Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

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pointlobos in cove may be 20ft in depth about 50
 
BW was decent Saturday. Tide was low at 11:30 when we arrived. Tons of classes so viz was a bit stirred up in the usual places, but it was quite decent out past #8. It varied between 15 - 20 for the majority of the dive which included an excellent sea lion encounter of a good dozen or so at it's best. That was my turnaround point which I'd estimate was close to the very end of the wall. Covered a lot of ground as it got better and better the further out I went. Huge schools of rock fish, much fishier dive than is typical in my experience there.

Looking forward to some October dive conditions!

Cheers
 
Fun dive at Point Lobos today to Hole in the Wall and Lone Metridium

Dive Time: 48 minutes
Max Depth: 66 feet
Visibility: 10-15 feet in the cove, 30+ feet at depth
Water Temperature: 50 to 54F
Surface conditions: Overcast, Calm/glassy water, tide well up boat ramp, small swell/no surge, noticeable current opposing us as we swam out in the boat channel

Up before dawn, Stilldiving and I hightailed it to Lobos this morning, arriving early enough for the coveted Dive Team 1 designation. A herd of paddle boarders beat us to the Whaler's Cove parking lot, though, but we snagged a parking spot opposite the ramp. They were there for a cleanup paddle & filled several containers with plastic, including a large fishing pole. There was a local channel 8 team filming when we exited, so we may be on the local news. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

My buddy's tank had a short fill, so I loaned him my second 120 & off we headed to Hole in the Wall and Lone Metridium. Surface Viz in the cove was 10 to 15 feet, but opened up to 30+ feet in deeper water---I was having too much fun to stop and asses the visibility more accurately at the time. We were visited by a shy harbor seal on our way to HITW. There were lots of Kelp Greenlings, one Lingcod, one Sheephead and some nice schools of Blue Rockfish, Senoritas and Tubesnout. Lone Metridium was open for Stilldiving's first visit, where we turned around, passed HITW and worked our way back into the cove. We surfaced in the boat channel to watch the Paddle Boarders form a "raft" & pose for pictures. They were on our heals when we arrived at the ramp & we had lots of cameras aimed at us as we hiked up to my truck.
 
Butterfly house this afternoon. Building swell and lots of kelp. The entry cove had a lot of loose grass like kelp fragments right at the water line. This tangled up in my feet and made entry and exit a challenge. I swam under the kelp in and out. Viz was about 30 feet with it dark out under the kelp beds. Lots of urchin barrens also. Several large schools of Senoritas, and a few pairs of perch chasing each other. Saw one small lingcod and a fairly calm kelp greenling. We watched each other for about 2 minutes. Usually they are very skittish.

Tried to swim in on the surface, but the swell was such that I started to get seasick. That was quickly resolved by a nice compass run under.

Dive time 54 min, Max depth 47 feet, avg depth 27 feet. Water temp 53.6 F

Stillwater cove with my kayak tomorrow.
 
I had a HORRIBLE night sleep at the Hostel due to LOUD snoring. White noise on high and pillow over my head didn't even help. As a result I bailed on a kayak dive and did Lover's #3.

Calm surface with moderate surge at depth (30). Viz a nice 20 to 30 with large particulates. Temp 54. Max depth 30'

PA022256 (3) ps.jpg
 
Amazing day at Pt Lobos yesterday - topside and underwater.
For dive 1, aimed for HITW with @sea_otter but swam in too far west and ended up at Lone Metridum. Viz was in the 30-40ft range for most of the dive and opened up even more once we got down to 60-70ft. 71ft max, 52F, 51min.
Skipped dive 2 as I got a reverse block on the way back in which refused to clear even after an hour on the surface.
 
Hi. Just joined the forum. Just dove Lovers 3rd (around the point to 2nd), Metridians, Pt Lobos middle reef, hole in the wall and granite point wall for the first time Saturday and sunday. Wow. I'm blown away by all the color! After getting certified at the GBR last year, I figured it could only get worse. With an incredible variety of color and 40+ feet if viz (this past weekend...), I'm really psyched on Monterey Diving (so much better than when I did my dry suit cert at the wall at breakwater in 8ft of viz)! Water temp was 49deg (thermometer read 46 at one point about 60ft down at 9am Sunday but I supposed that must have been an error?) and I was perfectly fine in my Bare Velocity 7/8mm semi dry.
 
vis at north monastery was pretty good yesterday, 30 to 40 ft at depth deeper than 30 ft below the brown layer. wolf eel and a small mola past the turn at 70 ft. kelp still pretty thin, too many urchins around. temp 49f at depth.
 
Viz at North Monastery this morning was terrible. I made it to roughly 45 feet before giving up. It was so dark under the kelp it felt like a night dive. Viz ranged from 4 feet to maybe 8 feet at best, but mostly about 5. Reddish brown and dark. Felt like diving in lentil soup.
I thought there was a healthy patch of Kelp in the area facing the stairs near the day care facility. But this is an observation from the surface swim as it was impossible to gauge the health of the kelp in the soup.
 
Viz at North Monastery this morning was terrible. I made it to roughly 45 feet before giving up. It was so dark under the kelp it felt like a night dive. Viz ranged from 4 feet to maybe 8 feet at best, but mostly about 5. Reddish brown and dark. Felt like diving in lentil soup.
I thought there was a healthy patch of Kelp in the area facing the stairs near the day care facility. But this is an observation from the surface swim as it was impossible to gauge the health of the kelp in the soup.

Good thing Monastery was calm. I have had night dives with way better vis. Two memorable parts of the dive: first, was when I almost ran into a lincod with my face and the other one when the surge kinda forced us to the surface to see a very grand view of the North Monastery wash rock really close. What an expreience that was!
It was quite fun though.
 
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