Monterey pics 6-5-11

[Larry C]

Just a few from last week.

Yellow fin Fringehead (we saw three different ones on Shale Island-these two are the first and last of the three.

Juvenile Olive Rockfish. This little guy was about an inch long.

It was kind of green for WA, but here's a typical Monterey patch reef

 

[Peter_C]

The D300 is working awesome! Thanks for sharing

Last time I tried to dive Shale Island it was calm with no surge, but vis was less than 3 feet. With a newer diver we called the dive before hitting the bottom.

 

[Larry C]

Thanks Peter. Cool thing about the island is that you can't get lost. As long as you get your anchor on an edge, you can go all the way around in about half an hour and find it again. It's the easiest natural navigation dive on the planet, along with maybe North Monastery. I've had a good dive there with tip of your nose vis. (which seems to be about what we're getting right now).

 

[Peter_C]

Shale is also nice in that there are no buoyancy changes, and it is a great place to calculate sac. With a brand new diver on dive #4 I know I made the right call by ending the dive. We went from 40' of vis in Bluefish Cove, to crap inside the bay two days later. The last thing I want to do is have a new diver on a night dive, during the day, without a can light. Otherwise I have enjoyed all my dives at Shale so far. Hopefully we can get down there again soon, but not until the winds and seas calm down.