So, who's got bal^H^H^H guts?

[Hinalo]

Today's Monterey OW classes for my LDS were cancelled. The report from this morning was that waves were surging up into the parking lot at BW.

 

[Gombessa]

We're gonna make our way out to lobos in the morning and check it out. Hey, gas is cheap now right?

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Adm. Linda and I drove down to Monterey this afternoon for a Backscatter
fix and dinner at the Charthouse. The waves didn't look too bad, but the
beach at Beach Resort Monterey was a mass of foam, and, from the surface
at the Charthouse, the vis looked pretty stirred up. The Breakwater lot was
almost empty, the only boat trailer had a Hobie Cat (or similar) on it.

We did get to watch a couple of whales spouting out past the mile buoy.

 

[masterof0]

I was out there today (breakwater) for a dry suit class. our first dive was around 1:00 and it was pretty rough. got pretty beat up on both the entry and exit. tide/surf was up to the stairs. vis was about 5-7 feet.

we had a bouy out about 500 feet and a young gray whale came it and breached right next to it about 5 minutes after we exited

Waters were much calmer second dive around 3:00. vis was still pretty limited, but tide had dropped and things had really settled down.

Supposed to be going out on the Cypress tomorrow, so I got my fingers crossed

 

[Gombessa]

We ended up going today, after agreeing on some alternate plans if dive conditions were too rough.

Sunday's forecast seemed downright calm by Saturday night (4-9ft swells), but we were wary so we hoped for the best. This morning, it was back up at 11-14ft. We thought what the heck, gas is cheap now, so we drove down anyways; if you've got reservations, might as well double down on parking

The Lobos parking lot was nearly empty when we arrived, with only one car present (besides the docent). We watched the surf for a while, including the waves crashing impressively against the south end of the cove. Still, it looked no worse than the average choppy day, so we decided to go for it. Granite point looked pretty rough, so we figured we'd have a bit more shelter on the side closer to cannery point.

Turned out to be a totally pleasant dive. A good bit of surge shallower than 50fsw, but with great viz of about 30ft at the end of middle reef and past Hole in the Wall. Lots of big fish out today, but the little guys spent the morning in hiding.

 

[micboucher]

We ended up going today, after agreeing on some alternate plans if dive conditions were too rough.

Sunday's forecast seemed downright calm by Saturday night (4-9ft swells), but we were wary so we hoped for the best. This morning, it was back up at 11-14ft. We thought what the heck, gas is cheap now, so we drove down anyways; if you've got reservations, might as well double down on parking

The Lobos parking lot was nearly empty when we arrived, with only one car present (besides the docent). We watched the surf for a while, including the waves crashing impressively against the south end of the cove. Still, it looked no worse than the average choppy day, so we decided to go for it. Granite point looked pretty rough, so we figured we'd have a bit more shelter on the side closer to cannery point.

Turned out to be a totally pleasant dive. A good bit of surge shallower than 50fsw, but with great viz of about 30ft at the end of middle reef and past Hole in the Wall. Lots of big fish out today, but the little guys spent the morning in hiding.

Wow, it doesn't look like there was hardly any surge at all. It just goes to show you can usually find somewhere to dive in Monterey, no matter what the conditions. It's just sometimes hard to tell if the spot you've chosen is the good until after you decend. Thanks for the update Kenn!

 

[bbianchi]

I drove by Breakwater yesterday and it didnt look bad at all. Things were mostly flat, just a slightly rough entry that you would need to time. The only reason for that even seemed to be the shorter period on the swells. Vis looked good from the wall but there werent many divers around to ask.

 

[bbianchi]

Nice looking dive and nice video Kenn! Did you have reservations yesterday?

 

[masterof0]

Overall, conditions weren't too bad yesterday. Definitely not as bad as anticipated. Our first dive at Stillwater was rough. Swells had people losing their breakfast all over the boat. Surge was about tough, but not unbearable. After that, we went around to Otter Cove and things settled down tremendously. at 70+ there was little water movement and 20-25 foot vis.

 

[Gombessa]

Wow, it doesn't look like there was hardly any surge at all. It just goes to show you can usually find somewhere to dive in Monterey, no matter what the conditions. It's just sometimes hard to tell if the spot you've chosen is the good until after you decend. Thanks for the update Kenn!

I think that's really the key, especially if you're diving close to shore. So long as you're always willing to cut your losses if things look bad, IME it's almost always worth driving down to judge conditions with your own eyes.

Vis looked good from the wall but there werent many divers around to ask.

Yeah, Aquarius said it was a ghost town, but at least a couple of boats were still going out. When we drove by Monastery, there were zero cars and zero divers there. It even looked almost diveable, which gave us our first strong indication that Lobos would be fine.

Nice looking dive and nice video Kenn! Did you have reservations yesterday?

Yep, though with nobody in the lot at 9:30am, we probably could have drove up without a res and still have gotten in!