Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[zf2nt]

Shhh...don't tell anyone, but the vis is pretty good at Lobos if you get into deeper water (>40').

Made a short dive to Hole in the wall this morning. Dropped in 40' of water & could see the surface clearly the whole dive. Horizontal vis 40' to 50' +, vertical 62'. Water temp 53 to 55F.

There is still a pretty good swell coming in so it was surgy---buddy crawled up the ramp, I took my fins of and walked.

Hoping to get in another Lobos visit or two while I've got some time off...if the reservations don't get snapped up...shhhhhh....

Yes, I've been watching the discouraging buoy reports and haven't jumped quickly enough. What got my attention were some comments by Carol Cohen on ba_diving this morning:
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The Needle

This was hands down the best dive I have ever done there. 100' vis. At 105 I rolled over and saw the surface. Light and bright all the way down. You could see forever. There was an incredible dense school of blues that we hung with for a bit. Lots of ling, a few vermilion, and a really lovely china. On the ascent we were joined by about 7 playful sealions who entertained us all the way up. There were also sea butterflies and other cool translucent jellies. Just a phenomenal dive.

106' max, 100' vis, 50 degrees 40 min

Ball Buster

Descended to excellent vis yet again. I think around 60' this time. Still light and bright. We were intent on showing Lauren Fred and Ethel so after resetting the hook we headed to their den. Larry got there first and looked inside. He took pics so I thought yes! They are definitely home! He moved back and I peeked in. Imagine my surprise to find they had been evicted. Inside their cozy home there is now a quite healthy looking GPO! It was all balled up, so we could not tell the over-all size, but the suckers near the base appeared to be the size of half dollars. Everything after that was anticlimactic, large ling, vermilion, nudis all present and accounted for. Gorgeous dive. Then, when ascended the sealions came. As many as I've ever seen, even at Lobos Rocks. They were everywhere, all around us and totally interacting. To a diver we stretched out our ascents and played.
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If Carol says it's so, that's good enough for me. I'm ready!

 

[uspap]

Did two at Breakwater today. 15-20ft vis. A bit of surge but not insane. First dive with the G16.

 

[otis24]

Dove Monestery north today. Easy entry on both dives. Crawled out on both dives too. We surface swam out beyond the rock for both dives. The first dive was to 130 feet with a slow descent back to 10 feet at the beach. Vis was 20 feet at depth but good sunlight getting through. I'd say via was as much as 45-50 feet on the way back.

The second dive was to 60 feet and the around the rock and back to the beach. Good via again with minimal surge.


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[uspap]

Did 3 dives at Breakwater yesterday. Topside was 70 degrees and beautiful. Vis was 30ft or better. 54 degree water temp. I talked to someone who dove Monastery and they said they had close to 50ft in closer and dropped off to 35 at depth.

 

[Jak Crow]

Anyone dive today?

 

[3D diver]

I dove Middle Reef at Lobos today. It was pretty surgy. The horizontal viz was about 30'---you could see the surface clearly at 40', but not so clearly at 50'. Water temp was about 53F.

The vis was about the same, maybe a little less, in the cove & we did a nice transit of Whalers at the end of our dive.

I had fleeting glimpses of several harbor seals and one leopard shark, but none were close enough or long enough to get on video.

 

[Drin]

Two dives at Breakwater today. Viz was about 20' with a lot of particles in the water. Strong surge as well.

-Adrian

 

[Fundive123]

Thank you Adrian for the dive condition report. I was thinking of diving today, but ended up going pheasant hunting instead, and sounds like it was a good choice haha.

 

[G00ch]

How are the conditions down in Monterey? Do they improve or get worse (generally) moving into spring/summer? I'm thinking of coming down to see my friends at Seven Seas Scuba and do some diving soon.

 

[Peter_C]

How are the conditions down in Monterey? Do they improve or get worse (generally) moving into spring/summer? I'm thinking of coming down to see my friends at Seven Seas Scuba and do some diving soon.

The winds come up and the vis tends to deteriorate as the water warms in later summer, but the winds can also cause it to turn over, which causes colder water, so excellent vis is not unheard of. It is hit or miss, but spring time is absolutely gorgeous at places like Point Lobos with the flowers blooming. If you can book a short notice trip you are more guaranteed of better conditions. Otherwise it is a flip of the coin for booking a trip in advance.