Had a couple phenomenal dives this morning at Point Lobos. The ocean looked a bit rougher than we expected as we drove down the coast, but Whaler's Cove was perfectly calm. Arrived at 8 AM to cloudy skies and a very light drizzle. Even from the trail above we could tell we would have great vis and a wonderful day.
First dive we hopped in and descended at around 20' in the sand channel. Even though it looked like it would be clear, we definitely needed fog lights in the shallower area. We did have a little bit of swell, but visibility improved dramatically as we continued deeper towards Hole in the Wall. Rounded the reef and swam home underwater, stopping to watch a big school of black rockfish over the worm patch.
We both came up with a decent amount of gas left, so we opted to go a bit further with tank 2. We swam farther on the surface, beyond dog rock, and dropped at around 35'. Swell was gone and visibility was even clearer. Swam around the end of middle reef and headed NNE towards Granite Point Wall. It was probably a 15 minute swim over the sand until we reached the wall, but it was well worth the trip! Saw a couple huge lingcods, a big male sheephead, cabezon, a masking crab, and lots of schools of different fish. Great day to explore a new (to us) site with a wonderful buddy and incredible visibility!
Dive 1: Hole in the Wall & Worm Patch
Bottom time: 48 min
Max depth: 62 feet
Vis: 15' shallow to 40' deeper
Dive 2: Middle Reef & Granite Point Wall
Bottom time: 49 min
Max depth: 72 feet
Vis: 50 to 60 feet amazing!
Water temp: 51-55F