Swell Forecast Monterey bay

[fdog]

One of the members here on the board has published a Monterey swell forecast page. He coded this in response to the USN changing their published swell snapshots.

This page automaticaly detects the date and publishes the appropriate swell forecasts.


The fantastic MikeMill swell forecast page

If you click on a swell forecast image, it enlarges. Thanks, Mike! Very appreciated.


All the best, James



PS - If you use the page and like it, please, drop Mike a PM and let him know. Everyone likes to know their hard work doesn't go unappreciated!

 

[ae3753]

So, you're saying you would go to Lobos for a 8-10 ft swell forecast? Can there really be breakers over the boat ramp? I'm thinking from it's protected location probably not. Could always stay well within the cove, right?

Yep, I would. However, everyone has different levels of tolerance for diving.

It is also for shore dives from a protected place, assuming that the swell model is coming from a direction that the cove is protected.

My preference is not to stay in the cove but rather go find deeper water. Even if the cove is protected, there is usually enough churn that viz in the cove is not so nice.

 

[ae3753]

One of the members here on the board has published a Monterey swell forecast page. He coded this in response to the USN changing their published swell snapshots.

This page automaticaly detects the date and publishes the appropriate swell forecasts.


The fantastic MikeMill swell forecast page

If you click on a swell forecast image, it enlarges. Thanks, Mike! Very appreciated.


All the best, James



PS - If you use the page and like it, please, drop Mike a PM and let him know. Everyone likes to know their hard work doesn't go unappreciated!

Nice, Mikemill!

 

[pacificgal]

C'mon Don, what's Monterey diving without the low viz?
My tolerance for swell/surge is pretty high, I don't like high surf entries/exits though, low tolerance for that. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!
Tonight I'm spending curled up with my Nitrox manual, trying to learn it for my class in 12 days, hope a lecture comes with the class--never thought I would ever say that.

 

[Peter_C]

First dive today was at Point Pinos. On the way John spotted a whale going one direction, then I spotted another one going the opposite direction. Although the swells were big, it was just a little bumpy. Surgy down to 80 feet, but we had 40' of vis at the beginning of the dive. It deteriorated towards the end of the dive.

Second dive we did the Shale Island, and there was 30' of vis, and it too deteriorated to around 20'. Not much surge. Check out lake Pacific (Monterey Bay) for the third day in a row.

 

[pacificgal]

Very nice Peter! One of these days I need to get to Shale Island, there's a nudi there I want to try to see. I'll see you tomorrow with North Coast Divers, right?

 

[Peter_C]

Yup, I will be at Lobos tomorrow. We will have to see how the diving is there tomorrow.

 

[bbianchi]

Id like to see shale some day as well.... and ball buster... and aumentos... sadly ive never been to any in-bay dive sites . Boats always end up taking me to carmel.

 

[Peter_C]

Id like to see shale some day as well.... and ball buster... and aumentos... sadly ive never been to any in-bay dive sites . Boats always end up taking me to carmel.

Don't feel bad, I have never had a good dive off of any commercial dive boat. Plus I have never been taken to Carmel by one of them.

 

[Gombessa]

So, you're saying you would go to Lobos for a 8-10 ft swell forecast? Can there really be breakers over the boat ramp? I'm thinking from it's protected location probably not. Could always stay well within the cove, right?

Remember, the models from Chuck's page are generally outside of the bay. An 8-10ft prediction is usually less than half that by the time it hits a protected spot like Breakwater or Whaler's Cove, depending on the direction of the swell.

While I haven't been there to see breakers actually crashing over the rocks to the parking lot, it does happen, and I don't think it takes a genius to make a common sense call not to dive in those conditions

I have seen water slosh up past the ramp at high tide and wash over the first couple of parking spots to the left and the low sheds across the lot. I think that was a 13-15ft prediction day, and half of us decided not to dive (and the other half had a great dive).

But 8-10ft? Always worth driving down IMO. For those boat diving, I think the tolerances are lower because you're likely to be out further than the protection of the shoreline, and this is right at the edge of where guys like Chuck don't bother going out.