Favorite N. CA Dive Sites

[mweitz]

What is your favorite dive site and why? Shore, boat or both.

I'll start out.

Shore - Pt. Lobos. Generally an easy entry and exit. It is a reserve so there are plenty of fish. It has a good variety of depth / critters, from 15' to 150' easily reachable from the shore. No food, but nice restrooms, and a rinse area. The variety of life here is simply amazing! On one day there I've seen 8 - 10 different types of nudi, Vermillion Rockfish, Gorgonian, Corynactus, Stylaster and so on.

Boat - I only have a couple of boat dives, so not too much to compare. I'm going to go with Ball Buster as my current favorite. I didn't get to see too much of it when we were there, but it looked like a real cool pinnacle and seemed faily easy to navigate (big plus in my book).

Mark

 

[tel-scuba]

Shore - North Monastery. Love the colors and the drop off. On almost every dive here I've had large sea mammals playfully follow me and nip at my fins.

Boat - Great Pinnacle just outside of Whaler's Cove at Pt. Lobos. Deep, clear, and some cool life. It gets annoying when the surge picks up at the shallower depths, but it tends to be much more sedate the deeper you go.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Shore dive:
Fisk Mill Cove. A gnarly hike but well worth it. This can be a dangerous spot so ocean must be in good mood that day.

Boat dive:
Colby Reef. Offshore ridgeline with depths from 35 feet to 150 feet. Walls, swim throughs, tunnels, deep angular cracks in the rock, lots of big lings, cool place.

 

[mossym]

Shore - N Monastery. Lobos runs very close, but there is something about N Mon that just makes me love diving there, maybe it's the good days where you can hang at 100', and look down and see the bottom slope off deeper than I'll ever go..

Boat - haven't down many boat dives in Monterey, but best i've done is Auementos (Sp?)
course..lots more sites to do from a boat!!