Monastery Canyon in 3D

Hi,
one of my resolutions for this year is to release several virtual dive sites for MoCal.

I am currently working on Monastery and spent already few days cleaning up and converting data for use in our simulator and I have few questions for the MoCal experts on this board:

1) Do you guys have any specific name for the small reef at 36 31 32.79N & 121 55 45.91W (depth ~90ft) ?

2) Do you guys have any specific name for the "tongue" at 36 31 39.23N & 121 55 42.2W (the terrain formation that kind of separate the head of the monastery canyon in 2 ..... gradually slopes down from ~40ft to ~100ft then falls down to the beginning of the floor of the canyon at ~280ft ) ?

3) What marine life do you see frequently in the Monastery canyon ? Would You like to provide us images/videos? (so far we have developed 3d models for marine life for SoCal .... not sure we can use them all for MoCal ... for sure the Great White Shark )

4) How deep you guys dive in the monastery canyon? Or, to ask the question in a different way, how deep should I go with the virtual dive site?

Thank You

Alberto (aka eDiver)

I'm squeamish about passing 100', but I'd like to see 200' on my computer. Can you put the memorial in there or is that in bad taste?

The algae variety is awesome there. I really like Gombessa's YouTube videos of the area (might be the bunnies). Aside from the usual suspects, angel sharks and mola mola are around.

"Aside from the usual suspects, angel sharks and mola mola are around" Also wolf eel, leopard shark, octopus and soupfin shark.

aquaregia:

I'm squeamish about passing 100', but I'd like to see 200' on my computer......

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Dataset goes down to more than 300 meters -

aquaregia:

.....Can you put the memorial in there or is that in bad taste?.....

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What memorial? Do you have images?

I have images, I'll try to link them.

Life wise, lots of large lings, egg yolk jellies and moons, on the south side nearing mono lobo vie seen squid egg patches and large bat rays eating the eggs. Tons of blue rockfish in, large nudies, and the occasional harbor seals.

DiveNav:

Dataset goes down to more than 300 meters -

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Uh, yeah, that'll do for me.

DiveNav:

What memorial? Do you have images?

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http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/norcal/69124-monastery-memorial-plaque-2.html

I'd be willing to go out with some people and shoot a bag up or something to get a good fix on the location.

The sign reads:

STEVE
EWART
FEB1963-JUL2003
WEWILLRIDEAGAIN

I fear I may have lost my photos of it, but there is a plaque on the back side base that said "Restored by Ryan Holmbre 2007" IIRC as well. Not sure how well it was affixed as when I last saw it the plaque was coming up a bit, Didnt want to disturb it though.

Location wise if you drop in @ N. Monastary around 45-50 fsw then follow the drop off down to 80-85 fsw depending on tides, its right there facing somewhere between 0 and 30 degrees on a little rock outcropping. I can find it if im diving there but don't know how best to explain it otherwise.

aquaregia:

....I'd be willing to go out with some people and shoot a bag up or something to get a good fix on the location.

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Just don't get in trouble for this

In another site we did - Casino point - there are several memorial plaques and in one case we were able to place a link from the memorial to a website in honor of the decease

DiveNav:

1) Do you guys have any specific name for the small reef at 36 31 32.79N & 121 55 45.91W (depth ~90ft) ?

2) Do you guys have any specific name for the "tongue" at 36 31 39.23N & 121 55 42.2W (the terrain formation that kind of separate the head of the monastery canyon in 2 ..... gradually slopes down from ~40ft to ~100ft then falls down to the beginning of the floor of the canyon at ~280ft ) ?

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1) I don't know of anyone who has dived that reef. The top is
at 100'.

2) The west side is the Monastery Wall.

Don't forget the sheep crabs! Seeing those prehistoric-looking monsters was one of the "wow" moments of my first Monastery dive.