Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[JRCrab]

anyone going out tomorrow? want to buddy up?

 

[JRCrab]

Ended up making it out with some great folks from UCSC marine biology today. Viz was 10' at the wall and 15' at metridium fields. Weather on the surface was stellar. Tomorrow looks like it might be more "interesting."

 

[JRCrab]

 

[JRCrab]

My first Octopus, first Sea Lion, first Seal!

 

[3D diver]

Two fun dives at Breakwater today with Raftingtigger, who brought along a friends Back Plate and Wing for me to try (for the first time).

The surface was fairly flat, and improved through the day. There was a big raft of kelp floating around in the shallows near the entry point, but it moved out of the way for the second dive. The visibility was 5-8 feet while kicking out on the surface, but improved to 10-15 feet well out along the wall. The water temperature was a balmy 54.3F to 59.4F. There were a lot of fish schooling about in the murk, multiple sea lion passes, and Chewie the harbor seal visited too.

 

[Ouvea]

Got in a dive today at the Breakwater and McAbee Beach. Decided to scooter from the Metridium Fields to McAbee Beach. Visibility averaged around 10-15ft with considerable water movement underwater. Didn't see any large critters but saw lots of small stuff. Crabs mating, lion's mane nudibranchs, lots of squid eggs, metridiums (one orange colored) in full bloom, I even think I stumbled on some coral in 40ft of water. Thought it was a sponge but was quite hard and brittle like coral. Surprisingly, I saw very large schools of fish at the end of the Breakwater, in close proximity to the sea lion. Didn't get cold until the every end of the dive, as water averaged about 55F. Wasn't a bad day, if you stuck your nose to the ground. The wind started to pick up in the early to mind afternoon, as I left.

 

[JRCrab]

Today was definitely more interesting. Headed out to the amtracks with the glassy water just outside the harbor giving us some very cautious optimism. Swell increased from nothing to something around 4' by the time we got in the neighborhood. Dropped down about 50' from the GPS coordinates, swam a bearing in 10-15' viz and ran right into them. Swam around and over for a while and surge went from nearly nothing to quite significant. Viz went down to 5'. Next dive we decided to seek some slight amount of shelter and opted for aquarium wall. Viz still 5-8ft with some surge.

 

[marcus8]

Swell models are right at my "go/no go" threshold for this weekend. Any midweek divers out there holding out on their reports? Sure would like to hear what the viz looks like. Need to get wet. Cheers all.

 

[Rob Wilks]

Hey Marcus. I've only seen conditions from the surface the past few days. Swell has dropped some, though is still present. As of now, the seas are NW 13.8ft. At 14 sec.and decreasing. I observed 3-4 ft waves from Lovers Pt. to Beach street in PG, with increasing size toward Pt. Pinos. Places like Macabee toward breakwater saw less surge, but was present. Water color seemed on the bluer side of green along most of the breakwater, and greener elsewhere. From the surface, vis looked milky. Best guess, greater than 8, maybe a shade over 10? Just a guess, and it might get better. Topside has been beautiful the last couple days. Supposed to be nice tomorrow as well. A little breeze in the air, and cool in the shade. You know the drill. Bring some good layers of clothes.
I'd say go for it. Decreasing swell, beautiful day. Maybe someone else has more info?

 

[marcus8]

Thanks Rob for the topside report. Much appreciated. Hoping to hit it Saturday as that appears to be the better day. Will report back if we can get out there.