Point Lobos Sat 11-21

[opisthobranch]

At 9 AM this morning the 46042 buoy was reading 12 feet with nearly 20 knot winds. The Navy Wave Model was showing orange for most of Northern and Central California (12-15 foot waves). The forecast the night before had been for a 9-12 foot swell though the 9AM forecast only said 7-9. As we arrived at Whaler's Cove a group of divers were just getting out of the water and made quite a production out of telling us how terrible it was; very bad vis, rough, etc. Even made a point of telling me "And we dive a lot" to underscore the point that we shouldn't bother suiting up.

So conditions were terrible right? Judge for yourself! Seriously, don't base your decision to dive on a number on a webpage. Buoy data is not the same thing as dive conditions. You shouldn't always believe a dripping wet diver either. In this case I asked him how deep his team had gotten. Answer: 29 feet. Well, I don't expect good vis at the worm patch on a day with a larger swell. Sometimes you gotta go look for yourself.

Full image set here: (And if I'd had a decent day with the camera it would have looked even nicer).

Middle Reef and Hole in the Wall

This concludes today's lesson in Monterey Dive conditions.

Clinton

 

[mikemill]

Holy epic vis Aquaman!!!

How was the surge and swell in Lobos?

 

[opisthobranch]

Certainly wasn't epic but it was quite reasonable diving. I'd call the vis a grainy 40 feet once you got out to the middle reef. A bit of suspended matter in the water but it was nice and blue. Surge was moderate at worst. The swell was coming out of the west so Whaler's was protected. We even spent a bit of time on the top of the middle reef in the 30 foot range and were still able to enjoy the sights, look for nudibranchs, etc.

Clinton

 

[Ben_ca]

Thanks for the report Clinton. Nice shots (as always).

Ben

 

[Gombessa]

Awesome, thanks for the report Clinton! Hopefully tomorrow is similar!

 

[ryssyr]

great shots! I have still not had a good day at lobos with my camera yet. I need to dive there more often.

 

[micboucher]

great shots! I have still not had a good day at lobos with my camera yet. I need to dive there more often.

I made a reservation for 12/6 (day after the M&G) to dive with Paula. You should join us!


Great shots Clinton! Thanks for the report and pics.

 

[ryssyr]

I made a reservation for 12/6 (day after the M&G) to dive with Paula. You should join us!


Great shots Clinton! Thanks for the report and pics.

12/6 sounds like a good day. Do they allow teams of 3? I should know the answer to that but I'll see if any other reservations are available.

 

[kathydee]

Beautiful pictures Clinton. It makes me miss Lobos already.

12/6 sounds like a good day. Do they allow teams of 3? I should know the answer to that but I'll see if any other reservations are available.

Lobos allowed me to make a reservation for a team of three, just call or email them.

 

[micboucher]

12/6 sounds like a good day. Do they allow teams of 3? I should know the answer to that but I'll see if any other reservations are available.

Yeah, I can call them to get 3 on our team if you want to join us.