Another Drowning at Monastery Beach . . .

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Monastery is a great beach for trained swimmers and divers. It is a steep beach, with a very short and dramatic break, and there are plenty of rips.
It is not a beach on which children should frolic in the surf. The water is cold and the waves jump up and grab the unsuspecting.

This is a great place to visit for a shore dive to teach new divers how to read waves, sets and rips. It's one of the few places you can do a deep dive with a shore entry.

But it is not a good beach for a picnic with children.
 
From the reports it looks to me this happened at the mouth of Carmel River which is not Monastery Beach it is all part of the same State Beach but Monastery is at the far south end. Also the signage shown in this thread is at Monastery not where this tragedy happened but in my opinion still not a beach you should be playing at especially with the conditions we have been having lately. Reports say the daughter was in the lagoon of the river but then pulled out the river mouth and the father went in after her just sad.
 
ED51EE57-77F4-4F82-BE25-F35ACCF3B761.jpeg

Her is an overview of the area.
 
From the reports it looks to me this happened at the mouth of Carmel River...

Which is why the headline was Carmel Beach rather than Monastery.

...in my opinion still not a beach you should be playing at especially with the conditions we have been having lately.

As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a safe ocean beach in NorCal, if one wants a safe beach just go to a lake.



Bob
 
I used to play on Carmel River beach when I was a kid. We lived only a few miles away. I used to watch divers on that beach in the 1960’s.

Up in Norcal (north of San Francisco) we have a pretty high number of people who die flirting with waves. The further north you go the worse it gets. Sneaker waves are the big issue up here. Sneaker waves are sometimes two to three times larger than the average running size of the waves that day. They are created when swells out in the ocean combine plus wind waves can add to that and the result can be some huge freak waves. These are the ones that can sweep people into the ocean who are high and dry and by all practical reasoning should have been safe.
It happens up here all the time but you never hear about it because this is Norcal.
 
I used to play on Carmel River beach when I was a kid. We lived only a few miles away. I used to watch divers on that beach in the 1960’s.

Up in Norcal (north of San Francisco) we have a pretty high number of people who die flirting with waves. The further north you go the worse it gets. Sneaker waves are the big issue up here. Sneaker waves are sometimes two to three times larger than the average running size of the waves that day. They are created when swells out in the ocean combine plus wind waves can add to that and the result can be some huge freak waves. These are the ones that can sweep people into the ocean who are high and dry and by all practical reasoning should have been safe.
It happens up here all the time but you never hear about it because this is Norcal.
There's a place like that around here called Peggy's Cove. Rogue waves can sweep people off dry rocks well away from the normal shoreline. Yet despite signs, people still venture down onto the WET rocks. Once in a while somebody doesn't come back up.
 
To add further confusion to the account,, the first televised news report showed footage of Monastery Beach, along with a shot of the Carmelite Monastery on the opposite side of HWY-1. Both beaches carry the same name, Carmel River State Beach; and I had assumed that they had posted that same footage on their site. There is brief footage of both beaches in the video . . .
 
I do not understand this thread, the deceased was not SCUBA diving?

It is always a sad tragedy when we lose a life, unfulfilled possibilities, loved ones left, not been without tragedies in my own life, none of us are without being touched. I just do not understand this "safety" thinking, it is like a obsession that all things should be safe and if it cannot be made safe (undefined) then some party, the government usually, should either make it safe or prevent the activity by making it illegal.

How many signs is enough, should we close everything, fence the world off? Or live with the possibility that that there are no guarantees in anything we do and part of an authentic experience is in fact an element of danger. Thus, for SCUBA, we train for that possibility or should. People enroll in additional courses, rescue, technical, dive with mentors to improve their skills. But still we lose divers, outlaw diving?

Drownings exclusive of SCUBA, look, everyone thinks they can swim, some few can but most people including most SCUBA divers are basically non-swimmers. Putting up signs on a beach is not going to deter such a person from venturing into the water because they think they can do it. And most times they get away with it. Sometimes they drown.

SCUBA, how many people, on this board, actually train to dive? By that I mean water work, drills but equally important, physical fitness. Developing a core fitness to draw upon in an emergency. Like being caught in a current, or an injured buddy that needs assistance from you? Swimming, cycling, running, lifting weights, yoga, whatever, a combination of fitness activities that build a core fitness and reserve are important to SCUBA but I see little evidence that the average SCUBA diver does anything. Divers over 50, did you get a stress test? Do we watch our weight, try to stay on BMI?

