2015-07-13 - Monterey, CA - Unknown

Red light spheres hovering 1.5 hrs over marine canyon in Monterey Bay, 5-miles off Moss Landing, leaving & returning to same spot

One to three red light entities hovered over the marine canyon in Monterey Bay about 6 miles west and offshore of Moss Landing. Lights remained for two to fifteen minutes in one spot, varying in brightness then typically moved off eastward and north toward the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains and brightness diminished until gone. A few times the entity left in a more northerly direction, directly away, towards and above Aptos, growing faint to gone from view.

After the spot was left vacant for several minutes, another red light would appear faintly, and from our perspective, usually over Aptos (due north), and then grow in brightness as it came again to the same spot over the marine canyon and west of Moss Landing.

When we arrived at our coastal outlook on Del Monte Beach at 10:00pm, about 12-miles due south, we initially saw three entities hovered in an east-west line along the marine canyon, from 5 to 8 miles west of Moss Landing, at different heights, maybe 500 to 1500 feet above the water.

At first we thought they were mast lights on an historic "tall ship," but they were too far away so the scale of the ship would have been huge. Visual clarity was confusing with high clouds, but after several minutes, we could see there was no ship, just lights holding reasonably steadily, though not rigorously in place.

Though spaced apart a mile or less, when one began to relocate, the others moved in an apparent coordinated fashion. One left and another would return and locate at the same spot over a 1.5 hour period, with one, two or three visible in collateral locations, of varying and changing brightnesses, at any time. Or one would leave and the adjacent entity, already in view, would take its place. The spot was occupied and vacated at least ten times.

Several aircraft were observed in the same direction but we could not determine if there was any interaction with the entities. We could not make out any shape, yet the light generally appeared spherical. At least once, while the entity was at its brightest, it appeared that a light was beamed downward at an angle, from the entity toward the ocean. The beamed light was an extension - a ray - emanating from and connected to the spherical light entity, and tapering toward its end. The length of the ray appeared to be three to four times the diameter of the entity at its brightest. It appeared to reach at least half-way from the entity to the ocean surface, yet at our distance away this was uncertain.

At other times it appeared as though the ocean surface was being illuminated by a moving flood light in the immediate vicinity of the entity, yet the moving flood lights were faint and we were unsure that we actually saw this at our distance. This were not as the beamed light noted prior, which was relatively spectacular.

We have no information of how long the entities were present before we arrived. Sightings subdued by 11:30pm: no more than one or two, less bright, short stay time at the spot and longer vacancies. No entities were visible when we left.

Observers are a bakery manager and a registered engineer.