Current Conditions in Monterey & Carmel?

[h3o]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of diving Point Lobos or Monastery either tomorrow (Friday, 12/19) or on Monday. Has anyone gone diving lately? How have the conditions been? If they're too good to pass up, I will go tomorrow, if not, I'm going to wait till Monday. How have conditions been in general this past month? I've heard the winter months are the best to dive NorCal waters, does anyone know why?

[Chuck Tribolet]

Winter is the best and worst of Monterey diving.
The short days and low sun kill the green and the
vis gets better, but there are often big swells and
muddy runoff, so you have to pick your days
carefully. I've seen 90' vis on New Year's Eve,
and Admiral Linda says her best dive ever was on
New Year's Day (different year). I did one dive at
Pt. Lobos Saturday, but it was kinda surgy and
my buddy had to run his boat clear up to Monterey
to pull it out, the Pt. Lobos ramp was just too rock
and roll. Note that we called it a day after one
dive.

http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/swell/wamglance.html
has all the weather forecasts you might want.

Here's the current C&M forecast:

FRI...S WINDS 10 TO 20 KT...DECREASING TO 10 KT OR LESS IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 10 TO 13 FT AT 13 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY NORTH WITH A CHANCE SOUTH.
FRI NIGHT...S WINDS 5 TO 10 KT... WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT... W SWELL 10 TO 13 FT AT 13 SECONDS. NUMEROUS SHOWERS IN THE EVENING...BECOMING SCATTERED OVERNIGHT.
SAT...S WINDS 10 KT OR LESS... WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS... W SWELL 9 TO 12 FT. A CHANCE OF RAIN NORTH WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE SOUTH.
SAT NIGHT...VARIABLE WINDS 10 KT OR LESS... WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS W SWELL 8 TO 10 FT.
SUN...E TO NE WINDS 5 TO 10 KT... WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT W SWELL 7 TO 9 FT.

Sunday will be better than Saturday (and probably
OK if you go to the right places), Saturday is
marginal and better than Friday.

My rule of thumb is I'll go if it's a NW swell and
<= eight feet, or if it's a W swell and <= 10
feet.


Chuck

[the sharkman]

Well, I hope it will be good. I'm heading to Pt Lobos today. I guess we will see!

[rjens]

I was at Lobos in the morning yesterday. Vis was good, but it was a bit "surgy". Entry was also a bit tough because it was low tide and really shallow and slick on the boat ramp.

Tomorrow high tide is at 8:44am Pt Lobos Tides so entry/exit will be better. The waves were really crashing on the western pinnacles getting around to bluefin was out of the question without a boat.

Water temp was 57 on the surface and 54 at 40fsw.

Have a great time, I may be there tomorrow (Monday) myself. So if you are there and see a blue Ford Aerostar with a father son dive team come by and say hi. :happywave

RJ

[kevjl2]

Dove Monastary and McAbee this morning. Vis was outstanding at Monastary at least 40-50 ft. McAbee was around 35-40. Lots o surge. Made for a fun ride. Kevin

[renpirate]

My wife and I are going to be diving Point Lobos on the 25th and 26th. This will be our first time diving in that area. Does anyone have any recommendations on diving this area? We don't have Kayaks or a boat. However, we are both PADI AOW/NAUI Rescue with about 50 dives, moslty along the North Coast. Thanks.

[Chuck Tribolet]

It used to be that Christmas Day was the only day
of the year the Pt. Lobos was closed. Their website
doesn't say that, so it may have changed, but you
should call and check.

You do have a reservation, right? The 26th is full.
I'll be there on the 26th if the sea conditions forecast
improves a bit. I'm 6' 5" and have a white Boston
Whaler. Say hi.

There are lots of good web resource for diving
Pt. Lobos:

http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/scuba/divereg.html
http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/scuba/divespots.html

The biggest mistake most folks new to Lobos make
is to dive right in front of, or just to seaward of,
the launch ramp. That area is rather boring sand.
I'd suggest you kick out on the surface to the
outside edge of the kelp, take a compass reading
back to the ramp, drop (you'll be in about 70')
and swim back UW. If the bottom is boring and
sandy, jog to one side or the other by 40' and it
it will get better (there's a sand channel).

It's a longish surface swim, but a leasurely swim
back is just about a tank's worth.


Chuck

[Chuck Tribolet]

One more thing: DO NOT FORGET YOUR C-CARD.
No C-card, no dive.

[scubasean]

My wife and I are going to be diving Point Lobos on the 25th and 26th. This will be our first time diving in that area. Does anyone have any recommendations on diving this area? We don't have Kayaks or a boat. However, we are both PADI AOW/NAUI Rescue with about 50 dives, moslty along the North Coast. Thanks.

Have you seen

http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/scuba/middlereef.html

For your first dive there, you might want to surface swim out just past the entrance to Whaler's cove, take a heading back to the boat ramp, then descend to near the bottom and swim back and forth across the reef in the general direction of the ramp.

You can often see and interact with one or two harbor seals that seem to live there...

EDIT: Holy cow! Chuck (a MUCH more experienced person than I) beat me by two min...LOL

[renpirate]

Thanks for the rapid responses! We have confirmed reservations for both the 25th and 26th, so I guess they are open on Christmas now. Thanks for the link scubasean. The middle reef does sound good, I had been eyeing that one for the first dive. Chuck, you were commenting on conditions. Do you expect conditions to change? I called this morning and they were reporting really good visibility and pretty calm. Hope to see you on the 26th, we will be in a red Geo prizm and both wear drysuits.

Another question, where can we get tanks filled? We each have our own tank, but I am wondering if we will need to bring extra ones if we can't get them refilled.