Monastary-Sat July 23

[Drewpy]

Went to Monastary for the first time for a few dives on sat.
Unbeleivable! Great conditions and viz (prob 40-50ft) and were able to just walk in and out at the south site! What a great reef, full of life and color-lots of shooling fish and great sunlight penetration!Great structure and rock formations!
Highlight was a large 5-5 1/2 foot Angel shark hiding in the sand at about 50ft!
It was one of those days that put a big smile on your face!

 

[miskatonic]

Went to Monastary for the first time for a few dives on sat.
Unbeleivable! Great conditions and viz (prob 40-50ft) and were able to just walk in and out at the south site! What a great reef, full of life and color-lots of shooling fish and great sunlight penetration!Great structure and rock formations!
Highlight was a large 5-5 1/2 foot Angel shark hiding in the sand at about 50ft!
It was one of those days that put a big smile on your face!

Damn, sounds like you had fun but don't ever tell me how awesome Monestary is! I got caught in the washing machine on Sunday. Swells were okay until the second we entered. My BC got clogged with sand/rocks from kicked up by the swells. My back purge valve was stuck open. At least I knew I was neutrally bouyant as I didn't sink. I wasn't floating either.

I handed my buddy my fins for a second so I could get my footing and get out. We got hit by another huge swell. My dive buddy lost her fins and mask. (forever!) We both had our regulators torn out of our mouths. We both almost lost our lives just entering that beach.

The DM called the dive for all 6 of us right then and there. Yeah I am going to give it a few years before I ever try to dive that beach again.

 

[Drewpy]

Im sorry to hear that-glad you guys are OK!
I was a little apprehensive...I had been told not to go there without someone who was knowledgable and I respected that,But H at Aquarius told us "we had to go, and it was a perfect day for it!"We scoped it out long and hard and watched several divers enter and exit with no issues..so we went for it-and it was very manageable!
That site has quite a reputation..and deservedly so!
Im glad you guys made it out ok! Looks like conditions really turned!
That beach is like no other Ive seen..heavy,coarse sand that is difficult to get your footing in,and the waves seem to have a great deal of power when receding.

 

[miskatonic]

Im sorry to hear that-glad you guys are OK!
I was a little apprehensive...I had been told not to go there without someone who was knowledgable and I respected that,But H at Aquarius told us "we had to go, and it was a perfect day for it!"We scoped it out long and hard and watched several divers enter and exit with no issues..so we went for it-and it was very manageable!
That site has quite a reputation..and deservedly so!
Im glad you guys made it out ok! Looks like conditions really turned!
That beach is like no other Ive seen..heavy,coarse sand that is difficult to get your footing in,and the waves seem to have a great deal of power when receding.

Good to hear that somebody had fun at that beach. It looked like it would have been a great place to dive. I really wanted to see those kelp fields.

Nobody bothered to mention the reputation of that beach until I was out of the water. Oh yeah it is called the "Washing Machine". I am amazed that anybody dives there at all. The entry and exit from that beach can kill you. If you are not the most fit diver in the world I would not recomend it to anybody.

I am amazed that we don't see regular diver deaths and injury at that beach. It really is a death trap if you enter in the wrong spot or have gear failure because of the sand...er...pseudo sand or rock or whatever they call that stuff. That ground is not stable at all either.

 

[dsafanda]

Swells were okay until the second we entered.

Based on your first post, it sounds like you were diving with a DM. I hope you weren't paying him/her for the excellent guidance you received.

Then again, I guess it's easy to armchair evaluate these things from behind a computer. Just curious...prior to entry, was the DM under the impression that the conditions were good?

 

[mjones]

Or get a better DM?!

 

[ShakaZulu]

I love that site, one of my fav indeed.........

 

[coreypenrose]

Good to hear that somebody had fun at that beach. It looked like it would have been a great place to dive. I really wanted to see those kelp fields.

Nobody bothered to mention the reputation of that beach until I was out of the water. Oh yeah it is called the "Washing Machine". I am amazed that anybody dives there at all. The entry and exit from that beach can kill you. If you are not the most fit diver in the world I would not recomend it to anybody.

I am amazed that we don't see regular diver deaths and injury at that beach. It really is a death trap if you enter in the wrong spot or have gear failure because of the sand...er...pseudo sand or rock or whatever they call that stuff. That ground is not stable at all either.

Oh come on, it’s not that bad. If you’re careful and you exercise good judgment, Monestary is a safe dive and great fun.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

My BC got clogged with sand/rocks from kicked up by the swells. My back purge valve was stuck open. At least I knew I was neutrally bouyant as I didn't sink. I wasn't floating either.

You had a full tank. Either there was about six pints of air still trapped in your BC, or you
were about six pounds light. At the beginning of a dive you should be heavy by the
amount of air molecules you'll breathe over the course of the dive (about six pounds).

It sounds like you got caught by a big set. The conventional wisdom is to sit and watch
the waves and deduce the pattern. I was NEVER been able to do that. I'd watch the
offshore swells, spot a low set coming, and GO. Now I have a boat. ;-)

I handed my buddy my fins for a second so I could get my footing and get out.

Why did you need to hand your fins to your buddy to get out? Why did you need to
get your footing? It's called the Monastary Crawl, and your DM bloody well should have
briefed you on it.

 

[bedmund]

Why did you need to hand your fins to your buddy to get out? Why did you need to
get your footing? It's called the Monastary Crawl, and your DM bloody well should have
briefed you on it.

That's what I was thinking as I read the post. Gear doesn't come off at that site until you're well up the beach and out of any wet sand. And you get there on your knees. Did the DM mention the entry and exit techniques for that site? If not, there's a serious problem at one of the shops.