The Carmel Submarine Canyon lies just north of Point Lobos. It is part of the Monterey Bay Canyon System, along with the much bigger Monterey Canyon and the Soquel Canyon. The Monterey Canyon begins at Moss Landing and runs about 95 miles out to sea, with walls that rise a mile.
Like its neighbor, the Carmel canyon brings cold, nutrient-rich water up during upwelling events. That feeds plankton and the food web on which Carmel Bay’s kelp, fish, birds and mammals depend, and helps explain why the area is so rich in life.
The head of the canyon is within the Carmel Pinnacles protected area.