dwashbur
Contributor
Anybody dive the Coral Street beach lately? We've been looking it over and drooling a little, and wonder if there's anything special we should know before planning a dive there.
Coral Street
- Thread starter dwashbur
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Dive it on a high tide. If the tide is down, you have to walk across slippery cobbles.
There's no handy bathroom.
Also, there's more info at http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/swell/CDNDiveSites.html
There's no handy bathroom.
Also, there's more info at http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/swell/CDNDiveSites.html
) Anybody been there lately that could give a report?
dhammer
Guest
Coral Street is an awesome dive site; it's absolutely my favorite shore dive site in Monterey Bay. There's a very large area which is quite shallow (<30') and and colorful. Personally, I like the deeper parts of it better, because the further you head out the more dramatic the bottom topography becomes. You will go across alternating sand patches leading to large ridgelines defining canyons running parallel to the shore, and each succeeding canyon is a little deeper than the one preceeding it. If you go far enough, and head over toward the east rather than go straight out from shore, you will eventually get to Aumentos. This is truly fantasyland, but not everybody would consider Aumentos a shore dive! The bottom thereabouts is around 90'.
If you do go straight out from the beach, keep a sharp eye out for any scrap pieces of white fiberglass lying on the bottom. This is John Denver's final resting place, the point where he drove his plane into the sea. There are still pieces of that plane scattered around at Coral Street, so if you want a Rocky Mountain High you can bring a piece back and put it on the mantlepiece.
BTW, the picture of a seal chewing on my (which I made my SB icon) was taken at Coral Street. There are lots of playful seals hanging out there and they just love terrorizing divers.
Bruce
Peter_C
Contributor
Anyone know what max depth obtainable at Coral Street is? I should add within a decently long kick...or while scootering.
MontereyCADiver
Guest
It's been my experience that reaching depths of 40'+ requires a SIGNIFICANT distance from shore and much of the site is in the 30' range.
If conditions permit, I forego much of a surface swim by entering through the rocks on the northeastern area of the turn-out parking area.
Under the topic of special notes.... longshore currents can be a problem.
While diving Coral Street, May '8, a longshore current came in and posed a significant impact to some divers in our group. Within a few minutes while we were in the water, the water began moving with such force that the kelp was stretched out like flags and the tips of the kelp were approximately 2' below the surface. Once we made it to shore, we discussed the speed in which the conditions went south; conversely, within 15-20 minutes, the longshore current had subsidded and conditions were back to "normal". I do not recall ever hearing of a longshore current being a problem at Coral Street, but I now know of ONE such event.
Cheers and good diving.
If conditions permit, I forego much of a surface swim by entering through the rocks on the northeastern area of the turn-out parking area.
Under the topic of special notes.... longshore currents can be a problem.
While diving Coral Street, May '8, a longshore current came in and posed a significant impact to some divers in our group. Within a few minutes while we were in the water, the water began moving with such force that the kelp was stretched out like flags and the tips of the kelp were approximately 2' below the surface. Once we made it to shore, we discussed the speed in which the conditions went south; conversely, within 15-20 minutes, the longshore current had subsidded and conditions were back to "normal". I do not recall ever hearing of a longshore current being a problem at Coral Street, but I now know of ONE such event.
Cheers and good diving.
Well, we went there today, 8-7-08, at high tide, and had a ball. It was easily one of the best sites we've been to yet in this area. We never broke 30 feet, but we don't care. We go where the best critters are. If they're at 60 feet, that's where we go; if they're at 60 inches, that's where we go. In this case, we spent most of the dive between 15 and 25 feet on the rock ridges that are found out past the eelgrass and the first big kelp patch. We were surprised at how far out we actually got, but that happens on a 91 minute dive. The colors were amazing, and we found three new-to-us species of nudibranch, none of which we've been able to ID yet 
Thanks to all who responded with info and suggestions about this place. We'll definitely be back...and back...and back...and back...and...
Thanks to all who responded with info and suggestions about this place. We'll definitely be back...and back...and back...and back...and...
Peter_C
Contributor
Sounds like a great dive. How was the surge? That is one reason we often look for deeper dive sites.
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