Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

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Did two at Breakwater today. Kind of brownish green. 10 ft vis would be exaggerating. Got back out to check on the Mermaids Purse. The Swell Sharks are swimming around in there now. Saw some nudibranchs. Happy to be back in the water but I figure conditions will be poor for awhile.
 
On today's menu: Pea Soup with Crab and Anemone

Fun dive at the Breakwater today:

Bottom time: 66 minutes
Max depth: 42 feet
Visibility: 5 to 10 feet
Water temperature: 52.9F to 58.6F
Surface conditions: Windy with morning clouds, when I arrived, that burned off to sunny sky's. Very small waves, with a rising tide.

I haven't been diving for a month & needed to try out a new Viking neck seal & hood, so ignored the poor vis reports and headed down to the Breakwater. The viz looked fine walking along the breakwater, LOL, but wasn't.

We surface kicked out to the 10 and dropped. I didn't see my buddy during much of the descent, but the murk cleared a bit at the bottom and there he was. We basically did an out-and-back, staying close to the bottom on the wall 'til turning and returning at about 30 feet depth. I noticed the vis open up to 10 feet...occasionally...at about 40 feet. We were bump-into-each-other close much of the time. When we did stray apart my buddy did a much better job of tracking me down than I did him.

I filmed most of the crabs and anemone's I came across and had a couple of fish wander into the frame too. The highlight of the dive came toward the end when I noticed a 2- to 3-foot salp chain. I filmed it for a moment or two before noticing a crab was holding it!!!

My new neck seal was fine, but the Surveyor hood leaked as soon as we hit the water, so I dropped the suit off at the shop that installed it on the way home.

I've dove in worse visibility...much worse, actually.
 
Great dive with David at Breakwater today. We saw a small Leopard shark. It was a bit beat up, but did not mind being filmed. Saw it again at the end of the dive. Much better vis out at about wall maker# 10 and on. We had up to about 10 feet of vis with beautiful shots of kelp, fish, cup coral, anemones and star fish. Also look for crabs including a Dungeness crab, sea urchins, schools of fish, soft sponges, sand dollars, a flat fish, and other critters. We dove for 50 minutes at a max depth of 40 feet. Water temp. 50 degrees.
 
Two dives today at Breakwater. First was along wall. There were a lot of Rainbow Nudibranchs off the wall in the sandy area. Checked on swell shark eggs and they are growing nicely. Second dive was kelp. Tons of Sea Nettles. Awesome to see them again. Both dives had 15ft or better vis. Water was looking blue. 54 degrees.
 
7-6-18. Great dive with David at MacAbee today. Vis was 10-30 feet, water temp 57 degrees. Water dead calm and it was sunny and warm. We had fun with a curious harbor seal trying to play with us. We also saw lots of the old cannery pipes and many fish and other critters. Video coming.
 

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With Beach Hopper.
Eric's Pinnacle - There was some current and occasional surge of 2-3 feet but vis varied between 20 and 30 feet. Huge schools of blues. On top swells were 2-3 feet, occasional larger swells maybe 4-5 feet. The wind was uncooperative and kept pushing the boat broadside to the swells.
Aquarium reef area, anchored just south and east of the intakes, in 35 feet of water - 15 feet of vis at the anchor. Opened up to 20 as one moved a little deeper. Hordes of nudis and multiple schools of senoritas.. A couple of male Sheep heads. Very little water movement below, just a bit on top.
 
Two fun dives at Lobos today, with Raftingtigger.

The waves looked forbidding at Monastery, and were pretty impressive breaking on the rocks twixt Bluefish and Whalers, but turned into a glassy swell as they rounded into Whalers itself. The boat ramp is very slick! The kelp has filled in nicely, with a minimal boat channel.

First dive: Middle Reef

Bottom time: 63 minutes
Max depth: 49 feet
Visibility: 15 to 20 feet
Water temperature: 55F to 60F!!!
Surface: Glassy water, with a rolling remnant of the storm swell. Rising tide. Sunny.


I wanted to get some video in the kelp with my tripod mounted 3D 360 camera, so we headed to for our first dive. I was rewarded by two nice schools of rockfish just hanging in the kelp while I wandered among them with my camera. We also had a cooperative Lingcod that sat still while we took turns filming & photographing it. The plan was to head out along the west side and return along the east, but I had a short fill and where we tried to turn around was pretty surgy and an urchin barren, to boot, so we just back tracked the way we came. We continued south of Middle Reef, and passed Worm Patch, trying to stay in the boat channel. We surface in clear water close to, but not actually in, the channel but had an easy swim to it.

My tripod fell apart after I shot my last clip on the boat ramp. I had a fishing line lanyard between the camera housing and the "other" part of the tripod, so nothing was lost.

Second dive: Hole in the Wall and Lone Metridum

Bottom time: 68 minutes
Max depth: 63 feet
Visibility: 20 to 35 feet!!!
Water temperature: 52.9F to 68F
Surface/water conditions: The swell picked up a bit for the second dive & we dropped sooner than I would normally have due to queasiness. There was a lot of water movement...more current than surge, if that makes sense, especially out by Lone Metridium.

With my tripod out of commission, I dove with my 3D GoPro setup. We dropped out in the boat channel and cruised mid-water for a while to save air while covering a bit more ground before descending to the bottom. Did the usual peek at & film each other through Hole in the Wall then continued on round toward Lone Metridium. The visibility opened up nicely in deeper water. I didn't see an Lings, but there were several male and female Kelp Greenlings to film, some hydro-coral, and a Treefish hiding in a hole. Lone Metridium was looking good, in full bloom. There was a noticeable current, toward Whalers, out there. We returned via the Rock Garden area & kept working our way south, finally surfacing just off the ramp.

The second dive was chillier, but since my drysuit leaks a bit I had saved my warmer set of undies for the second dive.

Monastery was booming as I crept by it in the road construction traffic jam heading home.
 
Two dives today at Breakwater. First was along wall. There were a lot of Rainbow Nudibranchs off the wall in the sandy area. Checked on swell shark eggs and they are growing nicely. Second dive was kelp. Tons of Sea Nettles. Awesome to see them again. Both dives had 15ft or better vis. Water was looking blue. 54 degrees.
Similar conditions on Sunday, 10-15 ft visibility at 40 ft. toward the end of the wall, though only 5-6 ft. closer to shore.
 
Two dives at Breakwater today. 1st dive was the wall. Vis was 25ft and blue. Tons of Rainbow nudibranchs and large Heressenda. Salp chain. Very awesome dive. Second dive was 10ft +/- vis. Surprised vis dropped off so much but still fun. A bunch of shrimp on second dive. There is a dead and bloating dolphin on the surface by kelp. Bring nose plugs.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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