Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

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Great conditions at Breakwater yesterday! Blue water, 40’ viz, ton of nettles/moon jellies and very few other folk there (only got ran over by 1 class!). Water was 56F in the AM

Also got impressively tangled in fishing line - first time needing a knife was and glad to have it

 
Happy New Year, everyone.

I took my Zombie Killer Banjo (really) to a party last night & jammed 'til 9PM, on the dot, then headed down to the breakwater to greet the new year underwater. I rendezvoused with RaftingTigger, and two other friends whose scubaboard handles I forget, and found two other small groups there with the same idea.

Bottom time: 82 minutes
Max depth: 43 feet
Water temperature: 55.8 to 57.2F
Visibility: awesome, limited only by the sand we kicked up
Surface conditions: dead flat water, full moon, tide peaked about an hour before we entered

We surface kicked out to the 7 then started our dive. The resident harbor seal was nowhere to be seen. (Apparently hasn't been seen for a while, per post-dive discussion. :( ) There were Sea Nettles, but not dense enough to be an issue. My buddy fed some kelp to an Abalone & spotted a nice shark egg case. I shot clips of the jellies, anemones, crabs and whatever fish I could get close to. A diver parked next me said he saw a healthy Sunflower Star about 10-12 inches in diameter!!!!

With the clear water and full moon it was hard to gauge our depth visually...the surface seemed so close, regardless of what my computer and depth gauge said. We encountered the other dive groups during the course of our dive, with one fellow taking his regulator out of his mouth to wish me a Happy New Year.

As we returned into shallower water we were greeted by lots and lots of smaller fish free swimming and hugging the rocks and kelp.

Back on the surface we enjoyed a big thermos of hot water for hot chocolate, brownies, and other goodies donated by the Beach Hopper.

The drive home was relatively un-eventful with just a few speeders and weavers & I was in bed by 3:45 am.

I feel like a Zombie today...
 
Did you lose a black mask with a GoPro attachment (no gopro) near the ramp at Point Lobos? It looks like it hasn't been down very long. If it's yours, call the kiosk at the park, they have it in their lost and found.

At the Breakwater last week I found a Deep See mask and snorkel set. Mask has a clear rim. Snorkel is mostly blue. Contact me if they are yours.
 
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Dove Pt. Lobos today. Checked out conditions on line first then looked at Monastery on the way there. We had some surge but not too bad and no rain. Vis was not that great since Wednesday's rain stirred up the water a bit. Whaler's cove was it's usual 1-3 feet of vis, further out we had up to 20 feet. It may have been better deeper. We swam towards coal chute cove and explored around the bay there. Water temp. was 54-59 degrees. We reached a max depth of about 40 feet. Outside it was in the 60's.
 

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(Repeat post and answer to my email.)
Point Lobos is currently open for diving. The sewage spill did force a closure of diving on Sunday 1/21 as well as the closure of Carmel Beach and Stillwater Cove. The closure has since been lifted. There is now a rain advisory in effect for all Monterey County beaches. According to the forecast it is going to rain on Thursday. The Monterey County Environmental Health Department advises people to avoid contact with ocean water after it rains, but this will not force a diving closure. Unless the situation changes, diving will be open on Saturday and Sunday.




Garrison Holback

Dive Coordinator/ Senior Park Aide

Point Lobos SNR

(831) 624-8413
 
Dove Pt. Lobos on 1-27-18. Video here;
We went to Pt. Lobos to dive and test my new Sunpak Epic 4K Action Camera. It's a GoPro knock off and lists for about $70.00. I got it on sale at Fry's for $35.00. I'm amazed how well it worked and the quality of the video. I had it set to 1080P, 30 fps. I should have set it to 60 fps but it still worked pretty well. Good sound pick up too. U/W housing pretty good, buttons a bit small and a little hard to push. Great battery life, though. Over all a nice camera for the price. Time will tell if the U/W housing holds up.

On this dive we were lucky to see a large Sheep head, plus a big lingcod, anemones, sea urchins, keyhole limpets, copper rock fish, huge starfish, White Knight or Ringed Doris, and other critters. Pretty good visibility at about 40-50 feet deep. (20-30 feet or so.) Water temp. 52 degrees. Outside 45-50 degrees but sunny and windy plus very crowded. Great dive over all. We dove west of middle reef towards the lone mertridium but did not make it out that far.
 

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