Coming soon to a dive near you!

[Rick Inman]

Well, on the 14th I'll be hookin' up the old trailer and making the trek from Spokane WA to Monterey. I'll be able to dive on the 17th, 18th, 19th and 22nd and looking for someone who might want to show a visitor the local underwater neighborhood. I was raised up diving in southern CA back in the 70s' and 80s' and am looking forward to returning to the kelp of my misspent youth.
From what I've read, I might be wise to start my Monterey diving at the breakwater. And I don't want to miss Pt. Lobos Reserve. These are weekday dives so I don't know how feasible it will be to hook up with someone. Any takers??

By the way, I'm also booked on the Truth out of Santa Barbara on the 24th, which should be nice...

 

[DeepTechScuba]

Your availability for diving being during the week is highly problematic.

You might try posting on groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving.

That is a local dive board with about 500 participants. They can be mean and nasty, or they can be nice.

The attitude around here is that it is dangerous to dive with unknown divers, especially since dive conditions here can be exceptionally challenging. A fair amount of infrequent divers have died here from time to time, the most recent being a few weeks ago on a dive boat, and before that at Monastery Beach (technically the latter injured person is still in a coma, but that meets my definition of brain death anyway).

Since you are from the inland reaches of Spokane, I suspect you are going to find diving rigorous here, very cold water. So be careful.

Monterey Bay Dive Center on Cannery Row over by the Breakwater (San Carlos / USCG Wharf) beach offers dive tours at reasonable rates. Do a Google search for them (exact phrase: Montery Bay Dive Center / containing all words: Monterey California scuba) and you will find them. Plus they have a big read scuba sign right by the parking lot at Breakwater so you cant miss them.

I cannot dive with you during the week. And on the weekend that you are here there will be a big beach & harbor clean up day dive that my sweetie and I will be participating in.

Good luck, and stay alive.

 

[Rick Inman]

DeepTechScuba once bubbled...
The attitude around here is that it is dangerous to dive with unknown divers, especially since dive conditions here can be exceptionally challenging. Since you are from the inland reaches of Spokane, I suspect you are going to find diving rigorous here, very cold water. So be careful.
.

Thanks for the info!
Funny, this is the same thing we say to people coming up here. Puget Sound where we dive, we have tidal flows that require very exact timing, low visibility and in fact, water temperatures that make Monterey Bay seem warm. I hear you guys see temps up to 60! Nice!
Of course, inland it gets even more interesting. It really wasn't too bad diving the river this Saturday, 52 degrees, but hey, it’s warm in the summer. The lakes can get colder here in August past the thermal, and if you come, bring your light even on the brightest days. You'll need it.
Now winter diving, that's different all together. Bring your ice diving gear inland, and on the coast it goes without saying that it’s dry suits only. Be very cautious to watch for slack tide windows when it’s safe to dive. Oh, and if you want, bring your snow skis, too.
But there is one difference. If you come to dive in Washington let us know. We'd love to talk to you about your skill level, and hook you up with some appropriate diving. Great people, very nice, and excellent divers. Check out: http://www.northwestdiver.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=16
I also found the Monterey dive shops I have spoken to very gracious and helpful and most of the frequent posters on Scuba Board that are from the Monterey area seem to give the impression that they are the same. I’m sure I will find this to be true.
Thanks!

 

[DeepTechScuba]

Since you frequent Puget Sound, you must know all about cold water diving, and even more about swift currents. You should not have any problems with our 54^F water temps right now. And we currently (no pun intended) have no currents to speak of.

The main danger here is a place called Monastery Beach. Its technical name is the south cove of the Carmel River State Beach. There are about a half dozen or more ways that Monastery Beach can kill you.

The waves break almost instantaneously on the steep slope of the beach at the north end, and either your entry or your exit there on a bad day could pound you in the surf zone and strip you of your gear and give you a concussion. There is a diver in the hospital right now with a coma from a recent experience just like that.

There is a shallow kelp bed on the north end as well, and the wave action in the kelp bed can trap you and pound you against shallow rocks.

