Actual Monterey conditions?

[Bibendum]

Hi -

Does anyone know of a website that shows what actual conditions are/were at Monterey dive sites (like visibility, water temp. - at surface and at depth, swell and current, etc.)?

I know where to find the marine reports for wave heights and surface water temps as well as predictions, however I have never seen a site that lists what they actually were or are.

Thanks!

 

[Burner]

I think this is what they actually are (or were a few hours ago)
http://cdip.ucsd.edu/recent/model_images/monterey.png
I don't know of anything that tells what the underwater temp is, other then reading from dive reports on badiving http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/
For visibility reports you can use reports from badiving, although often they aren't as useful unless someone did a dive on thursday or friday. Sometimes the visibility changes quite quickly and can vary a lot from site to site. Most of the people giving visibility reports (ie chuck) dive off a boat and visit sites where you might not easilly get to.
You can also call the monterey dive shops they usually have a good idea. I think aquarius (the shop that isn't by breakwater) has a board that people can put up their reports, but I've never called and asked them. Usually MBDC has a pretty good idea of what the visibility of breakwater is.

I see you only have a few dives, so I would just look at the swell predictions and get some diving in. Go nice and slow and find lots of stuff. Many times you will find way cooler stuff if the vis is bad and you go really slow and look in all the cracks. If the vis is good you might just glance at a rock and not see anything in one glance and move on.

 

[Courtneyf82]

Aquarius has a cool weather page with links to noaa and a couple webcams, i sometimes look at the monterey bay aquarium webcam, can indicate how big it is.

www.AquariusDivers.com

 

[Bibendum]

I guess what I am really asking here is; are there any sites with information on conditions at various sites? I use the sites for swells and water temp and upcoming predictions, what I am really interested in knowing is water temp. at depth and the visibility people experienced (I know it chages throughout the day, I am just curious as to what it was).

Thanks!

I think this is what they actually are (or were a few hours ago)
http://cdip.ucsd.edu/recent/model_images/monterey.png
I don't know of anything that tells what the underwater temp is, other then reading from dive reports on badiving http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/
For visibility reports you can use reports from badiving, although often they aren't as useful unless someone did a dive on thursday or friday. Sometimes the visibility changes quite quickly and can vary a lot from site to site. Most of the people giving visibility reports (ie chuck) dive off a boat and visit sites where you might not easilly get to.
You can also call the monterey dive shops they usually have a good idea. I think aquarius (the shop that isn't by breakwater) has a board that people can put up their reports, but I've never called and asked them. Usually MBDC has a pretty good idea of what the visibility of breakwater is.

I see you only have a few dives, so I would just look at the swell predictions and get some diving in. Go nice and slow and find lots of stuff. Many times you will find way cooler stuff if the vis is bad and you go really slow and look in all the cracks. If the vis is good you might just glance at a rock and not see anything in one glance and move on.

 

[JustinW]

manta ray dive center in monterey has a page that is poorly updated that they post actual conditions on. Just remember though, actual conditions change hourly. I have seen the breakwater 40' vis at 6 am only to be 5-10' at 9am. Or visibility be 5' but then kick out and drop into 20', or have different visibility in the same spot at different depths at the same time. Actual conditions are difficult so summarize for those reason.