Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[ctclements]

Dove McAbee beach Saturday 12/8 with a couple friends, one of which was first dive out of school... nice dive with sea lions checking on us from time to time... a lot of Lingcod and Sea Bass, with very light surge and good 30’ vis... On Sunday, the wind and swells were picking up so we dove Breakwater (against my vote) and only cool thing to report was a baby octopus.... got to hang with him for a while before he scooted off... Vis was a mere 10-15’ in most spots, with pockets of 15-20 at best. Water temp in both locations was around 53F

On both days, we saw a disturbing number of Mola Mola ‘carcasses’ being snacked on my crabs and the like.. most had dorsal and tail fins removed and no eyes... but did see one with gill still working (or trying to). All were at the bottom, not typical for a Mola Mola, what is going on there? We must have seen at least half a dozen or so between both days.

 

[MbWaterdog]

Dove McAbee beach Saturday 12/8 with a couple friends, one of which was first dive out of school... nice dive with sea lions checking on us from time to time... a lot of Lingcod and Sea Bass, with very light surge and good 30’ vis... On Sunday, the wind and swells were picking up so we dove Breakwater (against my vote) and only cool thing to report was a baby octopus.... got to hang with him for a while before he scooted off... Vis was a mere 10-15’ in most spots, with pockets of 15-20 at best. Water temp in both locations was around 53F

On both days, we saw a disturbing number of Mola Mola ‘carcasses’ being snacked on my crabs and the like.. most had dorsal and tail fins removed and no eyes... but did see one with gill still working (or trying to). All were at the bottom, not typical for a Mola Mola, what is going on there? We must have seen at least half a dozen or so between both days.

ctclements, the Sea Lions tear the fins off of the Molas. They play a little to rough. On a dive at McAbee two weeks ago, another buddy team we were diving with saw a Mola get taken out by a sea lion under water! The week before, I was on my kayak off cannery and there were flying molas left and right...

 

[ctclements]

thanks for the info.. it was really creapy, but great dive other than that... wanted to dive Coral St, but north/west swell was making it a bit rough...

 

[Jak Crow]

Dove wharf 2 yesterday. Super calm conditions. Viz under the wharf was about 15ft. During the 2nd dive I was talking a picture when I felt something brush up against the side of my head. I thought I had bumped into a piling. I turned and there's a black harbor seal pressing his head up against my face and he starts nuzzling me. He does that a little and then swims around me and then takes off and didn't come back. My buddy had one that let him scratch his chest and it grabbed his hand and held him with its paws.

 

[uspap]

What an awesome experience. 15ft vis is pretty good for under the wharf. Mubin and I call that dive "Little Lembeh" there's tons of stuff on the bottom.

 

[Jak Crow]

I love the site. There are so many things to come across there that I haven't seen anywhere else, like millions of recently hatched dungeness crabs and electric rays. I dove it in January and vis was a clear 30ft.

 

[bperc]

Where do you park when you dive the wharf? I would like to try it. It sounds like there are a lot of macro photography opportunities at the wharf. IIRC someone posted a picture of a sarcastic fringehead at the wharf. I still haven't seen one.

 

[zf2nt]

Got a couple of dives in at Lobos yesterday. The Monterey buoy was reporting 14' swells out of the NW with sustained winds at about 25 kts. coming NNW. Yup, those were just about the roughest conditions under which I have done a shore dive around here. Afterwards, we all had a good round of laughter that the only people crazy enough to go out in those conditions were 5 guys all over 50. Two of them were with Phil Sammet on his boat, and then there was me and my buddy.

On the first dive, we made it out to Seamount and had about 20' of visibility. Second dive, which was on the incoming tide, we had about 30' visibility at the tip of Middle Reef. The guys on Phil's boat said it was the same at Twin Peaks until they got down below 120', and then it started opening up. They said they had 40'-50' visibility at 150 fsw.

The water temperature was very warm. The coldest my computer recorded on either dive was 56F.

Bruce

 

[lordhelmet]

from what I gather you can just park on the wharf at the end. be sure to pay for parking as always.

 

[bperc]

from what I gather you can just park on the wharf at the end. be sure to pay for parking as always.

Thanks