Monastary 5/19

Did a few dives at south Monastary on Sat.Stellar conditions,no waves (walked in & out)very little surge but COLD,COLD,COLD! I registered 46 degerees at 55ft...did I tell you it was cold...man Ive got to get a DS!My buddy was diving his new Salvo
can light which he was very happy with!
One thing we couldnt help but notice was a complete lack of life and critters/fish...??!!
No perch,no blues,no crabs (we always see a lot)only a few small copper RF and a few nudis..?? This Site has always been loaded with life in the past?

We did see lots of Kayak fishermen and a spearo who had shot a miniscule cabazon..?
It was a great day but the dive was lacking...


I will look forward to Monastary becoming part of the preserve!

Vis 40-50ft
Temp- bone chilling 46

Drew

What exposure suit were you wearing?

H- I dive a 7ml..but not much longer?
Im usually ok temp wise..but sat was frigid!

Yea, I clocked 45 deg off Pt Lobos Fri afternoon. All you guy's that dive wetsuits are much tougher than me!
John

well I don't think the spear fishing is the cause of there not being a lot of fish. the spear fishing has very little affect on the overall fish populations. this is why in most areas spear fishing stays open longer then hook and line fishing or commercial fishing. it has little effect if any. there are so few of us doing it compared to the masses. fish fallow the food. there is a lack of food in the local waters at this moment. this is not normal. its like this in sonoma right now as well. later in the year when the krill and other food sores come back to the coast the fish will fallow. there are large kill zones all over our coast right now, lack of food for all species, birds, seals, fish, all of them. I look forward to the day when the politicians pull there head out of there *** and start making some changes, with water rights, agriculture, and the environment. and when people wake up and pay attn.. a few degrees in temp in the water and things drastically change. look at the swell models and ocean temps. sets between waves. its all not a normal pattern. I welcome spear fishing for the most part. where do you think dfg get a lot of there info on species. every time there is a competition for spear fishing the dfg is present and takes a portion of the catch for studies, ect.. pollution and runoff from agriculture is a much bigger problem for the marine environment. glad you hade a nice dive. did you know photography is a very toxic hobby with nasty chemicals. where do you think they end up?

Everybody is going to have to wait for the fish to repopulate the area especially some species of fish takes a long time to grow before becoming adults in order to reproduce like Leopard sharks which I was so happy to see it on Saturday. Unfortunately I know I'm not going to be around to see it especially I have nobody to carry my name into the future.

Unless thats what Monastery Beach is all about, seeing 7 different species of sand and nothing but sand. What a complete waste of tank air, car fuel, and 50 minutes of time that is unreplaceable.

Digital photography has no chemicals at all.

And in film photography the really nasty stuff (silver) is electrolyzed out.

The problem with spearfishing, and especially with the contests, is that they skim the
cream off the gene pool. They take the biggest, best, and brightest, the ones that
should keep spreading their genes. While the hook and line fisher pretty much has to take the
luck of the draw, the hunter can pick their target. And the contest hunters spend
time scouting ahead of time.

RoyN:

Unless thats what Monastery Beach is all about, seeing 7 different species of sand and nothing but sand. What a complete waste of tank air, car fuel, and 50 minutes of time that is unreplaceable.

Click to expand...

Roy, you must be navigationally impaired, or ignored the standard advice for Monastery:
Don't dive the middle. It's the reefs at either end that are interesting.

Ha!!!!!

Wow, that's almost incredible to me, that you could dive South Monastery and not see tons of life. When we were there in October, it was an awesome dive: Tons of fish-eating anemones, sheep crabs, blue rockfish, painted greenlings, and a harbor seal who came to take a nap in the sand, and took off when he got too much attention from the HID lights.