Advice for planning a weekend visit

[andimal]

I'll be in Monterey for a conference and have Saturday and Sunday (6/25-6/26) free for diving, etc. I'm mostly a warm water boat diver, but have done a couple dives in cold (and coldish) East Coast water, and have done a fair amount of shore diving. I've read a few other threads like this, and had a couple more questions.

It seems like most folks only do/recommend shore dives. Is that a function of the diving habits of the people responding, or do boats not offer that much advantage (for the money at least) over shore diving in Monterey? Or, put another way, do the boats just not go to markedly different/more interesting sites than are otherwise accessible? Regardless of how I split up my two days (shore vs boat) I'm going to hire a guide/DM for at least the first day.

If you were in my shoes and had two days to dive around Monterey, what would your out-of-towner plan look like? Of course, I know weather can foul any of these plans up. Also, Pt. Lobos slots are open for the Sunday, if that is an important fact.

 

[fofo]

You could dive at the Breakwater on Saturday, to get a feel for the local diving, and stay there for the second one or move to another place, and then go to Lobos on Sunday (but they only allow for buddy diving in Lobos, so you'll need to have two people on the reservation).

About boat vs. shore diving, there are good sites accessible either way, and some people around here do almost exclusively boat dives. If you don't care either way, go for shore dives. You can go to some amazing spots from shore, and you are on your own schedule.

Have fun!

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

The boat diving is generally better than the beach diving, especially the beach diving that's not really really rugged. I'd suggest getting a guide for Saturday, and booking a boat for Sunday, or Lobos and
a guide for Sunday (too many first-time Lobos divers don't swim out far enough). Bruce at Aquarius Dive Shop on Del Monte has experience guiding at Lobos.

You can generally pick up a buddy on a boat. But that's pot luck. I've had some great pick up buddies and some horrid ones.

Read:Ba_diving Website - Information about Northern California diving esp the two links that begin
"Information ..."

When are you flying out?

Full disclosure: I have my own boat, so I may have a prejudiced viewpoint. ;-)

 

[Khawaga]

I agree with Chuck that boat diving is generally easier and gets you to more stuff. Until this year, all my diving has been warm water diving from a boat, so I know where you're coming from. Out here, I think people tend to do shore diving over boat diving because it's easier to plan (you show up when you are ready, you gear up at your leisure, and you go diving whenever) and because it's cheaper than paying for a boat.

If you want to go out on a boat, do it. But keep in mind that you may be used to passing up all your gear before climbing out of the water. Here, the most they will take from you is your fins. If you can get a reservation for Lobos, take it. And if you can't get the slot or if the conditions up there are bad on that day, try Breakwater. Lots to see, it's fairly protected. You won't regret it.

 

[zf2nt]

...If you want to go out on a boat, do it. But keep in mind that you may be used to passing up all your gear before climbing out of the water. Here, the most they will take from you is your fins.

What an interesting difference in perspectives! My biggest objection to going out on a commercial dive boat is that I almost always have to fight some over-eager DM for my fins when I come out of the water. I REALLY don't want to give them up, thanks very much.

 

[aquaregia]

As a local, I really like the shore diving, but if I were visiting I might go for a boat. It takes a little diving here to get to know the best spots for conditions etc, and a boat takes care of that for you.

 

[andimal]

All - Thanks for the kind advice. My apologies for not having responded sooner - work became crazy and I had two trips come up.
I"m leaning toward doing guided shore dives on Saturday (presumably at Breakwater) then go on a boat on Sunday. Looks like Beachhopper II still has some space.

Read:Ba_diving Website - Information about Northern California diving esp the two links that begin
"Information ..."

When are you flying out?

Thanks for the links! I'll be flying in June 24 and diving June 25-26.

 

[Guy Alcala]

All - Thanks for the kind advice. My apologies for not having responded sooner - work became crazy and I had two trips come up.
I"m leaning toward doing guided shore dives on Saturday (presumably at Breakwater) then go on a boat on Sunday. Looks like Beachhopper II still has some space.

Thanks for the links! I'll be flying in June 24 and diving June 25-26.

Good idea; you can get your weighting and trim squared away on the shore dives. As to boat dives, while boats CAN take you out to sites that are difficult or impossible to reach from the shore, if conditions are rough you may well wind up paying $80-$90 for what is normally a shore dive -- two weekends ago there were dive boats anchored off Hidden and McAbee beaches, both normally shore dives.

I do think Chuck's a bit biased towards boat diving;-) I wouldn't necessarily say that boat dives locally are better, just different. They are typically deeper, and that often means better visibility and less surge, and sometimes a different selection of critters. There's also less swimming involved. But either can be good depending on conditions.

Guy