely Point Lobos, getting next to those huge rock
structures and there's a little bit of swell to play around too.
But for just anybody, I mean, we have a location at the Elkhorn Slough and also in Monterey
Bay.
You can get yourself along the Cannery Row and the kelp forests, and you can just sit
there for, you know, however long you want.
An hour, three hours, five hours, and you just look at all the stuff that's happening
around you.
It's like a bustling little city under you and above you with all the birds and sea otters
popping up and stuff.
-What's the coolest thing that you've ever seen out on your kayak in Monterey Bay?
Classic, classic whale sighting.
I was on a tour, it was actually some girl’s 16th birthday, she did a private tour.
And she made everyone put on little pink tutus, I put one on too.
And I think there was something magical with that, because then we'd paddled around the
jetty in Monterey and we had two fin whales pop up right next to us.
So fin whales are pretty rare to see, especially not too, too far from land.
So I think that would have to be the coolest thing.
Plus, just being in a tutu is pretty funny and then having a whale just pop up next to
you.
-That's a great story.
Let's go to Keanna.
Keanna, you are an amazing surfer, it's so much fun to watch that video, and I've seen
it a few times to watch you surf.
You make it seem so easy.
What do you suggest for the newcomer to the sport to get started?
And where are some beginner places to go?
-In our Monterey Bay, I would definitely recommend starting out at Cowell’s, and then for boards,
I would definitely recommend a Wave Storm, because they're the easiest, most generic
beginner board.
-Okay.
And where are some great spots for beginners, and maybe more advanced surfers that you know of?
-For beginners, I would definitely recommend Cowell’s, like I said, and then for more advanced surfers,
I'd recommend spots like the Point and the Lane.
Those two are really good.
-Okay.
And so, the same question for the others, I gotta ask you, what's the coolest
thing you've seen while out on your surfboard in Monterey Bay?
-There's a lot, but definitely, the coolest thing I've seen is an elephant seal swimming
with all of us in the lineup at the Lane.
It was really interesting, because I've never seen an elephant seal that close to the surface before.
-That's awesome.
Well, I want to thank you guys again, and we're gonna take some questions from the
public, from the audience.
And it was great to have you on the program and to see your amazing video to get a sense
of what it's like to dive and to kayak and to surf.
So thanks again, so much, for being on to Get Into Your Sanctuary.
Take care.
-Thanks Paul!