NorCal Point Lobos Meet and Greet Reports & Photos

[sarita75]

I have not written a complete log or even checked my dive computer yet for specifics, but I've got some photos.

As Ron so aptly wrote in another post, we arrived with some pretty cloudy weather, rains rolling in and a swell that was looking kind of interesting. Inside Whalers Cove was decidedly better than outside, as the photos demonstrate.

Inside:

Outside:

Sorry about the raindrops on the lense. After Doc checked it out while we huddled under the car hatches and in Ron's pop-up shelter, we received Doc's opinion.

Most of us decided to make it a training day dive and began to kit up. I was glad that the protein foam had been beaten off by the rain greenange)

Entry and exits were interesting. Timing them was very cool, and I enjoyed learning how to do it. I am equally glad for the able-bodied gentlemen that were willing to lend a hand.

I brought the camera with me on the dive and I am glad that I remembered to take some topside photos ....

Entry line-up with assistance:

Carrie & Ron:

Ron:

Michelle in the rain on the kick out:

.........Because underwater photography was a bust. Only two pictures and only one of which was even worth posting. After getting the image all set up, the surge knocked me out of place. Go figure.

All images here: ScubaBoard Gallery - NorCal M&G - Point Lobos - March 15, 2008 - Powered by PhotoPost

Exit was interesting, and my knees show the effects. But it was great fun. Chili at the Breakwater was graciously hosted by Ron and Carrie and it was awesome to see Jim and finally meet Zen_man and his son!

As always, a big thank you to everyone who came out. And to all that couldn't make it - you were missed. Hopefully we can all chip in to get some good weather for the next M&G - May 10th @ Corral Street being hosted by Dannobee!

 

[Gombessa]

Great pics Sarita. I couldn't make it down to Lobos, but I did have an early dive at the BW, and despite the 12-14ft swell predictions, the bay was glassy smooth at 8:45am. Of course, that belied the 3-4ft viz under the surface. My buddy and I just ended up doing drills, and I realized how useful zero viz can be as a substitute for blue water ascents!

How many people made it out? Hopefully as we get into spring, the weather will be more cooperative for our M&Gs!

 

[Hinalo]

I spent the weekend in the pool, so it wasn't a complete bust. It looked like fun regardless of the conditions.

 

[JT851]

I wish I coulda met up with yall... But after having worked a grave yard shift friday night/sat am and getting to breakwater at 6am for a 7am tech1 training dive I was beat... I jumped in the truck and made a straight shot to my pillow.... With the swells, heavy surge, 4ft Viz, humping them doubles back N forth wore me out....

Depths: 25-40'
Time: 2hrs38min
Temp: It didnt matter after my drysuit turned to a semi-dry...


Im glad you guys were able to at least make a dive out of it.....Im looking to see if I can make Coral Street... I promise someday im gonna meet up with you guys and do one of these MAG dives...

 

[DocWong]

Hey, it was great meeting everyone!!! After my buddy, Greg, and I helped everyone in the water, it took us a bit to get our equipment on, do our pre-dive checks then get into the water and put bottles on and get our scooters going. I don't blame you guys for descending, we took way too long.

When everyone descended, I figured no problem, we would be able to find your bubbles and find everyone...no dice, the viz was let us say..lacking?;-) And I couldn't see any bubbles on the surface. Anyway we hung out on the surface for quite awhile and we started getting cold, so we changed bottles and went for our second dive.

On dive 2, we scootered out to Beto's Reef, then to the Sisters, then to Short Cut Reef. The viz was much much better in deeper waters and we had a good dive. Viz opened up to 20 feet or so which was plenty for us to navigate on our scooters. Going out of the cove was interesting as sometimes with the current working against us, we hardly made any headway.

Coming back and doing our stops in the surge was entertaining. By the time we got out, it was around 1:30, I think, just when the tide was at it's lowest, making it difficult to get out, but we managed!

 

[sarita75]

Thanks for all your help Doc. I appreciate it. I've done the blog - here you all go (if you are interested): Sarah Goes Scuba Diving

 

[micboucher]

Thanks for all your help Doc. I appreciate it. I've done the blog - here you all go (if you are interested): Sarah Goes Scuba Diving

Great report and pics Sarah!

It was great seeing and meeting everyone! Thanks Sarah and Robin for being great buddies, Doc for the dive briefing, Laurel for mask assistance, Ron and Carrie for the help on the our exit, great chili for lunch and good coffee this morning, and everyone else for the great company and another great M&G.

 

[saf1]

Hi,

Nice pictures and report. I have a quick question that maybe someone can help me with. The picture titled: Entry line-up with assistance. Are there any other pictures of the enterence and surrounding areas? Maybe one from the cars looking down at it and from the water up?

I've never been to point lobos but some of the video's and reports I have seen make it sound like a place me and my brother in law would like to check out. As far as the area goes our dives have been in breakwater and off the cypress sea. Other than that it has been all warm water in Hawaii or Lake Tahoe.

Someone in the meet and greet thread had a link for the area that had a create map for dive sites and the rules. But I'd really like to see what it takes to get in and out of the water, etc. As a good 90% of my dives have all been off a boat.

Really nice pictures - thank you for sharing.

 

[Noboundaries]

If you can walk down a 15 foot boat ramp and not slip on the algae, you can walk into the water at Whaler's Cove. I wasn't there this weekend with the group, but I have a sunny day picture of the parking area/boat ramp at Whaler's Cove in Point Lobos taken from the hill above the lot. Just so happens Doc Wong was there the weekend my wife and I were diving the cove. You can see his blue van in the picture.

I'm new to the board so I haven't figured out how to get the pictures in the thread, but here they are as attachments.

 

[sarita75]

SAF - it is easy with normal conditions. We had, however, a swell and and low tide working both for and against us, making entries and exits slightly more difficult. But it really isn't that bad.

Noboundaries - I like that you have Doc Wong's van in there!! Quintessential Pt Lobos!