SCUBA is really easy as activities go, or at least can be and usually is. But, it can also be very dangerous and require significant core fitness and training. I see a lot of divers with a case full of cert cards but I rarely see the fitness level that should be needed to back those cards up. And then that diver might bite off more than can chew on a dive that would be a challenge for them on a good day but it is not a good day, it is a bad day and they do not make it. So, oh, yeah, let's just close off the beach, close off the dive site, dynamite the cave entrance, fence it of, ban the sport. Or be responsible.

N
 
I do not understand this thread, the deceased was not SCUBA diving?

It is always a sad tragedy when we lose a life, unfulfilled possibilities, loved ones left, not been without tragedies in my own life, none of us are without being touched. I just do not understand this "safety" thinking, it is like a obsession that all things should be safe and if it cannot be made safe (undefined) then some party, the government usually, should either make it safe or prevent the activity by making it illegal.

How many signs is enough, should we close everything, fence the world off? Or live with the possibility that that there are no guarantees in anything we do and part of an authentic experience is in fact an element of danger. Thus, for SCUBA, we train for that possibility or should. People enroll in additional courses, rescue, technical, dive with mentors to improve their skills. But still we lose divers, outlaw diving?

Drownings exclusive of SCUBA, look, everyone thinks they can swim, some few can but most people including most SCUBA divers are basically non-swimmers. Putting up signs on a beach is not going to deter such a person from venturing into the water because they think they can do it. And most times they get away with it. Sometimes they drown.

SCUBA, how many people, on this board, actually train to dive? By that I mean water work, drills but equally important, physical fitness. Developing a core fitness to draw upon in an emergency. Like being caught in a current, or an injured buddy that needs assistance from you? Swimming, cycling, running, lifting weights, yoga, whatever, a combination of fitness activities that build a core fitness and reserve are important to SCUBA but I see little evidence that the average SCUBA diver does anything. Divers over 50, did you get a stress test? Do we watch our weight, try to stay on BMI?

SCUBA is really easy as activities go, or at least can be and usually is. But, it can also be very dangerous and require significant core fitness and training. I see a lot of divers with a case full of cert cards but I rarely see the fitness level that should be needed to back those cards up. And then that diver might bite off more than can chew on a dive that would be a challenge for them on a good day but it is not a good day, it is a bad day and they do not make it. So, oh, yeah, let's just close off the beach, close off the dive site, dynamite the cave entrance, fence it of, ban the sport. Or be responsible.

N
Great points. I like "....most SCUBA divers are basically non-swimmers". A pet peeve of mine for years. I would say maybe 2 out of 8 in an OW course have a proper swim stroke.
Close off everything...Govt. make it illegal, etc.--- N.Y. Long Island State Parks: Lifeguards gone after Labor Day, pay your $15 bucks to park, it's 90 degrees on Sept. 21, and cops driving on the beach keeping people out of the ocean. Ask them why no lifeguards after you paid to park or why you can't swim "at your own risk" and they take out a stack of paper slips, hand you one and say "Here's where you phone to complain".
Or, drive to a beach in Nova Scotia, park for free, observe no lifeguards, signs or cops, gear up and walk into the water.

Which does the responsible person prefer?
 
I'm a big fan of informed personal responsibility, and not outlawing access to caves, beaches, etc...

There's a place like that around here called Peggy's Cove. Rogue waves can sweep people off dry rocks well away from the normal shoreline. Yet despite signs, people still venture down onto the WET rocks. Once in a while somebody doesn't come back up.

This is a hazard most people aren't well-informed about. I had no idea this was a hazard. Even now it sounds surreal; I've seen enough of TMHeimer's posts to take him at his word. I imagine going to a shoreline, standing there on dry rocks well away from the water with my back to it, looking at the timber or whatever...when suddenly this freakish big wave out of a horror movie sneaks up behind me, snatches me off the rocks and drags me out to sea and drowns me.

Swimming, cycling, running, lifting weights, yoga, whatever, a combination of fitness activities that build a core fitness and reserve are important to SCUBA but I see little evidence that the average SCUBA diver does anything.

It's not that important for what a lot of us do. There are many scenarios in life where a hard-bodied fitness devotee might overcome the odds and survive. But in terms of the odds of that coming up, vs. the price of transforming and maintaining oneself in that way...well, obviously for many people, the juice just ain't worth the squeeze.

Richard.
 
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