Nov 8th Meet & Greet in Monterey

[micboucher]

Sorry I didn't have the energy to post last night. I ended up falling asleep on the couch with the computer in my lap, with only a sentence written. I didn't even get my gear out of the car! :shocked2:

Well, after a rocky start we ended up having a great day of diving...great vis and wonderful company!

I got a call from Jaime when I was driving through Seaside to tell me Oceanview was closed and they wouldn't let us park in the Lover's parking areas. So, we changed the spot to McAbee and I called everyone I have phone numbers for. Sorry to those I didn't have numbers for! We met up with Kenn and his buddies in the parking lot and he graciously sent the message on here for me. I have to get an iPhone!

It ended up being 6 of us. Greg, Ben (aka Nathan, Dan...), Jaime, Paula and myself diving and Michele as beach support. It was sunny and warm as we geared up for the first dive and we had really loud, not so good, music to entertain us. There was a band on the other side of the cove for the event, which I thought would probably scare all the seals away, but to my surprise they were sleeping on the rocks just in front of them. I onlly got to see one BIG one underwater. :depressed:

The first dive was a shallow dive (25 ft max) with lots of sunshine and I'm guessing the vis was around 25-30ft (correct me if I'm wrong guys). Surge wasn't too bad and we explored the reefs just outside the cove, which I didn't even know were there. What a nice dive at a really nice site!! Ben and I surfaced after a 75 min dive and we still had air. I love diving with a drysuit but dives can't be too long without a pee valve.

It got cloudy during the SI, so the 2nd dive was a little darker then the first but still a really nice dive with great vis again. We tried to find the deep reef Kenn told us about but I think we turned around right before it. I guess I'll just have to dive that site again to try to find it... I think we were at the sand channel at 50 ft Kenn but we had some LOA issues, so we couldn't continue. Next time we'll surface swim out further. Does this look like the sand channel? hahaha

I really missed all of you who couldn't make it and those that couldn't find us. Sorry to hear you got sick too Robin. I hope you and Sarah feel better soon.

Here are my pics from the day.
Monterey 11-8-08 SB Meet & Greet - a set on Flickr

 

[mikemikethepike]

Sorry I missed the switch. I got to Lover's and was able to park on a side street. My buddy and I humped in our gear past the runners but obviously we could not find anyone for the M&G. Well, the vis at Lover's was quit nice.

 

[Ben_ca]

I hope everyone had a good time at the MAG they are so much fun, I know I have done two of them and unfortunately had to miss this one at the last minute.

I was fully packed up ready to leave when I couldn't get my transmitter on my Galileo Sol to sync, I tried everything and out of frustration I returned back to bed.

I then run the computer to Any Water Sports in San Jose and they sync it for me in less then 10 seconds. I was not close enough to the transmitter when you first try to sync, you literally have to touch the unit with the transmitter and then depress the sync button.

So I come home with all my gear still in the garage awaiting deployment, I should never leave last minute details before a MAG.

Well, I can hardly wait to hear about the events and hopefully see the pictures and maybe some video unfold if Michelle took her camera and Ken his video we will be sure to have plenty of coverage.

MG

You gonna let a computer tell you how to dive?

 

[mikeguerrero]

You gonna let a computer tell you how to dive?

Ben,

When the computer wouldn't link my whole morning went sour... I have a brandnew drysuit in the closet beggin me to dive her... I wanted to be there diving, the MAG is so much fun wet or dry MAG are the best...

Hopefully I'll get another chance soon to dive with the gang before Thanksgiving...

MG

p.s
Michelle I know you have a stash of more pictures of this event, stop holding out on us!!!

 

[micboucher]

Sorry I missed the switch. I got to Lover's and was able to park on a side street. My buddy and I humped in our gear past the runners but obviously we could not find anyone for the M&G. Well, the vis at Lover's was quit nice.

So sorry we missed you! I'm glad you and your buddy got a nice dive in though. Hopefully, we'll be able to do this again. I'd like to plan another McAbee dive soon, so maybe we can just make it an M&G, since this one got a little fouled up.

Ben,

Michelle I know you have a stash of more pictures of this event, stop holding out on us!!!

Do you mean more than these? Monterey 11-8-08 SB Meet & Greet - a set on Flickr ? The link was hiding at the bottom of my post.

 

[kmmkiwi]

Dang, kmmkiwi, I was at the BW all day today. We were by the picnic tables with classes from 8 am until about 4, when the rain started. I probably saw you if you were anywhere on the grass or around the picnic tables.

Yeah, we probably passed by each other several times that day. I hung out at BW on the grass near the picnic tables all day Saturday and all day Sunday with my boyfriend's open water class. We had just finished up class when the rain was starting to hit on Saturday. We packed up everything and hi-tailed it outta there before we got too cold.

:depressed: Well, hope to see you next time Katherine.

Yeah, the instructor moved the class from Lover's over to BW due to the parking issue so I wasn't able to make it. Next time!

 

[Anti-Hero]

Holy Vis! Looks like it was a great day for diving.

 

[biz_nate]

Hey Michelle, thanks for posting the pics! I'd definitely be up for a MAG part 2 at McAbee, if I'm in town on the scheduled weekend.

Mike, sorry to hear about your computer troubles. If it helps to know at all, I've had my new transmitter on my first stage for a little over a month now, and still haven't bothered to synch it I'm debating whether to take the 30 seconds to do it, or just remove it altogether.

Hey Katherine, sorry you couldn't make it. We've got to get together and dive again! Or maybe not- I hear you're growing gills. I honestly think my SAC is growing with each dive- can't quite figure it out. I thought about dropping by BW on my way out to say hi, but figured you guys had already packed up and left. Between that, the heater in my car, and the promise of Starbucks at the 101, I couldn't bring myself to pull off the road

-Ben (not Nate)

 

[Gombessa]

Hey all,

Nice to meet everyone (albeit briefly). We needed to be in and out quickly on Saturday so I didn't get to stay and hang out. The whole street closure thing was a bit of a bummer, but luckily Macabee was spared from the police line.

I've got a short vid from our dive. A lot of cool rockfish (my first time seeing black and yellow, and there were at least two of them), some greenlings, unfortunately no seals. The kelp cover is really receding! The reef looked totally empty without it (though it did make the surface swim easy).



Michelle, too bad about the sand channel traverse-we just happened upon it once and haven't been able to find it since. The last time we tried, we ended up kicking out 15-20 minutes, and by that time we were in 75ft and could hear boat traffic above us - nothing but an endless expanse of sand and sea pens - so we turned back. I'll just have to rely on photographic proof of the existence of metridium out there.

 

[zen_man]

My wife and I went out to the Metridium Fields on Saturday afternoon. It was a very nice day to dive. Sorry we didn't get to hook up with anyone. We were drumming to our own beat. It's the first weekend we've had to just chill out in a very long time, so we took our time with everything. Even a nice long bubble check!

:zen: