Is Monterey dangerous?

[Ben Prusinski]

I keep reading on how many experienced scuba divers die in Monterey each year. Is it that dangerous to dive there? I am considering just diving in warm water places that are safer if Monterey is so dangerous. Why do so many people die here?

[Hepcat62]

I keep reading on how many experienced scuba divers die in Monterey each year. Is it that dangerous to dive there? I am considering just diving in warm water places that are safer if Monterey is so dangerous. Why do so many people die here?

While we've certainly, and very tragically, lost some divers over the years, I would say that most of the incidents in the last few years have been due to people ignoring or losing sight of some of the most fundamental rules of diving.

1. Don't go on a dive you're not properly trained to handle
2. Don't go on a dive when conditions are worse than you are trained/experienced to handle
3. Always pay attention to your air supply
4. Always pay attention to your buddy/team
5. Maintain your gear properly, and/or always rent from reputable dive shops and test everything!

You'll notice that 3 out of 5 of these are rules where mistakes happen on land, before even entering the water.

Every year many, many thousands of dives are done safely in Monterey. The accidents make up a tremendously regrettable, but statistically insignificant fraction of those. By and large, Monterey diving is as safe as diving in most other locations. The key thing about Monterey diving - like any diving - is to know your limits, and always stay within them. There is a certain amount of local knowledge that is necessary or at least useful. One great thing about this forum is that there are a number of divers at all levels of skill here, and many of the more experienced divers are usually up for going diving with new divers. It's a great way to get used to some of the issues involved in diving here with some mentoring, and have a great time too!

I know you recently attended the GUE/BAUE info session at Any Water Sports. GUE Fundamentals is a fantastic class to take if you're interested in developing a very solid set of core diving skills (which absolutely includes buddy/team awareness), and promotes a very safety conscious diving philosophy. You may not be aware of this, but by my count, only about 25% of BAUE divers are tech divers. The majority of members are simply very comfortable, appropriately confident recreational divers. ALL of the members are having a tremendous amount of fun diving in our local waters.

I hope this helps... Please don't miss out on our fantastic local diving - it really is beautiful!
Brian

[fisheater]

Great response, but left out a major cause of diver death and injury.

Medical conditions.

Diving can be strenuous. Cold water diving is always strenuous. Many of the recent incidents, including the death of a friend of mine last year, are due to medical issues occurring during the dive, typically cardiac or other circulatory issues.

Get healthy. Stay healthy. Pay attention to conditions and use your training.

Then, your biggest danger in diving in Monterey will be driving to and from wherever you live.


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[Thalassamania]

While we've certainly, and very tragically, lost some divers over the years, I would say that most of the incidents in the last few years have been due to people ignoring or losing sight of some of the most fundamental rules of diving.

1. Don't go on a dive you're not properly trained to handle Surf and depth are the problems here.
2. Don't go on a dive when conditions are worse than you are trained/experienced to handle Surf is the major problem here.
3. Always pay attention to your air supply Depth and long swims under the kelp canopy are the problems here.
4. Always pay attention to your buddy/team True of all diving.
5. Maintain your gear properly, and/or always rent from reputable dive shops and test everything! True of all diving.

You'll notice that 3 out of 5 of these are rules where mistakes happen on land, before even entering the water. One could also say, 5 out of 5 are true regardless of where you dive.

Every year many, many thousands of dives are done safely in Monterey. The accidents make up a tremendously regrettable, but statistically insignificant fraction of those. By and large, Monterey diving is as safe as diving in most other locations. The key thing about Monterey diving - like any diving - is to know your limits, and always stay within them. There is a certain amount of local knowledge that is necessary or at least useful. One great thing about this forum is that there are a number of divers at all levels of skill here, and many of the more experienced divers are usually up for going diving with new divers. It's a great way to get used to some of the issues involved in diving here with some mentoring, and have a great time too!

I know you recently attended the GUE/BAUE info session at Any Water Sports. GUE Fundamentals is a fantastic class to take if you're interested in developing a very solid set of core diving skills (which absolutely includes buddy/team awareness), and promotes a very safety conscious diving philosophy. You may not be aware of this, but by my count, only about 25% of BAUE divers are tech divers. The majority of members are simply very comfortable, appropriately confident recreational divers. ALL of the members are having a tremendous amount of fun diving in our local waters.

I hope this helps... Please don't miss out on our fantastic local diving - it really is beautiful!
Brian

I strongly recommend Fundies, but it will not help you with one of the major issues: surf entries.

[Peter_C]

Not many experienced scuba divers die in Monterey. As Fisheater said many are caused by medical conditions. Hepcat62 covered the rest with planning, which starts on land.

Taking a Fundies/Essentials type class will go far to improving your diving and therefore making you more comfortable in the water. All of the instructors for GUE and UTD will call the dives long before the conditions become unsafe. That is the key, is knowing when not to get in the water. Yes Monterey can be dangerous, but so can that nice sandy beach in the tropics when a hurricane is blowing thru. Learn to watch the swell forecasts, then compare them to the actual dive conditions. If there is a small craft advisory, 25kt winds, with 10ft swells, it is probably a good day to find something other than diving and boating to do.

[Adobo]

I strongly recommend Fundies, but it will not help you with one of the major issues: surf entries.

They did not teach your Fundies class in the context of the diving you do?

Mine was taught in the context of Monterey/Carmel diving. One of the key areas that we covered repeatedly was environmental considerations (cold water, kelp, entering the water at the popular beach dives like Pt. Lobos and the breakwater). Monastery is another popular beach dive where you would want to teach a diver how to properly enter and exit. But in truth, Monastery and to some degree Carmel River Beach are special cases where as a beginning diver, it might be better to pass than to dive there when it the surf is up.

[Thalassamania]

It is not a matter of "covering" environmental considerations, it requires a rather intensive full day to teach and practice the skills needed. I've never heard of that being done in a Fundies class due to the amount of time required to meet the "universal" course objectives like buoyancy and trim, drills, etc. In truth I've never had an entry level student that I could not teach, in a day, to handle all but the worst storm surf that Monastery and Carmel River Beach have to offer.

[gmanstan]

It is not a matter of "covering" environmental considerations, it requires a rather intensive full day to teach and practice the skills needed. I've never heard of that being done in a Fundies class due to the amount of time required to meet the "universal" course objectives like buoyancy and trim, drills, etc. In truth I've never had an entry level student that I could not teach, in a day, to handle all but the worst storm surf that Monastery and Carmel River Beach have to offer.

You have been to Monastery ,also sometimes referred "mortuary beach" right? Then you understand the rapid drop off, large "pebble sand" and waves can make exit extremely difficult even for advanced divers and those in very good physical shape. Even coining the phrase"monastery crawl" for exit technique.
Although Monterey /Carmel has some factors that make it a little more difficult than some places, but I think that the factor contributing to "high mortality rate" reported is not that high compared to the ratio of successful dives done, and not reported.

[cmburch]

Our coast can be unpredictable. Swells can be relatively small when entering at 8 am and then have intervals of large swells at the end of the dive where can lose sight of the beach and cliffs when in the trough. It can be very dangerous for beginners and (weak swimmers?) coming to shore on beaches, rock, and cliff areas. This is more for Carmel and Big Sur. Monterey Bay may be more protected.

Out going tide combined with river flowing under sand can also be a problem at Carmel River SB. Where the Bull kelp stalks are bent facing out to sea. This can be challenging for beginners if trying to swim directly against the current to come back to the same point on shore rather than the easiest direction to shore then walking.

[Adobo]

It is not a matter of "covering" environmental considerations, it requires a rather intensive full day to teach and practice the skills needed. I've never heard of that being done in a Fundies class due to the amount of time required to meet the "universal" course objectives like buoyancy and trim, drills, etc.

Heard of? Are you speaking from experience or from internet?

In truth I've never had an entry level student that I could not teach, in a day, to handle all but the worst storm surf that Monastery and Carmel River Beach have to offer.

Oh yeah? Well, my car is faster than your car.