Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[Bigbella]

Two dives in the rain on Wednesday — the first at Stillwater in Carmel, with about three meters of visibility at the most; and a second, at San Carlos Beach in Monterey, very much the same — but with overly curious and entertaining sea lions, one of whom took a peculiar liking to my fin, while another barked at my face and rocketed by — a ballistic sausage.

I always recall the advice of my first instructor, when he said of seals and sea lions, “Let them play with you — don’t play with them.”

He had all of his fingers . . .

 

[Bigbella]

Two dives -- one at North Monastery and a second at San Carlos with the sea lions and an outcast harbor seal that shadowed me for a while.

Tested out a new light, just for kicks -- the damn thing could have flash fried the small octopus, that had been hiding among the urchins and brittle stars.

Oddly enough, Carmel was a bit poorer in terms of visibility than Monterey this time around, with around 3-4 meters tops, out by the rock; while, at Breakwater, it was frequently 5-6, along the wall; a bit murkier, out on the "reef."

Not stellar by any measure, but some of the best visibility in weeks; preferable to the recent Braille . . .

 

[lattehiatus]

Visibility at Point Lobos on Saturday May 13 was about 10 - 15 ft near the mouth of Whaler's Cove, dwindling down to 3 ft by the entry/exit ramp. Much better than the past couple months! Really excited to not keep doing navigation dives.

There was a good amount of kelp in the cove - great for the ecosystem, bad for those who have lost practice with kelp crawling. The area is a seal nursery and one curious juvenile seal followed us underwater for a couple minutes and tugged on the fins of one of the divers.

Lowest depth on two dives was 60 ft, with lowest recorded temperature at 49 degrees F.

 

[lostsheep]

Visibility at Point Lobos on Saturday May 13 was about 10 - 15 ft near the mouth of Whaler's Cove, dwindling down to 3 ft by the entry/exit ramp. Much better than the past couple months! Really excited to not keep doing navigation dives.

There was a good amount of kelp in the cove - great for the ecosystem, bad for those who have lost practice with kelp crawling. The area is a seal nursery and one curious juvenile seal followed us underwater for a couple minutes and tugged on the fins of one of the divers.

Lowest depth on two dives was 60 ft, with lowest recorded temperature at 49 degrees F.

A good buddy of mine was reporting 50’+ out at Beto’s , the pictures looked like a tropical dive site

 

[lostsheep]

When Lobos is on its amazing. This is from this Saturday

Edit: not my picture.

 

[lexvil]

40 to 50 ft viz yesterday at breakwater.

 

[Bigbella]

Monterey and Carmel -- two dives, with some of the best visibility that I had seen in months.

At North Monastery, there was easily 9-10 meters; flat-arse calm; and I could clearly see a harbor seal, at that depth, from the surface; though, closer to shore, conditions were a bit more mixed and cloudy.

San Carlos Beach offered a good 6-7 meters and scores of adolescent sea lions on a gangster tear. I was not left alone for long.

Sadly, there was also a dead one -- sizable -- still on the bottom, at about six meters. No sign of any nasty bites that I could see; but I did not attempt to roll it over. It should be fragrant, when it eventually balloons and hits the beach.

There were lots of juvenile rockfish to be had; a small chain of salps; some "devil's purses' -- and no shortage of urchins.

In the upper parking lot, on my way out, a woman, driving a mondo SUV with the familiar "coexist" bumper sticker, the mawkish sentiment written out in various religious symbols, was having a colossal fit at some pedestrian and her kid -- plenty of profanity all around. She was the fifth person in as many months that I had seen, with that very same sticker, absolutely losing their sh*t!

That was wonderfully satisfying; the dives were also worth mentioning . . .

 

[wnissen]

Any recent reports? Was planning on going tomorrow.

 

[lostsheep]

Any recent reports? Was planning on going tomorrow.

Was out at the Mile Marker buoy yesterday. Top 50' was maybe 5' viz, below that maybe 10-15' all the way to the bottom. I'll be with an OW class tomorrow at breakwater...it could get interesting

 

[Bigbella]

Any recent reports? Was planning on going tomorrow.

The water has been a bit on the warmer side; and there is a decent algal bloom -- not quite as terrible as Summers past, where it looked like chocolate milk and carried with it a sizable funk.

3-4 meters on the Monterey side at best, as of Wednesday; maybe 5-6 at depth on the Carmel side. There is a small craft advisory through tomorrow night; though the specific coastal waters report doesn't sound too bad . . .