Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[JRCrab]

I'm embarrassed to say I don't even know where the abalone are in those photos...(yikes)...

Yesterday afternoon we went straight out from lovers 3 ultimately returning via 2. 45ft, 49f, viz was 10-13ft, increasing swell throughout the dive but never too bad. Viz as the safety stop...wasn't.

 

[JRCrab]

 

[uspap]

Breakwater today had 5ft +/- vis today and green. Talked to someone who did Lobos and they had about the same. They said it opened up a bit at depth to maybe 10 but surgy. North Monastery looked a little rough to me so I opted for Breakwater and worked on camera settings.

 

[JRCrab]

Dove Monastery for the first time today. Swell was ideal, viz was...not...and green. Still fun to visit this well reputed site.

Went in on the north side for the first dive. Surface swim along the kelp to the wash rocks. Up to 15ft viz down 84ft at 50F with no surge. Easy entry, easy exit. Highlights were a wolf eel and a couple big lings. Plenty of rock fish of all shapes, colors and sizes. Dive partner was really into hermit crabs so I noticed more of these on this dive than normal. Awesome dive. Love the color, Love the structure. Love how the black abyss just drops away...

Second dive we chose the south side. Surface swim along the kelp to...well beyond the end of the first wall of rocks but no where near the end of the kelp which extends much farther out towards the ocean than it first appeared from shore. Swam out roughly on a 240 through kelp and rocks and then back. Viz was ever so slightly improved down 63ft at 50F. Saw the usual cast of characters.

Due to the reputation of "mortuary beach," I made it a point to take zero new gear today. Went in and out with reg in mouth, mask on and BC inflated, but after evaluation decided to keep fins in hand both dives. Zero issues today, might choose differently if conditions weren't so ideal.

Talked briefly to an instructor of an open water class while gearing up in the parking area. They entered near the south side in kayaks. Talk about a sweet alternative to learning at breakwater!

 

[uspap]

Thanks for the update. Wait until you hit Monastery on a 50 foot vis day. It will blow your mind. I always enter fins in hand. Sometimes you have to crawl out. I'm glad you got to experience this site.

 

[3D diver]

Long, fun, dive in pea soup at the breakwater today.

Max depth: 44 feet
Bottom time: 82 minutes
Visibility: 5-8 feet!!!
Water temperature: 53.6 to 59.4F
Surface conditions: Dead flat seas, heavy overcast & foggy/heavy mist as we geared up

I haven't had a dive for over a month, so was happy to receive a dive invitation for this epic flat weekend...in spite of the bad vis reports.

The reports were true...pea soup green, with lots of organics (and dive students) floating about. But it was still fun to tool around trying to find fish to film. We planned to drop at the 7, but could see bubbles from a class so tried to swim past them in vain. At 8 1/2 we tried to drop to one side of them, but landed in the middle of the pack. We buddied up and started heading out along the wall and the students turned back pretty quick.

We headed out along the bottom of the wall, turned at half-air, and rose up to 30 feet for the return. Didn't see many fish on the way out, besides a Lingcod sitting on a rock trying pretending he was invisible. About the time we turned my buddy started collecting fishing line & I learned the meaning of the phrase "line diving". There were more fish up in the light, but they were pretty skittish so I didn't get much footage of them. We cruised back, with frequent stops for my buddy to reel in line, surfacing pretty much where we started.

A fun, cozy, green, California dive.

 

[uspap]

Did North and South Monastery today. South a little better at 20 +/- vis and a little green. 53 degrees. Rare Lake Monastery conditions. Did two dives in shallows on South side. Did 3rd North Monastery shallow. 15-20 ft vis and greener. Looks like water wants to get blue. 53 degrees. Surface temp 80.

 

[JRCrab]

Checked out butterfly house for the first time yesterday afternoon. Beautiful location. Approach from the road to the entry was a lot easier than all the internet warnings lead me to believe. I geared up fully at the car and carried my fins down the trail and rocks to the beach. Kicked out to beyond the rocks and descended to about 25feet.

The plan was to head straight out and back with a little deviation to the left to try and pickup some rocky ridge that I read about in a description.

We basically executed on that plan but just found lots of different rocks and giant boulders of all sizes with nothing I could identify as a ridge in particular. Saw a medium size cabazon, a couple of smallish lings and the other usual scenery. It seemed like there was a lot of kelp growing that had only made it to about 4' high. There was a little surge at first, less further out. Max depth 69ft, temp 50f, viz 8ft.

In the early evening we decided to see if my kayak floats. Put in at Monastery in dead calm seas and paddled around towards the south. Wow, beautiful. Next step is an anchor and then tie downs for a tank/BC!

Not yet having had enough, we decided to go for a night dive along the wall. Got in the water about 9:30pm, swam out to 6.5 and descended. Kicked around for 20 minutes down to 45ft where in the 50f temps and almost 4 ft vizibility we agreed that now we had had quite enough.

 

[uspap]

Was this the area you were looking for?

 

[JRCrab]

Is that Monastery or the "ridge" at Butterfly? Looks nice!! Didn't see anything like that near Butterfly.

Also should add that at some point 10 or so minutes into our night dive we heard two really loud sharp bangs. It freaked us out a little bit.