Both are tall and serve as the botanical infrastructures of their environments. But when I finally went scuba diving in the bay, I realized that the analogy stems as much from the interplay of sunlight and stateliness as from form and function. The kelp canopy, awash in light and relatively warm surface water, sways like treetops with the waves.
Divers can follow the long columns of seaweed and light into the depths.
The seaweed continues to the bottom, but the light diffuses on the way down. At shallower depths, divers can flipper through dappling sunbeams and past swaying kelp, and see the sun winking from the surface. However, diving isn't the only way to enjoy the bay's wild beauty. The Monterey Bay Aquarium also has a kelp forest and patrons don't have to suffer 50-degree water temperatures to see it. A diving docent even feeds the fish in the massive main tank, while talking to the crowd over a P.A. system.