Monterey Bay April 2021

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YellowEye
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Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by YellowEye »

Howdy
Scuba Jess and I just got back from a road trip to go dive with our Instagram buddies @dslaterphoto and @mansonfotos who live down in Monterey, CA! We had recently hosted them for some puget sound diving (showing them lump suckers, octos, wolfeels etc) and now we wanted to go visit their turf.

It was a great trip! It was our first time down there and I'm kicking myself for not going down there sooner. There's some GREAT cold water diving down there! Right up on par with some of the best best BC and WA diving.

It takes about 13 hours of driving to get down there. We drove it in two days each way with some stops along the way.

We did five dive sites over 4 days of diving:
+ The Breakwater (2x)
+ Perkin's Park tide pool (36.633469, -121.939192)
+ Monastery Beach
+ The Wharf
+ Point Lobos (4x)

Viz was highly variable, from 2'-50'!

Our guides were excellent, not only giving us great site briefings but also diving with us and pointing out all the good places to eat tacos and burritos! :taco: :partydance:

The breakwater is an amazing dive. It reminds me a lot of Ogden Point Breakwater in Victoria in scale and structure. Dozens and dozens of sea lions make their home on this breakwater. Unfortunately, viz was very poor during this visit. Beautiful kelp, fish eating anemones, sea lions, lightbulb tunicates, hopkins rose nudibranchs and colorful bat stars steal the show here. Mola Molas and Sea nettles can also be occasionally seen at this location but we did not see them.

The tide pool is a great place to dive when conditions are rough elsewhere. Vizibility was fantastic! Beautiful algaes, bat stars and a few fish lined the pool. The entry is very rocky and can be a difficult scramble.

Monastery Beach is a famous Monterey Bay dive which has an entry known to be extremely difficult and unforgiving. Nicholas Ta (who really wants to meet JanK) led that dive and gave us a great briefing. Kelp and an open ocean feel rule the scene here. We met several friendly locals at this site and Nicholas took us all to a killer Chinese food place to eat outside afterward. So fun!

The wharf is another dive in town that can be dove when conditions are bad elsewhere. Unfortunately viz was about 2' with tons of mysids swimming about when we went. I was floored by the carpets of surf anemones and strawbery anemones at this site. Fringheads (kind of like mosshead warbonnets), ochre stars, opulescent nudis and other nudibranchs were also at these scene. David told us of a recent dive there were he had fantastic viz and thick sea nettles. Sounds so cool, I'd love to go back and see that!

Point Lobos was the star dive site of the trip. This is a nature preserve park that you have to pay a small fee to get into. They require reservations and only accept a limited number of divers a day which is nice. This dive site is a diver's playground... easy shallow diving, exquisite topography, beautiful kelp and many sightings of sea otters and seals from the shore. I even saw a seal and its baby pup underwater!

I almost had no photos from this trip... on the very first dive (at the breakwater) somehow my strobe cable got disconnected from the housing during the dive. Oof! Instant corrosion and dead strobes. Luckily the Backscatter Underwater Photo and Video store was a short walk from the dive site! @mansonfotos gave them a call to get us an appointment and to put in a good word for us. They came thru and were able to wipe out the corrosion from my connector in the housing (they recommended and used an alcohol cleaner) and loaned me a replacement cable for the rest of the trip. Talk about a life saver! Backscatter rocks! Really nice store and staff.

We got our fills at Bamboo Reef Dive Center. Really great shop, and we planted a NWDC sticker there!

Here were some of my snaps:
Viz was terrible at the breakwater -- Close focus wide angle saved the day in this snap
Viz was terrible at the breakwater -- Close focus wide angle saved the day in this snap
Amazing marine life density at the breakwater.  I love those strawberry anemones, mussels, barnacles, and coralline algae!
Amazing marine life density at the breakwater. I love those strawberry anemones, mussels, barnacles, and coralline algae!
Vermillion Rockfish at Point Lobos
Vermillion Rockfish at Point Lobos
Fish eating anemones at Point Lobos.  Some rocks had nearly a dozen small red fish eaters!
Fish eating anemones at Point Lobos. Some rocks had nearly a dozen small red fish eaters!
Selfie!
Selfie!
Fish eating anemone and kelp at Point Lobos
Fish eating anemone and kelp at Point Lobos
I love kelp in the sunshine
I love kelp in the sunshine
Beautiful schools of rockfish.  Rockfish schools are so darn hard to photograph! (for me anyways, any tips appreciated)
Beautiful schools of rockfish. Rockfish schools are so darn hard to photograph! (for me anyways, any tips appreciated)


Try diving there sometime if you haven't!
Visit pnwdiving.com for viz reports, slack planning, galleries and more!
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Jan K
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by Jan K »

Wow, what else to say. As usual, great trip report and of course, Great photos to accompany it.
Thanks for whetting my appetite ! :)
http://JanKocian.smugmug.com

I take photos because I like it, not because I'm good at it. :) by Unknown
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orcasc205
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by orcasc205 »

