Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[wnissen]

Hey, all. I was looking to do some diving on Friday morning, but it seems like this is a pretty cruddy time of year for visibility... Is that a general truth?

In general the warmer months are the worst, except for the runoff caused by winter/spring storms. If you're concerned about viz, it's almost certainly going to be better on a boat.

 

[Ouvea]

Hey, all. I was looking to do some diving on Friday morning, but it seems like this is a pretty cruddy time of year for visibility... Is that a general truth?

The water in the summer months has a high concentration of plankton. Visibility wise, this is the worst time of the year, although the water is generally very calm. Don't think diving deeper will solve the issue, as the plankton bloom obscures any light at depth. While you may have a marginal improvement in visbility but it's going to be a very dark dive. I have been at 70-80ft with 3-5ft visibility and very little sun light penetration. Those dives aren't very fun...

However, there are times that one bay has poor visiblity while the other has spectacular conditions, such as we had last week. Everyone in Monterey Bay reported 5-10ft visiblity, while people diving at Pt. Lobos in Carmel Bay had 40-60ft of visiblity.

 

[BikerBecca]

Who cares about vis. I don't care if it's a dive by braille day. I'm just happy to be in the ocean.

 

[stilldivin]

We arrived around 8:15 AM to a foggy day and it lingered for most of the day. We had 53 degree water and only reached a max depth of 25 feet. (The tide was way out.) Dead calm, and 5-10 feet of murky vis. We saw a few fish, plus some starfish, a keyhole limpet, and lots of soft coral. Some kelp had returned but still too many sea urchins. There also was the usual eel grass. I was using my scooter which you can hear now and then.

 

[crapwheresmyreg]

Dove Erics Pinnacle on Friday. Vis was around 25-30ft at 60, water seemed a bit warmer than it was a few weeks ago, but I would need to go back and look at the logs. Probably one of the nicer days I have seen as far as swell went. Low tide was pretty incredible at breakwater that morning. I don't think I have ever seen the rocks that far out. Hopefully everyone is getting out and getting wet before the green really starts to come in.

 

[absaav]

Frequent local Monterey diver. Decided to start Twitter post of Dive conditions for more real time info.
Please feel free to follow and tweet your dive/conditions.

montereydiveconditions
@montereydiveco1

 

[BikerBecca]

Not a good weekend for visibility at The Breakwater. 5 feet at most.
Water Temp 57. Thermocline past 30 feet had water temp at 52F at 40 feet.
Today a very strong current could be felt around 4 on the wall. If you didn't move you'd suddenly find yourself at 7 in no time at all. This made for a very interesting surface swim back to the beach when a student lost his weight pocket.

Oh, and where was the sun!!! Karl the Fog decided to weekend in Monterey. I guess he's a World Super Bike fan and had to go to Laguna Seca.

 

[absaav]

Becca always gives the best reports, whether conditions are good or bad.

I called Breakwater Scuba dive shop today, conditions improved with now 10 foot vis, less surge.. Hopefully we get a clear patch.

Not trying to take people away from this valuable forum but feel free to follow on twitter, tweet your dives/conditions in monterey,


montereydiveconditions
@montereydiveco1

 

[stilldivin]

Poor vis at San Carlos beach.

 

[dive1bb]

Poor vis at San Carlos beach.

Gosh it has been pea soup all weekend! Nice video nonetheless! The current was worse today no doubt. It was noticeably less busy in and out of the water, too. Good time to practice staying together that's for sure.