Diving Aumentos Reef and Deep Hopkins in Monterey Bay, CA

Off the Monterey and Pacific Grove waterfronts the underwater environment consists of kelp forest, rocky and sandy bottoms. Around the Monterey Peninsula, kelp forests have diminished by at least 80% compared to historical averages prior to 2014. However, even with this loss there is still some nice diving at Aumentos Reef off of Pacific Grove and off the Hopkins Marine Station near the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This two minute video is from two boat dives done in August, 2025. My dive buddy Cheryl ran a reel out from the anchor. One the way back, the reel fouled but she managed to wind the line onto the reel. She is resourceful in that way. Video was shot with a Sony A7IV, 28-60mm lens and a WWL-1 in a Nauticam housing.