Talk about a small diving world, Laurie and I had Nickolas Ta as a guide when we were diving off a boat down in Monterrey in September 2019 -- he's great. The first thing he asked when he heard we were from Seattle is whether we knew JanK (who we hadn't met at the time.)
Tangfish
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by Tangfish »

What a camera save! Isnโ€™t it awesome when things work out that way? Glad to hear it saved the photo aspect of the trip and my, what beautiful colors!
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ScubaJess
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by ScubaJess »

Beautiful photos Yellow Eye! :luv: :eric: :partydance: :eek:
That was such a fun and beautiful Away Mission!
I miss California already. I hope we can get a group and storm Monterey NWDC style! :pirate:

๐Ÿ˜‹๐Ÿข๐Ÿฅ‘๐ŸŒฏ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ–๐Ÿ’™๐ŸŒŠ๐ŸŒฟ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ ๐ŸŸ๐ŸŒž๐Ÿ––
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California is so pretty
California is so pretty
Live Long And Prosper!!!

Stay Warm underwater with the Weezle Extreme Plus undergarment! Please let me know if you would like to order one or have any questions. :luv: :partydance: :eric: :taco:
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ScubaJess
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by ScubaJess »

Here are a few of my snaps! :popcorn:

Happy Spring everyone!!! :joshsmith: :taco: :burntchef: :luv:
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Best burritos and tacos in Monterey,  we might have gone there every day! La Tortuga  is the new pickles deli of Monterey lol
Best burritos and tacos in Monterey, we might have gone there every day! La Tortuga is the new pickles deli of Monterey lol
The big fish.  I stole his camera and got his pic
The big fish. I stole his camera and got his pic
Hopkins Rose my new favorite Nudibranch
Hopkins Rose my new favorite Nudibranch
Super cool seastar,  I want to go back and get a better pic. Had some camera fog issues from too much sun lol
Super cool seastar, I want to go back and get a better pic. Had some camera fog issues from too much sun lol
Tiny fringehead
Tiny fringehead
Topsnail on the move
Topsnail on the move
Cigar fish
Cigar fish
Neon sea flea family by light bulb tunicates
Neon sea flea family by light bulb tunicates
Live Long And Prosper!!!

Stay Warm underwater with the Weezle Extreme Plus undergarment! Please let me know if you would like to order one or have any questions. :luv: :partydance: :eric: :taco:
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ScubaJess
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by ScubaJess »

A few topside snaps :partydance:
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The old fisherman warf had the worst viz but really cool critters
The old fisherman warf had the worst viz but really cool critters
The breakwater
The breakwater
The breakwater
The breakwater
The breakwater was full of huge sea lions
The breakwater was full of huge sea lions
Eric is brave and dove it.
Eric is brave and dove it.
Monastery Beach, too wavy for me
Monastery Beach, too wavy for me
Point Lobos entry on boat launch a bit slippery but so beautiful
Point Lobos entry on boat launch a bit slippery but so beautiful
Point Lobos
Point Lobos
Point Lobos my favorite dive spot
Point Lobos my favorite dive spot
Live Long And Prosper!!!

Stay Warm underwater with the Weezle Extreme Plus undergarment! Please let me know if you would like to order one or have any questions. :luv: :partydance: :eric: :taco:
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stphnmartin
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by stphnmartin »

Thanks for the awesomely detailed trip report! Looks like a very fun trip. You had calmer water than when we were there. Monastery wasn't doable. Love the fringeheads!
:popcorn: View dive videos on my youtube channel. GH5, Nauticam housing, Big Blue 9000s, Sola 500, 1200, Scuba Lamp Snoot, Mavic 2 Pro, Osmo, Final Cut Pro X
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60south
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by 60south »

Thanks for the great trip report!

This is a road trip I'd like to do -- just waiting for a buddy to do it with. ***HINT TO ANYONE!***
Tangfish
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by Tangfish »

Jess, that pink & purple nudi shot is !
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ScubaJess
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by ScubaJess »

Tangfish wrote: โ†‘Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:31 pm Jess, that pink & purple nudi shot is ImageImageImageImage!
:luv: :joshsmith: thanks!!! I was so excited to see it.. I had no idea they were even a thing :) I saw 4 on that dive at the breakwater and one at Point Lobos... are you still in California? You should totally go there to dive , its really fun :taco: :taco: :taco:
Live Long And Prosper!!!

Stay Warm underwater with the Weezle Extreme Plus undergarment! Please let me know if you would like to order one or have any questions. :luv: :partydance: :eric: :taco:
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Gdog
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by Gdog »

Great report and photos! Nice, Ive wanted to dive that, and know I know what to expect!
Well done!
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YellowEye
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Re: Monterey Bay April 2021

Post by YellowEye »

Gdog, you'd go crazy there with those tacos and burritos. ๐Ÿคฃ๐ŸŒฎ
Hope we can replicate them soon at ththth.
Visit pnwdiving.com for viz reports, slack planning, galleries and more!
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