Pt. Lobos Advice

[97fxdwg]

Hi All-
I'm fairly experienced, but my wife is a relative newbie - enthusiastic but really girly and we've got a reservation for Pt. Lobos. We’ve never been there and after reading many enthusiastic reports here - as well as the Pt. Lobos website - are really looking forward to it. Could I get some ideas as to which places in the coves would be most interesting and yet easily swam to? Swum to? Do you dive immediately or stay on the surface to get to your favorite spot and save air?
And…….. What web site will give us the best condition report?
Thanks for the help!

 

[mossym]

see here for sea conditions:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/getcwfzone.php?sid=MTR&zone=PZ555

there is a sand channel out through the kelp in Lobos. Use it to swim out along on the surface, or submerge and swim through the kelp, then swim back in underwater, and if you don't have enough air to make it back, find the channel and come up there..then follow the channel back in. There is great diving on both sides, on the left on the way out is very nice, the right side gets down to 70ft, and has some nice canyons..but bring a light, it gets dark down there..

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Read the dive site info on the Pt. Lobos website. It was written by Pat Lovejoy, who
has more dives there than almost anybody.

General beach dive procedure at Pt. Lobos is to swim out on the surface, back
underwater.

Since you are beach diving, you will probably have to stay in Whaler's cove. DO NOT
BOTHER to dive the area in front of the launch ramp. Go up to the top of the hill on
the trail at the back of the parking lot, and check things out. There will be an
obvious channel through the kelp (known as the "sand channel" because it's sand,
not rock, and nothing for the kelp to take "root" on). The beginning of the sand
channel is in about 20', the outside in 70', with a pretty much linear slope. Swin out
the sand channel to whatever depth your are comfortable with, drop, and swim back
through the kelp bed on either side.

When is your reservation?

More than you ever wanted to know about Monterey sea conditions:
http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/swell/wamglance.html

 

[97fxdwg]

Our reservation is for July 27th. If we can't get the Sanctuary Charter filled for the 26th, they won't be going out and we may try to dive Pt. Lobos then as well.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Midweek, you generally don't need a reservation. Just be in line before the gate opens
at nine.

 

[97fxdwg]

Thanks!

 

[Kayak Diver]

Check out this Internet site:

http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/scuba/middlereef.html

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

BTW, if you download the new Google Earth program, their aerial photo of Whaler's
shows the sand channel, though there's not much contrast between the kelp and water.
It was quite visible in my well-lit office on a CRT, and quite visible in a dim room on my
laptop, but not very visible in the office on the same laptop. But it's worth a look.
And it's a pretty cool program.

http://earth.google.com/

I'd also love to know when the picture was taken. From the kelp coverage, probably
summer. From the full parking lot at Whalers, cars parked along Hwy 1, and cars in
line to get in, a weekend. Also lots of cars at Monastary. Why? There's a white boat
anchored right about where I anchor to dive the outer end of Whalers.

 

[liberato]

Google Earth is amazing. If you want to see how far they have gone check out Cambridge MA (were MIT and Harvard are). If they had used that kind of resolution at Point Lobos you could have made out the details of that white Boston Whaler there.

 

[mossym]

i think it's about 2-3 years ago...based on 2 buildings by where i work..one's built in the pics and one isn't..that doesn't mean all locations were photographed at the same time though