Carmel Bay is a bay of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

, along the central coast of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

. The bay is long and wide with its mouth about across, between Point Carmel to the south and Point Cypress to the north;

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by ...

is about four coastline miles north, with Point Pinos intervening. The bay's coastline includes Carmel City Beach and

Carmel River State Beach Carmel River State Beach is a state park unit at the mouth of Carmel Valley, California, United States, featuring a protected beach with a lagoon formed by the Carmel River. The lagoon attracts many migratory birds. The state beach includes Mar ...

, with wildlife largely protected by the 'Carmel Bay Ecological Reserve'. The City of Carmel, formally "Carmel-by-the-Sea", adjoins Carmel Bay, with the cities of

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...

Pacific Grove, California Pacific Grove is a coastal city in Monterey County, California, in the United States. The population at the 2020 census was 15,090. Pacific Grove is located between Point Pinos and Monterey. Pacific Grove has numerous Victorian-era houses, s ...

, and Santa Cruz about , , and north, respectively.

Marine protected areas

Several areas in Carmel Bay have been designated

marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conse ...

s under California's

Marine Life Protection Act The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) was passed in 1999 and is part of the California Fish and Game Code. The MLPA requires California to reevaluate all existing marine protected areas (MPAs) and potentially design new MPAs that together form a ...

. ' Carmel Bay State Marine Conservation Area' (SMCA) is entirely underneath Carmel Bay, and both '

Carmel Pinnacles State Marine Reserve Carmel Pinnacles State Marine Reserve (SMR) is a marine protected area in Carmel Bay including a unique underwater pinnacle formation with adjacent kelp forest, submarine canyon head, and surfgrass. Carmel Bay is adjacent to the city of Carmel-b ...

' (SMR) and '

Point Lobos State Marine Reserve Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

' are partially underneath Carmel Bay. Along with the immediately adjoining ' Point Lobos State Marine Conservation Area', nearly of

s in the waters in and around Carmel Bay are like underwater parks, helping to conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems. No living marine resources may be taken from these areas, except from 'Carmel Bay SMCA', and from there only

recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing fo ...

for finfish and limited "by hand" commercial harvesting of

giant kelp ''Macrocystis pyrifera'', commonly known as giant kelp or bladder kelp, is a species of kelp (large brown algae), and one of four species in the genus ''Macrocystis''. Despite its appearance, it is not a plant; it is a heterokont. Giant kelp is ...

and bull kelp, by permit.

Toponymy

The first Europeans to discover the bay were Spanish mariners led by

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

in 1542, sailing up the California coast without landing. In 1602, Spanish explorer

Sebastián Vizcaíno Sebastián Vizcaíno (1548–1624) was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain, the Baja California peninsula, the California coast and Asia. Early career Vizcaíno was born in 154 ...

named the nearby "Rio de Carmelo" to honor the three Carmelite priests on his expedition; the river empties into the bay, and so the names Carmelo and Carmel were later applied to the bay, a mission, the settlement, and other nearby features.

Climate

The area around Carmel Bay experiences a cool summer

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Csb'') typical of coastal areas of California. The wet season is from October to May, and summers are often overcast, the sun blocked by

marine layer A marine layer is an air mass that develops over the surface of a large body of water, such as an ocean or large lake, in the presence of a temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling effect of the water on th ...

clouds which can produce drizzle. September and October (

Indian Summer An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more s ...

) offer the best weather of the year, with an average high of 72 °F. The average annual rainfall in Carmel-by-the-Sea is 15 inches per year and the average temperature is 57 degrees F.''The Weather Channel'' web site
Retrieved 2012-07-06
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Gallery

File:The beach at Carmel-by-the-Sea 2009-07-26.jpg, Carmel Bay on a foggy afternoon File:The beach at Carmel Bay, California.jpg, Carmel Bay on a sunny afternoon File:Carmel Bay, California.jpg, Carmel Bay from

Carmel Point Carmel Point also known as the Point, is an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California, United States. It is a cape located at the southern city limits of Carmel-by-the-Sea and offers views of Carmel Bay, the mouth of Carmel River, ...

File:Carmel Bay.jpg, Carmel Bay from Scenic Road

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carmel Bay Bays of California Bodies of water of Monterey County, California Carmel-by-the-Sea, California Landforms of Monterey County, California