Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

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South Monastery had 10-15ft vis with a lot of particles in the water. 52 degrees. North side was a bit rough but diveable. Didn't try it since vis didn't appear to be any better than South side. Breakwater had 5-10ft vis. Wall was worst vis. It's nice when it's warm but not for vis.
 
2 dives at Pt Lobos with @sea_otter. The swell forecast looked great; it was super flat for our first dive and starting to pick up a little for the 2nd but still in the calm range. Viz was not so great, calling it 25ft would be generous - green water and snot. Crap ton of kelp EVERYWHERE.
Tons of life about though. Seals splashing around on the surface and monster lings on Middle Reef were the highlights for me. 50F in the water and bright sunshine up top. Beautiful day overall.
Dive 1 - Hole in the Wall(ish) - 70ft, 50min
Dive 2 - Middle Reef - 62ft, 59min
 
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Dive #21 for this year. Did one dive at South Monastery. Easy in and out. vis was about 20'-25' according to buddy. Another diver thought it was more like 15-20' all the way down to 50' depth. I enjoyed the kelp dive. Temp was 51degrees.
 
San Carlos Beach/Breakwater today was superb. Had 30-40ft of visibility, perhaps better. I think I could see the surface from depth at the Metridium Fields. Had mild to non existent surge but a mild current near the end of the wall. It was cold with discernible thermoclines. Gauge read 50 degrees but sure felt like 40s.

Outstanding conditions, given that we're the middle of summer.
 
Went to the breakwater today, hoping to catch some of the recent good upwelling viz but, alas, it's gone. My buddy had some equipment issues so, after a couple of tries, headed back to shore while I did a brief solo dive. I dropped at the 8, headed out for about 10 minutes then back toward the beach for 20 minutes, surfacing when I reached 6 feet of water at the 4. There seemed to be a lot of nudibranchs and small fish about.

There was a dramatic thermocline at about 17 feet. Below, the water was 50F with 15+ feet of visibility. Above the water was in the 60's and a dirty 10 feet of vis.

Including our first attempt to dive, and my search and recovery of my buddies weight pouch, I had a bottom time of 45 minutes.

Bottom time: 45 minutes
Max depth: 41 feet
visibility: 10-15+ feet
Temperature: Air 64.6F, water 50 to 64.4F
Ocean surface: dead flat
Sky: overcast

Oh, and what appeared to be some summer camp counselors laid out three ropes in the sand in our path between the stairs and water, and had a bunch of equipment, including hula hoops. At the end of our dive I was surprised to see a large group of adults playing various games in the sand---fortunately away from the stairs. It looked like fun, but I was really expecting school kids.
 
Aquarium wall and shale island this morning on Beach hopper.
Nudis galore. Cold (my ds zipper IS toast) 20-30 foot viz below 20 or so feet. Surge was negligible.
 
One dive at Point Lobos today. Vis was less than 10' in the cove but opened up to 15 or so on middle reef. Had a harbor seal come by and tug on mu fin. Played hide and go seek with him in the kelp for a bit then headed out to the end of middle reef. For some reason I got REALLY cold on this dive, so we turned it and surfaced in the cove. I just couldn't shake the cold so I elected to sit out the next dive. My buddies computer registered 45 degrees at the end of middle reef (mine said 51). There was some good surge going on at the end of the reef. Regardless, it was still a good dive.
 
Dove North Monastery today. Pretty nice swell on entry and exit. Had to time it. Vis was 10-15 tops. Surgy. Water looked really blue from shore but after getting in it was ugly. A lot of junk in the water. Did see an egg yolk jelly. Water temp 49. Only a little over 30 minute dive. Not much to see and it didn't seem wise to get too far into kelp with the surge the way it was.

Second dive (attempt) was Break Water. Vis was about 5ft. Very green. Tried wall and kelp, then called it. Inside kelp was like a night dive.
 
Was at the Breakwater on Saturday. Dive a long dive along the wall and onto the Barge. The visibility in 60 ft of water was no better than in 15 ft of water. In fact, I observed no more than 15ft of visibility with the majority in 5-10ft. The water was quite calm and did not experience any surge.

Strangely, it was an enjoyable dive. You don't need majestic visibility to have a good dive!
 

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