Finally, my first dive in.... so long I can't even remember my last time hopping in!
I had a fieldtrip up North to visit for New Year's and got the chance to get a dive in too
The water felt like icecubes and I definitely saw 53ºF going on on my computer at my average 17fsw most of the dive. My max was 30fsw and the dive was 44mins long. The dive location was the Monterey Breakwater, and it sounded like right before we went in someone said it was kind of bad viz by the wall but 25-30' further out in the open. Once we got in the visibility was actually pretty great so I was pleasantly surprised. My last dive here there were all sorts of teeny tiny little clear sea critters almost verging on the microscopic blotting out most of the viz (though they were quite interesting). This time we got some clear critters that were about the size of a palm and apparently not a squid or cuttlefish type of critter, but actually a type of pteropod called Corolla calceola.
Here's the day:
On with the dive!
A swimming calceola
All of a sudden the fish went screaming past
so I looked around... nothing. I looked up... that's why!
These guys were everywhere. There was at least one every 10' at about 20-10fsw.
Some other type of clear gelatinous critter
Bit deeper at about 30'
The fish scatter again...
(the nice big seal in the haze)
No idea why his claws are all white
And in closing, one last calceola
It was a great dive but... I don't think I'm cut out for wetsuit diving in Monterey conditions. Especially if it's windy topside because it took 2 hours for the pins and needles to clear my fingers. Maybe I should wait til it warms up to dive there again.
I had a fieldtrip up North to visit for New Year's and got the chance to get a dive in too
The water felt like icecubes and I definitely saw 53ºF going on on my computer at my average 17fsw most of the dive. My max was 30fsw and the dive was 44mins long. The dive location was the Monterey Breakwater, and it sounded like right before we went in someone said it was kind of bad viz by the wall but 25-30' further out in the open. Once we got in the visibility was actually pretty great so I was pleasantly surprised. My last dive here there were all sorts of teeny tiny little clear sea critters almost verging on the microscopic blotting out most of the viz (though they were quite interesting). This time we got some clear critters that were about the size of a palm and apparently not a squid or cuttlefish type of critter, but actually a type of pteropod called Corolla calceola.
Here's the day:
On with the dive!
A swimming calceola
All of a sudden the fish went screaming past
so I looked around... nothing. I looked up... that's why!
These guys were everywhere. There was at least one every 10' at about 20-10fsw.
Some other type of clear gelatinous critter
Bit deeper at about 30'
The fish scatter again...
(the nice big seal in the haze)
No idea why his claws are all white
And in closing, one last calceola
It was a great dive but... I don't think I'm cut out for wetsuit diving in Monterey conditions. Especially if it's windy topside because it took 2 hours for the pins and needles to clear my fingers. Maybe I should wait til it warms up to dive there again.
