Favorite Shores Dives
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What are your favorite shore dives in the Monterey/Carmel area, excluding Pt. Lobos and Breakwater?
Why are they favorites?
I like McAbee because there's easy parking, easy entrance, a nice site with lots to see, and a good chance for harbor seal encounters.
Garrapata State Park. Mile Marker 66, MM67, Moby Ling Cove, Waterfall Beach.
Point Lobos, even if you included it, likely wouldn't make my top 10, except for ease of entry and facilities.
Point Lobos, even if you included it, likely wouldn't make my top 10, except for ease of entry and facilities.
mikeguerrero
Guest
I like Lover's point; you can dive either Lover's one, two, or three depending on conditions. They are all relative shallow, have lots of kelp and thus many critters.
Parking is not hard, and it's free, just need to make sure you watch the time.
It's usually has lots of people walking around so you never feel alone, exposed to the open ocean.
It has a nice little grill cafe on the beach, next to the rental kayaks, you can get a warm meal really fast and nice benchs in the shade to finish the meal.
It also has restrooms that are clean and easy to get to.
And if luck is on your side, you will encounter harbor seals and maybe a leopard shark, I know I have...
MG
Parking is not hard, and it's free, just need to make sure you watch the time.
It's usually has lots of people walking around so you never feel alone, exposed to the open ocean.
It has a nice little grill cafe on the beach, next to the rental kayaks, you can get a warm meal really fast and nice benchs in the shade to finish the meal.
It also has restrooms that are clean and easy to get to.
And if luck is on your side, you will encounter harbor seals and maybe a leopard shark, I know I have...
MG
cmburch
Contributor
Second Garrapata SP!
Easy access - Carmel River SB at the river mouth.
Stillwater Cove
Lots of fish at these sites.
Easy access - Carmel River SB at the river mouth.
Stillwater Cove
Lots of fish at these sites.
No, you don't need to rappel down to get to the sites.
Find someone with experience diving there. I wouldn't recommend diving there without some guidance or mentoring.
There are some pictures of Moby Ling Cove in my SB Picture Gallery. Once you traverse the sandstone and get on the granite, walk to the end and the entry is a giant stride into a pool about 8 ft deep. The exit is done by crawling up the grade from the waterline, then walking back up on the granite.
If you're diving the other spots, be certain to have someone go with you who knows the area, because some spots are really tricky with loose sandstone while others are hard granite all the way to the water.
Most involve hikes from Highway 1 and relatively calm seas, but they are spectacular.
Find someone with experience diving there. I wouldn't recommend diving there without some guidance or mentoring.
There are some pictures of Moby Ling Cove in my SB Picture Gallery. Once you traverse the sandstone and get on the granite, walk to the end and the entry is a giant stride into a pool about 8 ft deep. The exit is done by crawling up the grade from the waterline, then walking back up on the granite.
If you're diving the other spots, be certain to have someone go with you who knows the area, because some spots are really tricky with loose sandstone while others are hard granite all the way to the water.
Most involve hikes from Highway 1 and relatively calm seas, but they are spectacular.
dwashbur
Contributor
The big pipeline out to the Metridium field. That pipe, and the rock outcroppings along it, make for a terrific dive in their own right. Lots of fish, various kinds of nudibranchs, you name it. We even found a huge monkeyface in the pipe one time, and in the shallower places a young harbor seal came down and wanted us to scratch his tummy.
Coral Street is a very shallow dive, but the colors alone are worth it. And no less than a dozen different kinds of nudibranchs in one dive make it one of my favorites.
Monastery south is also a wonderful dive for color and various kinds of fish and nudibranchs. Haven't done Monastery north, never could time the surf right, but I hear it's pretty outstanding as well.
We keep hoping to get back down that way one of these days; at the moment we're stuck diving Puget Sound several times a week (aww, shucks
)
Coral Street is a very shallow dive, but the colors alone are worth it. And no less than a dozen different kinds of nudibranchs in one dive make it one of my favorites.
Monastery south is also a wonderful dive for color and various kinds of fish and nudibranchs. Haven't done Monastery north, never could time the surf right, but I hear it's pretty outstanding as well.
We keep hoping to get back down that way one of these days; at the moment we're stuck diving Puget Sound several times a week (aww, shucks
)
Monastery north is great dive. Its great to be at 80ft and have a bird swim by. Or if your are lucky the Dolphins or Porpoises will come through. But otherwise you get the fish and invertebrates.
Butterfly House great rock structure and this great amphitheater cover with strawberry anemones.
Butterfly House great rock structure and this great amphitheater cover with strawberry anemones.
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