About 100 yards offshore, there is an underwater canyon that goes down 2 miles ultimately, deeper than any Navy submarine can go. If you have never been narked before, this is where you can easily be tempted to dive deeper than you have ever been.

Narcosis affects different people at different depths. I have seen divers narked at 80 fsw. I notice the effects myself starting at 110 fsw mildly, progressing to my own personal limit at 170 fsw without Helium in my mix.

A first-time narking is very unpredictable. At least one diver disappeared at Monastery in the past couple of years because he mysteriously left his buddy while they were preparing to ascend from 140 fsw. Odds are that the missing diver pressed his deflator button too soon, thinking it was his inflator button. That is the kind of thing that can happen when you are narked.

Wetsuits at depths of 99 ft or more combined with B/Cs only rated to 35 lbs on divers weighted down with 30 to 40 lbs of lead are a dangerous combination at depth. Monastery is unforgiving towards first-time deep divers who fail to do their math before diving deep. No problem, if you wear a drysuit, since you can compensate with your suit inflator button for the effect of pressure at depth on your thermal insulation. But a wetsuit has no real benefit deeper than 99 fsw, and it can also become a major liability at depth if you did not do the math first, and checked your B/C lift rating.

You use air more quickly at great depths.

You need a longer safety stop after a deep dive.

Your first safety stop needs to be deeper as well. Lets see, ( 130/33 + 1 ) / 1.6 = 3.09 ~ 70 ft for your first deep stop of 1 minute. Can you hold a 70 ft stop for 1 minute if you have to? Better hold onto some kelp, or the rip current at the cove will wash you out to sea.

Try MBDC (Monterey Bay Dive Center) for a diving guide. There is not much diving business during the weekdays, so there should be someone there to go diving with you. If you want to dive Monastery, they will take you there, if it is safe to dive there when you are here, if you are thinking about it.

The easy beaches, like San Carlos breakwater, McAbee/ElTorritos, and Lovers Cove are your best bets for a safe dive. San Carlos breakwater is a world class dive, if you swim out about half a mile to the end of the jettee and dive with the numerous sea lions there. Depth is about 45 fsw. Vis right now is 20 to 30 ft. The sea lions are unpredictable, but usually they come out to play with divers there.

Don't dive solo here. Accidents give solo diving a bad name. In Robert Maier's book about solo diving, he states that you should never solo dive in an unfamiliar locale. If there are unofficial rules for solo diving, then diving solo in an unfamiliar location is definitely breaking the rules of solo diving.

Have a great visit. Be careful. This is not Puget Sound. You are not home here.

 

[Dryglove]

DeepTechScuba once bubbled...
Since you frequent Puget Sound, you must know all about cold water diving, and even more about swift currents. You should not have any problems with our 54^F water temps right now. And we currently (no pun intended) have no currents to speak of.

The main danger here is a place called Monastery Beach. Its technical name is the south cove of the Carmel River State Beach. There are about a half dozen or more ways that Monastery Beach can kill you.

Geez Deep your gonna scare him from diving monterey.

By the way there are currents in monterey and carmel. Dont be fooled into thinking there is none especailly when boat diving. I have seen currents go in one direction on the surface and in another direction at depth. Sometimes the current is weak at the surface only to get stronger at depth and vice versa.Most currents at the easy beach diving spots are almost non existant to mild.

Deep is right about monastery. It should only be dove in the best of conditions. You need to use common since when diving this spot like crawling out and do not stand up till you are out of the water and keep your mask and reg on at all times till you are clear of the water. Get out of the surf and drop your gear so you can be prepared to help out your buddy if he doesnt make it out with you.Be sure to surface with enough air to make a surf exit as you will use air quickly if tumbled in the surf.

 

[Rick Inman]

lal7176 once bubbled...


Geez Deep your gonna scare him from diving monterey.

