We got to breakwater at 0730 on the 20th..entered the water at 0830..I was surprised at how clear the water was for the predicted conditions. There was approx. 10'...The surf entry and exit was good.
Began Dive two at 10am and conditions were picking up...Visibility was now about 6' and it was getting surgey...the swells were comming from the NW and pushing into the breakwater rocks...surf was a little higher but entry and exit at the wall was still good..
Next, we had lunch and took a short break before going for our 3 dive...I was watching the surf and it was getting bad. A group of divers had entered in the middle of San Carlos Beach by the rocks...I watched as one diver exited the surf and got knocked down...another diver was towing a tired diver to shore...he came in on a very large set...the swell was about 5'plus...somehow they both made it in..it wasnt pretty but they made it...Another group lost a fin, mask and weight belt in the surf..
The surf at the south end was now higher than I'd seen it in a long time and the water was a brown color from the stirred up sand. We called the 3rd dive off for safety reasons. Hubby and his partner swam out and retrived our float that had pulled its anchor and was almost on the rocks. He said the surge was very strong and they had to swim hard to stay away for the rocks while comming in.
On Sunday the 21st we went to Del Monte Beach to try diving again. The waves were breaking all the way to the wharf and they were very close , breaking one after another. We left the group at the picknik area while we went to check out breakwater. It was a no brainer at breakwater. Vis was probally a foot if you were lucky..but there was about 4' breakers already..we talked to a instructor who had left his dive floats out over night and both of them were gone. No one was going into the water and all the instuctors were cancelling their dives.
We went back to our group at Del Monte..when we got to the parking lot there was a dive class suiting up..one of our group told us they had not even bothered to look at the water the group just got ready to dive...We told our group that the dive was cancel due to unsafe conditions..some in the group thought they could handle the surf...we told them to watch the group that was going diving...The diving group walked to the waters edge...then the 3 instructors decieded to enter first..2 were knocked down right away by waves that hit them shoulder height..the 3rd was able to walk out...the other two tried to stand but the waves were so close together they were hit again and couldnt stand...both crawled out and when they could stand they looked like a horror show creature with all the kelp stuck on their head and shoulders...after cleaning the kelp off, the group headed back to the parking lot to get out of the gear and go home.
Now everyone in our group agreed that calling off the dive was a good choice. Hubby and I went to a cafe for a hot cup of coffee and cinnamon roll then took a ride to look at Monastary..We werent disappointed, the waves were beautiful...next we headed to Capitola's wharf to look at the water...the waves werent as large as the other side of the bay but the water is so stirred up its muddy looking...finally we went home for a nice nap...on the bright side the sky was blue..the wind was a little cool.
Began Dive two at 10am and conditions were picking up...Visibility was now about 6' and it was getting surgey...the swells were comming from the NW and pushing into the breakwater rocks...surf was a little higher but entry and exit at the wall was still good..
Next, we had lunch and took a short break before going for our 3 dive...I was watching the surf and it was getting bad. A group of divers had entered in the middle of San Carlos Beach by the rocks...I watched as one diver exited the surf and got knocked down...another diver was towing a tired diver to shore...he came in on a very large set...the swell was about 5'plus...somehow they both made it in..it wasnt pretty but they made it...Another group lost a fin, mask and weight belt in the surf..
The surf at the south end was now higher than I'd seen it in a long time and the water was a brown color from the stirred up sand. We called the 3rd dive off for safety reasons. Hubby and his partner swam out and retrived our float that had pulled its anchor and was almost on the rocks. He said the surge was very strong and they had to swim hard to stay away for the rocks while comming in.
On Sunday the 21st we went to Del Monte Beach to try diving again. The waves were breaking all the way to the wharf and they were very close , breaking one after another. We left the group at the picknik area while we went to check out breakwater. It was a no brainer at breakwater. Vis was probally a foot if you were lucky..but there was about 4' breakers already..we talked to a instructor who had left his dive floats out over night and both of them were gone. No one was going into the water and all the instuctors were cancelling their dives.
We went back to our group at Del Monte..when we got to the parking lot there was a dive class suiting up..one of our group told us they had not even bothered to look at the water the group just got ready to dive...We told our group that the dive was cancel due to unsafe conditions..some in the group thought they could handle the surf...we told them to watch the group that was going diving...The diving group walked to the waters edge...then the 3 instructors decieded to enter first..2 were knocked down right away by waves that hit them shoulder height..the 3rd was able to walk out...the other two tried to stand but the waves were so close together they were hit again and couldnt stand...both crawled out and when they could stand they looked like a horror show creature with all the kelp stuck on their head and shoulders...after cleaning the kelp off, the group headed back to the parking lot to get out of the gear and go home.
Now everyone in our group agreed that calling off the dive was a good choice. Hubby and I went to a cafe for a hot cup of coffee and cinnamon roll then took a ride to look at Monastary..We werent disappointed, the waves were beautiful...next we headed to Capitola's wharf to look at the water...the waves werent as large as the other side of the bay but the water is so stirred up its muddy looking...finally we went home for a nice nap...on the bright side the sky was blue..the wind was a little cool.