Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[Bigbella]

Two dives -- one in Carmel, with carefully timed entries and exits at North Monastery; and another at San Carlos Beach, along with a tens of thousands of anchovies and diving pelicans. Carmel was murky and the traffic to get there, with schools in session, was not worth the effort.

The anchovy schools at the Breakwater were so dense that they blotted out what little sun was out this morning. It was like diving under a pier, once I was below them.

Also, either someone is enjoying an elaborate joke; or it may be an interesting season, but there was a dead but intact spiny lobster, near that fallen tree, along the wall, hundreds of miles from home . . .

 

[jowe]

Popped in at Breakwater this morning at 8am. 10-15' patchy particulate, but some nice sun through kelp, in your face - no personal space sea lions, plenty of gorgeous nudibranch and the usual suspects along the wall. 51°, better viz in the 20s, than 40s of feet. Light swell was increasing. If my buddy had been able to do a 2nd dive, probably would have checked out mid reef or metridium.

Plenty of living things but an expired small sunfish and bits of snacked on anchovy along the way. Speaking of the latter, my gear is getting an extra long soak, the eau de dead anchovy with notes of sea lion pee came home with me.

Didn't see live anchovy, alas, but a huge number of sea birds were busy, fairly close to the beach toward the pipe.