I was in San Francisco for the week so I thought I'd take a morning off and head down to the closest divable site in Monterey Bay. I found Monterey Bay Dive Charters online and after exchanging a few emails with the owner/operator we settled on a date and time to meet.

From what I understand, the majority of diving in Monterey Bay is shore diving and this was no exception. There was a small park in front of the beach where we got ready and geared up. Because it was relatively cold, I opted for a "Farmer John" style 7mm wetsuit. Decked out with a hood, gloves, boots, and an extra 24 lbs. of lead to sink all of that neoprene.

We were diving just off of 100 Cannery Row. There was a pier on the right. We did a surface swim to get to the end of it before descending.

Monterey Bay Coast Guard Pier

We entered the water via some stairs leading from the park to the beach. It was a short walk but one gets very hot, very quickly under that much neoprene. Getting into the cold water was a welcome respite.

Surface Swim

The pier doesn't really end where it appears to on the surface. It continues as a structure underwater forming something of a wall. We dove this wall out and back.

Crab on a Starfish

Starfish

Rainbow Nudibranch

Crab in the Kelp

As we returned to shore there were many more smallish crabs in the sand. This one got quite defensive as I approached and then dug himself in amongst the sand dollars to hide.

Crab

There were also plenty of hermit crabs close to shore. I can never tell if they're mating or fighting for a new shell.

Hermit Crabs

After getting out of the water, we trudged back to the park to switch out our tanks, warm up a bit, and begin our surface interval.

Location: Monterey, CA, USA

Dive Number:   95 Bottom Time: 50m Time In: 10:05 a.m. Tank In: Max Depth: 40.00 ft Table Used:

Mix:   Air Safety Stop: 3m Time Out: 10:55 a.m. Tank Out: Average Depth: 16.00 ft Start Pressure Group:

Surface Interval:   End Pressure Group:

blog comments powered by Disqus