newbie to Gerstle Cove

[DiverDude2000]

Thinking about trying someplace new. Thinking about Gerstle Cove. Anyone have opinions, recommendations on this dive site? Anyone know the current conditions, vis? I know it can change from day to day, just want to get a feel for the place. Mostly do my diving in Monterey.

 

[cmburch]

The North Coast Divers

It looks like they are planning a dive at Stillwater for Sept. 4. They dive the area.

I just noticed your number of dives. North Coast may be more challenging than Monterey Bay.

 

[Hinalo]

Conditions on the north coast this week are forecasted to be fairly routine: NW swell 5-7ft, wind coming up to 25 knots during the day. The south swell that ruined vis a couple of weeks ago is gone, but it's still a dice roll. My guess is that vis on the north coast right now is better than at Monterey BW. Temps have been cold this year; was 48˚ at Ft Ross two weeks ago.

Gerstle is a nice, fairly easy dive. But north coast diving can be wild so if you are inexperienced or new there it's good to go with people who know the place. The major dicey part of diving there is walking in or out over the slimy rocks and rotten kelp. Just go slow. There can also be longshore currents and surge, and bull kelp can be annoying, which makes more reasons to go with experienced locals. Good dive plans include: swim out to the reserve boundary (yellow painted rocks) and set a heading right (180 - 200&#730 or left (130 - 150&#730, drop in about 18' at the boundary and go until turn pressure. You might get to between 40 and 50' depth. Then take a reciprocal heading for about the same duration as your outbound leg, maybe a bit less, and when that time is up, reset your compass for 330˚ and just head right back up broadway to the beach. Vis usually gets bad enough halfway back into the cove that surfacing makes the most sense. If you run into a lot of palm kelp and rocky obstructions you have probably missed the cove or run into a shallow rockpile; surface, get your bearings and reset.

You will see big ling cod, cabezon, huge abalone, nudibranchs, fish eating anemone, sun stars (maybe a stimson star if you are lucky) and urchins. Go a bit deeper and you start seeing metrediums. The coraline algae is very pretty in the cove. Terrain is just a large boulder field with lots of crevasses, overhangs, walls, and crannies of all kinds. straight out of the cove in deeper water the bottom is mostly just slab rock with urchins and sunstars wandering around. There are a bunch of anchors out there scattered around. And on the left side there are a couple of fun structures to play around in.

Gerstle is a protected reserve, so there is no take within the boundary. If you hunt outside the boundary you have to surface before you get back into the cove and swim in with your catch.

 

[Peter_C]

If you plan on diving the 4th I would recommend diving at Still Water with NCD. They are very inviting. Still Water has an easy entrance and exit with park benches to set up on. Parking...well you have to either park in the park or up on the road.

Fort Ross is one of my favorite dive sites, but you have to pack your gear further and park at the top of the hill. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/350294-fort-ross-dive-report-8-28-10-a.html
Fort Ross Dive Report

Gerstle Cove is often calm with an entry over rocks. You can back your car down the road (Or up if you really wanted to), to unload, then park at the top. It is a very short walk. The "beach" is basket ball sized rocks. At the tide line they can be VERY slippery.

North Coast Dive Sites

 

[fisheater]

Yep. Come join us at Stillwater on Saturday at 9:00. Go to our website at The North Coast Divers for more info.

 

[blewgrass]

adding to the comments above, you can "you tube" some dive videos to see what you might find in the cove. Urchins, abalone, lots of fish can be found in the reserve due to the obvious no hunting zone inside the "yellow line" at the mouth of the cove. I've only logged about 50 dives (I don't log free dives) around Northern California and I love Gerstle Cove as a dive site. As with all North Coast sites except maybe Van Damme (Little River), the weather is much more dicey than anything on the Monterey Peninsula..

Check out Van Damm too... a fantastic dive site..

Steve

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hinalo gave a great description of Gerstle.
It would be safe to say it's our local mud hole when everything else is blown out. The cove actually points due south so most if not all of the north west swell goes right past it. But get outside on a big day and it's a different story.

To add to Hinalo's site description, If you surface swim out to the yellow line (Imaginary line from yellow post on the bluff to yellow painted stripe on the southerly headland rock) and get just a little left of center, drop down and set a course for 145 degrees you will hit the great pinnacle. It's waaaay out there so a very big tank is needed if you want to return underwater. The trip out there can be fairly barren after passing a few of the close in pinnacles, but then out of the gloom a huge towering pinnacle will appear in all it's glory. It's the biggest one out there.
It may seem like you're headed out to nowhere but as long as you have kept on course keep going and keep going some more, you will hit it. There's always a huge cloud of blue rockfish circling the upper portion and the growth on the sides is profuse.
Just beyond the great pinnacle on the outside is a huge anchor that was set to hold a buoy back in the logging days (1860's) It has one very large metridium anemone growing on one of the upper cross bars. The fluke of the anchor is probably 7 feet across.

 

[DiverDude2000]

Thanks for all the input. My dive buddy and I are really excited to dive this location. Gerstle cove sounds great. We'll give a report of our dive experience. Hope to try out more dive spots in Norcal.