Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[dive1bb]

2 dives on the Escapade on Saturday with BAUE. There was a fair bit of fog as we motored towards Carmel in the hope of getting a dive in there before the wind picked up. The water inside the harbor and inner Monterey Bay was a gag-inducing dark brown due to an algae bloom

First dive was at the Needle in a little bit of chop on the surface. Viz wasn't good enough for either of my buddies to get photos but this site always has tons of invertebrate life so it was a good dive regardless.

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-> 50min bottom time, 84ft max, 52ft avg, 20ft viz, 52F bottom temp

The second dive was at Eric's Pinnacle in lake-like conditions on the surface and spectacular viz below. It was at least 60ft of blue water which let us hop among the various structures around the main pinnacle. Probably one of the best dives I've done locally.

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-> 63min bottom time, 55ft max, 39ft avg, 50-60ft viz, 51F bottom temp

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Shepherding 2 photographers is always interesting. Also, @dive1bb 's backup light doesn't like staying strapped down.​

Awesome photos and video! Thanks for helping me with the backup light looking forward to the next boat trip

 

[dive1bb]

@elgoog posted a thorough report for Saturday's diving adventures. Let's talk about Sunday at Lobos!

Beautiful, and busy, day at Lobos. Tons of hikers enjoying the sunny day while we went diving First dive I successfully navigated the group to Hole in the Wall and back to the boat ramp -- woohoo! Max depth was ~60ft, 52F with a generous amount of vis -- maybe 20-30ft. Got buzzed by a habor seal and a few large sheepheads. My photography buddies loved all the colorful nudibranchs, sea anemones, and starfish.

Second dive we were thinking about Coal Chute Cavern, but it started to get a little surgey at this point in the day. Didn't seem like a great idea to attempt the swim through so I took the group to Middle Reef instead. The habor seal was a bit more playful this time around:

So cute! Similar dive depth, temp, and vis wise. The kelp made it seem like a night dive at some points. Glad we have bright lights!

Yet another awesome weekend of diving

 

[uspap]

Dove North Monastery Monday. 15-20 foot vis shallow. Out at the canyon we had about 30 foot vis. A seal was all over us and really liked my camera. Drove by Breakwater and it looked like a fart in a bathtub gone horribly wrong. Very brown. We were told that the vis opened up to 10 foot once you got below 40 feet. We decided to get a jump on the traffic home which didn't work out that way.

 

[wnissen]

Dove North Monastery Monday. 15-20 foot vis shallow. Out at the canyon we had about 30 foot vis. A seal was all over us and really liked my camera. Drove by Breakwater and it looked like a fart in a bathtub gone horribly wrong. Very brown. We were told that the vis opened up to 10 foot once you got below 40 feet. We decided to get a jump on the traffic home which didn't work out that way.

Nice. The traffic seems bad all the time now, and not just from Monterey. I was coming back from Sonora Pass and left before 11:30. I figured I would be fine but was in stop-and-go for over an hour.

 

[Dzydvl33]

I was looking at the swell models for this weekend and it looks like a pretty good northern swell is going to be hitting this weekend.
From those of you in the know. With the models looking like they do, would the north end of Carmel River beach be an option, or should we just leave the gear at home and drink wine on the beach LOL???

Edited: maybe a better question would be. What sites would work best with the forecasted conditions?

 

[runsongas]

south monastery probably diveable along with pt lobos. otherwise, try the breakwater. north monastery will likely be sporty.

 

[Dzydvl33]

south monastery probably diveable along with pt lobos. otherwise, try the breakwater. north monastery will likely be sporty.

I am still learning exactly how the swell affects different sites, But. I would think a ~6 foot NW swell would be bad for a NW facing beach like Monastery.???

 

[runsongas]

for the exposed sites like butterfly and north monastery yes. south monastery has a little bit of cover from the point, which means you can sometimes get in there.

 

[Dzydvl33]

ah I see... or I should say I will see lol. We will be in Monterey this weekend, dive or not, so we are going to take a drive Saturday morning to get a feel for things, get a visual of the affects on all the sites, and decide if and where we will dive.

 

[btroxell]

Here is something that I wrote a while back (Monterey Dive Infomation- Wave Dissertion) to help explain how waves work and reading wave forecasts. You might find it helpful.

Ben