Our Diving in Monterey - Daily Log

[digitalreefer]

Prelude to Diving

Ok... thought we'd keep a log of our diving in case anyone wants to know. Me and Lissa picked up our gear and tanks yesterday and checked everything over last night. We're about to head out to check a couple dive sites, and we're hoping not to get blown out by large waves. Yesterday we scoped out a couple of sites and the surf looked pretty heavy. We also went to the aquarium and saw the great white they have on exhibit. It was incredible. More to come once we get back today.

 

[zahner]

Monterey.. brrr! you doing shore diving out there? post pix!

 

[cali_reef]

Hope you have your 7mm full suit, another vest and a hood. Don't forget the gloves too.

Its cold out in the water there this time of the year..

 

[jhale]

cool! where are the pics!!!

post anything

 

[ellebelle]

We're not diving in wetsuits, actually - we're diving in dry suits. I am nice and toasty in my long sleeves and long thermal pants + big puffy polartec fleece footed pajama-like underwear and my drysuit on. Mmm, warmth!

 

[bad coffee]

so what are you going to wear when you go diving?

Post some damn pics. I know you took some at the 'quarium

B

 

[digitalreefer]

Day One

Well, day one didn't quite go as planned. We got out to the site and found a fairly rough surface, but decided to go for it. As we were gearing up, I found a leak in my SPG and had to remove it and replace a couple of O rings. After a few other minor gear problems, we were ready to get in. While heading in, we noticed another diver crawling up the shore. I yelled over to see if he needed help and managed to get his gear from him and move it out of the surf, then went back and helped him up and out.
We started heading in and Lissa got one twoed by the surge and a large wave which knocked her over. I got over to her and got her fins off and the guy I helped came back over to help get Lissa out. She decided to call the dive due to the rough water, I decided to go ahead and dive. I managed to get out past the surf and suddenly realized that I was getting out much faster than I should be. I submerged to about 8 feet and saw that visibility was around 2 feet. At this point I decided to call the dive and headed back in, fighting a heavy surge back and getting tossed over some rocks briefly. We de-geared and decided to call it a day. We may try again today, but the report looks better for tomorrow, so it may be a wasted trip today.

Since we couldn't dive, we shot over to Half Moon Bay to visit something I've always wanted to see... Mavericks... the surf was crashing... 15-20 ft. waves, just amazing to see. I'll never surf there, but it was a sight to behold. I'm bugging Lissa to go get her camera now, so hopefully we'll get some pics up soon.

 

[digitalreefer]

so what are you going to wear when you go diving?
B

Polar underwear below our drysuits... the water is about 55, really pretty warm in a drysuit. I was sweating.

 

[zahner]

dang! that's why i like diving off a boat in the tropics.

 

[digitalreefer]

Days 2 and 3

Well, yesterday was a bust, today seems the same. Rough conditions and heavy breakwaters. Went wine tasting yesterday, and are plans today are up in the air so far. We're going to get out eventually... (I hope)

 

[ellebelle]

Okay photo whores, you asked for it.

Wine Tasting

We Tried to Dive

ERIC: wow, the waves in the bay are almost surfable.
ME: Aw, and you call yourself a surfer

(He was mighty impressed with these waves outside of the bay, near Mavericks)

AQUARIUMS LARGER THAN OUR OWN

Eric is standing here in front of a 1,000,000 gallon tank. They recently added a Great White Shark to the tank. I asked if they did a drip acclimation on that.

They have a small tropical reef exhibit at the Monterey Aquarium.

If we managed to dive, we might be able to see:

These, and ....

These, and maybe some of ....

These! If we're unlucky, we might meet....

And ....

These might try and play with us!

Gratituous cute/pretty photos

Can I get an, "Awwww."

Perfect light.

 

[jhale]

cool Lissa, awesome photos!!

now I want to see more

 

[zahner]

awesome shots!