3D diver
Contributor
Two fun dives at Point Lobos yesterday (Friday February 9'th). No whales or sharks, alas, but sunny skies, flat seas & good vis.
First dive: Hole in the Wall and Lone Metridium
Bottom time: 68 minutes
Max depth: 63 feet
Visibility: 45+ feet (could see the surface from 45 feet, couldn't at 55 feet)
Water temperature: 55F to 60F
Surface conditions: warm sunny day, flat water, tide about 1/4 up the ramp and dropping
The boat ramp is very slippery with a fresh coat of green algae. My buddy slipped and fell on the way down the ramp, but wasn't injured. There are bare, white, patches of concrete on the sides, though, and we walked on them the rest of the day.
We surface kicked well out over the sand channel, then a bit west, descending onto the small rocky area south of Cannery Point Wall proper where we apparently interrupted a confab of 3 or 4 Sheephead. We worked our way back to the edge of the sand channel and proceeded to Hole in the Wall. An air check showed we had plenty of air so continued on to Lone Metridium, which was in full, glorious, bloom. The vis was a milky 40 to 50 feet. It seemed better in the cove as we approached HITW, and just a little worse as we rounded the corner and headed to LM. We turned around, cutting south in one of the rock channels a bit east of HITW and meandered our way south and east 'till we got back to the sand channel. Continuing south'ish we checked out the fish and jellies 'til we got into about 15 feet of water and I called the dive, fearing we may have overshot the ramp. (We actually had another 30+ feet to go.) There were lots of fish, but I was trying out a different camera set up and didn't shoot as many clips as I normally would.
Second dive: across Whaler's, into the Coal Chute Caves, and back
Bottom time: 73 minutes
Max depth: 34 feet
Visibility: 30 feet
Water temperature: 55F to 65F
Surface conditions: still great! Sunny & flat water. Tide lower on the ramp, about 18+ inches deep, so enough for comfortable entry and exits
Dropped a few yards from the ramp and headed off on a compass heading toward Coal Chute Cove. Lots of fish to film (I had my usual camera setup for this dive) and a few moon jellies. We ran out of ocean a bit south of Coal Chute, so hung a left and worked our way North. Rounding into Coal Chute Cove I spotted another dive team exiting the first cave and in we headed. We went well back into the cave, checking out the rear entry, and returned to the main entry. Continuing east we checked out the second cave and found a nice school of Blue Rockfish waiting for us when we returned to the cove.
We worked our way out of Coal Chute Cove and headed back toward the ramp. Highlights of the return were a BIG male Sheephead, a big Lingcod that swam at me from about 15 feet then doubled back at me as it passed, and finding an old admiralty style anchor and chain. We surface near the ramp and exited safely.
First dive: Hole in the Wall and Lone Metridium
Bottom time: 68 minutes
Max depth: 63 feet
Visibility: 45+ feet (could see the surface from 45 feet, couldn't at 55 feet)
Water temperature: 55F to 60F
Surface conditions: warm sunny day, flat water, tide about 1/4 up the ramp and dropping
The boat ramp is very slippery with a fresh coat of green algae. My buddy slipped and fell on the way down the ramp, but wasn't injured. There are bare, white, patches of concrete on the sides, though, and we walked on them the rest of the day.
We surface kicked well out over the sand channel, then a bit west, descending onto the small rocky area south of Cannery Point Wall proper where we apparently interrupted a confab of 3 or 4 Sheephead. We worked our way back to the edge of the sand channel and proceeded to Hole in the Wall. An air check showed we had plenty of air so continued on to Lone Metridium, which was in full, glorious, bloom. The vis was a milky 40 to 50 feet. It seemed better in the cove as we approached HITW, and just a little worse as we rounded the corner and headed to LM. We turned around, cutting south in one of the rock channels a bit east of HITW and meandered our way south and east 'till we got back to the sand channel. Continuing south'ish we checked out the fish and jellies 'til we got into about 15 feet of water and I called the dive, fearing we may have overshot the ramp. (We actually had another 30+ feet to go.) There were lots of fish, but I was trying out a different camera set up and didn't shoot as many clips as I normally would.
Second dive: across Whaler's, into the Coal Chute Caves, and back
Bottom time: 73 minutes
Max depth: 34 feet
Visibility: 30 feet
Water temperature: 55F to 65F
Surface conditions: still great! Sunny & flat water. Tide lower on the ramp, about 18+ inches deep, so enough for comfortable entry and exits
Dropped a few yards from the ramp and headed off on a compass heading toward Coal Chute Cove. Lots of fish to film (I had my usual camera setup for this dive) and a few moon jellies. We ran out of ocean a bit south of Coal Chute, so hung a left and worked our way North. Rounding into Coal Chute Cove I spotted another dive team exiting the first cave and in we headed. We went well back into the cave, checking out the rear entry, and returned to the main entry. Continuing east we checked out the second cave and found a nice school of Blue Rockfish waiting for us when we returned to the cove.
We worked our way out of Coal Chute Cove and headed back toward the ramp. Highlights of the return were a BIG male Sheephead, a big Lingcod that swam at me from about 15 feet then doubled back at me as it passed, and finding an old admiralty style anchor and chain. We surface near the ramp and exited safely.
![20180225_065534[1].jpg](https://scubaboard.com/community/data/attachments/384/384134-ebf4a72f539f0e1a1be520539e645d40.jpg "20180225_065534[1].jpg")
![20180225_115433[1].jpg](https://scubaboard.com/community/data/attachments/384/384135-0babd42a9179429744fac1686944fdb2.jpg "20180225_115433[1].jpg")
