Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[Ouvea]

I was at the Breakwater, assisting an OW class today. I wish I could report 40ft of visibility with no surf and surf. However, conditions proved otherwise. We had heavy surf and surge. Visibility maxed at 10 ft, maybe. I got down to around to 35-40 ft and didn't see any difference from the shallower waters.

 

[marcus8]

Walked the BW jetty yesterday(Sunday) morning. Huge surge on the surface. High tide was hitting the steps. Couldn't see more than a foot or two down into the murky water all the way out to the end of the jetty. A couple of intrepid dive classes making it work but that was about it. Played golf myself. Maybe next weekend.

 

[3D diver]

Home after two fun dives at Lobos, with only minor, non-dive related injury on the way home.

Water conditions were nice, small swell with just a little surge, 30 feet of milky viz, consistent water temperature of 53.6F at depth & 56.5F on the surface. The tide was heading out, complicating the second dive's exit.

FIrst dive: Hole in the Wall and Lone Metridium

Bottom time: 60 minutes
Max Depth: 63 feet
Visibility: 30 feet
Water temperature: 53.6 to 56.5F
Water state: glassy with small swell, 2 to 3 feet of water on the ramp and outgoing tide, noticed a bit of roughly west-to-east current out near Lone Metridium

Buddy was shooting macro, so we worked our way out in stages. Not a lot of fish, though saw some lings and buddy spotted a nice Cabezon. Lone Metridium was in full bloom. Was a little surprised to have a couple of tech divers catch up to us at Lone Metridium---we were the first team to arrive and I didn't notice anyone gearing up when we entered.

Second dive: Coal Chute Caves and Middle Reef

Bottom Time: 67 minutes
Max Depth: 44 feet
Visibility: 30 feet
Water temperature: 53.6 to 56.5F
Water State: Swell had picked up a little, not a lot of water on the ramp, a bit of surge.

My buddy had afternoon commitments so I buddied up with Raftingtigger and her buddy for my second dive. We surface swam to Coal Chute, decided the combination of low tide and swell made a top cave entry impractical and went into the caves from the front. After the caves, we tooled around Coal Chute cove for a bit, then worked our way over to Middle Reef and across Whalers, surfacing near the bluff.

There were several schools of Blue Rockfish, Lingcod and I tried to video 3 or 4 Sheephead.

As for my minor injury... I was tired/distracted and closed my truck door onto a finger when I stopped at McDonald's for my usual coffee and apple pie. D'oh! It didn't hurt too bad, but I had to get napkins from the counter person to stop the blood and raided my first aid kit for gauze and paper tape to bandage it up. Woke me up, though.

 

[mobeeno]

Sunday NWN wind 14kt. Mostly sunny. Mixed swell..NW 6 ft at 12 seconds and SSW 1 ft at 12 seconds. wind waves 1 to 2 ft.
Texted that to MikeXYZ and he said that that looks good. So we went and did two dives at North Monastery. We walked in and out for both dives. Vis was about the same for both dives, 20-25'. Water was on the warm side, 54 degrees F. Max depth 93'. Saw the usual critters for this area, however less sea urchins compared to a month or two ago. Great day to to be underwater since I have not seen vis over 20' for a while.

 

[chris_the_brit]

Great weekend at Breakwater. Dozens and dozens of sea nettles were passing over the metridium fields. The rain came in overnight and the surge picked up a bit on Sunday. I didn't like the look of Monastery (I guess my tolerance for swell is lower than mobeeno's!) so went back to Del Monte. The storm had brought in huge numbers of tuna crab, there was a gigantic school of them by the pipe, also loads of sea butterfly (Corolla sp. I think?) over by the wall.

52-54F, vis up to 20 feet, but rather murky. Bit of surge in the shallows but otherwise pretty calm.

 

[flyingDiver75]

52F with vis up to 40' at Eric's Pinnacle and the Aquarium on Dec 14th. Photos and video from the dives.

 

[elgoog]

Pretty surgy at the Breakwater on Saturday, especially above 25ft or so. 30-40ft viz in the cove and 15-20ft at the Metridium Fields. 53F in the water but it was a chilling 39F on the surface when we were starting to gear up. Went up to 55F by the afternoon and it was thankfully sunny the entire time.
The school of tuna crabs had gotten washed a lot closer to shore with hundreds of them on the beach - the tide had laid them out in an almost complete perimeter around the steps which made for a crunchy entry and exit.

 

[Rob Wilks]

Got out to Monastary this cold morning. Haven't felt a bitter cold wind on me in a while. Thank god for drysuits...
Surface saw some chop and a bit of swell, though I walked in and out with little difficulty. Above 30ft saw some surge and vis to about 15-20ft. +/- . Vis got better as I got deeper. I maxed out at 70fsw and vis opened up to 45+ ft. Best vis I've personally seen for a long time. Both computers read 51deg. Some big lings lurking around, cabazone, lots of rockfish in all areas of the water column and nudis were abundant. I'm feeling grateful to be alive and healthy ...

 

[JellyMan777]

Date: 12/18
Site: Shale Island (via Del Monte Beach)
Depth: 60fsw
Temp: 54deg
Vis: 20-30ft

 

[elgoog]

Decided to dive Breakwater today despite the rain and not-the-best swell conditions. We ended up in the water right at the peak of the ebb tide as well. It was a fight the entire dive. I did see an octopus which was cool as I've never seen one on a day dive. There was also a decent sized flatfish buried in the sand, largest I've seen at the Breakwater (only saw the eyes and could roughly make out the body - couldn't quite ID it). 34ft, 41min, 51F.
The storm took it's toll on the kelp in the mid reefs with a lot of it gone. There was also a dead seal on the beach with markings that looked like Chewie
One of those days we probably shoulda stayed home.