Monterey conditions. (let's keep it going )

[raftingtigger]

Sunday out of San Carlos beach was actually pretty good. More surge - but since I rarely notice anything other than extreme surge - not bad. Students were out in force and having a good time. I took a 90 min u/w swim from the stair in the corner to Metridiums and back. Lots to see with at least 5 different types of fish in large schools, crabs galore, even more Sea Hares, a few California Sea Slugs. Viz not bad at 20' or so (see the pic below to get a sense). Very warm. 59F at the surface 57F at 50'

 

[raftingtigger]

Double post. So here are some better pics.

 

[elgoog]

10/17/14 - Beautiful sunny morning, 73F, no wind, very calm surface conditions. Water's also really warm, 63F at the surface.

Dive 1 - Aumentos Reef. Viz 40-50ft, 59F at 66ft. Lots of black and blue rockfish holding at 30-35ft, plenty of lings darting around near the rocks.
Dive 2 - McAbee's Pinnacle. Viz reduced to 15-20ft, 59F at 60ft. Large school of senoritas at 20ft.

Tons of sea urchins. All the metridiums we saw were withdrawn into their base columns (never seen this before). Both dives of the Beach Hopper II.

 

[KRL1973]

Raftingtigger,

I love the shot of the sea hare. Worked great getting low shooting up at it in profile like that. thanks for sharing

 

[uspap]

Did 2 at Breakwater today. Swam out and dropped near the 13 marker. Vis was a little better than 20 out there. As you got closer to shore the vis dropped off. Huge sand ripples in shallows and it was like a sand storm. Water temp 58-60

Found a snorkel underwater. Anybody loose one?

 

[raftingtigger]

Raftingtigger,

I love the shot of the sea hare. Worked great getting low shooting up at it in profile like that. thanks for sharing

Thank you.

 

[raftingtigger]

Breakwater. 63 F 15-25' viz, surface flat.

 

[3D diver]

Long, wonderful, dive at the Breakwater with Raftingtigger. 30 foot vis, 63F! It was very surgy and the swells were creating some interesting currents, but the entry/exits weren't bad.

We dropped at the 7 and stayed at ~30 feet to maximize how far down the wall we could go. Along the way we had repeated passes by a cormorant trailing a fishing line. Raftingtigger tried to get to it, but the bird was too quick. I also saw one or two harbor seals. At the end of the wall we were mobbed by sea lions!!!

My computer logged it a 82 minutes, 40 foot max depth. My mechanical bottom timer read 88 minutes.

Here's an unedited clip of our sea lion encounter (except for titles)---I just turned on the camera and let it run:



Sorry about the whistle, I think it's my regulator.

 

[eelnoraa]

definitely your regulator. what reg do you use? I had the same thing, it comes and goes. It is a mk25. works perfectly except intermittent whistling

 

[3D diver]

Aqualung Legend. I just had it serviced & will have the shop take another look at it. It has never done this before.

I shoot a lot of video so it's gotta go. I didn't hear it during the dive, but I think Raftingtigger did. She stopped and cupped her hand to one ear to signal me to listen for something...I think I stopped breathing to listen.