Monterey/Breakwater Diving

[Gombessa]

Hey Brandon,

You gonna share the results of your mapping project? I'd love to see how big the fields actually are and how everything is arranged out there!

 

[bbianchi]

Well I didnt map the entire field... I mapped 150' from 320 to 230 from the right side of the first rock off the pipe. However between James and I we have about 150' x 300' of the front portion mapped. I need to make some copies of my map so I can have them for future use, and see if James wants to combine them. Either way though its probably best that the map be kept off the internet just since its a popular place and I wouldn't want to cheat anyone out of the learning experience. Once I can obtain a copy and or see if James wants to combine them then sure I can let you take a gander at it next time we run into each other.

 

[Fuzzmutton]

Hey, thanks guys for all the good info. and tips! I will let you know how our adventures in navigation go. In a dive report from (last year?) by Cold Water Kitty she said that the metridium were almost all closed and had brown icky stuff on them. I hope they're better now, I hear they're really pretty.

Hubby always wants to do a surface swim to save on air and it would make sense for something as far out as the metridium fields, but to tell the truth I get a leetle nervous not being able to see under me in the ocean.

 

[bbianchi]

Ah well, when I went out there last week I polished em all up. Should be bright and white now (well except for that one brown one)!!

 

[Gombessa]

Hey, thanks guys for all the good info. and tips! I will let you know how our adventures in navigation go. In a dive report from (last year?) by Cold Water Kitty she said that the metridium were almost all closed and had brown icky stuff on them. I hope they're better now, I hear they're really pretty.

They've been in full bloom everywhere I've gone this summer, hopefully you'll see them in all their glory. The great thing is that they're filter feeders, so when the viz is really crappy, chances are the metridium will be open and feeding.

to tell the truth I get a leetle nervous not being able to see under me in the ocean.

You and me both. I always try to stay near the kelp even though I know it's false security.

 

[bbianchi]

It used to really bug me too, plus when I was first certified I thought the kelp was going to grab me and pull me under. Then one day it just didnt bother me any more. Wish I knew why because id share it.

Either way I still saw the Dolphin out at breakwater last week, so that a little extra protection .

 

[Fuzzmutton]

Gee, thanks Brandon! I can just envision you out there with a rag buffing those babies up...

Gombessa, my husband will lay on his back and kick for a surface swim but I've got to have my face down in the water looking around. I was coming in from a night dive there once a couple years ago (surface swim) and my OWN FIN touched my other leg and you should have heard the blood-curdling shriek I gave. Hubby said I barely touched the surface of the water as I motored in to shore, heh heh. People came and looked over the wall, "Is everything alright?" and he was like, sigh...., "That's just my wife, she's umm, crazy."

 

[Gombessa]

There's really nothing quite as terrifying as something under murky water. When I was a kid, I remember swimming in some lake/watering hole somewhere, and my foot brushed what must have been a branch underwater. I nearly jumped out of my skin and refused to get back in the water for the entire day.

 

[micboucher]

It's funny, when I was younger I had such a fear of something under the water that I refused to swim in lakes. Now I don't have a problem at all kicking out on the surface in the ocean. Although, I was quite scared the time I lost my buddies on a night dive a ways off La Jolla Shores. I floated on the surface for a good 10 mins (that's what it felt like anyway) in the dark before they came looking for me. :shocked2:

 

[Fuzzmutton]

Whew! That would be scary. I think it would be fairly easy to get seperated on a night dive there, it's kinda gloomy there in the daytime even isn't it? It was when I went, I couldn't see more than 5'. Nope, no night dives at LJS for me....