Thanks, ala7176, but I think I've finally got the quaking and quivering under control. All areas have their own dangerous and not-so-dangerous locations (and ones that can change at the drop of a hat). And most places have conditions and dangers that are location specific. Of course I know this. And I know better than to just jump into unknown waters based on internet info. That is why I am trying to hook up which a local diver. Really, I never mentioned diving Monastery. I mentioned Breakwater and Pt. Lobos.
I also know that if you ask 10 divers what one location is like, you'll get 10 different opinions. Some divers like to make a big deal about how dangerous a place is 'cause it builds up their own feelings of what a heroic diver they are. Others will down-play them for the same reason.
I take it all with a grain of salt until I dive the place (or get to know the diver).
Hope I can meet up with someone who knows the area (or I guess i'll have to PAY for it $$$$$)!!

 

[Dryglove]

I might be available for the 19th.

We could do a few relaxing dives at breakwater. One along the wall and one at the metridium fields. Pt lobos is always an option too. Let me know if you are interested. My schedule has been wacked lately so hopefully i can keep that day clear.

 

[Rick Inman]

lal7176 once bubbled...
I might be available for the 19th.

We could do a few relaxing dives at breakwater. One along the wall and one at the metridium fields. Pt lobos is always an option too. Let me know if you are interested. My schedule has been wacked lately so hopefully i can keep that day clear.

Sounds great. I will PM you details on Monday. I would love to do Pt. Lobos and can make the reservation. After my Pm you can let me know if it works out for you.
Thanks,
Rick

 

[DeepTechScuba]

LAL our police/swat diver reminded me of a few other ways that diving Monastery can kill you.

If you are not in good physical shape, then that crawl up the beach in your full gear can give you a heart attack!

I had a friend who is an instructor who surprised himself with his own first heart attack that way while teaching a rescue class at Monastery!

All kidding aside, I can easily understand why a police/swat diver would approach any dangerous situation calmly.

I do not want to intentionally scare you out of diving Monterey, but I do want to put the fear of God in you about Monastery, one of our beaches. I respect and fear Monastery as well myself, even though I have dived it many times, though never solo at the north end.

As far as dive buddies, hopefully you can find someone here, Rick. I would dive with you if I could, but I cannot. I would take the same approach as LAL and orient you in at the Breakwater.

Once you dive with a buddy somewhere, and it is a safe dive site, you are free to dive it solo, safely, as long as you have redundant gear and some kind of background in solo diving. That was my only caveat about diving here without a buddy or a guide.

Generally speaking, there is a lot of kelp here everywhere, but obviously you are well acquainted with kelp from Puget Sound. Have a great visit!

 

[Rick Inman]

DeepTechScuba once bubbled...

As far as dive buddies, hopefully you can find someone here,
Generally speaking, there is a lot of kelp here everywhere, but obviously you are well acquainted with kelp from Puget Sound. Have a great visit!

Actually, the kelp here in the PNW is more like, "Look! There's a piece of kelp! Quick, swim over to it! Take a picture of me behind it!"
I did about 150 dives in the kelp beds of southern CA (channel islands, malibu beaches, etc.) so many years ago I don't want to say. In fact, the first time I dived in Hawaii, I jumped off the boat near Kona, looked around in 150' vis at coral reefs, thousands of tropical fish and thought, "It's nice, but where's the kelp?" (Eventually, I moved there for a year and somehow got used to it )
I really miss kelp diving, and this is the main reason we're coming to Monterey. Really looking forward to it!
I guess I'll break down and pay for 2 orientation dives my first day there - the 16th, and hopefully hook up with LAL on the 19th. I'm on the Truth on the 24th and leaving on the 25th. The other days... well, I'm sure they'll work themselves out.
Speaking of surf, when I was 17, a buddy and I used to dive at Paradise cove in Malibu a lot (hint of when this was: Rockford's trailer was sometimes there). We would push his Zodiac boat past the surf and motor over to Pt. Dume for scallops. Anyway, the surf there is small, about 2-3 feet. But it comes in on a steep slope and bangs down pretty hard. One day an 18 year old guy I knew was kicking in face up, and a 3-foot wave picked him up and BANGED him down on the sand and BROOK HIS NECK! Just like that. I remember him as never the same after that, and he never dived again.
No real point here, you just reminded me.
By the way, can you recommend a good Dive Shop?
Thanks!
Rick