January 22, 2011 – It’s always great to be invited for a milestone dive, and 100 is the first big one for all scuba divers. Traditionally, you’re supposed to dive naked. But I really think that’s a warm water tradition. In Monterey, there’s nothing like marking your 100th dive in low viz (5′), surgy conditions, and rough shore entry.
December 18, 2010 – Cynthia, Ben, Brian, and I meet up at Breakwater (San Carlos Beach) for a Grand Tour scooter run. While we had hoped for stellar winter conditions, we got the standard 10′ – 15′ viz. We were blessed with a few sea lions at Metridium Fields though. Usually they don’t hang around this long, but could be curious teenagers.
On a sunny Sunday morning, Kevin, Ted, and I gathered at Pt. Lobos to wrap up Kevin’s Hole in the Wall mapping project. Having worked through logistics with other dive teams on Friday and Saturday, we were batting clean-up – literally. We had a few stations to map, but we also had to pull all the survey lines at Lobos.
Kevin stressed that we shouldn’t be goal oriented, but we couldn’t help ourselves. In the 90 minute dive, we completed the survey and successfully retrieved all survey equipment.
I finally took a day off on Friday and was able to dive off of Phil’s rib.
On the way down, Kevin and I chatted about possible sites. But once we drove past Monastery, we knew that possibilities would abound. Calm flat seas meant that we had a high likelihood of rounding the point and diving further south.
At Pt. Lobos, Kevin and Phil discussed sites. Before long, we’re pushing off and heading towards E2.
At least once a year, our friends from SoCal drive up and spend a weekend diving at Pt. Lobos. Not only are they are a great group to dive with, they usually bring fantastic weather. The swell model and top side conditions did not look promising, but once we got below 30′, Pt. Lobos opened up.
As the result, we had two unexpectedly beautiful days. Fun diving with our friends!
The first lionfish were reported in Bonaire in October 26, 2009. We are currently in Bonaire and have already spotted 3 lionfish, on three separate dive spots. Elissa spotted them at Angel City (73′) and 1000 steps (84′). I found one today at Tori’s Reef (60′).
Elissa spots this lion fish on April 5th at Angel City. He’s nicely tucked under an overhang of coral, and this shot was taken at an angle to expose him.
Elissa marks the lionfish, and we continue on our dive at Angel City.
Video of Elissa marking a lionfish at 1000 Steps.
And here’s the third lionfish on our trip, marked and ready for pick-up.
Alas, Nils is leaving MoCal for sun limited Seattle. As a last dive, we decided to dive a site where most of us became exposed to Monterey – San Carlos Beach, “The Breakwater.”
