You see all the pictures of Monterey Bay.
You know, the classic otter
floating on its back, munching on an urchin,
and the giant kelp forests and the white sharks
and so as a first-time diver in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary,
those are the images that are running
through my head, of course.
And getting in there, you realize that that's not just what it is.
It's not just the iconic charismatic megafauna that you get on postcards.
The base of what makes this so special is the things that
enable those those higher life-forms
and the communities that depend on it to exist.
It really helped me appreciate what this place is all about
and the ecosystem from top to bottom and how special it really is.