Diving Monterey

[billt4sf]

We have found cold water diving to be MUCH harder than warm water diving as my thread on this forum suggests. After half a dozen efforts, we are still struggling with it, but you may have better luck.

Even if things go well for amybmak, it's going to be very different than the Caribbean in that:

viz will certainly be worse, 5 - 10' viz is not uncommon. How will you find and communicate with your buddy?

you will have alot more wetsuit on (think "Michelen Man") and therefore alot more weight, and therefore more buoyancy problems

you will very likely be cold, either in the water or out of the water -- so be prepared for this with extra clothing and hot soup, etc.


I, too *HIGHLY* recommend a guide to help you get started. Keith at Bamboo Reef was great with us. I am very surprised that someone posted a list of dive sites to do like a new cold water diver can just go for it. I know we have had more troubles than most, but new cold water divers will need some time to get used to the situations.


Good luck.

Bill

 

[dshorwich]

If you dive Breakwater or Pt Lobos (both good choices for those new to these waters, as others have indicated), I'd recommend diving them on a weekday, if your schedule allows. Breakwater is the standard training site here, and on weekends, especially in summer, it'll be just chock-a-block with classes. That can be useful in that there's lots of surface support around, should any be needed, but on the other hand the parking lots fill up quite early, and all those students can kick up the sand something fierce.

As for Lobos, they only allow 15 buddy teams/day, and the slots on the weekends tend to get snarfed up quickly. It's usually no problem getting a slot on a weekday even if you don't have a reservation (although you still need to pay the reservation fee).

if you decide to boat dive, here's a link to the local boats:

Monterey SCUBA Diving Charter Boats

All the boats are well-run, the main difference is in the number of divers they can carry.

Be aware that the boats here do NOT routinely put a divemaster in the water, as is done in many warm-water locales, so again hiring a local guide would be a *very* good idea.


David

 

[amybmak]

OK, you've all convinced me that this is something I probably don't want to do.

 

[fisheater]

OK, you've all convinced me that this is something I probably don't want to do.

Hold it! We're NOT trying to convince you not to dive here. We're merely stressing that you need to approach it safely (especially in light of some unsafe advice you'd received).

Hire a DM (or take a class) from shore first, to get your orientation and weighting right. Then, if you're comfortable, get a spot on a charter boat, with or without your own DM.

 

[g1138]

We definitely weren't trying to discourage you from diving Monterey. We were trying to discourage you from visiting the more advanced sites on your very first dive.

A lot of times new divers to the local will come in and get their butts handed to them, because by comparison we have a surf entry. Not high surf; although high surf is possible on some given days. If it is high surf, we usually call the dive.

But the point is this isn't your typical tropical-calm let's just walk in and have fun. There are easy tricks of the trade to make sure you don't have a bad day. One such thing is putting on your fins in the surf zone. Easy trick to make this simple is to lay on your back and put your fins on in a figure 4. If you don't do this simple thing, you're knocked down by the tiniest wave and you lose your fin in the murk. End of the dive day.

So all we're recommending is have a local show you around so you can have a fun safe time. It's not all that hard, but it's not universally intuitive.
Our general community consensus is to tell you what hardships you'll face, and let you discover the wonder yourself. Trust me, the sea life is much better in Monterey. For one thing you don't have to be at the bottom to see a diverse variety of life; we have a 3D environment via kelp. Trust me, it's worth it; even at the Breakwater training site.

 

[Ben_ca]

For a new to Monterey diver I would not have recommended Monastery. That's more of a double black diamond dive. Just from the cardiac factor alone from the berm it would be rough and that's not even taking the entry and exit into account.

Stick with the Breakwater or Lovers until you get used to the gear and environment.

 

[zf2nt]

...That's more of a double black diamond dive. Just from the cardiac factor alone from the berm it would be rough and that's not even taking the entry and exit into account.

Speaking of the cardiac factor... One of my DM's told me she saw a guy walk out at N. Monastery last week wearing double 100's AND carrying two AL80's and an AL40 as stage bottles. That is just inconceivable to me! Who was that masked man?

 

[Ben_ca]

Wasn't me for sure. I did dubs at Monastery once or twice. It was just way too much weight to drag over the hill.

 

[3D diver]

Mike Nelson...all balsa wood.

 

[altaskier]

Don't give up on diving Monterey! Just do it with a local guide. My first time was a guided shore dive at Breakwater and Metridium fields, arranged through Bamboo Reef as others have suggested. I now do boat dives and Lobos dives every few months when work brings me to the San Francisco area. I have embraced cold water diving and now own my own drysuit, though of course I love warm water locations too!