Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Welcome to the Virtual Dive Gallery of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Click on an image below to start your dive. These sanctuary views can be enjoyed on a personal computer or a smartphone. Pair your smartphone with a virtual reality headset or goggles of your choice (and click the googles icon ) for an extra-immersive experience.

Diver swimming through reef habitat

A reef habitat dominated by purple urchins with sightings of a diver, blue rockfish, nudibranchs, and bat stars.

Rockfish frenzy

A school of Blue Rockfish swim by over an urchin dominated area.

Sea Urchins Take Over

A large population of purple urchins dominate the reef habitat near a kelp forest.

Diver within a dominated urchin ecosystem

An abundance of purple urchins scattered amoung the reef habitat.

Sea Urchins feeding on Kelp

Multiple Purple and Red Urchins spotted feeding on remaining kelp.

Seastars and Whelk Eggs in the Kelp Forest

Bat stars and whelk eggs take over the boulder reef habitat of the kelp forest.

Sea lions swim through kelp

California sea lions cavort amongst kelp fronds near the end of the breakwater in Monterey, CA.

Juvenile fishes swim on edge of kelp forest

Rockfish and sea perch hover near rocky outcrop covered with tunicates.

Lone kelp grows atop rocky rubble

Giant kelp competes with dozens of invertebrates species for space on rocky substrate.

An urchin-dominated system

This site has in recent decades been a lush kelp forest, but recently switched to an alternative stable state that is dominated by purple urchins, which consume kelp.

four california sea lions swimming in a kelp forest

Four acrobatic sea lions glide through kelp forest

California sea lions put on show for divers in Monterey, CA.

Anemones and tunicates dominate rocky surface

Battling for precious space, two white-spotted anemones are surrounded by at least two encroaching tunicate species.

dozens of orange sea cucumbers dot a rocky reef

Sea of orange cucumbers

Dozens of orange sea cucumbers dot the rocky reef, extending feeding tentacles upward to capture plankton floating in the water.

Breakwater

Beginning divers from throughout central California often make their first ocean dive along the Monterey breakwater. This is an easy dive, typically very calm, and there is always lots to see.

Bat stars and strawberry anemones on a rocky reef

Bats stars and strawberry anemones

Bat stars are omnivores, but strawberry anemones pack a powerful defense: stinging cells in their tentacles repel would-be predators and competitors for space.

Urchin-dominated systems are not quite barren

Purple urchins have undergone a recent population explosion, consuming kelp forests that once dominated the nearshore rocky reefs. Often called "urchin barrens", there are actually dozens of species still present, but densities are definitely reduced, and mobile species are often absent.

Middle reef at Point Lobos State Park

Whaler's Cove in Point Lobos State Park is home to hundreds of species that have been protected for several decades.

Rocky outcrop covered with invertebrates

A gray puffball sponge looms above red urchins and orange cup corals on a rocky outcrop in Carmel Bay, CA.

Images created in collaboration with The Ocean Agency. For more information regarding virtual diving in NOAA's national marine sanctuaries, contact Mitchell.Tartt@noaa.gov