Metridium Fields

[BikerBecca]

Hi All,
The Metridium Fields at the Breakwater in Monterey are a popular dive. It is one of my favorite dives to do on dive tours for new divers and tourists. However, so many local divers have problems finding them because everyone has a lengthy, complicated, multi-step description on how to get to them and they end up getting lost. So, today I wanted to share my way of getting to the Metridium fields. It is simply...

Zero-Pipe-Zero​

I told that to a divemaster candidate yesterday when she joined me on a dive a dive tour I was doing and she totally loved it so I thought I'd share it. It's really simple and you will never get lost. What Zero-Pipe-Zero means is you enter the water via the northern staircase, swim out, set a heading of 0 on your compass, drop down, swim that heading to the pipe. Follow the pipe to the end. Swim a heading of 0 to the Metridium fields. It's really that simple.

I would love to hear comments and feedback from all the other divers in the Monterey area. Oh, and if you love it, please steal it and share it. The Metridium fields are beautiful so let's make it easy for folks to get there.

Thanks,
Rebecca

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[runsongas]

pretty much, maybe just add in the pipe they want is about 2 ft across so they don't start following one of the smaller ones. you hit 2 of the smaller ones first iirc.

 

[Chavodel8en]

Maybe the following is too complicated, but these visual references I find are easily followed, especially when you are in the water. Out in the water, you swim to where you line up 2 visual references:

1) The most prominent concrete block on the beach - place it right in the middle of the street that rises away above it (the street is Reeside BTW).
2) The left wall of the bathroom on the Breakwater - line it up with the left wall of the building behind it
From there you drop and go due West [edit - or 300 degrees] for a short swim and you'll hit the pipe. Keep due North from the end of the pipe and hit the first Metridiums. There are also more Metridiums due East of the first one.


*****
I like this method for its surety. If you simply go out on 0, you're not sure if you're West or East of the pipe, so you may have to zigzag searching for it. You also have to decide how far out to swim. With the visual references, you are assured that you are a bit East of the pipe, and it starts you fairly far out along the pipe, so you have more gas for the Metridiums.

Note, In MaxBT's picture above you can see Reeside points toward the site -- you cant really make out the concrete block, but in Google Earth you can, and you can see the bathroom & building behind it lining up.

An another note I find the Metridiums are hit and miss. Sometimes I go out there and find nary a fish. But Ive also gone out there to find a group of molas, a cormorant diving down to depth, two rockfish locked in a death struggle, nudis along the pipe. I hear lots of dolphin sightings. I recommend periodically checking whats above you. You never know what you'll find out there.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Is this close?

 

[rsingler]

Keep due North from the pipe and hit the first Metridiums.

Using your method to preserve gas on the surface before you drop sounds good. But above, did you mean head due north from the end of the pipe? And if so, about how much further out do you follow the pipe from your drop point to the end, before you turn north?

 

[rsingler]

@Chavodel8en , here's yet another Google Maps screenshot, with a pin drop at the landmarks you describe. The map has been turned slightly to account for magnetic deviation (13°E), so mag N is straight up, and west is straight left.

You can actually see the pipe faintly, just below/right of the words "Monterey Harbor". This drop site appears to be almost 300 yards out. Is that right?
Dropping and heading magnetic west is actually heading back toward the beach slightly. Are you very close to the pipe end this far out? If not, it seems you could save a little distance by heading about 300° to the pipe, then out to the end, then due North to Metridium Field.
Is this close?

 

[rsingler]

Pipe, just to the left of the yellow dashes

 

[Chavodel8en]

MaxBT & rsingler - these are excellent visual representations of what I was describing. MaxBT's pic is essentially what you would be seeing from the drop point -- except you'll be at sea level of course.

Using your method to preserve gas on the surface before you drop sounds good. But above, did you mean head due north from the end of the pipe? And if so, about how much further out do you follow the pipe from your drop point to the end, before you turn north?

The pipe itself is close to a due North orientation. So yes, you swim along the pipe (looking around under the pipe for fish, in the sand for nudis and above for pelagics), and when you reach the end of the pipe, keep swimming due North. Sometime you can see the white of the Metridiums from the end of the pipe, so no compass heading is needed, sometimes you see only green.

 

[rsingler]

The pipe itself is close to a due North orientation. So yes, you swim along the pipe (looking around under the pipe for fish, in the sand for nudis and above for pelagics), and when you reach the end of the pipe, keep swimming due North. Sometime you can see the white of the Metridiums from the end of the pipe, so no compass heading is needed, sometimes you see only green.

Ah! Guess I didn't rotate the map enough to account for mag dev, if the pipe is almost due north. Thanks!
Can't wait to try it!