MacAbee kayak dive report today 10/23

[KRL1973]

kayak dive about 200 yard straight out from el torritos restaurant (next to macabee). tied off to kelp and dropped into 35fsw and about 15ft viz. went deeper from there and viz quickly improved to 20-25ft as depth increased to 50+fsw. Temp dropped noticeably as well. Sandy areas gave way to big rocks/ mini pinnacles that had abundant rockfish of many varieties and large in size. Greenling and perch also abundant. Lots of cracks and little plateaus on these big rocks that provide lots of habitat for rockfish, especially coppers. Haven't seen that many coppers in such a small area before. White metridiums sprouting from the rock faces here and there. Spotted an octopus among the bat stars feeding on a dead mola ont he bottom. Time to acsend and went up small clump of kelp that was covered with the translucent 'venus fly trap looking' things gulping the sea blindly. Glanced up and out from safety stop and saw school of silver bullet shaped fish I assume where sardines although they looked bigger than I thought sardines get (~12 inches long). Very nice dive and topside was as excellent as I 've ever seen it, calm, clear, warm. I will definatly be returning to that site next time.

 

[Ben_ca]

Time to acsend and went up small clump of kelp that was covered with the translucent 'venus fly trap looking' things gulping the sea blindly.

Milibe Leonina? Link from the BAUE Field guide

 

[Jak Crow]

How far from the beach were you?

 

[KRL1973]

Milibe Leonina? Link from the BAUE Field guide

Yep that was them. That particular clump of kelp was covered with them.

 

[KRL1973]

How far from the beach were you?

I'd estimate 200 yards, It is farther than you'd want to go via shore entry and surface swim, the patchy kelp seems to stick out farther from shore right there than on either side making kind of a point. When I came up noticed the Monterey Express anchored close by and I think i spotted her anchor line during the dive

 

[KRL1973]

I'd estimate 200 yards, It is farther than you'd want to go via shore entry and surface swim, the patchy kelp seems to stick out farther from shore right there than on either side making kind of a point. When I came up noticed the Monterey Express anchored close by and I think i spotted her anchor line during the dive

FYI-Just learned from BAUE dive site map I was a a site named "Sammet's Spire" Monterey & Carmel Underwater Maps

 

[mattaphore]

Sounds like a fun dive I was with a class at McAbee that Sunday and I think we saw a few kayaks launch from shore. Maybe one of them was you!

On our dives we dropped down a little ways from the restaurant and swam ~20 minutes due north, turned and returned due south. It looked pretty nice and interesting right where we turned and I'd love to go back and spend more time out there. Maybe kayak diving or long surface swim is the way to go

When we got back to shore there was a Chinese Lion Dance going on at the beach for some reason. I thought that was pretty interesting... go down and dive, 40 minutes later, come back to shore and there's a bunch of people jumping around in costumes and drummers on the beach.

 

[whaleboy]

Sweet...I was at that same spot on Oct. 16 and had 2-3' vis down to 65fsw.