OW in Monterey

[TaoH]

Last November I was at Pt Lobos and my buddy spotted a leopard shark that must've been 5-ft long. His reaction was one of a lot of excitement as he got my attention to see the shark. I'm glad I didn't miss it as this was also my first shark sighting.

I think we both wanted to follow it, but it was time to return to shore and we didn't want to lose our direction.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

One more relevant thing to add. If you dive here regularly, then go on a dive trip to timbukthree, the DM will ask you a couple of questions-like when was your last dive, how many dives do you have, where do you usually dive. When you say last week, about a hundred or so, and Monterey/Carmel area, they normally answer "oh, wow," and ask the next person on the boat the same questions. And on the dive? They leave you alone to do your own thing if you wish. When you get good at diving here, you can dive ANYWHERE in the world.

You can dive anywhere there's not an overhead environment and the depth is within
your training, experience, and equipment.

But the tropics can be fun. In 1996 I did a liveaboard trip to Belize. The captain was
giving everybody a five minute grilling on their experience. When he got to me: Where
do you dive? Monterey. How many dives there? About 100. NEXT! The whole thing
tool maybe 20 seconds. (Yes this was a LOOONG time and a LOT of Monterey dives ago).

But more importantly, you are comfortable when conditions get a bit snotty. That
same year I did a Coral Sea trip on Spoilsport. The last day, it was kinda snotty by their
standards, a typical day by Monterey standards. My buddy and I went diving,
everybody else sat out. We saw the Manta. They got seasick on the surface.