Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[stilldivin]

Nice dive with new buddy James and with David from James' boat. We launched at the Breakwater boat ramp and motored out past the pier and sea lions. We dove off the aquarium in about 52 feet of water. We were buzzed by a sea lion, saw a colorful nudibranch, some mertridiums, copper rock fish, soft coral, a crab, and other critters. It was very calm, sunny and beautiful. Pretty good vis too. Jim and I had leaky drysuits plus other equipment problems. I still got some pretty good video but made some shots stills because I had the "aqua" setting on this other cheap camera turned on and it's a red filter, which flashed on and off. Not seen in video, however. The video is a little shaky and I could not use YouTube's stabilizer feature.

 

[KRL1973]

Dove North Monastery today with my son and had a great time. Topside was sunny and warm. The beach was gorgeous. Surf was breaking just above the knee on entry and could stroll in to don fins then surface swam out along the edge of the kelp. Dropped at about 25 fsw and followed the reef north hanging at 40 to 60 fsw all the way around to the san/worm flat where the angel shark has been encountered in the past but didn't see it this time. Visability ranged from 20 to 25 feet horizontally but seemed more when I looked up into the kelp canopy at the schools of blues hanging above me. Reef and kelp forest in great shape here, very healthy and full of all the life I was missing on a previous dive at Coral street where it had been reduced to an urchin barren.

Was supremely rejuvenating post-dive, hanging on the beach soaking up the sun and having a picnic. It had been awhile and I had forgotten what I had been missing.

Surprised to find we were virtually the only ones diving there today.

Took some video and will try to post a link whenever I get around to processing it.

 

[runsongas]

more divers were out on saturday. about 15 or 16.

 

[uspap]

Dove Breakwater today. Monastery looked a bit large. Breakwater was not awesome but not bad. Saw mermaids purse and various nudibranchs. Only did one dive. Vis was 10ft +/-. Glad to be diving. My gills were getting dry. A bit windy.

 

[stilldivin]

Dove Pt. Lobos today. (4-13-18.) Big mistake! check out video.

 

[3D diver]

Did two dives at San Carlos Beach today. There were lots of fishing boats, Phil Sammet's RIB with the mondo camera rig, and a Marine Mammal rescue crew after a Sea Lion at the far end of the beach.

First dive: Pipe to the Metridiums

Dive Time: 65 minutes
Max Depth: 38 feet
Visibility: 15 feet
Water Temperature: 51.4F to 57.9F
Conditions: Overcast, small waves washing fairly close to the stairs, strong surge and/or current

There were some small waves at the Breakwater entry point, but the wave model said they should calm as the day progressed. They waves looked smaller at the far end of the beach, and there were a pair of harbor seals there too, so we decided to head to the Metridiums.

We walked down the beach to an easy entry, with a harbor seal escort as soon as we hit the water. We dropped pretty close to shore and quickly found the pipe. The surge was impressive, but very long period---I'd-a called it a current if it didn't change directions regularly. We moseyed along the pipe, buddy shooting macro & me wondering 'where are the fish'? Sea Lions took over as our escorts and buzzed us occasionally throughout the dive. There were some rockfish near rocks north of the pipe about mid-way down it's length. Ultimately, we reached half air as we were nearing the end of the pipe so we turned and followed it back.

The sun was just breaking through the clouds as we kicked back to shore.


Second dive: Breakwater

Dive Time: 67 minutes
Max Depth: 36 feet
Visibility: 15 feet
Water Temperature: 51.4F to 58.6F
Conditions: Sunny, tide well out, almost no waves, less surge.

The waves dropped during our surface interval making for an easy entry. We dropped at the Admiralty Anchor, pretty well hidden by kelp, and headed out along the wall. (I forgot to change the batteries in my video lights, so a shallow dive seemed like a good idea.) Again, we had sea lions buzzing us most of the dive. I also saw a Sea Otter check us out and two or three cormorants swim by, hunting---but these sightings happened too quickly for me to get any video, d'oh!

I spotted two shark egg casings my buddy had spotted during a night dive last night. A small Lingcod swam up while I was filming an anemone and posed for me too. Right after I turned off the camera, I noticed another fish approaching and before I could get the camera running the Lingcod lunged at it!!!!

Otherwise, I didn't see a lot of fish. We turned and worked our way back into the shallows, checking out the Anchor again and cruising along the Sand Dollar beds, surfacing near the 3.

 

[uspap]

Hey 3D. Where did you see the shark eggs? I found some a couple of weeks ago near the number 8 but they washed away by next time out. I hope they attached somewhere and didn't wash up on shore.

 

[3D diver]

Not sure, but it wasn't too far out along the wall. We dropped at the Admiralty Anchor (@ 5 1/4), were moving pretty slow, and found them 22 minutes into the dive. 8 maybe...

 

[uspap]

Sweet. I went out yesterday and vis was 15-20 first dive and a little better than 10 the second. Water was 51. Pretty noticeable thermocline at drop off. I'll have to look for those eggs. Saw a wolf eel for the first time along the wall. Nice day diving.

 

[stilldivin]

Beautiful, sunny and warm day at Pt. Lobos. Calm seas too. We decided to swim across Whaler's Cove and dive through Coal Chute Cave. The vis was pretty good so we were able to swim all the way through the cave and out the other end. As you will see we had to time it right because there was some surge. We then headed back across the bay. We saw the usual variety of fish, soft coral, a crab, rose anemones, a feather duster that vanished when it sensed our presence, and other critters. It was nice because we had good vis, a rarity in Whaler's Cove. When we reached the shallow water near the ramp the sun was shinning down and the plant and animal life was beautiful. Be sure and watch to the end to see this. We dove to a max depth of 43 feet for 50 minutes. Water temp. 52 degrees.