Trip Report: Monterey & Carmel by the Sea, March 2019

[Ironborn]

Very detailed report exceptionally well presented


Stop at the Big Sur spots and especially Plaskett Creek campground aka Jade Cove and dive for the wonderful California green jade (contact me and I will send you a very comprehensive instructions on ID ing and diving for jade)
On south to Ventura and the charter boats for the channel islands
SDM

Thank you for the positive feedback.

The Aquarius guide that takes people to Big Sur dives there for jade.

 

[Ironborn]

As usual, a very nice and detailed report @Ironborn -- I'd suggest you do a 4-5 day liveaboard with Truth Aquatics out of Santa Barbara when you venture back to the Pacific Coast.

I would elect for a summer or fall trip to the Southern Channel Islands to get a new experience from what you just had in Monterey. Truth Aquatics also runs annual trips to Big Sur 1 month a year. They reposition the Vision boat to Morro Bay and do some interesting and exploratory trips there. I am off to the Philippines next Monday for a couple of weeks of diving and then will be out for 4 days of So Cal Channel Islands diving with Truth Aquatics over Memorial weekend.

Thank you for the positive feedback.

What factors led you to suggest going to the Channel Islands in summer or fall? Visibility? Calmer seas? Water temperature? Other conditions?

 

[runsongas]

fall is usually fairly warm still, vis starts to get better, and more reliable weather

 

[drrich2]

Enjoyed your report; fine job! Glad to see California get more attention as a tourist destination; it's worth flying to to dive. Interesting your decision tree. Like me when I went, you wanted to try a different environment (e.g.: cold, kelp/plant structure rather than corals) with different wildlife (including marine mammals - I'm jealous about the sea otter!) in a different ocean.

But I chose south later in the year, when/where it's warmer, and also cold-tolerant got by with 5-mm wetsuit & gloves, 7-mm hood & boots, and chose the live-aboard route (housing, food, transportation, lots of diving all rolled into one, and boat diving's easier) and the Channel Islands were billed to be amongst the best. Chose Southern Channel Islands for warmer water. I love shore diving for the dive freedom it offers - any time, any site, solo okay. But I can't spend the time in California it'd take to get proficient enough for solo shore diving there, so I figured it'd be a more work and less diving.

You headed north (colder), earlier in the year (I'm guessing colder), did shore diving (more work, fewer dives, and probably not particularly cheap since guided though you got valuable service)...a different approach. Glad it worked well; planning my trip was tough - California offers a lot of options.

You mentioned 100-cf tanks. When I went, 95-cf seemed to be the biggest commonly available. Given the higher gas consumption in some cold water divers, and the use of dry suits that require gas, I got a question...

Why aren't 120-cf steels are more common rental option in California? I found them at North Carolina (Olympus Dive Center) and Jupiter, FL (Jupiter Dive Center). Seems like California lends itself to big tanks.

 

[Ironborn]

Enjoyed your report; fine job! Glad to see California get more attention as a tourist destination; it's worth flying to to dive. Interesting your decision tree. Like me when I went, you wanted to try a different environment (e.g.: cold, kelp/plant structure rather than corals) with different wildlife (including marine mammals - I'm jealous about the sea otter!) in a different ocean.

But I chose south later in the year, when/where it's warmer, and also cold-tolerant got by with 5-mm wetsuit & gloves, 7-mm hood & boots, and chose the live-aboard route (housing, food, transportation, lots of diving all rolled into one, and boat diving's easier) and the Channel Islands were billed to be amongst the best. Chose Southern Channel Islands for warmer water. I love shore diving for the dive freedom it offers - any time, any site, solo okay. But I can't spend the time in California it'd take to get proficient enough for solo shore diving there, so I figured it'd be a more work and less diving.

You headed north (colder), earlier in the year (I'm guessing colder), did shore diving (more work, fewer dives, and probably not particularly cheap since guided though you got valuable service)...a different approach. Glad it worked well; planning my trip was tough - California offers a lot of options.

You mentioned 100-cf tanks. When I went, 95-cf seemed to be the biggest commonly available. Given the higher gas consumption in some cold water divers, and the use of dry suits that require gas, I got a question...

Why aren't 120-cf steels are more common rental option in California? I found them at North Carolina (Olympus Dive Center) and Jupiter, FL (Jupiter Dive Center). Seems like California lends itself to big tanks.

Well, from my limited experience in Monterey, I found that the high-pressure steel 100s were more than adequate. Most of the sites are quite shallow, so that lowered gas consumption. I often exited the water with 1000psi or so, and my guide usually had 500-700psi left because of his dry suit. Keep in mind that we usually did relatively long dives of 65-70 minutes, and sometimes as long as 75-80. I got the impression that most Monterey dives are shorter (50ish minutes?), and that many divers there end their dives around that point because of cold, rather than gas consumption, so they would not necessarily need that much additional gas. The steel 100s could
be quite cumbersome for shore entries and exits, so I imagine that the steel 120s would be even more cumbersome.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Why aren't 120-cf steels are more common rental option in California? I found them at North Carolina (Olympus Dive Center) and Jupiter, FL (Jupiter Dive Center). Seems like California lends itself to big tanks.

Probably because California isn’t really considered a “tourist dive destination” per se, and because generally rental tanks need to be cheap for shops to stock, and most times rental tanks are used for OW classes or newbies, 120’s don’t really fit into that scheme. I’ve seen a couple LP 95’s at my shop they keep around as rentals for the air hogs, but steel 120’s are too advanced and too expensive for a rental fleet in a location that is mostly dived by locals who will generally own those tanks.

 

[Trailboss123]

Thank you for the positive feedback.

What factors led you to suggest going to the Channel Islands in summer or fall? Visibility? Calmer seas? Water temperature? Other conditions?

Yes- the water is warmest between July and October. Usually hits a peak in early October. Visibility is also at its best. Further south you go, the warmer the water gets. Not uncommon to reach high 60's to low 70's that time of year.

 

[Jcp2]

That was a very nice report. How did you decide between a semidry suit versus complete drysuit? Was it hard to pack? How did you keep warm in the surface intervals?

 

[Adam Van Prooyen]

That was a very nice report. How did you decide between a semidry suit versus complete drysuit? Was it hard to pack? How did you keep warm in the surface intervals?

Not OP but since he only had experience with diving tropical waters, I'm going to guess he rented the semidry from Aquarius (and didn't want to deal with certification/training for drysuit).

 

[Ironborn]

Not OP but since he only had experience with diving tropical waters, I'm going to guess he rented the semidry from Aquarius (and didn't want to deal with certification/training for drysuit).

Actually I bought the semi-dry. There was a good sale, and I figured that it would be a good investment for local diving here in New York (which I have started to do as well). I was not sure if it would be worth the trouble of going through the dry suit course or the expense of buying one if I was unsure if I would like cold water diving. Now that I know that I do like cold water diving, I am toying with the idea of doing the drysuit course. But the semi-dry is adequate for now. The only place that I really want to dive that would really require a drysuit is British Columbia, but I think I need more experience with cold water environments in general before I go there.