Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[3D diver]

Four of us met for a New Year's Eve night dive at the Breakwater. There were small waves heading straight into the wall making for surface chop and shallow surge. There was talk of heading for the metridiums to avoid this, but I really wanted to check on Chewie (AKA Photobomb) so we dove the wall. (A picture of a dead Harbor seal resembling Chewie on San Carlos Beach was posted on Facebook a few days ago.)

Bottom time: 69 minutes
Max depth: 43 feet
Visibility: 15 - 20?, with a lot of sand in the water
Water temperature: 52.9F to 55.8F
Water condition: small waves/choppy, rising tide, noticeable surge above 25 feet.

We dilly-dallied a bit, gearing up, so saw the New Years fireworks as we were about to descend at the 7. Chewie joined us almost immediately, hunting in our lights, racing about, and jostling everyone. Whew! There weren't a lot of fish to video, but I did race after some Halfmoon and Pile Surfperch. Chewie was after the Halfmoon too, but I didn't see any captured. The crabs are still displaying some mating behavior. We did a long slow cruise near the bottom of the wall, turned around and returned in the shallower, surgy, water. The surface chop picked up a little toward the end of the dive. I had no trouble exiting, but one of my other buddies commented on this later.

A fun dive. Happy New Year to you all.

Here's Chewie:

 

[House Gecko]

Four of us met for a New Year's Eve night dive at the Breakwater. There were small waves heading straight into the wall making for surface chop and shallow surge. There was talk of heading for the metridiums to avoid this, but I really wanted to check on Chewie (AKA Photobomb) so we dove the wall. (A picture of a dead Harbor seal resembling Chewie on San Carlos Beach was posted on Facebook a few days ago.)

Bottom time: 69 minutes
Max depth: 43 feet
Visibility: 15 - 20?, with a lot of sand in the water
Water temperature: 52.9F to 55.8F
Water condition: small waves/choppy, rising tide, noticeable surge above 25 feet.

We dilly-dallied a bit, gearing up, so saw the New Years fireworks as we were about to descend at the 7. Chewie joined us almost immediately, hunting in our lights, racing about, and jostling everyone. Whew! There weren't a lot of fish to video, but I did race after some Halfmoon and Pile Surfperch. Chewie was after the Halfmoon too, but I didn't see any captured. The crabs are still displaying some mating behavior. We did a long slow cruise near the bottom of the wall, turned around and returned in the shallower, surgy, water. The surface chop picked up a little toward the end of the dive. I had no trouble exiting, but one of my other buddies commented on this later.

A fun dive. Happy New Year to you all.

Here's Chewie:

I am really happy to read your post about Chewie (We know him as Jorge). We did a Break Water night dive on Dec 19th and saw a dead seal about his size and markings on the beach near the wall. I have suspected it was Chewie and have been a bit sad about it ever since. I once gave hime a 5 min deep tissue massage on the pipe on the way out to the Metridium Field. I have grown quite fond of that guy.

 

[uspap]

Did two at Breakwater today. Vis was 25+/- on first dive and 20 +/- on second. I was surprised at how nice it was. Saw a variety of Nudibranchs. Sun was out but a bit chilly walking around with a wet head.

 

[stilldivin]

Great dive at Pt. Lobos today. We dove the Coal Chute cave. Vis was 20-30 feet, water temp. 51 degrees. Sunny, beautiful day. When we arrived at 8:45 AM it was 38 degrees outside. It was about 56 degrees when we left around 1 PM. The ocean was dead calm. I guess it was the calm before the storm.

 

[elgoog]

Nice easy dive to the Metridium Fields this morning. Viz was 15-20ft but lots of life along the pipe as well as at the fields (lots of baby rockfish). The ling that lives in the end of the pipe seems to get bigger every time I see it.
Only 1 dive today as I nicked my neck seal which resulted in a trickling leak but soaked the front of my undies and base layer over the course of over an hour in the water. P-valve debut went fine (thankfully).

 

[3D diver]

D'oh! Ya beat me to it elgoog...I was at the Metridiums today too. I wonder if I got video of you? We encountered two or three teams in the course of our dive. I can confirm 15-20 foot vis, once you get out along the pipe a bit.

My first encounter with the pipe ling. My buddy was pointing into the end of the pipe. I was expecting shrimp and was face-to-face with a big, toothy, lingcod grin instead.

My computer says the water temperature was 54-57F. The wave were small, but I still managed to get tripped up on my entry.

Metridiums were healthy & my buddy spotted a large egg mass guarded by a Lingcod.

 

[elgoog]

I was at the Metridiums today too. I wonder if I got video of you? We encountered two or three teams in the course of our dive.

Heh, I'll be easily recognizable - I was wearing lots of orange.

The wave were small, but I still managed to get tripped up on my entry.

Were you re-enacting the trip up on the exit for your buddy? I saw someone doing that and wasn't sure what was going on.

 

[3D diver]

I put my left foot in a big hole walking out of the water, but didn't go down. I was filming at the time so you'd have noticed the cameras.

My entry fall had me flopping around on my tank in about a foot of water. With the aid of a wave I got onto my hands and knees, crawled into deeper water, and got my fins on.

 

[JellyMan777]

Date: 1/14
Site: North Monastery
Depth: 69fsw
Temp: 54deg
Vis: 20-30ft
Comment: Despite the lull in wave activity, entry/exit was a little hairy. Runoff from San Jose Creek is feeding microbiotic activity in the shallows, leading to low vis (10-15ft) nearer the beach. Visibility is better around the wash rock, but not by much.

 

[uspap]

Did two at Breakwater. Surgey in kelp. Calmer at depth. The kelp had 15ft +/- vis. The wall had 15-20ft vis. For some reason there was a bunch of carcasses in the sand off the kelp area. Looked like baby lobster. Water temp 54.