Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (Submarine Canyon)

The Monterey Submarine Canyon drops to 12,743 feet — deeper than the Grand Canyon — and that fact alone explains everything about why this stretch of California coast produces marine life in such staggering variety. Designated in 1992, the sanctuary covers 6,094 square miles of ocean and 276 miles of coastline, protecting kelp forests, seamounts, and deep-sea habitat alongside hundreds of species of fish, mammals, and algae. Offshore oil drilling is banned. The canyon is the reason the bay is the bay.