Good advice from crlavoie about Cathedral Rocks and tides.
I usually avoid diving within two hours either side of dead low tide because the best entry becomes a little too slimy and treacherous to suit me, even in calm seas. Cathedral is the only place I've ever fallen, I think.
This Saturday, the 9th, low tide is 11:52am, and on Sunday it's 12:38pm.
If it were me, the following weekend tides are what I'd call perfect for spending the day there: low tide is 5:36am on Saturday, the 16th. High tide is at 11:51am.
As far as headings and topography, a 120 will take you pretty directly down the slope, passing over large boulders and some 10' drop-offs to the sand at 80' about 150 yards from shore.
A 130 will take you over some sharper drop-offs and crevices which are interesting. You'll get to the sand at 75' about 200 yards out.
A 140 can take you over even more pronounced drop-offs and gaps in the granite, even a 15' vertical wall, but it's a long way to the sand, perhaps 250 yards out and 70' deep. Your heading almost parallels shore in spots.
In general, lobstering is easiest along the base of the slope where the rocks are smaller and hiding spots more accessible to the diver.
IMHO, Cathedral provides a better chance to see an Atlantic torpedo ray, a wolffish, or a goosefish than any other shore dive on Cape Ann. Perhaps one out of 5 dives will have such a sighting. The torpedo ray in my avatar was at 50' at Cathedral.
Otherwise, invertebrates are the real treat so common at Cathedral, with numerous Northern Anemones, frilled anemones, scarlet psolas', orange-footed sea cucumbers, etc.
Occasionally, a dogfish will come sniffing around a catch bag, especially if you have flounder, which can be speared almost every dive this time of year.
Schools of pollock are common. Occasional stripers.
There is often a slight long-shore current pulled by the tide. Rarely, there will be down-slope current if there's a wind coming directly onto shore.
A favorite plan of mine is to do a first dive on the 130 or 140, turn left at the base of the granite slope and follow the base northeast for about 50 yards, then head back upslope with a little correction to aim for the exit.
A second dive starting on the 120 heading will take you almost to where you left the base on the previous dive, then turn left again for 40 or 50 yards until reaching the "elbow" where the base heads more eastward. At that point, heading north directly up the slope and gradually correcting to the west will bring you over a gradual upslope and better rocks for lobstering. You'll find yourself near shore about 100 yards north of the exit, but in 10-20' of water with good lobster rocks as you do a swiming safety stop back to the exit.
I do these dives with a HP120 in a little over an hour each, but I'm not doing the hard work of lobstering, so adjust your plan accordingly.
Good luck!
Dave C
