pterantula
Contributor
I apologize that this is long-winded, just wanted to relate conditions, sights & observations....
Hit South Monastery (Monastery South?) this morning, amid reports of reasonable vis holding out while the more northerly Monterey Bay was hit with a plankton bloom.
The air was cool, with a little sun but a massive fog cloud moving in (around 10a?); surf was low and easy, we walked right in with fins on. A little surge, wimpy by Monastery standards. At around 40fsw around the rocks, water was cool but not "cold" (56F), and though light was dim under the kelp canopy, vis held at around 20ft?, +/-. Lots of fish (neato school of rockfish hovering motionless 20ft above our heads), massive starfish, and some big decorator crabs (very cool!). My first time at this cove, and man, so colorful and full of life; looking out at the perimeter of kelp, I just wanted build a little house right there.
As we came back out, I turned to remove a 20ft kelp frond that had hitched a ride, and when I turned back, no buddy. Gone. Vis outside the cove reduced to about 10-15ft or worse, and I was still inexorably tied to this strand. I surfaced and ended up making my first "kelp crawl" for about 50 yards toward my buddy. Fuuunnn....
I was a little low on air, so we made a surface swim toward the beach - still about 100 yards away. We swam on our backs for several minutes, when suddenly a large, dark form breached not 15ft from my right side (open water side). It happened so fast and unexpectedly, but it really did look like a dolphin. Two dolphins, actually. I called out to my buddy, who saw it too, and suggested we move quickly and swim right at the kelp's edge (hay, for what it's worth, it's about all you have...). He didn't tell me until we hit the shore that he also saw a fin in front of us, headed right for us - which was 99.999% likely another dolphin, but you know.... Not the most fun I've had swimming on oceantop.
When we settled on the beach and began to de-gear, we saw more dolphin splashes along the horizon, and a fellow diver mentioned that he's seen them here before, that it's not uncommon to see them this close. (Now, if only we could have met this guy before the dive....) So, I got to swim with dolphins, so yay me. (My buddy said there were otters out there while we swam back too, but I didn't see anything.) I then accidentally broke my mask's strap insert.
After lunch, I bought a new mask (no one had the exact strap insert for that mask) & we hit Breakwater/San Carlos Beach. A nice, easy fun afternoon dive. Crowded afternoon, but not too so. We dove pretty far out, maybe even as far as the boat channel beyond the pier?, but just stuck close to the bottom rocks to say hi to the fish and crabs. Vis was kinda crappy, about 10ft at its best point?, water thick like soup with crap (but I've been in worse), and since the sun decided to fully show that 52F water really started to hit home. Aside from that, Breakwater is becoming my most frequent spot - and on a so-so day it's still a fun, easy trek (the showers are a big plus ).
(PS - Allow me to mention here, that in spite of the tenor of the SB thread about purges, for my money, I do not like masks without purges. When clearing this new mask, it constantly sprayed water into my eyes. I tried everything for 30 minutes to see if I could avoid this, with very little success. And it did indeed fit; quite well, maybe better than my other mask. I want my masks to have a purge. But anyway.)
Hit South Monastery (Monastery South?) this morning, amid reports of reasonable vis holding out while the more northerly Monterey Bay was hit with a plankton bloom.
The air was cool, with a little sun but a massive fog cloud moving in (around 10a?); surf was low and easy, we walked right in with fins on. A little surge, wimpy by Monastery standards. At around 40fsw around the rocks, water was cool but not "cold" (56F), and though light was dim under the kelp canopy, vis held at around 20ft?, +/-. Lots of fish (neato school of rockfish hovering motionless 20ft above our heads), massive starfish, and some big decorator crabs (very cool!). My first time at this cove, and man, so colorful and full of life; looking out at the perimeter of kelp, I just wanted build a little house right there.
As we came back out, I turned to remove a 20ft kelp frond that had hitched a ride, and when I turned back, no buddy. Gone. Vis outside the cove reduced to about 10-15ft or worse, and I was still inexorably tied to this strand. I surfaced and ended up making my first "kelp crawl" for about 50 yards toward my buddy. Fuuunnn....
I was a little low on air, so we made a surface swim toward the beach - still about 100 yards away. We swam on our backs for several minutes, when suddenly a large, dark form breached not 15ft from my right side (open water side). It happened so fast and unexpectedly, but it really did look like a dolphin. Two dolphins, actually. I called out to my buddy, who saw it too, and suggested we move quickly and swim right at the kelp's edge (hay, for what it's worth, it's about all you have...). He didn't tell me until we hit the shore that he also saw a fin in front of us, headed right for us - which was 99.999% likely another dolphin, but you know.... Not the most fun I've had swimming on oceantop.
When we settled on the beach and began to de-gear, we saw more dolphin splashes along the horizon, and a fellow diver mentioned that he's seen them here before, that it's not uncommon to see them this close. (Now, if only we could have met this guy before the dive....) So, I got to swim with dolphins, so yay me.
(My buddy said there were otters out there while we swam back too, but I didn't see anything.) I then accidentally broke my mask's strap insert.After lunch, I bought a new mask (no one had the exact strap insert for that mask) & we hit Breakwater/San Carlos Beach. A nice, easy fun afternoon dive. Crowded afternoon, but not too so. We dove pretty far out, maybe even as far as the boat channel beyond the pier?, but just stuck close to the bottom rocks to say hi to the fish and crabs. Vis was kinda crappy, about 10ft at its best point?, water thick like soup with crap (but I've been in worse), and since the sun decided to fully show that 52F water really started to hit home. Aside from that, Breakwater is becoming my most frequent spot - and on a so-so day it's still a fun, easy trek (the showers are a big plus
).(PS - Allow me to mention here, that in spite of the tenor of the SB thread about purges, for my money, I do not like masks without purges. When clearing this new mask, it constantly sprayed water into my eyes. I tried everything for 30 minutes to see if I could avoid this, with very little success. And it did indeed fit; quite well, maybe better than my other mask. I want my masks to have a purge. But anyway.)
