diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/local/LocalExporter.java b/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/local/LocalExporter.java
index 1dddcf5a47849..9a1532f60a6bd 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/local/LocalExporter.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/local/LocalExporter.java
@@ -429,9 +429,20 @@ private void setupClusterAlertsTasks(ClusterState clusterState, boolean clusterS
                 if (watches != null && watches.allPrimaryShardsActive() == false) {
                     logger.trace("cannot manage cluster alerts because [.watches] index is not allocated");
                 } else if ((watches == null || indexExists) && watcherSetup.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
+                    logger.trace("installing monitoring watches");
                     getClusterAlertsInstallationAsyncActions(indexExists, asyncActions, pendingResponses);
+                } else {
+                    logger.trace("skipping installing monitoring watches, watches=[{}], indexExists=[{}], watcherSetup=[{}]",
+                        watches, indexExists, watcherSetup.get());
                 }
+            } else {
+                logger.trace("watches shouldn't be setup, because state=[{}] and clusterStateChange=[{}]", state.get(), clusterStateChange);
             }
+        } else {
+            logger.trace("watches can't be used, because xpack.watcher.enabled=[{}] and " +
+                    "xpack.monitoring.exporters._local.cluster_alerts.management.enabled=[{}]",
+                XPackSettings.WATCHER_ENABLED.get(config.settings()),
+                CLUSTER_ALERTS_MANAGEMENT_SETTING.getConcreteSettingForNamespace(config.name()).get(config.settings()));
         }
     }
 
@@ -577,6 +588,7 @@ private void getClusterAlertsInstallationAsyncActions(final boolean indexExists,
                                                                new ResponseActionListener<>("watch", uniqueWatchId, pendingResponses)));
                 }
             } else if (addWatch) {
+                logger.trace("adding monitoring watch [{}]", uniqueWatchId);
                 asyncActions.add(() -> putWatch(client, watchId, uniqueWatchId, pendingResponses));
             }
         }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/action/TransportMonitoringMigrateAlertsActionTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/action/TransportMonitoringMigrateAlertsActionTests.java
index 1ea0eb2d9038f..fb7b8a62802f9 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/action/TransportMonitoringMigrateAlertsActionTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/action/TransportMonitoringMigrateAlertsActionTests.java
@@ -109,7 +109,6 @@ private void stopMonitoring() {
         ));
     }
 
-    @AwaitsFix(bugUrl = "https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/66586")
     @TestLogging(
         value = "org.elasticsearch.xpack.monitoring.exporter.local:trace",
         reason = "to ensure we log local exporter on trace level")
@@ -147,7 +146,6 @@ public void testLocalAlertsRemoval() throws Exception {
         }
     }
 
-    @AwaitsFix(bugUrl = "https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/66586")
     @TestLogging(
         value = "org.elasticsearch.xpack.monitoring.exporter.local:trace",
         reason = "to ensure we log local exporter on trace level")